We were looking at Lawson instead of Thomas. Now that we have Thomas, no way. You think Ainge wants two PGs (and his two best players) under 6 feet and at the same position?
Lawson is a better overall player than any of our guards.
He can create, he can shoot and he can defend, and he's only $4 million more than Bradley.
He'll be on $13 million when the cap hits $108 million too.
This guy is a 5th pick who's played like it and wants out of that crappy situation in Denver.
Just plays hard on both ends and wants to play for a team/coach that wants him.
Ainge loves him, he's also Durant's close friend since high school.
Again, he's a better all round player than any of our guards.
I like Lawson but I like Thomas just as much (if not more, because of his scoring instincts) and Thomas is on a better deal.
That's a fair point, but I don't think it really matters that we have IT.
Why? Just my opinion, but Ainge is looking for value. The same reason he grabbed IT is the same reason he would grab Lawson (who is better than Thomas). He's undervalued and coming to the Celtics situation would probably improve his value. The catch is that Lawson could actually be our long term solution at point guard. We know Ainge has always loved Lawson and it's fair to say that Lawson would be the better long term solution at PG because he's a better player on the defensive end.
I don't see Thomas as part of our long term plans and if Lawson came here he'd be the starting point guard without doubt, with IT coming in to rest him and Smart.
Actually if Ainge was going to avoid Lawson, it would be because he doesn't think Smart can be our long term solution at shooting guard.
Ultimately if we got Lawson we'd be hoping that Smart becomes a combo shooting guard hybrid and we'd move Bradley or Thomas to thin that guard rotation.
So we'd get Lawson as a long term solution at point guard next to Smart (while increasing his trade value anyway), whereas as the main reason we have IT is because he was good value, not because we love his overall game and see him as part of our next championship run.
But hey, as you said, he's so darn cheap that he'd be an excellent 6th man off the bench for a championship team. Will he happily accept that role for the rest of his career? Not so sure!