Lowe - Excerpt from Hornets article on Celtics' draft day offer

[obnoxiousmime]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/good-charlotte-the-hornets-and-the-sliding-scale-of-nba-mediocrity/

In the days before the draft, Charlotte peddled that no. 9 pick and Vonleh to some of the teams ahead of it — an attempt to vault into star range. The Hornets found no takers before ultimately giving up and sending Vonleh to Portland for Nicolas Batum the day before the draft. As the drama unfolded the next night, Boston put Charlotte on the other end of a quantity-for-quality pitch. The Celtics offered four first-round picks for the chance to move up from no. 16 to no. 9: that 16th pick, no. 15 (acquired in a prearranged contingency deal with the Hawks), one unprotected future Brooklyn pick, and a future first-rounder from either the Grizzlies or Timberwolves, per sources familiar with the talks.1

Some members of Charlotte’s front office liked the Boston deal, but Michael Jordan, the team’s owner and ultimate decision-maker, preferred Kaminsky to a pile of first-rounders outside the lottery, per several sources. That’s justifiable, if you think your guy at no. 9 has a chance at stardom. The talent gap between no. 9 and no. 15 is real; ask Boston how it felt to squeeze into the playoffs, get demolished by a Cavs team in chill mode, and watch Justise Winslow fall right where it could have picked had it won three fewer games.

[Evantime34]

I wonder what it would have took to get the 15th pick from Atlanta to include it in a deal.

Honestly, I wouldn't have been upset if they traded all those picks for Winslow. I am happy with who we got, but according to that offer the C's might have still been able to draft Mickey and Hunter along with Justise (depending on what Atlanta wanted)

[littleteapot]

Question: Why wasn't a deal like this possible with Miami?

[Evantime34]

Question: Why wasn't a deal like this possible with Miami?

They wanted Winslow for themselves. Also Riley doesn't value future firsts that highly, in the past he has almost always dealt them.

[obnoxiousmime]

Question: Why wasn't a deal like this possible with Miami?

Because similar to the Celtics, Miami also liked Winslow - more than what the Celts were offering.

[jpotter33]

WOW! I am so glad that didn't go through, because that really could have come back to bite us in the arse, especially if that was the 2016 Brk pick.

This seems like the one time that Danny got a little "trade-happy" and was willing to overpay by quite a bit and lose a trade. I like Winslow a lot, but I'm not sure he's worth that. MJ is DUMB, and he'll regret for years not making that deal and taking Kamibsky, WHO WE BASUCALLY COULD'VEGAVE THEM IN OLYNYK!

[littleteapot]

Question: Why wasn't a deal like this possible with Miami?

They wanted Winslow for themselves. Also Riley doesn't value future firsts that highly, in the past he has almost always dealt them.

It's really pretty amazing that 2 teams passed on this.

[jambr380]

I wonder what it would have took to get the 15th pick from Atlanta to include it in a deal.

Honestly, I wouldn't have been upset if they traded all those picks for Winslow. I am happy with who we got, but according to that offer the C's might have still been able to draft Mickey and Hunter along with Justise (depending on what Atlanta wanted)

I am going to assume that both the Hunter and Mickey picks were included in the Atl deal, along with another asset or two.

If Winslow ends up as a superstar, then I am sure we will regret it, but right now I see this as an opportunity I am glad we missed. Thank you Jordan.

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

Good lord. Charlotte has lost its marbles.

If they had taken Winslow it'd be defensible, but for Frank the Tank? That's terrible.

I wonder if MJ had his Duke hating hat on or something?

[PhoSita]

I feel bad for Rich Cho.  Quality GM who is hamstrung down there in Charlotte.


That said, I'd point to this quote in the article:

“If it was such a no-brainer for us, why would another team want to do it?”


Kaminsky may or may not have been the right pick at #9.  But keeping #9 is a move that makes sense, especially since any guys Charlotte took in the middle of the first round and beyond would probably have spent the year in the D-League.

Danny's not a dummy.  There's a reason he was offering all those picks for one chance at a top 10 player.   I really wanted the Celts to come away from this draft with Stanley Johnson or Justise Winslow.  Disappointed they couldn't manage it.  Either one of those guys would've filled a major need.

[beantownboy171]

I am shocked that one of the unprotected brooklyn picks was involved (if this report is true). That pick alone is a top-10 value. When i heard about the rumored 4 first rounders we offered i assumed it was something like:

#16, #28, Mavs 1st, Grizz 1st.

The rumored offer above though is something the hornets definitely should have accepted if it was there.

[saltlover]

Yeah, was just reading that article.  Danny went all out, even having the pre-arranged deal for 15.  Drop down six spots in the draft to get 3 extra firsts, including an unprotected one from a team that was one game out of the lottery?  I will mourn the loss of Winslow, but only so much.  I'm fairly sure that one of those picks we didn't give up will turn out better than him.

Seriously, the term "Godfather offer" needs to be dead and buried.  Because that was it, and yet it was still refused.

[PhoSita]

A really interesting quote from the article, tweaked a little bit:

[Boston] had scraped out a path to relevancy in the weak East. The [Celtics] would never entice LeBron or even Love in free agency, but perhaps they were appealing enough to attract a B-level free agent — someone like [Greg Monroe], their initial target, or [David Lee / Amir Johnson]. If that worked, the [Celtics] might transform into the sort of rising 48-win team that could persuade the next B-level free agent. From there, you’re at 50-plus wins, a break or two from playing in the conference finals.

It wasn’t the cleanest process, but building from the middle is messy.

[saltlover]

A really interesting quote from the article, tweaked a little bit:

[Boston] had scraped out a path to relevancy in the weak East. The [Celtics] would never entice LeBron or even Love in free agency, but perhaps they were appealing enough to attract a B-level free agent — someone like [Greg Monroe], their initial target, or [David Lee / Amir Johnson]. If that worked, the [Celtics] might transform into the sort of rising 48-win team that could persuade the next B-level free agent. From there, you’re at 50-plus wins, a break or two from playing in the conference finals.

It wasn’t the cleanest process, but building from the middle is messy.

Keep promoting your narrative.

[BudweiserCeltic]

A really interesting quote from the article, tweaked a little bit:

[Boston] had scraped out a path to relevancy in the weak East. The [Celtics] would never entice LeBron or even Love in free agency, but perhaps they were appealing enough to attract a B-level free agent — someone like [Greg Monroe], their initial target, or [David Lee / Amir Johnson]. If that worked, the [Celtics] might transform into the sort of rising 48-win team that could persuade the next B-level free agent. From there, you’re at 50-plus wins, a break or two from playing in the conference finals.

It wasn’t the cleanest process, but building from the middle is messy.

Well, first of all, after all the speculation from fans of Monroe as a target, it was quite apparent that Monroe was never of real [or any] interest to the Celtics. Let's start with that.