Let's say that in two weeks Atlanta and Houston both cave and stop treating Horford and Howard as if they weren't mere expiring rentals, and both settle for the best offer available. It's possible that the best offer at the wire for each would be one mid-late 1st + one early 2nd. If so, we
might be able to snag both as a rental duo. Not probable, but possible. So, like, Sully + Lee + Mavs '16 1st + Wolves '16 2nd for Howard, and Amir + Celtics '16 1st + Sixers '16 2nd for Horford. Horford can still play PF, right?
If that's the case, then perhaps we could shoot for the H----rd trifecta and trade for Hayward, too. Howard, Horford, Hayward. Here's how that might look, combined for posting convenience.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=z2zbo57Hawks give:
HorfordHawks get: Jerebko, Turner, BOS '16 1st, PHI '16 2nd
Jazz give:
HaywardJazz get: Amir, Young, BRK '18 1st, BOS '18 1st
Rockets give:
HowardRockets get: Sully, Lee, DAL '16 1st, MIN '16 2nd
Celtics give: Amir, Sully, Jerebko, Lee, Young, Turner, BRK '18 1st, DAL '16 1st, BOS '16 1st, BOS '18 1st, PHI '16 2nd, MIN '16 2nd
Celtics get:
Howard,
Horford,
HaywardIsaiah/Smart/Rozier
Hayward/Bradley/Hunter
Crowder
Horford/Olynyk
Howard/Zeller/Mickey
How would that team fare against CLE-GS-SA?
The next season's roster would look like this:
Isaiah/Rozier
Smart/Bradley
Hayward/Hunter
Crowder
Olynyk/Mickey
A potent small ball roster, but weak in the frontcourt. Thankfully, we'd still have the BRK '16 1st. (We'd retain the BRK '17 swap, too, of course.) In addition, we could even maybe get back some of that pick value spent on the rentals by using either/both Horford or Howard in sign-and-trade, especially if the receiving team happens to have a trade exception that matches. Not to mention the massive amount of cap space we'd have, about 47 million.