I never imply it was a star.
I never imply he never tried for Okafor.
All I'm saying is that I don't believe Ainge gave pick + value player for okafor only, and on top of that philly refused?
Not happening.
Sure it could have happened. At the time, the Brooklyn pick still could have landed top 2, but it also could have fallen out of the top 5. Why give up a known entity like Okafor for a pick that might end up being a player significantly worse? Especially when you consider Okafor might be better long-term than every player in the 2016 Draft. Also, from the perspective of Philly it makes total sense why they'd turn that down. This was in February. There were in the midst of a regime transition and trying to sell the fans on the idea that "tanking" was over. What kind of message does it send if you then trade your best player for a future pick? That's the exact behavior that people freaked out about for the past few years when they traded Holiday for an injured player and future pick, traded MCW for a future pick, traded Elfrid Payton for a player stuck overseas... can you imagine the outrage if they then followed up all of that by trading Okafor for a pick that might end up being a total bum?
For a team that was trying to pretend their tanking days were over, trading their best player for a future pick sure as hell qualifies as adding fuel to the tank. Definitely can't blame them for turning it down.
The unknown of the pick and the situation surrounding the team obviously contributed to Philly turning down the offer. It's a different story come draft night, where we know the pick is #3, and Philly will know exactly who is available and the Philly fans will not have to once again punt on the present for a player they will not see suit up for a year.
And fwiw, while te key piece was the Brooklyn pick, that doesn't necessarily mean the "big package" included guys like Marcus Smart. Maybe they were also throwing in secondary pieces like Rozier, Hunter, Young and future late picks to get the deal done. We know that Ainge tried giving up 6 picks... 4 of which were first rounders (including a Brooklyn 1st) just to trade up for Winslow. We can assume the other 3 picks included last year's #16 (Rozier), #26 (Hunter) and probably a future Celtic pick or #33 (Mickey). Presumably, he would have given up even more to get Okafor at #3 last year. So just based on that, an offer of Brooklyn pick, Rozier, Hunter, Mickey and and a couple later picks check all the logic boxes and also qualifies as a "large package built around the Brooklyn pick".