Good. The other deal was horrendous. Who wants a D leaguer and 2 late first round picks? What exactly are the C's going to do with those?
The story on the main page called Noel/Covington/24/26 as a "kings ransom". I say hardly, it's still basically Noel.
Covington was a d leaguer and is at best a bench player.
I think that you're underestimating him. He could be a rotation player on most teams. On the other hand, small forward looks like a strength for the Celtics right now.
I fully expect Covington to outperform Brown next year at a minimum. Covington is a pretty solid player. Good enough outside shooter, + defender, etc. Not a world beater, but a pretty solid overall player that would have helped Boston.
Now if Boston is going to go into full bore rebuilding, Brown makes a lot of sense, but if Boston is really going to try and take a step up, then acquiring Noel and Covington would have made more sense. You get a significant upgrade at center (a position of need) and a nice solid wing for your bench (plus two more firsts for stashing or packing to move up).
I actually hypothesized that Boston might have been able to acquire Noel/Covington for 3 and then acquire 8 from Sacto to draft Brown and ended up with the player they wanted as well as the upgrade at center and back-up SF.