Big Man Trade Targets (Poll)

[Moranis]

With Zizic and Yabusele stashed and the Nets picks in the pipeline, I think the likeliest trade target is a big man on an expiring contract who won't necessarily be in the team's long-term plans.

Sounds like Nerlens is your guy.  I voted for him because I think he is the best player who I actually attainable.  That said...

Do you really want to trade away assets for Noel only to have him walk at the end of the season?  More conventional GM thinking says to not make a trade and wait until the off-season to sign Noel outright.

and waste a year of Horford and get another year closer to massive raises for Thomas, Bradley, and Crowder.  The time to move is now.  Boston didn't sign Horford to build a contender around Brown and the other Brooklyn picks years from now.

The goal is to build a contender with Horford now while preserving the ability to build a contender around Brown and future picks that can win a title after Horford's current contract is over.  It's not an either/or situation.

Sure it is because Boston can't build a contender around Horford without trading assets to do it.

[alldaboston]

With Zizic and Yabusele stashed and the Nets picks in the pipeline, I think the likeliest trade target is a big man on an expiring contract who won't necessarily be in the team's long-term plans.

Sounds like Nerlens is your guy.  I voted for him because I think he is the best player who I actually attainable.  That said...

Do you really want to trade away assets for Noel only to have him walk at the end of the season?  More conventional GM thinking says to not make a trade and wait until the off-season to sign Noel outright.

and waste a year of Horford and get another year closer to massive raises for Thomas, Bradley, and Crowder.  The time to move is now.  Boston didn't sign Horford to build a contender around Brown and the other Brooklyn picks years from now.

The goal is to build a contender with Horford now while preserving the ability to build a contender around Brown and future picks that can win a title after Horford's current contract is over.  It's not an either/or situation.

Sure it is because Boston can't build a contender around Horford without trading assets to do it.

Depends on what you define as a contender...

If "contender" means a team with an at least somewhat decent chance at winning it all, then you're right, we have to look to trade assets to get to contender status.

If "contender" means a team that makes it pretty far in the playoffs (like, conference finals), but may or may not ever be in the discussion to win it all (like Toronto last year), then I think we're already in that status.

[JBcat]

I kind of like the idea of some sort of package involving Zeller for Bogut (or maybe even someone like Randolph for a low post presence). That would mostly preserve our big assets and cap space, and take a run at Griffin in the offseason.  If we strike out there maybe then strike a deal for Cousins or someone else, and we'll know at that point where our Nets pick stands.

[jbp126]

I get the reservations around giving up assets and the notion that this could be perceived as a panic move but I don't think it's panicking when a weakness is identified and addressed.  The rebounding is a major issue that the current roster cannot rectify.  Neither Horford nor Olynyk are good rebounders for their positions and we cannot rely on the guards to clean up the glass.

The more I think about it, the more I'd like us to make a Cousins deal happen.  It's a risk to give up assets and to take on his combustible personality but he could put us over the top and is worth the risks.

[Moranis]

With Zizic and Yabusele stashed and the Nets picks in the pipeline, I think the likeliest trade target is a big man on an expiring contract who won't necessarily be in the team's long-term plans.

Sounds like Nerlens is your guy.  I voted for him because I think he is the best player who I actually attainable.  That said...

Do you really want to trade away assets for Noel only to have him walk at the end of the season?  More conventional GM thinking says to not make a trade and wait until the off-season to sign Noel outright.

and waste a year of Horford and get another year closer to massive raises for Thomas, Bradley, and Crowder.  The time to move is now.  Boston didn't sign Horford to build a contender around Brown and the other Brooklyn picks years from now.

The goal is to build a contender with Horford now while preserving the ability to build a contender around Brown and future picks that can win a title after Horford's current contract is over.  It's not an either/or situation.

Sure it is because Boston can't build a contender around Horford without trading assets to do it.

Depends on what you define as a contender...

If "contender" means a team with an at least somewhat decent chance at winning it all, then you're right, we have to look to trade assets to get to contender status.

If "contender" means a team that makes it pretty far in the playoffs (like, conference finals), but may or may not ever be in the discussion to win it all (like Toronto last year), then I think we're already in that status.

A contender is a team that could realistically win the title if it gets the breaks.  For Boston to be one of those, Boston needs to acquire at least one A level player while keeping its current "big" 4.  In order to acquire that A level talent, Boston will have to give up at least 2 of its 3 prime assets (Brown, BKN 17, BKN 18) unless it gets very lucky in free agency (which I wouldn't expect), but waiting till free agency loses a year of Horford and brings Boston to the verge of needing a very large payroll to keep its "big" 4 in tact.  Thus, I don't believe Boston can be a contender with Horford and still build for the future.  I've been saying for awhile, that Boston did not acquire Horford to sit on him and not do much else.  Boston acquired Horford to try and build a real contender, which means that Boston at some point is going to trade some of its primo assets for a primo talent.  That might not be until this summer, but I absolutely expect a major trade before next off season.

Now acquiring guys like Noel, Chandler, or Bogut, isn't going to make Boston a contender, but it will make the team closer and it will not cost Boston a primo asset to acquire one of those guys.  That is why I could certainly see one of those moves being made this season.

[LooseCannon]

With Zizic and Yabusele stashed and the Nets picks in the pipeline, I think the likeliest trade target is a big man on an expiring contract who won't necessarily be in the team's long-term plans.

Sounds like Nerlens is your guy.  I voted for him because I think he is the best player who I actually attainable.  That said...

Do you really want to trade away assets for Noel only to have him walk at the end of the season?  More conventional GM thinking says to not make a trade and wait until the off-season to sign Noel outright.

and waste a year of Horford and get another year closer to massive raises for Thomas, Bradley, and Crowder.  The time to move is now.  Boston didn't sign Horford to build a contender around Brown and the other Brooklyn picks years from now.

The goal is to build a contender with Horford now while preserving the ability to build a contender around Brown and future picks that can win a title after Horford's current contract is over.  It's not an either/or situation.

Sure it is because Boston can't build a contender around Horford without trading assets to do it.

Depends on what you define as a contender...

If "contender" means a team with an at least somewhat decent chance at winning it all, then you're right, we have to look to trade assets to get to contender status.

If "contender" means a team that makes it pretty far in the playoffs (like, conference finals), but may or may not ever be in the discussion to win it all (like Toronto last year), then I think we're already in that status.

A contender is a team that could realistically win the title if it gets the breaks.  For Boston to be one of those, Boston needs to acquire at least one A level player while keeping its current "big" 4.  In order to acquire that A level talent, Boston will have to give up at least 2 of its 3 prime assets (Brown, BKN 17, BKN 18) unless it gets very lucky in free agency (which I wouldn't expect), but waiting till free agency loses a year of Horford and brings Boston to the verge of needing a very large payroll to keep its "big" 4 in tact.  Thus, I don't believe Boston can be a contender with Horford and still build for the future.  I've been saying for awhile, that Boston did not acquire Horford to sit on him and not do much else.  Boston acquired Horford to try and build a real contender, which means that Boston at some point is going to trade some of its primo assets for a primo talent.  That might not be until this summer, but I absolutely expect a major trade before next off season.

Now acquiring guys like Noel, Chandler, or Bogut, isn't going to make Boston a contender, but it will make the team closer and it will not cost Boston a primo asset to acquire one of those guys.  That is why I could certainly see one of those moves being made this season.

I suspect that Plan A is some combination of landing a major free agent and/or drafting a ROY big man candidate.  Plan A goes out the window if Ainge sees the sort of trade value that he saw in the IT trade, but he's not going to do a big deal which doesn't have more value coming in than going out.  He's not going to blow his wad because he thinks timing requires a deal this season.

One trade I could see is Denver deciding to blow it up and being willing to take pennies on the dollar for whatever they can get for a Faried/Gallo package at the deadline.

[GreenShooter]

I voted Cousins because he's more realistic than my #1 choice Anthony Davis.

[Csfan1984]

I voted other=Derrick Favors is my choice.

[alldaboston]

I voted other=Derrick Favors is my choice.

I think that would work-if not for Utah being in win now mode. If they were gonna rebuild, I would absolutely think that they would trade him. But they're a pretty good team now that they're almost at full health. They have a very stingy defense and they're still fairly young, so they can expect improvement and progression over time too.

Favors, though, seems to be criminally underrated. No one ever really talks about him, but he seems to be a really good player.

[tankcity!]

With Zizic and Yabusele stashed and the Nets picks in the pipeline, I think the likeliest trade target is a big man on an expiring contract who won't necessarily be in the team's long-term plans.

Sounds like Nerlens is your guy.  I voted for him because I think he is the best player who I actually attainable.  That said...

Do you really want to trade away assets for Noel only to have him walk at the end of the season?  More conventional GM thinking says to not make a trade and wait until the off-season to sign Noel outright.

and waste a year of Horford and get another year closer to massive raises for Thomas, Bradley, and Crowder.  The time to move is now.  Boston didn't sign Horford to build a contender around Brown and the other Brooklyn picks years from now.

So who should they trade for? Is anyone except the Sixers centers even available?

[jbpats]

What about Anthony Davis? Rumors of him going to NYK for Kristaps and D. Rose have started to surface. Obviously if true Kristaps would be hard to match, as I don’t believe the Celtics have anybody on our roster as valuable as him.. unless of course we dump all the Brooklyn picks + Crowder + whatever other contract filler we would need to add.

[alldaboston]

What about Anthony Davis? Rumors of him going to NYK for Kristaps and D. Rose have started to surface. Obviously if true Kristaps would be hard to match, as I don’t believe the Celtics have anybody on our roster as valuable as him.. unless of course we dump all the Brooklyn picks + Crowder + whatever other contract filler we would need to add.

You've gotta give us a source or a link for that rumor. I've never heard of anything remotely like that, and I consider myself to be on top of the rumor game.

[Moranis]

With Zizic and Yabusele stashed and the Nets picks in the pipeline, I think the likeliest trade target is a big man on an expiring contract who won't necessarily be in the team's long-term plans.

Sounds like Nerlens is your guy.  I voted for him because I think he is the best player who I actually attainable.  That said...

Do you really want to trade away assets for Noel only to have him walk at the end of the season?  More conventional GM thinking says to not make a trade and wait until the off-season to sign Noel outright.

and waste a year of Horford and get another year closer to massive raises for Thomas, Bradley, and Crowder.  The time to move is now.  Boston didn't sign Horford to build a contender around Brown and the other Brooklyn picks years from now.

So who should they trade for? Is anyone except the Sixers centers even available?

I think Noel, Chandler, or Bogut would all be reasonable options that won't break the asset bank, but that would fill a real need on the team.  Heck, I even posted a thread about Chandler.  You get one of those guys now and the team, while not being a contender, will have a better foundation going into the summer when I think a star might be available for trade (like Cousins, Westbrook, etc.) or maybe a free agent target like Griffin or Hayward.

I just don't see the point in waiting till the summer to do anything when Boston can do something now and get better.  For a team that expects to be in the playoffs, getting better should be the goal (obviously I'm not suggesting just give away primo assets to get moderately better, but that isn't the type of player being discussed either).