Stay away from George, Butler, Cousins, or whoever else ends up being available at the deadline. None of these players would make us competitive with the Warriors. There is no point wasting our greatest future growth factor (the Brooklyn picks) just so we can be a perennial ECF or Finals loser.
Maximize this team by signing whoever you can in free agency (Griffin, Hayward, Milsap, or failing that, just extend Isaiah), then wait while the 17 and 18 picks develop. Have a good team and a great future at the same time.
The only trades I want to see at the deadline are deals where we maybe give away a bad draft pick for some marginal upgrade on an expiring contract. Nothing that costs a Brooklyn pick, and nothing that ties up money past this year.
Millsap is useless to us, Hayward is a modest uograde over Crowder and will cost is 4x as much, Griffin is likely unavailable and is no better then Butler is.
And the nature of free agency dictates that there is no guarantee we get any of those guys - they could just as easily stay with their teams or sign elsewhere.
The last time Ainge had money in free egency he threw $28m a year at a 30 year old G fringe star who was (and still is) clearly on the decline.
Ive been one of Danny's nicest supporters. He's a great gm who has made some amazing moves. But he's too greedy for his own good, and at times like this it comes at the detriment of the team.
Butler is an elite all-round wing who helps you on both ends of the court, he's on a cost controlled long term contract, and adding hin would be a difference maker to this team for years to come.
And anybody who says it doesn't get us past Golden State - you dont know that. Golden State set a record last year for most wins in a season and we're hyped s the best regular season team in history, and they almost got embarassed by the Thunder before getting killed by the Cavs. Regardless of they talent, they choked when it counted and got beaten by an on-paper inferior Cleveland team.
Now Cleveland's hold on the east is fading because other teams have gotten better. Boston is 2 games away from them for the top seed, which is closer then anybody got to them in the east last season. We add a major piece like Butler, or even a smaller piece like Ibaka...make even a modest improvement to this team, and we'd be very capable of beating the Cavs, who are the defending NBA champions.
So giving up a chance to get a guy like Butler and new legit contenders for the next 4-5 years, just because danny is afraid to trade a draft pick, is nuts. We have 2 or 3 years left of Thomas and Horford being able to play at their current level. We have the opportunity to make something happen and content for a championship banner over those 3-4 years while still keeping the 2018 Brooklyn pick and while having plenty of young talent left on the roster for the future. Not doing it just for the sake of signing another Horford-caliber guy is silly