To The "Trade IT" Crowd. What Are We Trading Him FOR?

[Moranis]

they won't develop properly, you won't get to see if they are worth big money raises, and you won't be able to keep everyone for salary purposes.

Based on what? 

Smart has been brought along in that way and he's doing just fine.

As for salary, it'll be 4+ years before guys like Brown, Zizic, Fultz etc are due for a raise, at which point the veterans will be ready to come off the books.

smart has never played less than 27 mpg in his entire career.  He isn't just some bit player off the bench.

Smart is due for a raise next year. Brown in 3 years.  Olynyk this summer.  Bradley and Thomas get raises next summer along with Smart.  You are significantly underestimating the salary implications.

[gouki88]

IT is one of the best scorers in the league, and is a pretty decent playmaker for others as well. Boston simply won't be able to compete if we trade IT for more picks or more young players who might develop into a player as productive as IT.

Even if we sign a big name free agent (Hayward, Griffin level guys), I think shipping IT off for youth is a bad move. Despite our lovely looking future, this Boston team is definitely designed to compete for the next 4 or so years with IT and Horford.

Definitely keep IT.

[Jvalin]

IT is one of the best scorers in the league, and is a pretty decent playmaker for others as well. Boston simply won't be able to compete if we trade IT for more picks or more young players who might develop into a player as productive as IT.

Even if we sign a big name free agent (Hayward, Griffin level guys), I think shipping IT off for youth is a bad move. Despite our lovely looking future, this Boston team is definitely designed to compete for the next 4 or so years with IT and Horford.

Definitely keep IT.

Boston won't be able to compete regardless of what happens with IT. The Cavs and the Warriors are on another level. IT, Horford and another all-star (let's say Hayward) can't move the needle past Cleveland. And in the off chance they do, we ll then have to face the Warriors with their 4 all-stars and 2 MVPs.

[gouki88]

IT is one of the best scorers in the league, and is a pretty decent playmaker for others as well. Boston simply won't be able to compete if we trade IT for more picks or more young players who might develop into a player as productive as IT.

Even if we sign a big name free agent (Hayward, Griffin level guys), I think shipping IT off for youth is a bad move. Despite our lovely looking future, this Boston team is definitely designed to compete for the next 4 or so years with IT and Horford.

Definitely keep IT.

Boston won't be able to compete regardless of what happens with IT. The Cavs and the Warriors are on another level. IT, Horford and another all-star (let's say Hayward) can't move the needle past Cleveland. And in the off chance they do, we ll then have to face the Warriors with their 4 all-stars and 2 MVPs.

If Boston had IT, Al and Hayward (or another player on that level) plus continued development from guys like Smart, Jaylen and whoever we draft, then I'd be pretty confident in our ability to compete with Cleveland and GSW.

I'm probably somewhat of an optimist in that regard, but if we added another top 25 player in the league then I definitely see us being in the mix.

[trickybilly]

Can we have Marc Gasol?
 Somehow...

[jaketwice]

Look - Jabari Parker and Khris Middleton are nice players. Myles Turner is fine. But they don't carry their trans offensively. We have a lot of bad shooters and good defenders on our team right now. These *new* and *exciting* small forward types may be prototypically sized to lead a team - but they don't - at least at the moment - lead their teams.

IT is a transcendent talent. And okay - I realize he is very flawed/short in a way that will hurt us in the playoffs big time. But there's a whole regular season to play through! Without his offensive skill set we would be the worst offensive team in the NBA. 

Look at it this way - you sign IT to a big deal, and draft say Fultz. Fultz turns out to be great. Don't you think there would still be a trade market for IT? He's short, yes. But he is so freaking good at basketball.

[Moranis]

Look - Jabari Parker and Khris Middleton are nice players. Myles Turner is fine. But they don't carry their trans offensively. We have a lot of bad shooters and good defenders on our team right now. These *new* and *exciting* small forward types may be prototypically sized to lead a team - but they don't - at least at the moment - lead their teams.

IT is a transcendent talent. And okay - I realize he is very flawed/short in a way that will hurt us in the playoffs big time. But there's a whole regular season to play through! Without his offensive skill set we would be the worst offensive team in the NBA. 

Look at it this way - you sign IT to a big deal, and draft say Fultz. Fultz turns out to be great. Don't you think there would still be a trade market for IT? He's short, yes. But he is so freaking good at basketball.

IT doesn't have much of a market now, his market with a max level contract will be almost non-existent.

[jambr380]

Look - Jabari Parker and Khris Middleton are nice players. Myles Turner is fine. But they don't carry their trans offensively. We have a lot of bad shooters and good defenders on our team right now. These *new* and *exciting* small forward types may be prototypically sized to lead a team - but they don't - at least at the moment - lead their teams.

IT is a transcendent talent. And okay - I realize he is very flawed/short in a way that will hurt us in the playoffs big time. But there's a whole regular season to play through! Without his offensive skill set we would be the worst offensive team in the NBA. 

Look at it this way - you sign IT to a big deal, and draft say Fultz. Fultz turns out to be great. Don't you think there would still be a trade market for IT? He's short, yes. But he is so freaking good at basketball.

IT doesn't have much of a market now, his market with a max level contract will be almost non-existent.

Are you sure? If that's the case, the Cs shouldn't have to give more than $15M/yr to IT, but I am going to go out on a limb and say there is probably more of a market for him than that.

At his current salary, any team would love to have him. He has now proven himself, which wasn't completely the case prior to coming to Boston.

[Dannys Chipotle Guy]

LOL if IT "doesnt have much of a market now" then we should keep him. End of story.

[Moranis]

Look - Jabari Parker and Khris Middleton are nice players. Myles Turner is fine. But they don't carry their trans offensively. We have a lot of bad shooters and good defenders on our team right now. These *new* and *exciting* small forward types may be prototypically sized to lead a team - but they don't - at least at the moment - lead their teams.

IT is a transcendent talent. And okay - I realize he is very flawed/short in a way that will hurt us in the playoffs big time. But there's a whole regular season to play through! Without his offensive skill set we would be the worst offensive team in the NBA. 

Look at it this way - you sign IT to a big deal, and draft say Fultz. Fultz turns out to be great. Don't you think there would still be a trade market for IT? He's short, yes. But he is so freaking good at basketball.

IT doesn't have much of a market now, his market with a max level contract will be almost non-existent.

Are you sure? If that's the case, the Cs shouldn't have to give more than $15M/yr to IT, but I am going to go out on a limb and say there is probably more of a market for him than that.

At his current salary, any team would love to have him. He has now proven himself, which wasn't completely the case prior to coming to Boston.

There is a difference between what someone would pay for a free agent and what someone would give up in a trade.  That was the point I was making.  Very few teams would acquire Thomas for any real value right now.  You give him a maximum contract and that number goes down to just about 0.  There are teams that would give him a large contract.

[Dannys Chipotle Guy]

IT is one of the best scorers in the league, and is a pretty decent playmaker for others as well. Boston simply won't be able to compete if we trade IT for more picks or more young players who might develop into a player as productive as IT.

Even if we sign a big name free agent (Hayward, Griffin level guys), I think shipping IT off for youth is a bad move. Despite our lovely looking future, this Boston team is definitely designed to compete for the next 4 or so years with IT and Horford.

Definitely keep IT.

Boston won't be able to compete regardless of what happens with IT. The Cavs and the Warriors are on another level. IT, Horford and another all-star (let's say Hayward) can't move the needle past Cleveland. And in the off chance they do, we ll then have to face the Warriors with their 4 all-stars and 2 MVPs.

Kyrie Irving Kevin Durant and Steph Curry all have pretty serious injury histories and Lebron has  played a ton of minutes over his career. The Cavs are a pretty old team.

Our current squad + a star + development of Brown/Smart would absolutely compete for a title.

[Jvalin]

IT is one of the best scorers in the league, and is a pretty decent playmaker for others as well. Boston simply won't be able to compete if we trade IT for more picks or more young players who might develop into a player as productive as IT.

Even if we sign a big name free agent (Hayward, Griffin level guys), I think shipping IT off for youth is a bad move. Despite our lovely looking future, this Boston team is definitely designed to compete for the next 4 or so years with IT and Horford.

Definitely keep IT.

Boston won't be able to compete regardless of what happens with IT. The Cavs and the Warriors are on another level. IT, Horford and another all-star (let's say Hayward) can't move the needle past Cleveland. And in the off chance they do, we ll then have to face the Warriors with their 4 all-stars and 2 MVPs.

Kyrie Irving Kevin Durant and Steph Curry all have pretty serious injury histories and Lebron has  played a ton of minutes over his career. The Cavs are a pretty old team.

Our current squad + a star + development of Brown/Smart would absolutely compete for a title.

So are you talking about 2-3 years down the road? If that's the case, I completely agree with you, but that's exactly why I want us to trade IT. We can't compete right now. We won't compete next year either. All we can do is just hope that the other teams will get unlucky with injuries. And it's not like we don't have guys with injury concerns as well (Bradley, Smart, Kelly).

The way I see it, if we draft Fultz/Ball there is no point in keeping IT and paying him the max. We should give Fultz/Ball extended minutes at the point and hopefully in 2-3 years we ll be ready for contention.

Fultz/Ball, Smart
Bradley, Brown
Hayward, Crowder
Turner, Yabu
Horford, Zizic

Add the Brooklyn 2018 pick (a long term replacement for Horford?) and this team has a great future for years to come.

[Darío SpanishFan]

IT is one of the best scorers in the league, and is a pretty decent playmaker for others as well. Boston simply won't be able to compete if we trade IT for more picks or more young players who might develop into a player as productive as IT.

Even if we sign a big name free agent (Hayward, Griffin level guys), I think shipping IT off for youth is a bad move. Despite our lovely looking future, this Boston team is definitely designed to compete for the next 4 or so years with IT and Horford.

Definitely keep IT.

Boston won't be able to compete regardless of what happens with IT. The Cavs and the Warriors are on another level. IT, Horford and another all-star (let's say Hayward) can't move the needle past Cleveland. And in the off chance they do, we ll then have to face the Warriors with their 4 all-stars and 2 MVPs.

Kyrie Irving Kevin Durant and Steph Curry all have pretty serious injury histories and Lebron has  played a ton of minutes over his career. The Cavs are a pretty old team.

Our current squad + a star + development of Brown/Smart would absolutely compete for a title.

So are you talking about 2-3 years down the road? If that's the case, I completely agree with you, but that's exactly why I want us to trade IT. We can't compete right now. We won't compete next year either. All we can do is just hope that the other teams will get unlucky with injuries. And it's not like we don't have guys with injury concerns as well (Bradley, Smart, Kelly).

The way I see it, if we draft Fultz/Ball there is no point in keeping IT and paying him the max. We should give Fultz/Ball extended minutes at the point and hopefully in 2-3 years we ll be ready for contention.

Fultz/Ball, Smart
Bradley, Brown
Hayward, Crowder
Turner, Yabu
Horford, Zizic

Add the Brooklyn 2018 pick (a long term replacement for Horford?) and this team has a great future for years to come.

This is also my kind of proposal, and the trade makes sense because Indiana has to do something to convince Paul George to extend his contract. TP

[Jvalin]

IT is one of the best scorers in the league, and is a pretty decent playmaker for others as well. Boston simply won't be able to compete if we trade IT for more picks or more young players who might develop into a player as productive as IT.

Even if we sign a big name free agent (Hayward, Griffin level guys), I think shipping IT off for youth is a bad move. Despite our lovely looking future, this Boston team is definitely designed to compete for the next 4 or so years with IT and Horford.

Definitely keep IT.

Boston won't be able to compete regardless of what happens with IT. The Cavs and the Warriors are on another level. IT, Horford and another all-star (let's say Hayward) can't move the needle past Cleveland. And in the off chance they do, we ll then have to face the Warriors with their 4 all-stars and 2 MVPs.

Kyrie Irving Kevin Durant and Steph Curry all have pretty serious injury histories and Lebron has  played a ton of minutes over his career. The Cavs are a pretty old team.

Our current squad + a star + development of Brown/Smart would absolutely compete for a title.

So are you talking about 2-3 years down the road? If that's the case, I completely agree with you, but that's exactly why I want us to trade IT. We can't compete right now. We won't compete next year either. All we can do is just hope that the other teams will get unlucky with injuries. And it's not like we don't have guys with injury concerns as well (Bradley, Smart, Kelly).

The way I see it, if we draft Fultz/Ball there is no point in keeping IT and paying him the max. We should give Fultz/Ball extended minutes at the point and hopefully in 2-3 years we ll be ready for contention.

Fultz/Ball, Smart
Bradley, Brown
Hayward, Crowder
Turner, Yabu
Horford, Zizic

Add the Brooklyn 2018 pick (a long term replacement for Horford?) and this team has a great future for years to come.

This is also my kind of proposal, and the trade makes sense because Indiana has to do something to convince Paul George to extend his contract. TP

Besides this, Paul George thinks highly of IT.

https://twitter.com/MichaelVPina/status/833022392964435968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fnesn.com%2F2017%2F02%2Fpaul-george-most-excited-to-see-isaiah-thomas-at-nba-all-star-weekend%2F

What if Indy isn't interested in trading Turner though? I mean, he is already averaging great numbers and he is in his 2nd year in the league. It's highly likely they don't want to trade him at all.

Any other ideas?

Would you do IT + Memphis 2019 first for Saric + Sacramento 2019 first unprotected?

What other guys on rookie deals could we go after? Someone mentioned Jabari. Personally speaking, no way am I trading IT for Jabari. His injury history just scares me.

Is there a way we pair IT with Zeller and go after a bigger fish? Who is likely to become available? In all honesty, I don't think a trade for Butler is a realistic scenario. It's a lateral move. Chicago would have nothing to gain out of this.

I know, that's a lot of questions. Any ideas people?

[Smokeeye123]

If it's a perfect world and the lakers lose their pick to the 76ers maybe we could get one of their top 5 picks this year. Package Bradley + a pick or IT + a pick.

Imagine adding Fultz AND Jackson or Fultz AND Tatum...Although maybe Philly would just trade us 3 and 5 for 1 and Bradley if our picks fell like that