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%2FWhat 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?