Grading Danny's offseason moves

[hwangjini_1]

What happens if Ainge gets a failing mark?

Can he at least appeal or does he lose his job?

ha ha ha...well done g666. love that gif.  a well deserved tp for you.

[Big333223]

Giving each deal a grade in a vacuum doesn't make much sense. In a vacuum, stretching Jackson may seem like a bad move (although his hit is so small that it will have no effect on our cap - not like the Pistons with Josh Smith or the Bucks with Larry Sanders), but it was the only way to sign Nader to any deal other than a 1 or 2 year minimum. Similarly, the Tatum pick and 76ers trade are impossible to judge individually.

This.

Grading the Pistons deal a D+ ignores that it was necessary to make room for the Hayward signing. It was part of a larger deal that looks more like: Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, Jordan Mickey for Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris, and the ability to bring Guershon Yabusele over now.

It's also strange, to me, to grade the drafting of Tatum separate from the Sixers trade. As always, context should matter.

[Jvalin]

Why a D+ for the Pistons trade? Of course AB is a better player than Marcus Morris. But we have to develop other 2s (my bet is that by playoff time it's going to be Jaylen Brown in that slot) and we desperately needed a 4. Obviously we weren't going to have budget to keep AB, IT, and MS next year. It's a sensible deal. I would have liked Danny to get someone like JaMychal for that spot, but I don't know that an S&T was possible there.

Cause

- AB > Morris
- on top of that we gave them a second rounder as well
- Morris-Horford may very well be the worst rebounding duo (PC-C) in the league

What would you have done with AB?  Especially if you also wanted Ainge to draft Fultz, what were you hoping for him to do about our frontcourt situation?

Well, for what it's worth, I didn't want us to trade him at all. Having said that, if I had believed that AB was the odd man out, I would have traded him at last season's deadline.

For instance, according to Woj, the Sixers were interested in him.

Adrian Wojnarowski@wojespn

Sources: Philadelphia searching for defensive-minded guards to play with Ben Simmons. One target: Boston's Avery Bradley. No traction.

https://www.libertyballers.com/2017/2/23/14716060/nba-trade-rumors-sixers-trade-celtics-avery-bradley-no-traction-danny-ainge-ben-simmons

Given that we were in no rush to trade him at the time, it's only logical to assume that we would have been negotiating from a position of strength. Heck, AB for Saric straight up sounds like a pretty good deal right now, doesn't it? And that's just one example, based on info from a single source.

Worst case scenario, I would have traded him on draft night (by then we knew that the cap projection had been reduced to $99 million). I bet we would have gotten a better return than Morris.

Let's face it, Danny had no leverage in trades for AB, but that was 100% his fault. He should have planned ahead. I mean, IT-AB and Smart are all entering their contract year. It would have been highly unlikely to resign all 3 of them, regardless of what was about to happen with Hayward.

I don't see how you're giving the Larkin signing a D+. Seems more like a meh, or maybe gets a underweighted B. He's the 16th contract, so he only makes the team if he shows himself better than someone else.  And the owner gets a boost for being willing to spend guaranteed money on at least one player who won't be on the roster.

I don't believe he is good enough. The fact that he may not even make the team speaks volumes of his abilities as a basketball player.

[Jvalin]

What happens if Ainge gets a failing mark?

Can he at least appeal or does he lose his job?

Nope, he gets fired and we replace him with Billy King!

[More Banners]

Aside from trading AB (instead of Smart&Crowder), and not bringing in rebounding are my two knocks on the offseason so far.

Hayward signing and acing the draft by getting Tatum + another asset makes up for that, mostly. Want to control the boards though.

B

[ThePaintedArea]

Why a D+ for the Pistons trade? Of course AB is a better player than Marcus Morris. But we have to develop other 2s (my bet is that by playoff time it's going to be Jaylen Brown in that slot) and we desperately needed a 4. Obviously we weren't going to have budget to keep AB, IT, and MS next year. It's a sensible deal. I would have liked Danny to get someone like JaMychal for that spot, but I don't know that an S&T was possible there.

Cause

- AB > Morris

Perhaps. But wasn't Bradley the most expendable of the wings, being the least versatile, the smallest, and the least of a playmaker?

Marcus Morris, on the other hand, fits a need.

- Morris-Horford may very well be the worst rebounding duo (PC-C) in the league

A fair point, although when Morris has played more four, in past seasons, he has rebounded better.

Defensive rebounding was a crisis last season, and it's hard to see that getting better. For a wing, Crowder is an outstanding defensive rebounder - but if he's playing pf/swing, the position needs to be more productive.

Will this mean more minutes for Aron Baynes? But there are other drawbacks to playing him with Horford - perimeter defense, for one.

Should be very interesting playing the Pelicans...

[SHAQATTACK]

When we hang #18 this season .  He ll get his "A"

[ThePaintedArea]

When we hang #18 this season .  He ll get his "A"

I believe that miracles are possible, but that would be one good one for sure. No, it's not likely.  But Boston is going to play some good ball this year, well worth watching, and the chance of getting to the third round again is very high, and because of how things have gone in the Eastern Conference even the Finals are looking promising.

I think, on the other hand, that it's a good bet that the Celts have a slow start, followed by the second-guessing...

Enjoy the ride. Things will look pretty good in March and April.

[timpiker]

Overall is hands down an A-

[Granath]

It's asinine to rate the acquisition of Hayward an A and then grade the moves that it took to acquire him Ds. These moves are interrelated and cannot be evaluated in isolation.

It's equally asinine to rate the signing of a player a B and then give an F to the move it took to make that happen. These moves are interrelated and cannot be evaluated in isolation.

It's even more asinine to rank every move equally when some have a far greater impact than others.

In short, while the original poster is entitled to their opinion their post demonstrates a striking lack of understanding of even the basics of the business side of basketball. Not to mention basic logic....

[BitterJim]

When we hang #18 this season .  He ll get his "A"

I believe that miracles are possible, but that would be one good one for sure. No, it's not likely.  But Boston is going to play some good ball this year, well worth watching, and the chance of getting to the third round again is very high, and because of how things have gone in the Eastern Conference even the Finals are looking promising.

I think, on the other hand, that it's a good bet that the Celts have a slow start, followed by the second-guessing...

Enjoy the ride. Things will look pretty good in March and April.

Yup.  CBS will play tons of new and different rotations over the first couple of months to see what does and doesn't work, and will lead to us losing a couple of games we should win.  People will be all up and arms and angry that he won't just nail down a rotation and stick with it, but if/when rotations crop up or we have a weird matchup in the playoffs, that experimentation will be invaluable. 

[Dino Pitino]

Cause

- AB > Morris
- on top of that we gave them a second rounder as well
- Morris-Horford may very well be the worst rebounding duo (PC-C) in the league

Giving them the second rounder is a clue that you have it backwards, that Morris was a more valuable commodity than Bradley. Signed an extra year, for millions less, about as effective on offense as Bradley, a Lebron specialist on defense. At worst it's a lateral move. You're illogically fixated on it being bad.

[celticsclay]

Cause

- AB > Morris
- on top of that we gave them a second rounder as well
- Morris-Horford may very well be the worst rebounding duo (PC-C) in the league

Giving them the second rounder is a clue that you have it backwards, that Morris was a more valuable commodity than Bradley. Signed an extra year, for millions less, about as effective on offense as Bradley, a Lebron specialist on defense. At worst it's a lateral move. You're illogically fixated on it being bad.

I agree with this. Given contracts, team fit etc, people are really overly harping on the loss of Bradley. I get it, he was here a long time and I liked him a lot myself. However, acting like it offsets the gain of an in his prime all-star is ridiculous and Morris is very solid in his own right. He may look even better away from the dysfunction in Detroit.

[flybono]

C- ?  You in Colorado having a smoke at one of those legalized coffee shops?

Hayward alone gives the man Dan an A+

Far as Fultz or Tatum flip a coin since there wasnt a Lebron in the draft..

A chance at 2, top 5 picks next season with 4 legit big men has dynasty all over it, if the chips fall in place..

Did I say a chance of 2 top 5 piks next draft?

[jambr380]

Cause

- AB > Morris
- on top of that we gave them a second rounder as well
- Morris-Horford may very well be the worst rebounding duo (PC-C) in the league

Giving them the second rounder is a clue that you have it backwards, that Morris was a more valuable commodity than Bradley. Signed an extra year, for millions less, about as effective on offense as Bradley, a Lebron specialist on defense. At worst it's a lateral move. You're illogically fixated on it being bad.

Yeah, seriously. I loved Bradley, but I I understand why we had to trade him. Additionally, Morris might compete with Crowder for best NBA contract - no issue there.

And why in heck is Baynes not an A? Not only did we desperately need a player like that with our last shot, we also got him for like half of what he was worth because he wanted to play with us (a contender).

As has been mentioned, weighting all of these moves equally makes no sense. Getting Hayward was awesome, getting Tatum and another lottery pick (when DA would have just taken Tatum #1 anyway) was awesome, and getting a starting caliber swing who can guard Lebron for a player who you weren't going to sign is certainly decent.

This offseason has been pretty great!