It’s a balancing act, right? I’m not advocating they give up the future for this season, but this team was built and meant to compete last year and this year. Kemba is over 30.
If the best they can do with Hayward is a trade exception, by all means do it, but I don’t see them getting guys that can move the needle for this year or the future in a 2nd trade that doesn’t involve Hayward. There’s no other real assets, unless a guy like Romeo pops and in that case they’re probably better off keeping him. They’ve got future firsts that will be in the 20s, and that’s it. Hayward is their most valuable trade asset as rough as that sounds. I don’t think you’ll get a better bite at the apple.
(most valuable trade asset of guys they would move, of course, that doesn’t include Tatum/Brown/Smart)
Ultimately, the team is meant to compete when Tatum is a top five player who is in the conversation for MVP. Ainge chose to surround a developing Tatum with quality veterans who Tatum would have to push past to make the team his own rather than building completely around Tatum.
Unless he’s getting an All-Star back, I expect Ainge to keep his books clean so that he has the flexibility to dump everyone except Tatum, Brown, and cheap, young players and have cap space for a max player when Walker’s contract is up.
Adding Oladipo does exactly what you’re advocating for: it puts a quality veteran on the team for the current run, and keeps the books clean.
Any meaningful player they can get back with the trade exception and picks/Romeo is either going to also expire like Oladipo, or be potentially onerous to the cap sheet. You can see evidence of this in the market for Hayward - he opted out of $34mm! There’s competition for good players. They’re not getting guys that can move the needle unless Hayward is in the trade. I understand the theory of the exception, but there’s no guarantee they can get anyone useful.
The biggest problem with getting Oladipo is that he will be playing for his next contract. The Celtics already went through that with Terry Rozier. There’s a potential chemistry problem if you bring him in and ask him to be the fourth option. After their experience with Kyrie, I think the Celtics are hoping to avoid locker room issues.
He already played in Orlando but other than that I can’t think of a destination that would fit him and the team.
I’d say Charlotte except with Ball there that’s a no. Cleveland and maybe Detroit I guess (Knicks seem to actually be making smart moves or I’d say them).
It was the first game back. I was at the arena. Atmosphere was incredible, but that was before we found out he was a locker room cancer and wanted out.
Thing is, neither team announced it. It was Woj. I mean, I don’t care that the Bucks don’t get Bogdan, unless a) it means that Giannis won’t re-sign, and/or b) they wouldn’t have given so much away in the Jrue deal if they weren’t planning on getting Bogdan.
It’s just annoying that all these superstars can plan for their buddies to sign with their team, that all sort of technical tampering can be done if its a big market, but as soon word gets out that Milwaukee, Sacramento, and the main player involved have something ready to go, then the league is all over it.
Then again, maybe Bogdan just realized he can get more money elsewhere. Who knows.
I say start free agency before the draft and don’t count anything as tampering if it’s not during the season.
Dunno about A but B seems to me like it has to be true.
They had to tell Woj it was off the record, someone fucked up there. Woj would not burn sources, trust me.
Story was that they were boys and he was willing to take less to play with him and win big. Lakers entering the picture would cancel out the winning angle for taking less.
That’s a fair point. I’m good with the risk, but it certainly hasn’t worked out well lately. I don’t want to get too hung up on Oladipo, anyway, as it seems really unlikely. I’m just hopeful they can get some useful piece out of Hayward.
They can all agree to play in a small market. The front offices just aren’t allowed to participate in any of that discussion. I think LeBron floated Cleveland as a destination for Wade and Bosh and they said no. I don’t think the league would have squashed it if they said yes. They still had to take some time to figure out the mechanics of a S&T to maximize money for the players.