This is an argument outlining why we should not make the home run trades, make a small move for someone like Bogut (or Drummond at a can't-say-no rate), unless the price is just so silly low that it would be out of the realm of possibility to not take it.
Danny is too smart to not recognize how good of a hand he has been dealt. He has a team that is built to at the very least have a solid run of contending for the Eastern Conference for a few years, based on the team as currently constructed. He has one of the best coaches in the league, and has drafted two players in the top 6 over the past 3 years. Smart seems to be blossoming into Tony Allen with a more confident offensive game, and Brown offers tantalizing athleticism and the perfect team/coach to refine his game.
I wish to add a caveat to what I'm about to say. I never would mean to diminish, in any way, how amazing Tim Duncan was, and how winning culture just exudes from him in the way that it does from TB12. But the Spurs blueprint that helped them succeed as long as they did goes beyond just having Tim Duncan. It has to do with building a successful team, while always having talent flowing in.
Pop built the Spurs dynasty not just with Tim Duncan, but with not sacrificing the future for the present. Shortsighted decisions can doom a team before it has a chance to be truly great. OKC didn't have the foresight to really use their resources to keep Harden, and then maybe explore trades down the line if it didn't work out, but in rushing that trade they sold out their future to make things a little less messy in the present. The Bulls didn't have enough flexibility to add young talent to soften the blow of Rose's injuries. Danny doesn't want to build a team that has a 2-3 year championship window. He wants to build a team that can compete for a generation. In order to do that, he needs to keep the picks.
The Celtics had a 30+ year window of contention, sometimes briefly interrupted for a couple of years to retool. Danny idolizes Red, and wants to create that type of "dynasty" in his own right. Knocking off the Cavs AND Warriors this season seems like a tall order. Are Jimmy Butler or Paul George enough to give the C's that gear they would need to feel confident that they could run the table? If he isn't sure of that, he won't cash in the best chances he has to set himself up to build the dynasty.
Imagine if the Spurs, frustrated in 2000 or 2001 that they've taken a couple of steps back compared to the teams around them, really felt the need to go get a star ball-handler so that they can compete with the prime Lakers. Maybe they include Manu in the deal, or the 1st that became Parker, or the abundance of picks that always enabled them to take chances on high upside stashes. They wouldn't have stayed the Spurs for long, and Duncan could have been just another one in a long line of generational stars who were stranded by a lack of strong enough complementary talent, much as Dirk/KG were for much of their careers.
The only way to keep moving forward, is to have an abundance of players on cheap deals that can fill a role, and hope that those players develop into more than that when thrust into larger roles. Have incredibly talented players serve as understudies, until the time comes when they can make the leap and take over games, much as Smart has been, and as Bradley/IT4 have done before. You can see the flashes in Brown. If you keep adding players like that, that have the talent and the desire to be great, then some of them will hit, and even those that don't hit will still be great assets, those that can be moved to keep the cycle moving, much in the way George Hill became expendable the second Pop had a chance at Kawhi Leonard in the draft.
Once it has been established that the player being traded for won't make the Celtics title favorites over the Warriors, then they have to hold. In the summer there will be players of Butler's caliber who will be available, and who will not cost Brooklyn picks or young puzzle pieces. Sure, there will be a lot of competition for players like Hayward, Noel, Ibaka, Gallo, to say nothing of the possibility of any Warriors or Clippers stars opting to leave, but the C's would be players for any of them were they to change teams.
Imagine this lineup:
2018-19 Celtics:
Backcourt: IT4 (and his $20-25 million contract), Smart, Rozier, (Insert 2017 BKN 1st PG) Frontcourt: Horford and Noel ($18-22/year) down low, Crowder and Brown on the wing, with whichever sexy Towns-style project big they pick in 2018.
Fill in the blanks for the rest of the team. Maybe they sign Hayward or another scoring wing and draft a PG who needs to play now, and they move IT4 and keep Bradley after next year. Maybe they're bluffing and buy lowwwww on Okafor, in the hopes of molding him into the dominant low post force he has the game to be. Who knows. All that I do know, is that there are a lot of ways to mess this up, but the only way to make sure that its done right is to keep moving forward and don't throw away a rare opportunity to be a contender and still draft in the top 5.
Detroit had one chance at it, and they blew it. The Celtics have two chances, maybe three. One of them was Brown, who we haven't seen enough of to know which way he will go, although the talent is there to be dreamed on. Trade the Brooklyn picks, and Brown becomes our only hope at it. Players like Butler will be available again. True superstars don't get made available often, especially not on rookie deals. Take the shots.
Keep the picks, build the dynasty.
Submitted February 21, 2017 at 11:43PM by goldielax25