Marc Spears: Two teams to keep an eye out for if Celtics make changes: Rockets and Spurs

Ya there's just no universe where he's a top 25 player or even close to that, and he's almost 31 already. I'm not opposed to a white trade, but a godfather offer for him is beyond ludicrus.

 

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He's a better overall player than a lot of the names that are brought up here. He's a better overall player than Booker, Trae Young and much better than Jaylon Brown.

He's also on a discount contract. He is the perfect fit for this roster. It's also not a godfather offer. Jalen Green is a negative asset at this time. Giving up one Phoenix pick and the Brooklyn swap in 2027 still would leave us with a lot of great assets.

Upgrading Jalen Green with Derrick White gives us a top-3 roster next season. Of course we should make that move if it becomes available.

 

ya i mean he's not close to booker, that's obviously absurd. He's not better (or even close to) brown (though i hate him and would not want him under any circumstances). That trade would shut the door completely on the rockets long term.

 

Devin Booker scores more points than Derrick White. Derrick White is a vastly superior defensive player though and a significantly better 3-point shooter. He can also play the point while Booker cannot. I like Devin Booker and would welcome a Booker trade here as long as Jalen Green is part of it. I'd rather Derrick White though.

Jaylon Brown was great in last years playoffs but really struggled this season. HIs offensive efficiency was not much better than Jalen Green's. His handles aren't much better than Jalen's either. He's bigger, stronger and probably better defensively than Jalen Green. Derrick White is a better player than Jaylon Brown though. Most Celtics fans would agree with that. Jaylon Brown just scores more. It's not all about points scored. If it were, Jalen Green would be our best player.

He's not.

 

I don't think Boston will "blow-up" their team next year.... Rather they will retool behind Brown & White.

 

I think a trade for White might be had although it would mean letting go of very valuable picks and multiple low

Boston is in the second apron and can’t aggregate contracts. The only reason to trade Derrick White is to be able to get under the second apron in a year or two and it will take multiple trades for them to do that. Jalen Green cannot be the center point of a trade for White. The Max we can send out in a trade for White is 28.1m. The Celtics will want either an expiring contract or two along with picks or two younger players who go to RFA within the next two years. Picks will be the center of any trade for Derrick White. I think the best we could offer would be Tari expiring, Landale expiring, Cam (super cheap) and #10, and maybe one future Rocket frp. We would still have some flexibility to trade Jalen and/or more picks maybe for Giannis or Durant.

 

I don't understand the aggregation rules in this situation. Would it actually be aggregating salary if they trade White to the Rockets and Porzingis to the Nets?

 

They can do that in separate trades. I may be wrong, but I think the league can step in if they believe teams are circumventing the rules, but regarding West or East Coast teams they let it slide. They can only send out one contract per each trade. If you have a 3-team trade they can still only send out one contract.

 

He's as available as he would be any time imo. You have to pay a lot and still they'd wonder why they should mess with a championship formula.

I think he's a great player but would be too expensive. They won't let him go for anything less than a star player because he's essentially the best role player in the NBA.

Celtics are looking to cut some tax money, they will obviously dump by least importance. That's Porzingis or Holiday. Most likely Holiday because they're thin up front with Horford close to retiring.

 

I could see Boston making Jru and Porzingas available (maybe even Jaylen Brown), but Derrick White might be their 2nd best player and he’s on a value contract. He’s not going anywhere.

 

Brown has been dealing with a knee injury for the majority of the season. I'm not sure how much you can judge his numbers this season with that being the case.

 

The bone bruise in the knee might be affecting him still although it apparently occurred in March.

He wasn't great earlier in the year either though.

Jaylon Brown is better than Jalen Green but I don't think he fits what we need. I also think his production given his contract is pretty bad.

 

Big no on Brown due to salary. White would be an amazing upgrade over Jalen Green if Stone could pull it off.

 

I'm not sure I agree with that assessment
Then only way it makes sense is if you bring in Salary
Then it becomes a bang for your buck thing
but
Only on Skills
Jaylen Brown > Derrick White
IMO

Rocket RIver

 

Yeah - I am not exactly sure as to why - but Brown is not only really expensive, he is slowing down like a play 3-4 years older than he actually is. He isn't near the same player that he was a few years ago. At this point, he is someone that is hard to really get excited about.

Also, the Rockets are going to need these draft picks they have because guys like Jabari and Tari are going to need to be paid or replaced soon.

 

I don't mean to pay too much attention to PER when I play around with the ESPN Trade Machine.

But paying this:
$53,142,264
$57,078,728
$61,015,192
$64,951,656

For a guy whose PER isn't even 18? Even on a deep team where he isn't required to dominate the ball, I would expect someone who is just killing it.

(Parenthetically, did the Celtics really need to worry Brown would leave if they didn't pay him $60,000,000 per season? That Jason Tatum would follow him out the door if he saw Brown didn't get p-a-y-d "paid"?)

 

Porzingis is 30.7 for 1 more year. So to save money it would have to be to a team with room to eat his salary. Otherwise, they are just trading one expiring contract for another. Holiday would be the obvious choice for expirings and draft picks, but I’m not sure he has a big market. Derrick White has a terrific contract so I don’t see them moving him. No matter what they do they will have to wait a year after the trade to save any money. Jaylen Brown being traded might save their bacon, but man you will have to sell him for a bunch of crap. He would be a disaster on the Rockets.

 

I don't think they're waiting a year, this has been planned since last offseason. They knew they'd have to dump someone this summer. Brooklyn can absorb a contract and Detroit can create an extra $5-7m in absorb a $33m contract. I think Celtics most likely go that classic route of trading an undesirable contract and a heavily protected pick for someone who's renting out cap room. Especially with Tatum out next season.

If Detroit gets one of Holiday or Porzingis I bet they keep them. Those two fit fine with them. However if it's BKN, then they will be looking to churn those assets for a some extra capital. I bet Whitmore and FVV for Holiday and filler would be fine with them.

I think I'd do it. I'd rather have Holiday than FVV, I feel like he's more likely to push the pace and less likely to try to be a hero on offense. Brings more championship experience and has become a solid shooter. Not a huge upgrade but if all it costs is Whitmore I'm up for it.

 

I would absolutely be on board with that. Although, I don’t like that Holiday has 3 more years to go on his contract and he plays the position that Amen needs to occupy sooner rather that later. If you could get Holiday for FVV and can then turn Jalen into Sexton and John Collins or something like that I would do it. Amen is being wasted at the dunkers spot.
Amen/Reed
Holiday/Sexton
Jabari/Dillon/Tari
Collins/Jabari/Tari
Sengun/whoever. I think Adams may be too expensive for a backup center.

We would need to extend Collins if he works out, Tari and Jabari also need to be extended. Ime needs to improve his offensive acumen and bench coaching. If he can do that this team would be as competitive as Amen and Sengun could take them (pretty far in my opinion). Sengun still has to develop an outside shot to be a star, if he doesn’t then he becomes trade bait.

 

I think this team is in the WCF right now if you switch out Brown for Green.