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

Oof. Never mind. I like Brown as a player, but that’s a little scary at that salary.

 

It is either the Bucks or Celtics, I doubt the Rockets have 4 pair of eyes ......

 

[Bill Simmons] Proposal —Rockets receive: Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday — Celtics receive: Fred Vanvleet, Jabari Smith, Tari Eason, Pick 10.

 

Holiday
Green
Brown
Amen
Sengun

Cam/Reed/Adams....

I definitely don't hate it.

 

That would be a nasty trade - Jaylen Brown + Jrue Holiday = $90M. And JB with the meniscus tear, while Jrue is near retirement

 

LUXURY TAX SAVINGS (or APRON AVOIDANCE??)

Not saying we shouldn't sniff around the Celtics, but our cap situation is less flexible starting next year

 

Salaries don't match up, but it's close enough where they can make it work by including Holiday and Landale and maybe Cam. However, this leaves the Rockets over the first apron with just 8 players. So basically impossible to do unless the Rockets shed salary elsewhere. In this scenario, I'm guessing they trade away Dillon Brooks for a smaller salary and a 1st back.

So you get something like

Sengun
Amen
Brown
Green
Holiday

Reed
Cam
some journey man center

The upside though is that the Rockets keep all their good picks. The 2027 Suns/Nets picks and 2029 Suns/Mavs picks. If they can find a trade partner to turn Holiday and some of those picks for another near-star level guy, That may be what it would take to truly compete for title.

 

https://marcstein.substack.com/p/jake-fischer-latest-the-nba-draft

 

I don't see how those three guys can all play together, let alone with Wemby too. That's three point guards who all want the ball in their hands a lot and none of them are great jump shooters. And Wemby is also a guy who likes to play on the perimeter with the ball in his hands a lot.

What would worry me most with the Spurs would be if they pull off some kind of trade for another young rising star who can play off the ball and really shoot it. The #2 pick is some really good ammo for that.