look at Sabonis trajectory and his advanced numbers. He's been making leaps for 3 straight seasons. Sabonis just completed his 3rd season at 22, Kelly was a rookie at 22. Sabonis is still getting better and could develop a 3pt shot with his mechanics and be a top of the key distributor. His body/strength has improved a lot from his rookie season where OKC had him as a 4.
I qualified my interest in Sabonis based on a reasonable contract, something that probably isn't happening with Brown.
I like Olynyk and Brown's potential, so I'm not going to start bashing them.
Yeah, I don’t hate Sabonis at all. (I also think Kelly is/was a decent player). I just don’t think he really makes sense in terms of filling the biggest need of this Celtics team in the next 2-4 years, which is an elite defensive center, given that Kemba will be a minus defensively who has to be covered for.
So even if you get him on a decent contract, that contract/player is still a large commitment, and is capping your team’s upside pretty heavily.
I guess at the end of the day, I’m not so afraid of Brown’s next contract as some, even if it’s signed in order to move him. Oladipo went for 4/84 iirc, with a cap that was about 20% lower than it will be when Jaylen signs. He was a lower value player than Jaylen at the time, and was still viewed as an asset at that price. Hell, Harrison Barnes was traded as an asset at 25/year. Otto Porter at 27/year was very moveable.
I know people are worried about Andrew Wiggins type scenarios, but he’s more the exception than the rule at the wing. The dude just doesn’t seem to be that into getting better at basketball.
Pretty much the worst case for Jaylen at 25-30/year is that you end up trading him for not much back, and the best cases are a lot better. His upcoming payday just isn’t thaaaat huge a deal imo, although the team should be open to moving him for a player who doesn’t cap the team’s upside.