Wait. What? This is what you wrote earlier in the thread:
This is very astute! I feel like current me and old you should be agreeing. If the Pelicans don't like the centerpiece(s) of the deal, it shouldn't matter how many marginal assets are included in that deal. This report said they don't want Lonzo. Maybe it's Ingram. But let's say they happen to not like Ingram's game for what they would hope to build post-AD. Which of the Lakers' young guys is definitively more valuable to NO than the MEM pick? I don't think it's crazy to say there isn't a clear answer.
If I were in charge of a rebuild in NO, I'd rank the Celtics' and Lakers' assets as such:
1. Tatum
2. MEM pick
3 (tie). SAC pick / Brown (depends what NO wants in terms of a timeline)
5. Lakers 1st round picks and pick swaps 2022-2025 (these move up to no. 2, if you think LeBron is getting injured or retiring prematurely just as these convey. But with LeBron there and it being LA, I think they replenish mid-course and add another star closer to AD's age, so these picks stay in the 20s for most of this period)
6. Ball (extra year of control compared to Ingram; you could flip him)
7. Hart (seems like a solid guy, and with Brogdon-lite potential)
8. TimeLord (could be defensive anchor and lob machine, doesn't need the ball)
9. Lakers 1st round picks and pick swaps 2019-2021
10. Celtics future 1st round picks (say 2020-2024)
11. Ingram (admittedly, I just don't get his appeal)
12. Kuzma (gets you buckets but useless for a team in purgatory)
But if the Pelicans want to recreate the 2016-17 Lakers, only with Jrue Holiday instead of LeBron, they're free to try and save the franchise that way. And your point that "any team" could beat the Celtics' low-ball offer misses the point. No team (other than the several I mentioned) that could, would. Because they'd be mortgaging their future for one year of a grumpy and possibly pretending-to-be-injured AD.
EDIT: I don't know where to rank S&T Rozier, Morris, Smart, etc., but you get the point.
I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you're a Celtics fan, right?
Ranking the assets 1 through whatever is impossible; you have no idea how other teams value the assets relative to one another. One team may want a PG, but not a wing. Some may want to avoid Ball's dysfunctional family. It's easier to slot them into tiers based on perceived value around the league.
TIER 1 (Premium Asset or Talent): Tatum
TIER 2 (Good Young Player or Asset): Brown, Ball, Ingram, Memphis pick
TIER 3 (Mid-tier Asset/Player): Kuzma, LAC pick, SAC pick
TIER 4 (Sweetener): Hart, Boston's or LAL's future 1st round picks
TIER 5 (Throw-ins): Williams, Zubac, Boston or LAL's future 2nd round picks
I didn't add Rozier, Smart, or Hayward. I don't think they move the needle for New Orleans, but they could be used reduce outgoing picks or balance bad salary coming back (like Solomon Hill).
Boston's offer is going to have to start with Tatum, Brown or the Memphis pick, the LAC or Sac pick, multiple first rounders and salary ballast.