Choose Your Own Adventure: Celtics 2020 Offseason

Jimbodandy

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I completely agree that trading a player against their will is


This was with regards to Poirier and Kanter etc. Stapling picks to these players to get rid of them after signing them is poor management. It's an acknowledgement that the original signing was a mistake.
I blame Danny every day for not anticipating the pandemic too.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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So what's this about Hayward wanting to opt out? Just more bored speculation during the offseason or does this Russillo guy have any good sources?
GH might opt-out if he can get a long-term deal making more $? Stop the presses.

Probably GH's agent putting out feelers to see if there is any kind of market for him. Which I doubt there is, particularly if GH wants to play for a contender. I still think GH opts-in, which means it will be very interesting to see what he gets for his next contract.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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This was with regards to Poirier and Kanter etc. Stapling picks to these players to get rid of them after signing them is poor management. It's an acknowledgement that the original signing was a mistake.
Kanter was a fine signing for the Celtics as he played well for them on balance - they knew why he was available to them which is that he lacks the footspeed to play any semblance of defense. The guy is essentially elite in the post but that skill isn't valued because of how the game is currently played. Every team has a Poirier on their roster and some cost teams a lot more so I am not sure I would refer to him as a mistake either.

The bottom line is that players serve two purposes for NBA teams. Production on the court or currency off of it. These are exactly the sorts of players/contracts and rosters spots that you want to be able to move without caring. I would argue that if they can serve either purpose - playing or transactional value - they are good signings.

That said, let's see what they actually do with these guys.
 
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Imbricus

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Stupid trade idea of the day candidate:
Boston Celtics Receive: Devin Booker

Phoenix Suns Receive: Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Romeo Langford, 2020 1st Round Pick (No. 14 Pick), 2022 1st Round Pick
Celtics would be nuts to do that. Before anyone writes a hypothetical trade article, there ought to be a rule that they first have to propose it to a knowledgeable fan of each team. If the reaction from either is intense guffawing, they're not allowed to hit "publish."
 

scottyno

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I don't think I'd even give up Brown alone for Booker with the rest of the roster the Cs already have
 

luckiestman

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Booker is way better, give me a break*

*unless you guys are exhibiting extreme homerism in honor of Tommy which I support.
 

JakeRae

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Booker is way better, give me a break*

*unless you guys are exhibiting extreme homerism in honor of Tommy which I support.
I think there’s a strong argument for Brown as the player you’d rather have on your roster in the playoffs. I also think there’s an even stronger argument for Brown based on ceiling and trajectory. If you account for contract differences, Brown v. Booker is a pretty easy call in favor of Brown.

More controversially, I wouldn’t trade Smart for Booker straight up. And, unlike with Brown, I don’t think caveats are necessary. Smart is flat out a better basketball player than Booker and provides more value to an NBA team unless you are in need of a primary scorer. This is largely a fit issue. If I were the Lakers, Clippers, or Warriors I’d prefer Smart but if I were the Bucks I might prefer Booker because they really need another dynamic scorer. I’m also prepared for a lot of people to tell me I’m crazy, and I get the argument for Booker and the premium for shot creation. But the Celtics don’t need that player, and Smart provides a ton of value on both ends of the floor at this point.
 

scottyno

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Booker is way better, give me a break*

*unless you guys are exhibiting extreme homerism in honor of Tommy which I support.
Is he way better on a team that already has 2 ball-dominant offensive players in tatum and kemba? If I need a guy to be the a #1 offensive player on my team and I don't already have one then I'd agree.
 

luckiestman

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Is he way better on a team that already has 2 ball-dominant offensive players in tatum and kemba? If I need a guy to be the a #1 offensive player on my team and I don't already have one then I'd agree.
Kemba can hit the fuckin bench and be the 6th man if I have Tatum and Booker. I like Jaylen and I like Kemba but Booker is top tier talent.
 

luckiestman

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I think there’s a strong argument for Brown as the player you’d rather have on your roster in the playoffs. I also think there’s an even stronger argument for Brown based on ceiling and trajectory. If you account for contract differences, Brown v. Booker is a pretty easy call in favor of Brown.
Trajectory? They’re the same age. I’m not going to talk bad about Jaylen so I’ll just say I disagree. I’m happy with Jaylen on the team. If Danny was offered Booker for Jaylen + filler I would hope he would do it. I would not do the fake trade that started this discussion.
 

scottyno

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Kemba can hit the fuckin bench and be the 6th man if I have Tatum and Booker. I like Jaylen and I like Kemba but Booker is top tier talent.
Kemba had a pretty similar year his last year with the Hornets to what Booker put up last year, then had a slight uptick in efficiency this year because he didn't need to be the #1 guy every time, so you really aren't upgrading the offense that much while potentially making the defense much worse because you lost Brown.

Brown is also an ideal guy to be the best 3rd option in the NBA because he has a great skill set for it and also does plenty of other things to help the team while not demanding the ball every time, but still has the potential to take over and drop 30 if you need him to on some nights.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I think there’s a strong argument for Brown as the player you’d rather have on your roster in the playoffs. I also think there’s an even stronger argument for Brown based on ceiling and trajectory. If you account for contract differences, Brown v. Booker is a pretty easy call in favor of Brown.

More controversially, I wouldn’t trade Smart for Booker straight up. And, unlike with Brown, I don’t think caveats are necessary. Smart is flat out a better basketball player than Booker and provides more value to an NBA team unless you are in need of a primary scorer. This is largely a fit issue. If I were the Lakers, Clippers, or Warriors I’d prefer Smart but if I were the Bucks I might prefer Booker because they really need another dynamic scorer. I’m also prepared for a lot of people to tell me I’m crazy, and I get the argument for Booker and the premium for shot creation. But the Celtics don’t need that player, and Smart provides a ton of value on both ends of the floor at this point.
I think this is a great take from start to finish.

Booker's offensive leap was pretty impressive both in terms of efficiency as well as his distribution (11th overall in apg). He also has improved on defense but he is limited by his height/wingspan. I would not give up either Brown or Smart for Booker straight up.

Getting back to the point, why would Phoenix trade the face of their franchise? Especially when they are rumored to be in on CP3.
 

luckiestman

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Kemba had a pretty similar year his last year with the Hornets to what Booker put up last year, then had a slight uptick in efficiency this year because he didn't need to be the #1 guy every time, so you really aren't upgrading the offense that much while potentially making the defense much worse because you lost Brown.

Brown is also an ideal guy to be the best 3rd option in the NBA because he has a great skill set for it and also does plenty of other things to help the team while not demanding the ball every time, but still has the potential to take over and drop 30 if you need him to on some nights.
lm not confident we are getting that Kemba back. Hope so, but I’ll take the 24 year old if given the choice.
 

scottyno

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lm not confident we are getting that Kemba back. Hope so, but I’ll take the 24 year old if given the choice.
Great, but the trade isn't Kemba for Booker, its Booker for Brown and then you either have a wasted asset in Kemba or you have to trade him for pennies on the dollar that wouldn't be close to what Brown gives you.
 

PedroKsBambino

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Trajectory? They’re the same age. I’m not going to talk bad about Jaylen so I’ll just say I disagree. I’m happy with Jaylen on the team. If Danny was offered Booker for Jaylen + filler I would hope he would do it. I would not do the fake trade that started this discussion.
I think Booker is very good, and an elite scorer. There remains a real chance he's a good stats/bad team guy, though, which we know Brown is not. I think Booker is more valuable--elite scoring is the alpha skill---but it's not nuts to wonder about the fit if you already have Tatum.

The Athletic's "Tiers" project (driven by Partnow and analytics, not their beat writers) had Booker in Tier 3A and Brown in Tier 3B which I think is consistent with the above.
 

Jimbodandy

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Booker has improved his efficiency and sharing, which is awesome. But unlike starting pitchers, which you can never have too many of, guys like Booker and DAR are guys that you need if you don't already have one. We already have one. Two really.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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I have zero confidence that Kemba isn’t cooked. His knee hasn’t been healthy in months and there doesn’t seem to be any concrete information about exactly what is wrong. I feel like if it was something easily fixable with surgery he would’ve done that already.
 

nighthob

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I have zero confidence that Kemba isn’t cooked. His knee hasn’t been healthy in months and there doesn’t seem to be any concrete information about exactly what is wrong. I feel like if it was something easily fixable with surgery he would’ve done that already.
I was looking at that earlier and wondering if Hampton wasn't going to end up being Boston's pick at #14 as they really need a guy to eat minutes for the remainder of that Walker deal.
 

BigSoxFan

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I was looking at that earlier and wondering if Hampton wasn't going to end up being Boston's pick at #14 as they really need a guy to eat minutes for the remainder of that Walker deal.
Yeah, seems like even though guys like Nesmith, Terry, etc. may be better fits for what we need, we may need to take a Lewis or Hampton at 14 because they will probably be needed sooner rather than later. I'm sure Waters is taking notice. There is going to be a need for another primary ball handler.
 

lovegtm

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If this somehow involves being able to flip out the back end of Kemba’s contract, I would be very happy.
 

Jeff Van GULLY

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This means Kemba has serious problems, maybe even missing most of next season. It will be Hayward going out, not Kemba.

They have Jrue for a year and can evaluate Kemba's health (Does he sit the entire year to get healthy? Surgery?) and decide if they need re-sign Jrue. Hayward would be a great fit with the Pels and then opens up cap for them next season too if it doesn't work out.

Edit: I like Jrue a lot, especially on a short term deal. Watched him a lot down here in person and seen most Pels games as well over the past four years.
 

The Social Chair

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Why not? I feel like you must be the only one, as he seems pretty universally thought of as a guy who makes teams better.
He seemed wildly inconsistent last year, and would have 5 - 7 game slumps through out the season. The article below speaks to it a little bit.

However, Holiday is a plus defender and that would be a huge upgrade over Kemba, Kyrie, and IT4.

https://www.thebirdwrites.com/2020/9/21/21130746/jrue-holiday-new-orleans-pelicans-inconsistency-nba-zion-williamson-brandon-ingram-lonzo-ball
 

Cellar-Door

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Why not? I feel like you must be the only one, as he seems pretty universally thought of as a guy who makes teams better.
Jrue is a guy who was really underrated. Then everyone talked up how underrated he was until he became pretty overrated.

He's a good but not elite defender, and a mediocre offensive player. He's worse than they guy he'd be replacing (Hayward). Also... what is his fit? I assume he's replacing Hayward. Does he start at the 2? Does he play the Smart 6th man role? Does he even make the floor in crunch time?

I don't get the idea of moving Hayward for a less positionally versatile player who is worse on offense and with whom you end up in the same position next year (Player option for 28M).

The only way Holiday makes sense to me is if you are moving Kemba.
 

Average Game James

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Jrue is a guy who was really underrated. Then everyone talked up how underrated he was until he became pretty overrated.

He's a good but not elite defender, and a mediocre offensive player. He's worse than they guy he'd be replacing (Hayward). Also... what is his fit? I assume he's replacing Hayward. Does he start at the 2? Does he play the Smart 6th man role? Does he even make the floor in crunch time?

I don't get the idea of moving Hayward for a less positionally versatile player who is worse on offense and with whom you end up in the same position next year (Player option for 28M).

The only way Holiday makes sense to me is if you are moving Kemba.
Hayward can choose to leave on his own. It could signal the Celtics know something about his intentions that we do not.
 

Cellar-Door

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Hayward can choose to leave on his own. It could signal the Celtics know something about his intentions that we do not.
True, but if Hayward isn't in this deal it means Smart likely is.

the idea of replacing Hayward and Smart with Jrue, a worse player than either makes me want to vomit.


Edit- Unless the deal is Kemba, but that doesn't make sense with the rumors. Why trade for a higher pick to send for Jrue, if you are also trading Kemba, why not just make Kemba the piece?
 

BigSoxFan

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If we can package all 3 picks to move up in the lottery, I just want to make the pick. Holiday is a nice player but he's expensive and 30 years-old. This is our last crack at the mid-to-late lotto for at least 5+ years. Wouldn't really be excited by this hypothetical deal at all. If Kemba is hurt, I'd rather just draft a guy like Lewis/Hampton at 14 and develop him.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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If you're trading all the picks, you'd better be getting JJ ($13 mil expiring) back in such a deal too as you've severely limited the ability to bring in talent/shooting, otherwise it's a tread water move that removes any potential upside.
 

Average Game James

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True, but if Hayward isn't in this deal it means Smart likely is.

the idea of replacing Hayward and Smart with Jrue, a worse player than either makes me want to vomit.


Edit- Unless the deal is Kemba, but that doesn't make sense with the rumors. Why trade for a higher pick to send for Jrue, if you are also trading Kemba, why not just make Kemba the piece?
Clumsily worded, but my point was that Hayward may have signaled his desire to leave, at which point it can become mutually beneficial for the team/Hayward if they use him in a deal. It opens up options for Hayward in terms of destination and gives the team an opportunity to use his salary to bring someone back. So the deal is really 14/26/30 for Jrue, and Hayward is just salary filler (and would be gone regardless if he is looking to leaves Boston).
 

nighthob

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True, but if Hayward isn't in this deal it means Smart likely is.

the idea of replacing Hayward and Smart with Jrue, a worse player than either makes me want to vomit.


Edit- Unless the deal is Kemba, but that doesn't make sense with the rumors. Why trade for a higher pick to send for Jrue, if you are also trading Kemba, why not just make Kemba the piece?
The deal is going to be Hayward to his chosen destination, salary filler and the lottery pick to New Orleans, Holiday to Boston. His fit is as the starting G next to Smart as Boston brings Kemba off the bench for scoring and to baby his knee during the regular season. Now you can criticize the deal as Hayward and the 2019 draft for a guy not as good as Hayward, but Walker's knee forced the situation.
 

Cellar-Door

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This is hardly a concensus take. I would argue that Holiday is a better player than either of those guys
I would love to hear the reasoning.
Hayward has health concerns (even more than Jrue) but he's a much, much better offensive player and his defense is both decent and versatile given his size.
Smart is a significantly better defender and they have comparable offensive contributions (also he's 4 years younger and on a much better contract).

The deal is going to be Hayward to his chosen destination, salary filler and the lottery pick to New Orleans, Holiday to Boston. His fit is as the starting G next to Smart as Boston brings Kemba off the bench for scoring and to baby his knee during the regular season. Now you can criticize the deal as Hayward and the 2019 draft for a guy not as good as Hayward, but Walker's knee forced the situation.
This would make more sense. though I still don't love it. It also probably means you are shopping Kemba hard.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I would love to hear the reasoning.
Hayward has health concerns (even more than Jrue) but he's a much, much better offensive player and his defense is both decent and versatile given his size.
Smart is a significantly better defender and they have comparable offensive contributions (also he's 4 years younger and on a much better contract).
This. Holiday is a very good player but Smart's age, contract and his outside shooting (using the last two years as the baseline) are all superior to Jrue.
 

Euclis20

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It's not hard to make arguments for any of those guys, but just at a glance at the preseason player rankings (from September 2019) ESPN/Bleacher Report/SI all had Holiday as the better player. Those three publications had Smart at 87/54/82, Hayward at 65/43/59 and Holiday at 31/25/25. I'm not sure anything happened this season would change those rankings enough to put Holiday behind Hayward/Smart.

Due to age and contract I want no part of trading away Smart, but moving Hayward to preserve the salary slot would be a pretty nice move. The only negative in Holiday's game has been durability, but it's not like Hayward/Smart are much better in that regard. Holiday is a plus scorer, distributer and rebounder (for his size), and borderline all-nba defender. He's the kind of guy who would be a good fit on just about any team in the league, and when him and Marcus are on the court at the same time it's likely the best defensive backcourt combo in the league, while still doing lots of other things.
 

Pollard's Spartan Beard

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I'm a fan of Jrue, and would love to see them add him if it meant parting with Hayward, but I'll join the chorus of folks saying I have no interest in giving up Marcus to get it done. Given Jrue's age and the concerns around Kemba's knee, I like the idea of adding him as a complimentary two-way piece to the Brown and Tatum duo. If Walker proves able to return to full strength, I think that's a pretty dynamic foursome to have in your starting lineup, while Jrue also serves as strong Kemba insurance that you can roll out there in a killer defensive lineup next to Smart and the J's if Walker's knee won't ever be right.

While Holiday was inconsistent last season, I mainly write that off as him trying to be a good leader while deferring to the young guys he had around him. I think Ingram's addition and subsequent breakout, coupled with new mouths needing to be fed (to varying degrees) in Lonzo, Reddick, Hart and Favors and the anticipation around/emergence of Zion made for a large degree of weirdness and inconsistency night to night. Their personnel and style was all over the map, and while I had hoped for a more impressive season out of Jrue - IIRC he was getting MVP hype before the season from a few publications - I still think his upside on a roster like Boston's is higher than his performance last season would suggest.

Moreover, from a rooting interest perspective, I've had a soft spot for Jrue Holiday since what he and his wife Lauren went through in 2016, and when he isn't playing the Celtics I tend to want nice things for him on the basketball court.
 

Cellar-Door

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It's not hard to make arguments for any of those guys, but just at a glance at the preseason player rankings (from September 2019) ESPN/Bleacher Report/SI all had Holiday as the better player. Those three publications had Smart at 87/54/82, Hayward at 65/43/59 and Holiday at 31/25/25. I'm not sure anything happened this season would change those rankings enough to put Holiday behind Hayward/Smart.

Due to age and contract I want no part of trading away Smart, but moving Hayward to preserve the salary slot would be a pretty nice move. The only negative in Holiday's game has been durability, but it's not like Hayward/Smart are much better in that regard. Holiday is a plus scorer, distributer and rebounder (for his size), and borderline all-nba defender. He's the kind of guy who would be a good fit on just about any team in the league, and when him and Marcus are on the court at the same time it's likely the best defensive backcourt combo in the league, while still doing lots of other things.
I will say Smart made clear this year he was undervalued, but my response to that in general is....

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WITH THOSE HOLIDAY RANKS?

I guess just an overvaluation of his on-ball defense, and the "ooh 20 ppg" bump?

He was coming off a pretty decent season... 67 games (dude can't stay healthy), 21/5/7.7 is a nice line, but it came on .472/.325/.768 shooting, a significant drop in defensive contribution and what looks like a career outlier FTr.

Now don't get me wrong, that's a really good player.... it's not a top 25 in the league player. I guess maybe some people were for some reason projecting that at 29 his offense would stay or increase and his D would return to previous levels? (Neither happened, his defense remained below his peak by a good amount, probably in part due to not having AD behind him, and his offense slid a bit).

Listen, all the picks for Jrue is probably a slight overpay, but not awful. Anything beyond the 3 picks and S&T Hayward is not somethng we should be interested in.
I also have concerns that it makes out closing lineup very small. Hayward made such a difference when healthy not just because he was so good offensively, but also because rolling out those 3 6'7"-6'8" guys who could defend 2-4 and attack off the dribble caused mismatches that Jrue will not, and added switchability on D that Jrue may not.

Jrue to me makes the most sense if the plan is to move Kemba as well. I don't see that happening though.
 

Euclis20

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Yeah they are quite a bit higher than I would have expected. He's spent the last 7-8 years being a borderline all star guy and I think he's a more rounded and efficient player than Smart and more durable and reliable going forward than Hayward. None of this is to say that he's actually better than either guy, just that it's not hard to see an argument for Holiday being better than both.

Honestly I don't see how Smart would be included in the trade. The salaries don't work, and if the Celtics are sending multiple first round picks plus Hayward or Kemba, no need to add additional value. If he's not in the trade, what's the point of discussing him here. If Kemba or Hayward is moved, there is plenty of time in the rotation for both guys as Holiday is comfortable at either guard slot and Smart can basically play anywhere but center. He may be a slight downgrade from Hayward this year (in terms of rotational versatility, if nothing else) but he preserves the salary slot for at least one more year.
 

radsoxfan

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I have zero confidence that Kemba isn’t cooked. His knee hasn’t been healthy in months and there doesn’t seem to be any concrete information about exactly what is wrong. I feel like if it was something easily fixable with surgery he would’ve done that already.
It's pretty clear Kemba has arthritis and there is nothing really that can be done to fix it, it just has to be managed. The Celtics medical team definitely knows exactly how his knee looks, how much cartilage he has lost, how much meniscus is left, etc. The problem is that it's honestly hard to predict how these things will progress.

A huge percentage of players in the NBA have arthritis and cartilage loss in their knees. Sometimes you knock off another chunk of cartilage and a loose body develops in your knee. Sometimes the bone gets inflamed below the cartilage from overuse or a joint effusion gets larger makes things painful.

I suppose there is an unlikely scenario that Kemba has severe bone-on-bone arthritis in which case he could be actually cooked. But most likely he's just dealing with a slightly worse version of what a lot of NBA guys are dealing with.

Sometimes symptoms stabilize for a few years, sometimes they wax and wane, sometimes they just keep getting worse. It's very unpredictable but I wouldn't assume the Kemba we saw in the bubble is definitely the version we will see for good.
 

PedroKsBambino

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The deal is going to be Hayward to his chosen destination, salary filler and the lottery pick to New Orleans, Holiday to Boston. His fit is as the starting G next to Smart as Boston brings Kemba off the bench for scoring and to baby his knee during the regular season. Now you can criticize the deal as Hayward and the 2019 draft for a guy not as good as Hayward, but Walker's knee forced the situation.
I think it's more that Hayward wanting to go forced the situation. They can play without Walker (at least, manage via their other creators, Waters, pick, vet FA) but if Hayward wants to go the game becomes "how do we get value from the slot"
 

radsoxfan

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Also, I'm not usually too much of a "chemistry over talent" guy, but Kemba seemed like such a welcome addition to the locker room.

I would hate to see him traded unless he is definitely completely cooked.
 

nighthob

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I think it's more that Hayward wanting to go forced the situation. They can play without Walker (at least, manage via their other creators, Waters, pick, vet FA) but if Hayward wants to go the game becomes "how do we get value from the slot"
There are options with Hayward outbound. Including just adding Marcus to the starting lineup and strengthening the bench. It's not Holiday or bust. And Holiday is a bad fit if Walker really is healthy, because that's a tiny backcourt and you're asking an injury prone PG to suddenly defend bigger guys full time. He'd be toast by the playoffs. But if Walker needs heavy load management, then Holiday makes sense, as he is a PG and fits pretty well next to Marcus.
 

DannyDarwinism

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I will say Smart made clear this year he was undervalued, but my response to that in general is....

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WITH THOSE HOLIDAY RANKS?

I guess just an overvaluation of his on-ball defense, and the "ooh 20 ppg" bump?

He was coming off a pretty decent season... 67 games (dude can't stay healthy), 21/5/7.7 is a nice line, but it came on .472/.325/.768 shooting, a significant drop in defensive contribution and what looks like a career outlier FTr.

Now don't get me wrong, that's a really good player.... it's not a top 25 in the league player. I guess maybe some people were for some reason projecting that at 29 his offense would stay or increase and his D would return to previous levels? (Neither happened, his defense remained below his peak by a good amount, probably in part due to not having AD behind him, and his offense slid a bit).

Listen, all the picks for Jrue is probably a slight overpay, but not awful. Anything beyond the 3 picks and S&T Hayward is not somethng we should be interested in.
I also have concerns that it makes out closing lineup very small. Hayward made such a difference when healthy not just because he was so good offensively, but also because rolling out those 3 6'7"-6'8" guys who could defend 2-4 and attack off the dribble caused mismatches that Jrue will not, and added switchability on D that Jrue may not.

Jrue to me makes the most sense if the plan is to move Kemba as well. I don't see that happening though.

It's definitely an overvaluation of his defense. I've read/heard from multiple national NBA types that he's 1B to Smart's 1A for best point-of-attack defender in the league. I'd love to take a look at his multi-year D-PIPM, but Jacob Goldstein went and got himself a job with the Hornets and subsequently took all of his Win Added date off line, which is a bummer. I'll take a look at the rest of the data. I do think PoA defense is generally overrated anyway, (see: Bradly, Avery) but he’s very good off ball too.

I also think there's a likeability factor in those media rankings. He seems like a great dude who everyone loves, and he took time off of playing to care for his serious ill wife, who also happens to be a beloved World Cup/Olympic gold winner, so he's generally a guy people are pulling for. I listen to probably too many hoops podcasts, and Lowes/Bobby Marks/Duncan/Vecenies out there definitely value him significantly higher than Hayward, and I assume that’s their impression from around the league.

Your last sentence is where I'm at. I certainly prefer Marcus at their respective contracts. I also prefer a healthy Hayward and/or a healthy Kemba, both in fit and in a vacuum, but I'm pretty worried at this point about the latter, and if we can get off that contract and get a GFIN two-way player in exchange, I'd definitely consider it, depending on the rest of the parameters. And I don't say this easily, as I love the draft, and getting excited about young guys, but a Jrue//Jaylen/Hayward/Jayson/Theis/Smart/Grant lineup is a pretty devastating play-off line up for next year. If Kemba’s healthier than I suspect, or if Gordon’s out regardless, than I dunno, there’s likely better paths forward.
 
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PedroKsBambino

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Apr 17, 2003
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There are options with Hayward outbound. Including just adding Marcus to the starting lineup and strengthening the bench. It's not Holiday or bust. And Holiday is a bad fit if Walker really is healthy, because that's a tiny backcourt and you're asking an injury prone PG to suddenly defend bigger guys full time. He'd be toast by the playoffs. But if Walker needs heavy load management, then Holiday makes sense, as he is a PG and fits pretty well next to Marcus.
Right, but think it through: if Hayward doesn't want out you just keep him. He's as good a playmaker as Holiday and you don't need him defensively---you have Smart/Brown in the backcourt. That's what drives the move---though I agree if you have to make a Hayward move you consider Walker's situation in who you acquire. You have the thinking backwards.