I just don't get what the Celtics have to offer here. They're not going to send us Kemba (not a great fit with Fox anyway), they're not going to send Brown, they're not going to send Tatum. They also don't have any first round picks except their own, which will be late picks for the foreseeable future. Nesmith has shown basically nothing so far, so I don't see how he's terribly enticing.
OK, but how about this. Here's perhaps the only way to structure this that gets me vaguely interested. We make two simultaneous trades.
#1: Barnes to the Celtics for a portion of their trade exception (via Hayward) and some combination of picks.
#2: Cojo to the Celtics for Smart and Robert Williams
So ultimately, the deal ends up being Barnes/CoJo for Smart/Williams/picks. Here Smart is our upgrade on CoJo, and Williams comes in as a bench player that rebounds and blocks shots and stays out of the way on offense.
Still, I think this is a pretty big L for us as CoJo isn't that huge of an anchor (he's gone after this year) and Barnes is a major piece and really our only legitimate full-size wing. How do we replace Barnes? How many picks in the 20s make this deal worthwhile? I really don't think the Celtics can offer much more value than that. And look, we're in playoff position right now. Maybe that falls apart later but right now, why do we sell? The right move seems to be to KEEP Barnes and figure out how to improve around a core of Fox/Hali/Barnes/Bagley (yes, Bagley), potentially using Hield's value to supplement that in a trade - but a value-for-value trade, not a salary dump like some seem to think is appropriate. Holmes seems to like it here, Whiteside seems to like it here, so let's hope we can re-sign those two to hold down the paint.
I guess the recent stretch of wins has me optimistic again, but trading Barnes to the Celtics looks like a tanking move any way the C's try to play it, and I'm not really interested (unless they want to put Tatum on the table ).
OK, but how about this. Here's perhaps the only way to structure this that gets me vaguely interested. We make two simultaneous trades.
#1: Barnes to the Celtics for a portion of their trade exception (via Hayward) and some combination of picks.
#2: Cojo to the Celtics for Smart and Robert Williams
So ultimately, the deal ends up being Barnes/CoJo for Smart/Williams/picks. Here Smart is our upgrade on CoJo, and Williams comes in as a bench player that rebounds and blocks shots and stays out of the way on offense.
Still, I think this is a pretty big L for us as CoJo isn't that huge of an anchor (he's gone after this year) and Barnes is a major piece and really our only legitimate full-size wing. How do we replace Barnes? How many picks in the 20s make this deal worthwhile? I really don't think the Celtics can offer much more value than that. And look, we're in playoff position right now. Maybe that falls apart later but right now, why do we sell? The right move seems to be to KEEP Barnes and figure out how to improve around a core of Fox/Hali/Barnes/Bagley (yes, Bagley), potentially using Hield's value to supplement that in a trade - but a value-for-value trade, not a salary dump like some seem to think is appropriate. Holmes seems to like it here, Whiteside seems to like it here, so let's hope we can re-sign those two to hold down the paint.
I guess the recent stretch of wins has me optimistic again, but trading Barnes to the Celtics looks like a tanking move any way the C's try to play it, and I'm not really interested (unless they want to put Tatum on the table ).
Or Pritchard for Barnes. Pritchard is going to be a player. Though I suspect Boston says no.