Brad Stevens Thread – Finding The Way

[Dannyboy36]

It feels like with JT, Rob, Smart, and Grant all playing career best right now with Jaylen playing great , white addition and if Horford can play next year like this year that we could be even a title fave next year (with health of course ).
But obviously another piece would be so helpful. Does anyone come to mind for you guys that you think about that could be acquired in a year? Anybody you imagine in a backup wing role that is realistic for mid level? ( or other way to acquire without breaking up core of our top 7?
Just like dreaming. Thanks.

[jmr07019]

It feels like with JT, Rob, Smart, and Grant all playing career best right now with Jaylen playing great , white addition and if Horford can play next year like this year that we could be even a title fave next year (with health of course ).
But obviously another piece would be so helpful. Does anyone come to mind for you guys that you think about that could be acquired in a year? Anybody you imagine in a backup wing role that is realistic for mid level? ( or other way to acquire without breaking up core of our top 7?
Just like dreaming. Thanks.

I'm hoping we can grab Bagley for the MLE as he still has some upside. It's so hard to get legit sized, athletic bigs. He may bust here but there's only so many chances you have to get 6-10 or bigger athletes onto your team.

[Hal14]

It feels like with JT, Rob, Smart, and Grant all playing career best right now with Jaylen playing great , white addition and if Horford can play next year like this year that we could be even a title fave next year (with health of course ).
But obviously another piece would be so helpful. Does anyone come to mind for you guys that you think about that could be acquired in a year? Anybody you imagine in a backup wing role that is realistic for mid level? ( or other way to acquire without breaking up core of our top 7?
Just like dreaming. Thanks.

It's hard to say. We're over the cap so to my knowledge, we don't have any cap space to sign any free agents - the only way we could add a quality player to the rotation this offseason is by trading away a player(s) in our current rotation.

[Curmudgeon]

We are under the tax so we do have the full MLE along with a live 17M trade exception. The quetion is which player or players are worth going deep into the tax. In my view Bagley isn't one of them, although he's playing better as a Piston than he ever did as a King.

[hugepatsfan]

Thinking down the line, Maxi Kleber in DAL is a guy I'd target heavy. He's a guy who I think could fill the Horford role which is pretty unique in terms of defending the rim, spacing the floor out of 2 bigs look, and switching everything on D. Kleber has that kind of rare combination of competencies.

Next year he'll be on a $9M expiring deal. It will be his age 31 season next year. Whether through trade or trying for him as a FA the next year, would be a great add. Obviously he's on the older side so gotta track how he ages, but he could be a schematic fit who comes available at a palatable price over the next year. I doubt DAL has any interest in trading him in a standalone deal, but could see a 3 team deal where they need to give a little extra draft value for an upgrade and instead of paying it themselves they route Kleber to us to kick in that extra value to the 3rd team.

If you could acquire Kleber next year, I'd be comfortable waiving and stretching the partial guarantee on Horford. I believe we can duck the tax for one more year doing the following:

1) Waive and stretch Horford's $14.5M guarantee
2) Take Kleber into a TPE
3) Sign a 3&D wing with some/all of the MLE
4) Salary dump Nesmith

You could start Kleber to keep the defensive continuity and scheme we have going, then he takes a seat for the closing lineups. Like Horford does now basically...

Smart / White
Brown
Tatum / (3&D wing signing)
Kleber / GWilliams
RWilliams / Theis

Horford has been huge for us but keeping him another year would be tough under the tax. If that's an ownership priority to stay under for one more year and delay repeater rates further, this could be a good workaround.

[hugepatsfan]

We are under the tax so we do have the full MLE along with a live 17M trade exception. The quetion is which player or players are worth going deep into the tax. In my view Bagley isn't one of them, although he's playing better as a Piston than he ever did as a King.

In order to free up enough money to use the full MLE, it's worth noting we'd have to waive Horford who's been great this year. So gotta factor in that any player you sign with the MLE comes with that tradeoff too. Ultimately, I think Horford brings more than anyone we'd sign with the full MLE, so if it's an either/or I think we just stick with Horford.

[Fencer reregistered]

We are under the tax so we do have the full MLE along with a live 17M trade exception. The quetion is which player or players are worth going deep into the tax. In my view Bagley isn't one of them, although he's playing better as a Piston than he ever did as a King.

In order to free up enough money to use the full MLE, it's worth noting we'd have to waive Horford who's been great this year. So gotta factor in that any player you sign with the MLE comes with that tradeoff too. Ultimately, I think Horford brings more than anyone we'd sign with the full MLE, so if it's an either/or I think we just stick with Horford.

Without checking the numbers, I'm dubious as to whether we could use both the full MLE and that trade exception anyway. A full MLE would trigger a hard cap; how much of the trade exception could we then use?

[BK_2020]

We are under the tax so we do have the full MLE along with a live 17M trade exception. The quetion is which player or players are worth going deep into the tax. In my view Bagley isn't one of them, although he's playing better as a Piston than he ever did as a King.

In order to free up enough money to use the full MLE, it's worth noting we'd have to waive Horford who's been great this year. So gotta factor in that any player you sign with the MLE comes with that tradeoff too. Ultimately, I think Horford brings more than anyone we'd sign with the full MLE, so if it's an either/or I think we just stick with Horford.

Yeah waiving Horford then adding a $10 mil. guy is just taking three steps back to go two steps forward.

[hugepatsfan]

We are under the tax so we do have the full MLE along with a live 17M trade exception. The quetion is which player or players are worth going deep into the tax. In my view Bagley isn't one of them, although he's playing better as a Piston than he ever did as a King.

In order to free up enough money to use the full MLE, it's worth noting we'd have to waive Horford who's been great this year. So gotta factor in that any player you sign with the MLE comes with that tradeoff too. Ultimately, I think Horford brings more than anyone we'd sign with the full MLE, so if it's an either/or I think we just stick with Horford.

Without checking the numbers, I'm dubious as to whether we could use both the full MLE and that trade exception anyway. A full MLE would trigger a hard cap; how much of the trade exception could we then use?

If you waive Horford and stretch the $14.5M savings over 3 years for maximum room next year... if you then use the full MLE, I think the TPE we should be talking about is the $6.9M Hernangomez TPE vs the Fournier TPE for $17.1M. That's the range of room we'd have to use.

[Fencer reregistered]

In order to free up enough money to use the full MLE, it's worth noting we'd have to waive Horford who's been great this year. So gotta factor in that any player you sign with the MLE comes with that tradeoff too. Ultimately, I think Horford brings more than anyone we'd sign with the full MLE, so if it's an either/or I think we just stick with Horford.

Without checking the numbers, I'm dubious as to whether we could use both the full MLE and that trade exception anyway. A full MLE would trigger a hard cap; how much of the trade exception could we then use?

If you waive Horford and stretch the $14.5M savings over 3 years for maximum room next year... if you then use the full MLE, I think the TPE we should be talking about is the $6.9M Hernangomez TPE vs the Fournier TPE for $17.1M. That's the range of room we'd have to use.

Doesn't sound appealing at all, given how good Horford currently is.

[Triple M]

he might get some votes for executive of the year

[Parliament10]

Ainge gave Brad this roster, and at the same time in lux cap hell:

Jaylen Brown
Carsen Edwards (gone)
Tacko Fall (gone)
Evan Fournier (gone)
Luke Kornet
Romeo Langford (gone)
Aaron Nesmith
Semi Ojeleye (gone)
Jabari Parker (gone)
Payton Pritchard
Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum
Tristan Thompson (gone)
Kemba Walker (gone)
Tremont Waters (gone)
Grant Williams
Robert Williams

Brad has turned it into this roster and is 2.5+ mil under the lux tax:
Jaylen Brown
Malik Fitts SF 10-day
Sam Hauser
Al Horford
Luke Kornet
Kelan Martin 10-day
Aaron Nesmith
Payton Pritchard
Matt Ryan 2-way
Marcus Smart
Nik Stauskas
Jayson Tatum
Daniel Theis
Brodric Thomas 2-way
Derrick White
Grant Williams
Robert Williams

Can anyone say executive of the year candidate?

Brad did very well this Season.
Let's see if he gets us a Big, for insurance the rest of the way.

[Fencer reregistered]

Ainge gave Brad this roster, and at the same time in lux cap hell:

Jaylen Brown
Carsen Edwards (gone)
Tacko Fall (gone)
Evan Fournier (gone)
Luke Kornet
Romeo Langford (gone)
Aaron Nesmith
Semi Ojeleye (gone)
Jabari Parker (gone)
Payton Pritchard
Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum
Tristan Thompson (gone)
Kemba Walker (gone)
Tremont Waters (gone)
Grant Williams
Robert Williams

Brad has turned it into this roster and is 2.5+ mil under the lux tax:
Jaylen Brown
Malik Fitts SF 10-day
Sam Hauser
Al Horford
Luke Kornet
Kelan Martin 10-day
Aaron Nesmith
Payton Pritchard
Matt Ryan 2-way
Marcus Smart
Nik Stauskas
Jayson Tatum
Daniel Theis
Brodric Thomas 2-way
Derrick White
Grant Williams
Robert Williams

Can anyone say executive of the year candidate?

Brad did very well this Season.
Let's see if he gets us a Big, for insurance the rest of the way.

Presumably, no project bigs with first-round picks, because no first-round picks.

As for somebody more ready -- Theis isn't even assured regular minutes. So getting another solid vet might be unappealing.

Brad might just stand pat for a year with the bigs we have (Kornet included) ...

... which reminds me: Brad actually reacquired 3 different bigs who played for him.

[Parliament10]

Ainge gave Brad this roster, and at the same time in lux cap hell:

Jaylen Brown
Carsen Edwards (gone)
Tacko Fall (gone)
Evan Fournier (gone)
Luke Kornet
Romeo Langford (gone)
Aaron Nesmith
Semi Ojeleye (gone)
Jabari Parker (gone)
Payton Pritchard
Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum
Tristan Thompson (gone)
Kemba Walker (gone)
Tremont Waters (gone)
Grant Williams
Robert Williams

Brad has turned it into this roster and is 2.5+ mil under the lux tax:
Jaylen Brown
Malik Fitts SF 10-day
Sam Hauser
Al Horford
Luke Kornet
Kelan Martin 10-day
Aaron Nesmith
Payton Pritchard
Matt Ryan 2-way
Marcus Smart
Nik Stauskas
Jayson Tatum
Daniel Theis
Brodric Thomas 2-way
Derrick White
Grant Williams
Robert Williams

Can anyone say executive of the year candidate?

Brad did very well this Season.
Let's see if he gets us a Big, for insurance the rest of the way.

Presumably, no project bigs with first-round picks, because no first-round picks.

As for somebody more ready -- Theis isn't even assured regular minutes. So getting another solid vet might be unappealing.

Brad might just stand pat for a year with the bigs we have (Kornet included) ...

... which reminds me: Brad actually reacquired 3 different bigs who played for him.

Might as well add Baynes, and go for 4. He'd at the least, be a good presense in the locker room.

[Fencer reregistered]

Brad did very well this Season.
Let's see if he gets us a Big, for insurance the rest of the way.

Presumably, no project bigs with first-round picks, because no first-round picks.

As for somebody more ready -- Theis isn't even assured regular minutes. So getting another solid vet might be unappealing.

Brad might just stand pat for a year with the bigs we have (Kornet included) ...

... which reminds me: Brad actually reacquired 3 different bigs who played for him.

Might as well add Baynes, and go for 4. He'd at the least, be a good presense in the locker room.

That assumes that the stories about his injury are partially true (i.e., not his fault in any way), and partially false (i.e., he'll recover faster than suggested).

[LuckyLeprechaun]

I hate giving up back to back 1st round picks. If we win a title this year ( possible but unlikely) then you can easily justify that but if we dont then we will have lost 2 good opportunities to add young, cheap talent to our roster. But that also goes back to Danny passing on several guys who would have helped . Going into next year we still need shooting and we’re going to need at least one young big for our front court and possibly a wing as well. Right now it appears that has to happen through free agency

It is especially difficult for those draft picks to actually turn into anything when they come to a team that's in win-now mode and loaded with players in their mid-20s. Many of Danny's picks could never find consistent playing time because of the roster situation so naturally, they were going to be wasted. Brad rightly evaluated that between Grant, PP, and Nesmith this team already had all the minutes it could spare for young players and Nesmith still has trouble finding consistent minutes. That last thing this team needs is guys having an even harder time finding minutes than Nesmith is. Trading those picks away was the right call. Whoever Brad could have drafted at ~25 next draft was almost certainly not going to see the floor much next season.

[zoyathedestroya]

[playa-hater]

I hate giving up back to back 1st round picks. If we win a title this year ( possible but unlikely) then you can easily justify that but if we dont then we will have lost 2 good opportunities to add young, cheap talent to our roster. But that also goes back to Danny passing on several guys who would have helped . Going into next year we still need shooting and we’re going to need at least one young big for our front court and possibly a wing as well. Right now it appears that has to happen through free agency

It is especially difficult for those draft picks to actually turn into anything when they come to a team that's in win-now mode and loaded with players in their mid-20s. Many of Danny's picks could never find consistent playing time because of the roster situation so naturally, they were going to be wasted. Brad rightly evaluated that between Grant, PP, and Nesmith this team already had all the minutes it could spare for young players and Nesmith still has trouble finding consistent minutes. That last thing this team needs is guys having an even harder time finding minutes than Nesmith is. Trading those picks away was the right call. Whoever Brad could have drafted at ~25 next draft was almost certainly not going to see the floor much next season.

I agree almost 100%.. The small exception is having pick 25 might have netted us a young BIG on a team that has an injury prone star in RW and an old Big in Al.

[cl2117]

I've got a lot of crow to eat when it comes to Brad.

I thought we overpaid to get off of Kemba. Thought he was more likely to be a reclamation project than Al, who I thought would fall off a cliff due to age. Didn't like paying to make that swap.

I thought the trade for White was mediocre because of how well JRich was playing for us and because of the pick swap, but White has added value beyond counting stats in terms of his play-style and fit (although this is the one I probably feel least wrong about).

I thought the Theis/Schroder swap was a loss in terms of value, but as a depth piece Theis is turning out to be invaluable and the addition by subtraction of moving on from Schroder has been worth it ten times over.

Both he and Ime have shown they're well suited for their positions in this organization. With such a strong core already in place I'm more excited than I have been for a while.

[sam_I_am]

I hate giving up back to back 1st round picks. If we win a title this year ( possible but unlikely) then you can easily justify that but if we dont then we will have lost 2 good opportunities to add young, cheap talent to our roster. But that also goes back to Danny passing on several guys who would have helped . Going into next year we still need shooting and we’re going to need at least one young big for our front court and possibly a wing as well. Right now it appears that has to happen through free agency

It is especially difficult for those draft picks to actually turn into anything when they come to a team that's in win-now mode and loaded with players in their mid-20s. Many of Danny's picks could never find consistent playing time because of the roster situation so naturally, they were going to be wasted. Brad rightly evaluated that between Grant, PP, and Nesmith this team already had all the minutes it could spare for young players and Nesmith still has trouble finding consistent minutes. That last thing this team needs is guys having an even harder time finding minutes than Nesmith is. Trading those picks away was the right call. Whoever Brad could have drafted at ~25 next draft was almost certainly not going to see the floor much next season.

I agree almost 100%.. The small exception is having pick 25 might have netted us a young BIG on a team that has an injury prone star in RW and an old Big in Al.

Golden State does a great job of adding excellent young talent to their roster and yet none of those players have really helped them get anywhere. Kuminga, Wiseman, and Moody were solid lottery picks but they aren’t moving the needle at all. Poole has been a great surprise. Lakers jettisoned Randall, Nance Jr., D’Angelo Russell, Ball, Ingram and still won anyway.

Once you have stars and a nucleus …. more young guys to develop just takes too long and they often are poor fits anyway. Nice to have tradable assets for sure but when you can get a guy ready to produce like Al and White…..who wants another Nesmith wasting away on the bench. Unfortunately for every Grant, PP and RW there have been half a dozen James Young types. That’s fine when rebuilding, but not great when salary cap tight and need to win now.

At this point I’m all for trading any of our picks if there is a gettable young proven veteran who can help right away, even more so if it’s a star like Beal. Once the team starting competing for titles, low cost proven veterans ready to deliver will want to come and you won’t have 5 million dollar guaranteed first rounders like Langford ‘needing’ playing time but not deserving it.