I don't think so, but I obviously have no evidence or knowledge. If Utah were notably worse as a team than Boston is, then yeah. As it is, I think he will stay in Utah. Obvious caveats are whether he buys into the idea that playing in the same conference with Golden State is something to be avoided if at all possible, and how he feels about Brad Stevens. I am not buying the Miami rumors. Utah is a demonstrably positive situation for Hayward, and it is hard for me to see how changing teams would tangibly improve things for him.

Those guys might not be the stars of the team, but they were certainly role players on the team that won 58 games. It just took them 3 seasons to do it.

JJ, are you interested in clearing up Portland's big man glut and upgrading the defense? How about Robin Lopez and #38 for Meyers Leonard, Ed Davis, and #15?

Value-wise, that's pretty close to nothing, at least relative to PG's value to Indy today.

Of course, I agree with what you're not explicitly saying - it's not worth the Sixers pursuing him for one year if he's going to leave. Which is why it doesn't make sense for Philly to trade for him. Now, Jimmy Butler would be a lot more valuable to them because he's signed for more than one year and I think Jimmy already is eligible for the supermax so the Sixers are buying that negotiating value.

How long is Lopez signed for? I don't want to take on any money for the 2018-19 season when I'll have to start paying Nurkic.

I think they still have to hold out for a reasonable return.

paul george: agree. indy should hold him until it's clear he's gone.

I feel bad for Jazz fans. You guys really had something going on there.

I thought so too. Obviously we're still a few weeks away from knowing for sure, but if he does leave - coupled with the lack of competition at the top of the league - I think I'll be less interested in the upcoming season(s) than I ever have been in my almost 30 years of fandom. 7 years of rebuilding (even if it was a less painful rebuild than most) isn't worth just one good season.

If you guys don't start spelling Hayward's name correctly Booey is going to lose it.

he's hesitant to play with Isaiah

I think Ainge is up to something. I just don't believe he is going to hang onto the number one. It doesn't make any sense. I think he's going to reprise the big three moves only in grander fashion

On the Woj Blake to Boston idea:

7 years of rebuilding (even if it was a less painful rebuild than most) isn't worth just one good season.

NJ: you around? I'm leaning Nkitlina. I love that size and defensive possibility. NYK has had good international success lately. He will make mistakes, his shot needs work, but I like that potential.

I'm really interested in Millsap's free agency, with reports that the Hawks expect to be outbid. So does that mean 3 or 4 year max? He'll turn 33 mid-season and had his worst season since like 2010 this year. What's he going to get, and who signs him? The Clippers if Blake/Reddick/etc. all leave? They probably couldn't even make that work. Dallas is always a threat to make a bad decision in free agency. Washington would make sense but they have no money to spend. Ditto Toronto.

J. Sosa - I hope you're right, that's a much more interesting future than what I envision.

With that said, take a look at this article, the cap math of the Celtics situation if It add the types of players discussed is pretty bad:

http://www.celticshub.com/2017/05/26/looking-forward-celtics-future/

It does look like he's gone, in which case the Jazz go from being a one-player-away type team to being a one-player team.

i'm not sure why i'm asking but--
stiggles, wanna talk bob covington?

If the real Knicks take Nkitlina with Smith and Monk on the board I'll go apeshit. I'm all for picking internationals with upside over safe domestic choices, but Monk and Smith have a ton of upside! The Knicks don't need to go to Strasbourg (a lovely city, btw) to find someone who might be a multi-season all-star. And the floor for the domestic guys is much higher.

get heywurd and butler now

on a related note, danilo gallinari is an interesting FA target who's often overlooked. i think he could explode offensively if he goes to the right team.

Gobert for Fultz!

I know this was tongue in cheek, but Gobert is going to be the only thing keeping the Jazz from awfulness the next 4 years and (likely) the only reason I'll even (maybe) give a damn, so I'm clinging to him for dear life!

If the real Knicks take Nkitlina with Smith and Monk on the board I'll go apeshit.

maybe you could repay BOS next summer and steal isaiah thomas.

What's the upside comp for Monk, someone like Jason Terry or Hersey Hawkins?

monk's profile is pretty similar to guys like dragic, lillard, mccollum, beal, jrue holiday, (steph curry). he's a knockdown shooter, with good athleticism and combo-guard size. his upside depends on whether and how well he can create shots for himself and his teammates off the dribble.

I'm not quite sure what the Celtics fanbase expects. To me (and I suspect to Ainge) the level of risk of trying to build around Fultz, Brown, the Nets pick, and trades is much, much, much higher than pushing the chips in now. They made the conference finals as is. LeBron turns 33 next season and has a lot of miles on him. His cast is crumbling. Why wait? What is this "future run" I come across so often with Celtics fans? A team that made the Eastern Finals that adds say PG and BG or something of that ilk isn't good enough?

Of the past 25 NBA Champions, 24 had at least one of these nine players: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon. All nine of those players won at least one MVP in their career and all but Garnett (9) and Curry (4+) made at least ten All NBA teams. This is not a secret.

A few years back I made the argument that Ainge’s overarching goal as Celtics’ GM is to acquire transcendent star players. With that, I posited that the acquisition of Isaiah Thomas and absolute unwillingness to spend significant salary on very good players was all part of a multi-year play to pitch Kevin Durant on Boston. This “allure of the 1% chance” theory of franchise management traces back before Durant to the decision to execute the Nets trade, acquire Ray Allen to entice KG, trade a lottery pick to align contracts for a future KG trade, and even consider tanking when he “only” had Paul Pierce.

This theory, that Ainge’s only real concern is winning the title and that drives him to take low-odds chances at the absolute best players, has done a pretty good job of predicting his actions over the years. For that reason, I am somewhat uncomfortable suggesting that The Plan right now is to sign Gordon Hayward, or even sign Hayward and trade for Jimmy Butler. Does anyone really believe that Isaiah Thomas, Gordon Hayward, Jimmy Butler, and Al Horford make up a team good enough to beat the Warriors, who may be the greatest team in NBA history?

doesn't see the forest for the trees.

there's no reason to pay olynyk when you have zizic; there's no reason to keep both smart and bradley when you also have fultz, thomas and rozier.

edit: You guys are throwing around J.J. Redick's name like he sucks. I'd be THRILLED to get J.J. Redick with a low lottery pick. Dude's a career 41% three point shooter and led the league, on high volume, just last year. I don't get comparing Monk to Redick at all.

Of the past 25 NBA Champions, 24 had at least one of these nine players: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon. All nine of those players won at least one MVP in their career and all but Garnett (9) and Curry (4+) made at least ten All NBA teams. This is not a secret.

It is frankly bizarre to me to state that IT3, Hayward, Butler, and Horford aren't good enough to beat maybe the greatest team of all time that happens to be in the western conference, so to hell with it, let's cross our fingers and wait for lightning to strike.

I don't think that's a fair characterization of the passage I quoted, nor do I agree with it myself. The point is not "the Warriors are extremely good, so #### it, oh well"; the point is that winning championships even in the best of times takes a league MVP-level player. Paul George is very talented, but he's not THAT talented; neither is Gordon Hayward, nor Blake Griffin, nor anyone who's currently available.

Sure no one wants to trade for the 37th RPM-ranked center? What about the 77th RPM-ranked PG? What about the player with the 2nd worst TS% among all players with 1000 minutes?

Just based on #5972, I'm 95% sure I know exactly who the guy smileyy wants is... and I'm not 100% sure he'll be available at 18. ;)

Sure no one wants to trade for the 37th RPM-ranked center? What about the 77th RPM-ranked PG? What about the player with the 2nd worst TS% among all players with 1000 minutes?

JJ, did you lose interest in Robin Lopez based on the 2 years left on his contract, or are you still interested if you can get out of paying Meyers Leonard his remaining 3 years, $32 million?

New Orleans has no interest in Drummond, but the other two, maybe. Unsure what you'd want, but New Orleans has some spare bigs. I'd give you your choice of Asik or Ajinca for Johnson & Ish Smith.

MHS, How about Smart for Vonleh and the 26?

10. Indiana via Sacramento (King Mekong) Dennis Smith Jr, NC State

I need to shed some per annum salary to move the picks, so I'd be interested in something like Lopez for Crabbe, Davis and the 15. I can also take Rondo and waive him for you if that's your plan.

I don't want them locked into Drummond and Jackson any more, and I doubt they have any options. But if they could get rid of the pair of them without taking back poison-pills or sending out draft picks, I'd do it. Another year like the last one and there'd surely be no chance to dump them. Then I'd make the best of what's left (including paying KCP more than he's worth) and just see what happens. They flat-stunk with Andre and Reggie on the floor last year, so I would hope for addition by subtraction. I can't tell if this is me being short-sighted or not.

They flat-stunk with Andre and Reggie on the floor last year, so I would hope for addition by subtraction.