I think we should trade Nicolas and Elliot Williams plus a future first with Camby tossed in to make salaries work. Championship!
The guy was a headcase until they got KG and Allen. I'm sure they do want to trade him, it frees up more cap space for this summer, but he's not the player he was and he's making pretty major cash over the next few years. He's 34 years old and he will have two more years on his contract. He's making a little over 15 million this season. I think he would be great on a team like Dallas but I know Cuban won't want to have that salary on his books. But, I guess if the plan is to go for broke, you could do this trade: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=79xss8z followed by this trade: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=7ux3ywp and hope that everyone gels before the playoffs. Nash/?? Pierce/Crawford Wallace/?? Aldridge/Smith Gortat/Prz You'd have some holes to fill, but your 3guard lineup would be Nash, Crawford, Pierce, with Wallace, Aldridge, and Gortat rounding out your frontcourt. Meh. I don't really like it. The only way to make it work is by moving Camby and I think he would be crucial to actually doing anything in the playoffs.
That second trade is one of the more ridiculous I've seen in a while. Do you really Batum and two late-first-round rookies are worth two 20+ PER players?
Batum's a 20+ PER guy. (Technically he's at 19.67 for the season, but since he was put in the starting lineup he's well above that.)
I wouldn't give up Batum (or, obviously, Aldridge) for Pierce. I would lowball the Celtics to see how desperate they are to offload his contract. In Camby and Felton (and possibly Gerald) we have large, terminating contracts. We don't have a nice high pick, but, again, we can offer the hope of Freeland and the lesser hope of Oden. Would that be enough to do it? I dunno. Ainge is a gambler and may be staking everything on free agency this Summer, and I can't see anyone else likely to offer low-paid future all-stars or lottery picks for Pierce and his killer contract.
OK. And he's also a wing which is generally considered the most replaceable type of player and the NBA. Nate has us trading a nearly-20-PER wing plus not much else for 20+ PER guys at the two most important positions on the court. It's just silly to propose, and silly to defend.
Gonna be honest with you. It would be sick if it could be done. I just don't see Pierce leaving Boston. I think he is the only player that will retire a Celtic.
What's silly is comparing Batum at 23 to Nash at 38 fucking years old.... the amount of value people put on him is fucking ridiculous. I don't care what his per is. Fine, remove Gortat and put in Frye. The objective is to get Nash and Pierce in that scenario.
Yeah, I think Gortat's inclusion was what seemed silliest to me. If a deal exists that nets us Pierce & Nash without losing Aldridge, I'm in favor. I don't know if there is one that would make both Phoenix and Boston happy, but I'd love to see it.
I was thinking about Paul Pierce yesterday. And I thought: NO. The last thing we need is an aged SF. Plus there's something about him I truly dislike. Can someone please cue the hilarious vid of him being carried off the floor in indescribable agony, only to later return from the ER fully healed? I love that one.
I don't know why one wouldn't "like" Pierce. He always struck me as a decent enough guy and a very good player. He was probably a tad underrated when toiling for the bad/mediocre Celtics teams and a tad overrated when winning with the excellent Celtics teams, but he was a very good player. I wouldn't be interested in the Blazers giving up anything of value for him now, though. He's still good, but far from great...and he's into his decline phase.
Maybe Phoenix would want him? What about a deal where Pierce goes to Phoenix, Nash and Childress come here, and we send Wallace and Matthews to Boston? What more would need to be added to that to balance it out?
That would be pretty interesting. But I'm not sure that that would interest Boston, since Wallace doesn't make them all that much younger and Matthews would add longer-term salary. I think Boston would probably require a real asset (i.e. Batum) due to the star name recognition of Pierce and otherwise be content to hold onto him and let him depart via free agency.
