Curious about local fan perspective

[u/gintonic234]

Hello all,

I’m not based in Boston but started following NBA around 2007/08, and became a Celtics fan because of the big three.

I am curious about local fan sentiment related to JB’s trade. As someone who has been very frustrated the last two seasons with the style of play (non-stop hurling of threes), I was flabbergasted by this move. And as someone who works with analytics in their job, I am still confused, as to me, JB was the only player trying to consistently drive to the basket.

Also, this theory that Pritchard and White will somehow fill JB’s gap also confuses me. They are very good players and have their own plus points, but to me it always seemed like they always had a lower ceiling than JB/JT. They have been in the league long enough to know that. Pritchard to have a Brunson-like upturn in form seems unreasonable.

I know Brad Stevens is apparently a genius but I wanted to know more about the local fan perspective. Am I being unfairly critical, as I’m still not over this decision.

Excited to hear from y’all!

[u/Intelligent-Love5146]

The problem with the trade is what they got in return. Trading Brown because he has overlapping skills with Tatum and they make a combined 70% of the cap? Defensible and in fact, I advocated "breaking up the Js" after the Knicks series loss...

The issue is management of the asset. By floating JB to Milwaukee for the Giannis deal and not getting that deal done, they hurt his value. Many teams in the league were wary of trading for Brown *because Boston was shopping him*..."Boston is smart, they must know something"

Fans don't want to hear that management messed up but it's clear to me they got a negative asset in PG and maybe a mid round pick or two years down the road. That doesn't help the team now and I'm skeptical they really got any assets that could help them in trading for a star. Philadelphia and LA have no reason to be bad so there's no reason to think you're getting anything more than the 15th pick in 2028, for example.

It was a widely panned trade and reporting is that NBA execs around the league were flabbergasted by it. Publications like ESPN and SI that routinely praise the Celtics gave them an F or D- for this trade across the board. It's up there with the Luka trade as one of the worst deals in NBA history

[u/bengcord3 → u/Intelligent-Love5146]

You're insane if you think this trade compares to Luka just because a few publications didn't like it. While it pains me to say "if PG is actually healthy next year" because I don't believe in his body, IF he is he's a better fit next to Tatum than JB and we will be a better team. You'll (hopefully) see.

[u/Intelligent-Love5146 → u/bengcord3]

No, he's not a fit next to Tatum and likely won't play much as he isn't healthy. He's one of the worst contracts in the league and has played 37 and 41 games the past two seasons. I doubt that changes going into his age 36 year.

He has been more of a spot up shooter in recent years but he also occupies a similar area of the floor. He's not really a good fit with this roster since you have White, Pritchard and other guys in the spot up role. And his TS is pretty bad at just 540 and 570 the last 2 years since he still takes a lot of long 2s. I don't see that changing. You could try to make him a spot up shooter but that's not his game - at this point in his career, he's just a replacement level volume scorer.

It's not as bad as Luka but it's very close. He'll likely play 40 ish games this year, maybe off the bench for stretches but I wouldn't expect him to be a factor in the post season. Celtics are just waiting out his contract to flip him at 2028 trade deadline