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Boston has elite timing when it comes to acquiring the players they want at opportune times and also shipping guys out when their value is still high. It’s pretty impressive.

Wouldn’t really call Jrue bad value. Porzingus because he was gonna be gone regardless and no one else really needed him as much as the Celtics did.

Kyrie because kyrie was gonna leave etc etc

Derrick White in San Antonio is not the same Derrick White as he is now. He went from a mediocre outside shooter to an elite one

He also improved a lot defensively though it helps playing with all the great defenders Boston has

Smart - 2022 DPoY

Brogdon - 2023 6MoY

Rob - probably the rightful 2022 DPoY

All are pretty to really good players when healthy

Porzingis went to Boston and got a max deal, it’s working right now but that isn’t a risk-free move by them.

Kyrie was a weird one where his value was lower because he asked for a trade, it’s not like the Thunder being asked about PG. Cavs were in a bad position.

Isaiah Thomas for a first at the time was not a fleece.

Boston is just a well run team, I’m sure they have plenty of misses (Hayward) that you are leaving out.

There's always going to be good players who through no fault of their own find themselves on bad rebuilding teams where it makes no sense to keep them. Those teams will always be interested in sending those players to contenders in exchange for younger players and draft picks, but it's just as much about getting rid of that players contract and getting them off the roster so the young guys can develop, as it is about whatever they actually get in return.

Trading for Brogdon? That's a rip off.
Trading away Brogdon? That's a rip off. Trading for IT? That's a rip off Trading away IT? That's a rip off.

It’s simple really, just trade with tanking teams because they don’t want top tier players anyways.

OP is back on his Celtics hate train. lol.

Cry more.

All of these guys had red flags that drove their value down a lot (except D. White).

Porzingis - constantly hurt Brogdon - constantly hurt IT - tiny and one of the worst defenders in the league (lost his job completely once his scoring dipped slightly from injury) Kyrie - railroaded his way off a Lebron team White - lesser shooter previously and the Spurs were entering full tank mode for Wemby

Jrue is 33, KP has been dumped by 3 teams already and will not be available to play in May most likely. Cavs trade was bad for both teams, Jae Crowder was in that trade too but still bad value for the Cavs because Kyrie was already making threats. Spurs gifted them Derrick White because they wanted to tank, you are most likely getting better value when teams are selling low and thats what the Celtics do.

Porzingis had complete control of where he was getting traded. He said he wanted to go to Boston and would sign there. He had all leverage.

cause they are assholes

"Hahah The Celtics will never get a GM to trade with them after what they did to IT"

Celtics have had a lot of draft picks and medium sized contracts the last few years. That’s the currency for getting deals done in the NBA.

Should we Tell OP about Bill Russell (& his 11 chips) for the Ice Capades?

Celtics have a great team defensively and offensively that allows all players to shine there.

Put Pritchard on a team like Warriors and he'll struggle on defense due to his size. Celtics just put large wings around him and that makes him look good.

Tldr; every player looks extra Amazing on the Celtics since they're a legit scary team.

I think there's three major things.

First is selling high. The Smart trade was cold, same with Timelord. Brad Stevens is very clearly unafraid to look at the players he drafted and evaluate them, and I think being really early to do that instead of late does wonders for trade value. I think a lot of Celtics fans saw Smart's regression from his DPOY year due to wear and being on the wrong side of the aging curve, but I don't think many FOs would have been so willing to trade their longest-tenured player and someone who means a lot to the franchise. By the time everyone's saying someone should be traded, it's too late: the best trades in hindsight are controversial at the time. I certainly hope that's true for these, and I trust Brad Stevens to know these guys better than anyone.

The other thing to note is that the Celtics FO clearly looks at a lot of analytics. Derrick White wasn't making too many waves at the deadline when we got him, but he had really good analytics behind him. Same with KP and Jrue, although obviously those players are more well-known. I don't know if the Celtics just trust their numbers more than other teams or have internal metrics that track more closely with the public ones, but if you want to know how the Celtics are gonna value players EPM or RAPM is a pretty good proxy.

The third thing is the win-win nature of a fair bit of these trades, even with some injuries. Nesmith and a pick for Brogdon is pretty reasonable. The Pacers are doing great letting Halliburton conduct the orchestra and can use Nesmith: they're also young enough to keep taking swings on draft prospects that can develop. Portland doesn't really need Jrue, but they can afford to have Timelord sit a season. Same with the Wizards trying to lose and not wanting to pay KP. I think the Celtics get an advantage by still having a lot of assets and being able to swoop in, but I think Timelord has solid future DPOY chances and Smart will do well in Memphis.

The only thing I find a little puzzling is how much value the Celtics seem to get out of their picks. Is the expected value of a Boston pick even a player who gets a roster spot? Unlike older teams I have a hard time believing Tatum is not playing heavy minutes in future seasons, and I just can't imagine the team drafting higher than 20 in the next couple of years.

Trading several proven guys in your team for one guy is kinda risky, many teams failed on it. Now it looks good when they're all on, but Celtics are generally almost always good whoever they play with Tatum. That gives some luxury that other teams will never have anyway, so they don't care making the trade. But wait for injuries, bad form, a lost playoff series - people will suddenly remember that these guys are not as good as now lol.

It helps that they are already good and have a young leadership on court, so basically they can risk it like that. They can wait if a good move is available, no pressure. They could keep Smart, Brogdon, Rob, that helps to only move when someone is in that beneficial situation.

Look at Blazers - they got a nice return for Jrue, in their situation. Brogdon and Williams might still be game changers, many picks and swaps. Just wait until 2036, when guys drafted with those picks will reach their prime lol. Then let's judge.

The teams all got something out of it, the Cs aren’t just getting these guys for nothing. The Cs do like to target guys they know will fit their system and culture (Kyrie being the huge exception, but who knew the depths to his narcissism) so they aren’t swing for huge potential/big risk guys.

Also, the Blazers got a future Cs pick, which may not be great, but they also got this season’s GSW pick, which could be very juicy. Losing Rob sucks and they wouldn’t have taken him if he was already injured like this, but Brogdon was a known injury risk, but he should be back soon, he can play a bit more and then they could flip him for a low 1st or high 2nd and a young project guy plus filler to a contender.

Those teams made those trades because that's the most any team was willing to give them.

I remember when Derrick got traded, tons of people acted like the celtics overpaid. Spurs fans knew he was a really good player but no team would give us more for him even though I thought at the time he was worth more. Also worth noting that the celtics were like the 14th best team in the league when the trade was made. They moved up to tied for 6th best and the pick could've been anywhere from 23-25.

With all these great rosters the Celtics must have a bunch of championships in the past 15 years right?

And yet they haven’t won jack crap in ages, so it’s pretty irrelevant cause none of the teams doing the trades got anywhere either, loosing in the finals isn’t a big oh boy close enough. That only works with hand grenades

The heat are good at bringing the best out of the worst

Boston is good at turning the worst into the best

Pretty much every trade except Kyrie people questioned whether we overpaid. We gave pretty fair value for how they were perceived at the time. Brad clearly targets players he thinks will fit well and doesn't try to screw team so they make the trade.

All these players also look great around two two-way All-NBA wings, because life is a lot easier when you have that foundation. Which is why trading one of the Jays was always a silly proposition.

Many of these recent trades were not seen as immediate positives. The front office has just made very good decisions.

No pacers fan has regrets about the brogdon trade

Brogdon is the reigning sixth man of the year and Smart is a former DPOY. 100% your premise is wrong.

I don't root for the Celtics, but I like their mindset.

Though it's definitely worth noting that Smart and R. Williams weren't injured when they were traded, Boston has showed they aren't just cool with keeping "status quo."

They've been one of the best teams in the league the last few seasons. They have as many NBA titles during that stretch as my daughter's 5th grade team.

They (the Celtics - not my daughter's team lol) could have just run it back this season with the same squad, but knew they needed to switch it up.

I also like that Milwaukee did the same thing. Though their core had won a title together, it appeared they maxed out. Giannis being praised as the best player in the league (though Jokic may well have that now) for many seasons and only having one Finals appearance isn't enough. Now, will swapping Jrue for Dame lead to more Finals appearances? IDK. But, they had to do something different.

KP basically forced his way to Boston. They didn’t do anything