Jae Crowder?

Ainge would do it in a heart beat. Willie is the Kind of Big the C's need. The Kings should not do this as Willie is needed here.

Willie's future is totally unpredictable for me, sometimes I think he could be one of the most useful bigs in the league, some other times a guy with lots of wasted potential. So if someone is against the idea of trading him, I get it. I'm scared as well, I don't wanna see him succeed somewhere else. But I'm in love with Zizic.

I liked Zubac more than Zizic. Zizic was more productive but Zubac has better tools and is a better fit for the NBA. That said, Vlade took Papagiannis over both.

I think he sees WCS and Papa as a good combination as they bring different things to the table. Papa & Zizic are more similar than different.

Anyway, here are my two thoughts.

1 Ainge seems poised to deal Smart and keep Crowder. Positionally this doesn't make a ton of sense but in terms of their contracts it's the right move. Smart will be a RFA next season offseason while Crowder is locked up on a great deal.

2. I don't want to see WCS traded. He's shown some flashes but has been too inconsistent to have much trade value at the moment. And since he's potentially under contract at the rookie scale for two more seasons I think it's worth waiting to see what he does this season.

Worst case scenario (barring injury) is that he's a decent backup center who provides some defensive versatility on the cheap.

Best case scenario is that he takes a major leap and becomes either a building block or a big trade chip.

Somewhere in the middle is him reaching the level of a Javale McGee. Those types of players now cost around $15 million a season on the open market and Willie would cost much less than that.

No offense dude but it seems your high on all players from the former Yugoslav region. Ainge wouldn't deal both Crowder and Zizic though.

I don't think Koufos is enough either. It's going to take who the team is lower on in regards to the young bigs with upside. I'd personally do WCS, but I can see why his believers wouldn't

Then again the Celtics might plan to play Hayward/Crowder together

Do the kings still have rights to Alex oriakhi? I heard a cap space + rights to him can fetch allstar/MVP talent. We will gladly trade it for lowly jae crowder.

No way. If we're dealing Oriakhi and a trade exception I will accept nothing less than IT back from Boston.

It's true, no offense. Not all of them, just the good ones.

Crowder would be great, but I don't see what Vlade would be willing to part with to get him. He has value given his production and contract but he's not the kind of guy you give up youth for.

Bradley does a lot of what Smart does. Crowder is at a crowded (pun intended ) position with Tatum, Brown and Hayward when he slides down, but his value is so high relative to production and contract. I think Ainge is better to trade Smart now and consider to move Crowder later when he is not under time constraint. He does not have full leverage now. On other hand the acquiring team is competing against other teams. A team like the Kings should not make a crazy offer knowing Ainge is in a crunch to create space. But simultaneously their offer has to be decent and better than options Ainge is considering.

Drafting Fox at #5 was easy. Trading #10 for #15 and #20 was easy. If Vlade can maneuver way in front of other teams to land Crowder without giving away the farm, this is when a GM earns his keep.

Certainly I consider it relative to a bum like Carroll. But you are probably right, and the makeup of our team changed with two veterans added. That makes four solid vets for the young guys to develop around. I think if you can swap out Koufos for Crowder and throw in a future 2nd rounder you do it. With Jackson and Malachi you could have the next Crowder level player or better. That is a tough call. I want to see them perform in Vegas.

Right now I like our mix of vets and young guys. I don't want to trade out a young guy for a vet (say Malachi for Crowder) even though it makes us better in the short term.

How bout we not trade a major piece of our young core.

Ainge knows Lebron stands in the way of the Celtics. Crowder matches up with Lebron pretty well. Brown and Tatum are 6 more lebron fouls each. The plan would be to keep sending young strong defenders at Lebron and hope he gets tired.

Hayward can play the 2, Crowder the 4, Brown and Tatum at the 3. Ainge will trade Smart before Bradley and Bradley before Crowder IMO.

It just occurred to me that our 2019 pick is in Bostons hands if the Lakers pick doesn't convey, another reason this might be unlikely if Ainge doesn't want us improving

I'm guessing Carters comments about still wanting to play a lot of minutes signal an end to this dream. I wanted that grit here.. but maybe Ainge would have asked for the moon anyhow

He would've wanted Willie anyways I think which would've been a pass for me.