03-24-2021, 03:43 PM
(03-24-2021, 02:38 PM)ClutchDirk Wrote: The Celtics and the Clippers rank as the two most desperate teams at the deadline, given the playoff expectations they carried into the season and both clubs’ recent struggles. No less an authority than Danny Ainge, Boston’s president of basketball operations, said in a February radio interview that “we don’t have a good enough team,” essentially putting public pressure on himself to do something about it.
Boston has duly pursued a variety of big men whose teams are resistant to deals: Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes, Atlanta’s John Collins and Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic. The Celtics now appear focused on Gordon, or perhaps more affordable options like Sacramento’s Nemanja Bjelica or Toronto’s Norman Powell.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/24/sport...deals.html
About Boston --
I read an analysis by someone in the last day or so (can't remember who, but it was someone who is known to be plugged in) regarding Boston's likelihood of a trade. They cited other execs, and said the consensus is that Boston is very unlikely to get a high profile deal across the finish line right now because of the nature of the trades at the trade deadline.
Especially this one.
They said there are a lot of teams looking for upgrades, so every top possibility is at "full retail" or higher. And Boston prides itself on getting good-to-great deals and on having the discipline to keep from overpaying.
So, for example [my example, not theirs, to illustrate what was said], if Boston sees Gordon as worth a well-protected 1st and a young player with unproven ability (such as Nesmith) and Orlando wants a proven up-and-coming player and a pick with almost no protection, plus a 2nd rounder, Boston is not going to try to bridge that gap. They will only do a deal at THEIR valuations, even if it's not what the competitive market is demanding.
There is also speculation that any reports Boston is making super-high offers is either Orlando trying to pump up the competitive market for Gordon, or the reports misstating the details. Because, Boston isn't going to be making extravagant offers, that's just not the way they operate, not ever. They negotiate a lot, but they are very disciplined and unwilling to ever overpay.
That shed a lot of light on the Gordon-to-Boston idea for me.