Celtics Offseason BOMBSHELL: Trade Jaylen Brown? Kawhi Deal & Simons Signing Breakdown

Untitled project from SquadCast === Steve: [00:00:00] Welcome to Celtic Chalk Talk. My name's Steve Purciello, lifelong Celtic fan, have watched them and rooted for them my whole life, go back to the Russell days. And when I talk about Bill Russell, he's my favorite athlete. So I have a deep knowledge of the Celtics and have seen a lot of ball games through the years. Now, before we get started, I want to mention thePeachBasket.net organization. We have a group of people, myself included, who are basketball fans. We do pods and we write. I really urge you to check it out and you will find other pods probably better than mine, but pretty good on the network, and these are fans talking about it. We're an independent group who works to promote and talk about the game we love. So again, just check it out and you might find something pretty good. Now let's talk about the Celtics. [00:01:00] I've thought a little bit about what do they do. One of the things I really believe they should do is this. First thing is sign Anfernee Simons. I think that would be an important thing. Now, he's somebody we're familiar with. One of the things Boston would bog down during the season and need offense, and this is when Tatum was there and before Tatum, meaning JB got stopped and maybe even Tatum got stopped or they weren't playing well, so you needed somebody off the bench. Now, Pritchard did that, but Anfernee Simons, if I remember right, during the season before he was traded, he saved Boston's bacon many nights with coming in and getting red hot. He's an instant heat-up player. He can come in, he can score. Now, the knock on Simons has always been his defense. Let me just say something. Ti- Simons looked like he really wanted to be a Boston Celtic. That's important because with being a Boston Celtic, it meant he wanted to [00:02:00] defend. Now, when teams did try to pick on him and, he was 50/50 on that when he did get picked on, but he was working at it and it's important. The other piece is I believed Simons would like to be a Celtic. I also believe he's made some money in his first contract he just finished, I believe over 100 million on that. So I think he, he said, and I think he knows the market isn't gonna be yelling for him like it was the first time, and he'll come in a lot cheaper is my point. And when I say cheaper, I'm thinking 10 to 15 million which is a good deal for a guy that can score. Again, Boston needs guys that can go to the basket as well as shoot, that can help them and score when things aren't running right. Boston had to work for a lot of their baskets, and a lot of them were jump shots not going to end threes. And, we just we need to do other things besides that. I think that, that manifested itself during the season, [00:03:00] and I think it's something that Boston needs to pay attention to. And Simons loves coming off the bench, did a great job with Boston. I think he could have been sixth man of the year if he stayed with Boston. So I think it's a good fit, and I think everybody would be happy on that. Now, let me throw some ideas at you about some trades that I was just playing around and thinking about. One of the first things I thought about, and I'm not in love with this, but I'm gonna mention it, was dealing White and Hauser. Now, if you deal Derrick White and Sam Hauser. Now, Derrick White did not, as we all know, have a great shooting year From the three, he was not that good. And I'm gonna be honest, he made second team all defense, which is great for his marketability with other teams. But if you really think about it, when he guarded straight up, he was not a good defender. He was good off the ball, blocking shots and doing things that created problems, but he didn't have that quickness. And you know what? He's 32 years old. So you do have to begin to think [00:04:00] about this and say you know what? I don't know if, you trade a guy basically when he's near his peak value, not later." And right now might be White's peak value. Might've been last year, but it's somewhere in there. Now, him and you give up Sam Hauser. Sam Hauser's a good shooter, but I think you have other people that play cheaper can shoot as well. Shi- Shireman I think may never be as good as Hauser, but he plays a better all-around game or he will play a better all-around game than Hauser. So I think you trade Hauser with Derrick White and one thing you can get, I believe, is Kawhi Leonard. I believe the Clippers are starting over and I think they wanna get rid of the Kawhi Leonard playing 50 games type thing and all the other stuff that goes with it. I think they wanna clean it up and just get better. They have a draft pick from the Pacers that could help them and I think they're starting over. Derrick White provi- though he's not young, he plays every night [00:05:00] and he provides them with a steadying influence on the court. Those are important things for them to think about. Now, a couple other Derrick White ideas. Derrick White straight up for Julius Randle. I don't know if-- I don't think I like that because Randle has shown the inability to play well in big games and we need people who play well in big games. So that, that doesn't quite work to me. But it's something out there that works as a, as a trade, meaning salaries and all are matching and so on. The next one I thought about a little lot, and I go back and forth, Derrick White to Dallas. You're gonna get back Gafford and P.J. Washington. Now I don't-- I believe White's the best player in the trade, obviously. When you're giving one for two, he would be the best. I think Gafford fills a big hole as a center. I think Gafford, let's face it, to win, you've gotta guard the good centers [00:06:00] to win the whole thing. We saw what Embiid did. I think Gafford gives you a better chance to hold his own. And with Tatum Tatum, with Queta, he makes Boston have a pretty good duo in as centers. And you, of course, you keep Garza to come off the bench because you do have another year with him, and he's worth the low price Boston's paying. But I think Gafford could help them. Now, PJ Washington also could help them. He can do a lot of things on the court. He also might make it a little easier for Tatum in the rebounding. And he can also defend, making it easier on Tatum having to guard some of the bigger, stronger players. So that's an interesting trade. I don't know if I love it, but it kinda works, and it kinda could make Boston better. But again, you still need that ba- bucket getter, and that's why I keep coming back to Anfernee Simons. Now, the last one I'm gonna throw at you is something I've thought about And I-- there's a lot of [00:07:00] reasons I bring it up. Jaylen Brown has really s- said a lot of things this year, and Jaylen Brown hasn't won a lot of fans with his talking, and it's becoming a problem. I, I-- if you watch the playoffs, one of the things I'm noticing is offensive guys with their arms out, it's happening quite often, but I'm not seeing a lot of whistles. I saw Jaylen Brown get a lot of whistles at, especially in the playoffs for that. Now, what I'm thinking to me is Jaylen Brown's created a negative aura about him, and it's not a good thing, and maybe it's time to part ways. The other thing you need to think about is Jaylen Brown is in he's two years away from being a free agent. He can re-up. Now, if he re-ups, the max would be about 70 million. That, that cuts into a cap, and we're talking about a guy who would be 31 at the time. He's gonna miss more games. [00:08:00] He's going to get hurt more, and he's not gonna be there as much. He'll still be very good when he plays, but you're play- weighing into that is the other stuff. So I think it might be time. Now, the smartest thing you can do to keep everybody happy is think about Atlanta and Boston making a deal, 'cause Jaylen Brown, we all know, is from Marietta, Georgia. And being from Marietta, Georgia means he probably, if he's going to get dealt from the Celtics, he would love to be back with the Hawks in Atlanta. Now, the other thing too with Jaylen, and I think it's something that has to be understood by him, that number will go in the rafters if they trade him or they don't, meaning number seven will hang in the Boston Celtic Garden and never be worn by anybody else again, because he won a title and he was the MVP in that series. So I think y- that would soften the blow of him leaving knowing that. Now, here's what I want back, and I don't know if Atlanta would want to do this, but it's an interesting deal. What I'd [00:09:00] want is Jalen Johnson Nikhil Walker and Stéphane Richer. Plus, I'd want their first-round pick, which is, I believe, the eighth pick in the draft. Now, it's a big package they'd have to give us. Richer, you're taking money to make salaries work and he's not panned out, and he's not played well. At best, you can hope that Richer would be somebody off the bench. And being that the guy that can maybe come in for Jalen Johnson and Tatum and maybe hopefully fit in with the Celtics' ways. Now with Johnson he kinda showed himself as not the star they thought he was in the playoffs. He wasn't their go-to guy. He wasn't the guy they wanted to use. And he didn't just say, like a star, like a Tatum or Brown would do, "Give me the ball, get out of my way, and we'll make it happen." And against the Knicks, he disappeared. He disappeared totally. He passed up some open shots, and he just looked like he was taken out of it. That's not a good [00:10:00] sign. That's why I suggest the trade I just suggested with him. Nickeil Walker is a player, and he's got a great contract. He would replace Derrick White. He can shoot the three. He can defend. He can do all the things that White can do. He might be a better on-the-ball defender than White, not a better all-around defender off the ball. So those are positives. Richaun Shea, as I said, if you can get the eighth pick with it, you're getting a young player who's gonna get paid a little bit, won't hurt the cap, and will help Boston in the long run. Th- those are my suggestions. Those are my thoughts. Glad to hear about it from anybody. And until next week, I just wanna say thank you and goodbye.