Danny Ainge joined Toucher & Rich for his weekly Thursday interview and, of course, a lot of the talk centered around the upcoming trade deadline.
“Until we become a championship-caliber team, I guess nobody’s not ever tradable,” said Ainge. “But there’s a lot of guys on our roster right now that we have no intention of moving.”
This includes the highly coveted Brooklyn Nets pick. However, it would take quite a bit for other teams to acquire it.
“I can’t take it off the table but it’s going to be tough to get,” said Ainge.
I think a good rule of thumb for that pick is going to be “is the player being acquired 25 years old or younger?”
If the answer is yes, then the Brooklyn pick is in play. In this scenario, someone like a Gordon Hayward (25) or Jabari Parker (20) (just picking a couple of names in recent rumors/chatter) would be in the discussion because they haven’t hit their prime and they’re still under contract (though Hayward could opt out in 2017018). Ainge could essentially say he “drafted” these guys at whatever spot that picks lands, rather than roll the dice on the actual players reaching their full potential.
Let’s be real here… those guys don’t always do that. Some guys get hurt, and some guys just can’t handle the transition. Keeping the pick isn’t as sure a thing as some people want to believe. The promise of that talent is intoxicating (just ask Michael Jordan on draft night… or even Danny Ainge who was giving up the farm for Justise Winslow), but using that pick to get a known entity has its value as well. Trading it for a budding young star does mean you get him later in his career, but it also means you’ve gotten a chance to see just how good he is, and how good he can be.
That aside, Ainge has options. That Brooklyn pick won’t go for Al Horford. This is a seller’s market, and teams know Ainge has almost too many assets to play with, but Ainge has to stand his ground at some point.
One side note in the interview: It looks like Kelly Olynyk just has a bruise, and will be ok to play when the schedule resumes next Friday.
Here’s the whole interview:
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