Things Danny Ainge Could Have Done With the Brooklyn Pick
Set it on fire and thrown it off a bridge for one.

Two month ago Danny Ainge was sitting on a treasure trove of NBA’s best assets. He had a young coach, numerous picks and enough players to make almost any deal he could. Unless, of course, it included Terry Rozier, who at this point I imagine is on track to become better than Michael Jordan. He then turned what he had into a nearly identical situation while somehow making Boston worse.
Let’s recap, Kyrie Irving went to Boston in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder (wow, not a bad deal), Ante Zizic (wait, there’s more, why would he give up more to a balanced trade) AND a Brooklyn 2018 unprotected Draft Pick (*sets things on fire*). He basically flipped his older, defensive liability point guard who happens to be a below average passer and tends to over dribble into a younger, defensive liability point guard who happens to be a below average passer who tends to over dribble. Oh, he also gave their number one rival in the Conference their best weapon against them that allows them to take pressure off their best player AND two bargaining chips for their number one rival in the Conference to negotiate a new contract with their best player. While solving exactly zero of the Celtics deficiencies that cost them the series vs. Cleveland, namely defending the pick and roll and more importantly rebounding. So, to recap, they didn’t get better on the glass, they didn’t add a new skill set, and they lost one of their better defenders while Cleveland swapped a scorer for a scorer, added two future assets AND a 3 and D guy who bothered them last season as an opponent.
Hold on, I’m going to call up Ainge and see if he wants to trade my quarter for his quarter and ten more dollars, but my quarter is recently minted and shinier. I think we might have deal.
So what could have Danny Ainge gotten for this Brooklyn pick if it wasn’t Kyrie.
Jimmy Butler
The Celtics were reportedly very acquiring Jimmy Butler multiple times. The first time around the trade package included Jae Crowder at the Trade Deadline, a trade they should have taken. The second time was a proposed straight up swap of a 3rd overall pick this year for Jimmy Butler straight up. If the Bulls were that adamant about building for the future, they may have accepted a counter offer of say Jae Crowder and a Brooklyn pick for Jimmy, which seems to even out in the end and worth getting a top 15 talent, a top 5 two-way wing and one of three players, two reptiles and one celestial deity capable of defending LeBron James. They passed.
(If you doubt that that would have been enough to get Butler, stare at the names Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and a pick swap to try and determine if that’s a better offer than any of what I said above and try not to make your eyes bleed)
Paul George
There was a rumor that the Celtics offered three draft picks which did not include the Brooklyn first for Paul George at the trade deadline. A package including a Brooklyn first (instead of the other three) and a player package of something like Jae Crowder and another younger asset surely nets George at that juncture. In reality, they’re always choosing between their first/third overall and the Brooklyn pick next year at this point and betting on Brooklyn not to get better (which they did). Regardless, there is a combination of players that the Celtics can toss this way and all are better than the Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. Unless you’re really high on Oladipo for some reason. In which case, see a doctor.
Paul George AND Jimmy Butler
Okay, preposterous but stay with me. Brad Stevens has a history of making unorthodox positions into play makers, like let’s say Jimmy Butler. If you knew Thomas wasn’t your future (which he wasn’t) you flip him in one of these deals with Crowder and a pick (third overall or Brooklyn 2018) and then do a young asset or two plus a pick (whichever one you didn’t use in the first trade) and all of a sudden you have the wing power that can only be described as a nightmare story read to NBA guards by their grandma in a hushed voice telling them they’ll have to defend and be defended by Paul George and Jimmy Butler at the same damn time.
Additionally, if both the above rumors are true you don’t even have to give up Thomas in this, keeping him as an asset for a later trade.
Kept Markelle Fultz
So turns out Isaiah Thomas wasn’t the point guard of the future? Why not use his value, the Brooklyn pick and once again Jae Crowder to net out a George/Butler and pair them with a young point guard who is already a better play maker than Kyrie Irving and since you can always at least be on par with lackluster defense, is on par defensively with Kyrie Irving.
In the most wild card version of this scenario, the Celtics replace Isaiah Thomas for their third overall pick value this year and net out with Fultz, George and Butler, which form what I imagine Cthulhu would look like.
Use It
Following the Kyrie Irving trade, the Celtics are no closer in addressing their most major problems. Nor are they any closer to beating the Cavs who made work of them last Playoffs and got better at things they needed to get better at. With a young core of Rozier, Smart, Brown and now Hayward, why not dive into next year’s studded draft, build for the future and also take a shot at free agents when Thomas’ salary clears off the books.
Trade it to Me for a Bag of Fresh Peanuts
I mean, listen. They’re fresh, they’re definitely still crispy and salted and they are definitely younger and have less concerns than Isaiah Thomas. They might not pack the potency of offensive impact that either Thomas or Irving bring, but I do believe they are just about as effective defensively.
Do the first cross-league Trade With The NFL
Who knows, maybe you get a good player capable of defending LeBron James or at least hitting him hard enough he forgets how to play basketball for the duration of a quarter.
Burn It
This would have about the same impact on their chances of beating the Cavs now as the actual trade that he did does. Furthermore, it also doesn’t improve Cleveland in the long run, putting Boston’s eventual ascension into question in the process.
Literally Anything Else
Ask anyone who’s ever owned a Beanie Baby. At first, having stuff is cool and it always seems like the value of cool stuff is only going to go up. That is until you have entire basement filled with items that have the collective value of a pack of Newports. The Celtics had some of the best assets in the League and were multiple times over offered a chance to improve their team to challenge right here and right now (let’s face it, Horford isn’t getting any younger at 32). Instead, they failed to address every single thing they actually needed to address, they staggered their players timelines (Horford/Hayward+Kyrie/The Young Guns) into three different trajectories and they let a once best asset in the League be worth roughly what it took for the Raptors to get Serge Ibaka.
Someone check on Danny Ainge.

