Originally Posted by
UNO Gracias
Look at it from the Celtics POV. They trade all that youth, and Kyrie is still leaving. That leaves the Celtics with AD, Horford, and Gordon Hayward. While all fine pieces, and certainly a playoff bound team, that is an old and expensive team that isn’t winning a title, and doesn’t have much of a window to win a title. They don’t have cap space to bring in additional help, and Rozier isn’t coming back to run point on an MLE, so they are down a big key to the operation (no Kyrie, no Rozier).
If they pass on AD, they can keep their young core, let Kyrie leave, and re-sign Rozier running back the team that made the ECF a year ago.
Unless they know Kyrie is coming back (which he is giving all indications that he isn’t) then trading for AD is a no brainer. But if Kyrie walks, then trading for AD doesn’t do much for helping them reach the top of the mountain.