The past few days I have been thinking of a Boston trade without Tatum and I still think it could end up being the best haul if replacing Tatum with Brown would make Boston more willing to give up other assets. For example, I'm thinking of the following trade:
New Orleans Receives:
Jaylen Brown
Marcus Smart
Al Horford
Robert Williams
2019 1st round pick from Sacramento Kings
2019 1st round pick from Boston Celtics (or Clippers, whichever is better)
2019 1st round pick from Memphis (or to be conveyed later)
2021 1st round pick from Boston Celtics
Boston Receives:
Anthony Davis
Solomon Hill
E'twaun Moore
The idea to add Al Horford into the trade is really appealing to me because I think he would be the perfect glue player, cultural leader and the ideal fit next to Julius Randle. Yes, he is a bit older but he's still incredibly productive and probably can be for another 3 years. I think we could be a playoff contender immediately with that team while not compromising our future since we'll own so many 1st round picks. And importantly to me, this is a team I would love to watch and I would be proud of. We could be a defensive juggernaut with the following lineup:
Jrue Holiday
Marcus Smart
Jaylen Brown
Julius Randle
Al Horford
4 out of the 5 players would be great - elite defenders with only Randle being a weak defender. But surrounded by that group of players that all buy in defensively? Maybe Julius' athletic ability combined with that could turn him into at least a neutral defender. And while nobody in this starting lineup is a deadeye from 3, everyone is a threat from 3 and can also get up and down the court with the best of them. Every player is capable of grabbing the board and pushing it up the court to help us get into our offense - I think that's very valuable in today's NBA.
Then we can add 3 rookies (maybe 4 if Memphis is #9 this year) to fill out the bench and give us more upside in the future. Imagine if our picks are #8, #14 and #20 (as it stands now). We could add a player like Romeo Langford and have him be a good scorer off the bench and let him develop at his own pace instead of rushing a rookie to be our savior. Brandon Clarke could be a versatile big man we bring off the bench to add to the defensive culture. And maybe we take a swing at someone like Bol Bol if he's still there at #20 or another boom or bust prospect. I think having a strong culture set in by leaders such as Jrue, Horford, Smart and even Jaylen Brown would give us a stronger chance of having good returns on our draft picks. Hoping for the draft picks to implement the culture for us is going to be asking too much of dudes that are 19-22 years old. Combine the fact we could end up with three 1st round picks in 2021, or we could get lucky and jump to the top 4 in the lottery, think we could be set with great flexibility in the future while being a competitive team immediately.
If Jaylen Brown breaks out with a bigger role, the future could be really bright. Tatum is clearly the better prospect between the two and I'd rather him, but if choosing Brown could give us an extra 1st rounder + Horford I think I might go for that. Jaylen Brown is still really good with room to grow.
Thoughts on this trade package compared to the ones with Tatum?