Brooklyn Trades Thaddeus Young, Great for Celtics
By Jeremy Karll
The Brooklyn Nets are going to be really bad next year, and Boston couldn’t be more thrilled
For as much criticism as the Philadelphia 76ers have caught since starting The Process, at least they knew what their plan was the whole time. The Brooklyn Nets are in no man’s land, easily in the worst position in the NBA. They’re coming off a 21-61 record – third worst team in NBA – and should be even worse next year after today’s trade.
After Danny Ainge was able to pull off a historic trade a couple of years back that was centered around Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett going to Brooklyn for salary fillers and numerous draft picks, the Nets are now left in shambles.
They came into today only owning the 55th pick in the draft because the Celtics own their first round pick this year. The Boston Celtics also own the right to swap first round picks next year and own the Nets pick the year after.
To make matters worse, the Nets should be the worst team in the league next year, with a loaded draft class coming in. Now, Brooklyn has certainly ensured a terrible 82 games as they traded Thaddeus Young, arguably their best player, to the Indiana Pacers for the 20th pick in this year’s draft and a future second rounder.
The second round pick is nothing more than a roster filler on a bad team in a couple of years, however, getting into the first round of this year’s draft was an objective the Nets front office was trying to fulfill over the past month.
Doing so, they made themselves worse for the upcoming season, while not guaranteeing they’ll hit big in the draft this year. The Nets won’t find great value with the 20th pick, making it surprising that they agreed on this trade. They should still find a solid rookie, although, it’ll be interesting to see if they go for a player who can contribute right away – Malachi Richardson, DeAndre’ Bembry – or a raw, high-potential prospect – Thon Maker, Cheick Diallo.
Either way, it’s very unlikely that any rookie they draft will play as well as Young would have next season. They might end up having a better career, however, Young is one of the most versatile power forwards in the game and was one of their last hopes to having a decent year.
The Celtics were reportedly interested in Young at the trade deadline and were in talks throughout the pre-draft process. Considering Boston owns the 16th pick and multiple second round picks this year, there’s no doubt they could’ve landed him. Maybe this means Ainge has a bigger deal in store for later tonight, or maybe Boston didn’t want to be the team to give the Nets extra picks.
While this is great news for the Celtics as far as a draft stance, this is bad news when looking at the Eastern Conference playoff picture. This is the second straight day that Indiana has made a splash. Yesterday, they upgraded their point guard position in a three-team trade that got them Jeff Teague, and now they added Young to a very promising starting lineup.
Teague, Monta Ellis, Paul George, Young, and Myles Turner makes up one of the most promising starting lineups in the NBA next season. For a team who was a seven seed this year, they should make a run at one of the top seeds this upcoming season.
Next: What Jazz/Pacers/Hawks Trade Means for Celtics
When it comes down to it, Boston should be all smiles after this deal. Young didn’t attract the amount of assets many figured he would, and the Celtics’ future looks brighter. Brooklyn was smart to deal Young for a promising rookie, however, it won’t stop them from being a trainwreck next season, setting Boston up perfectly to land the top pick in the 2017 draft.