Things change fast in the NBA, ask the Detroit Pistons who went from historically bad to the playoffs in one offseason.
And after taking the favored Knicks to six games, Detroit may feel they are close to challenging for the Eastern Conference as soon as next season.
The Celtics have experienced a 180 in the same season, as they went from a favorite to win another title to on the verge of a second-round elimination and rumblings that they will have to blow up their uber expensive roster.
Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis are the two players most likely to be moved, and it won’t be easy for Boston, as Holiday is well past his prime and still has three more expensive years left on his deal after this one. Porzingis will be an expiring contract, and given his injury history, it’s hard to see many teams lined up to give Boston a big trade package.
Boston is facing the challenges of keeping a great team together under the new CBA and finding out the hard way that you will only get 1-2 shots at it if you make the wrong choices.
Extending Holiday and Porzingis now look like bad decisions that are going to cost the Celtics, and the Pistons should want no part of bailing them out, which is what happens in a recent trade proposal on Bleacher Report.
While this trade may look good for the Pistons on paper, it’s potentially a culture killer that would set them back:
This trade is superficially intriguing, as the Pistons would get a very good defensive guard in Holiday and a floor-spacing four to replace Tobias Harris for the long term.
But when you look at little closer, this deal is essentially bailing out Boston for no real reason.
Why would the Detroit Pistons want Jrue Holiday?
First off, I should say that I love Jrue Holiday. He’s long been one of my favorite players in the NBA and he’s a great guy off the court as well, but let’s face facts, he’s in decline, averaging the fewest points per game of his career since his rookie season with his 3-point shooting taking a big dip.
Yes, he’s still a good defender, but he’s owed $32, 34 and 37 million in the next three seasons after this one, a steep cost to pay for a defender who will be 37 years old in the final year of the deal. This is the kind of trade that kills a team. I'd far rather pursue a younger and cheaper option in Nickeil Alexander-Walker in free agency.
Holiday is a sunk cost at this point, one that the Celtics will likely have to pay to give away or at least take back a lousy deal. Gifting them a 23-year-old center who was one of the best rim protectors in the league not only bails them out of the Holiday contract but gives them something they desperately need. The Pistons should have no interest in helping Boston.
Detroit would be giving up two players in Stewart and Harris who were key to their culture this season, not to mention a decent bench player in Sasser AND a first-round pick. If the Pistons are taking back Holiday’s terrible contract, they couldn’t possibly be giving up this much.
I’m not sure why Holiday is involved at all, as the Pistons could just try to make a move for Cam Johnson without Holiday’s lead weight contract attached. They’d likely have to give up less and wouldn’t be taking on a terrible deal in the process. This trade must have been devised by a Celtics fan.
I do like Cam Johnson, but he too has some red flags, namely that he’s only played 60+ games twice in his career. The caveat is that he is on a team-friendly contract that only has two more years left on it, so it wouldn’t be a huge risk.
Either way, this would be a foolish trade for Detroit, as it would help one of their rivals without the necessary compensation and leave them without any financial flexibility or the defensive heart of their team.