The Portland Trail Blazers free Jaylen Brown
Why the Blazers do it:
Think everything I said about Lu Dort and then multiply it by two, maybe three.
Jaylen Brown has always been the prototypical second banana that Damian Lillard has needed — the Klay Thompson to his Stephen Curry if you will.
Brown can create his own offense, threaten the rim, play on and off-the-ball, and guard the opponent’s most lethal threat every single night.
Dennis Schroder — who becomes available to be moved on Wednesday, December 15 — comes in to replace Simons’s microwave presence off the bench and provide the Blazers with a much-needed point-of-attack defender.
This trade simply makes too much sense not to pull the trigger on.
Why the Celtics do it:
It was recently reported that the Boston Celtics have strongly considered breaking up the Jays. Jayson Tatum, this season, has played his best ball with Brown sidelined.
“I think this is definitely the beginning of the end for the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown pairing…I think sometime in the next 12-18 months we’re really going start to hear conversations about the future of Boston with Jaylen Brown heading out the door.”
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 13, 2021
- @JakeLFischer pic.twitter.com/LSbr7HXVyq
According to statmuse, Tatum has averaged 29.6 points while slashing 47/40/83 in the 14 games that Brown has missed in 2021-2022. In comparison, he’s putting up just 22.7 points on a 38/27/79 mark in the 14 games that Brown has appeared in.
It’s not implausible to think why the Celtics would consider splitting up their tandem of young star wings. With two years left on his contract after this season, Boston may seriously consider moving Brown ahead of time and fully capitalizing on his value now.
If the Portland Trail Blazers can renegotiate the protections on the first-rounder they sent to the Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics General Manager Brad Stevens will be hard-pressed to find a better package than the one Portland can offer.
This trade sets the Cs up to continue to compete immediately, while also ensuring their future.
CJ McCollum gives Boston the perimeter creator they wanted when they first traded for Kemba Walker, except he’ll actually get buckets in New England.
Anfernee Simons gives Jayson Tatum a new young teammate to grow with. His ability to stretch the floor would offer a level of spacing that Tatum hasn’t seen since Kyrie Irving abandoned him.
The Celtics will probably still ask for multiple first-rounders in this deal, but this trade offers the Trail Blazers a chance to win now. Joe Cronin shouldn’t hesitate to call the Bulls and rework the terms of the offseason deal that Neil Olshey botched to make this work.