Bogg

So Cousins continues to be a crazy person in Sacramento and Boston's being mentioned as one of the most interested teams out there. Normally I hate chasing headcases, but I think that with Doc, Pierce, KG, and Rondo, this is actually the right locker room to turn his career around. Some mixture of Bradley, Sullinger, Melo, Jeff Green, and draft picks might be an attractive package for a Sacramento squad that needs an injection of character guys while still getting young guys who can contribute. Thoughts?

RollWithEm

This would be an unbelievable get for Boston if Ainge can somehow pull this off. KG will straighten out his career, and he will be the perfect big man for Rondo to carry the franchise torch with after Pierce and Garnett are long gone. Boston needs him, but he needs them even more. Match made in heaven.

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But that's just me.

Floods

Bradley or Sullinger is too much to give up for a known headcase who plays no defense and has an awful FG%, especially for a big man who plays in the post.

The salaries are hard to match for these teams without blowing it up into a much bigger trade, likely involving Green going there and a couple of their contracts headed our way (like Garcia and Hayes), so a third team would probably be needed. Regardless the most I'd give up for Cousins alone is Melo, a late draft pick, and filler like Wilcox or something.

E.H. Munro

Cousins' FG% is a function of him shooting too many shots away from the blocks. He takes 5-6 shots per game in the 10-18 foot range and if he's shooting 25% on those I'd be shocked

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Bogg

You don't think that a steady stream of Rondo spoon-feeding him easy dunks and layups might defuse some of the conflicts he's had over touches in Sacramento?

The salaries aren't particularly hard to match up. Cousins makes a little under $4 mil, so two of Sullinger, Bradley, or Melo plus a minimum filler deal (either Joseph or Varnado) works.

Floods

You said locker room. Rondo isn't exactly a model locker room presence.

And Sullinger or Bradley is too much to give up, for reasons I already mentioned.

Diable

The Celtics as currently constituted are going nowhere in a big damn hurry. They are exactly the type of team which can make an actual rationale for a Cousins trade. If the worst happens you'll just have a big sullen brat on a max contract.

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Bogg

Rondo's actually a pretty good team guy, he just isn't too interested in being popular with stars on other teams. It came out that Ray was having problems with more than just Rondo in the locker room.



No, they aren't. Sullinger's a nice piece, but he's a career role-player, and Bradley's replaceable on this team (it's why they went out and added Barbosa). The team's trying to win now, and a mentally stable Cousins does more for the C's in the playoffs this year than either of those two guys.

Floods

The numerous reports of Rondo being a bitch disagree.

Sullinger's rebounding and Bradley's defense can help this team now and for years to come. Gambling one or both of them on someone who plays no defense, has awful shot selection, shoots an abysmal percentage, has spent his career thus far learning bad habits, and may well turn out to be too much of a nut even for Doc, KG, and Pierce to set straight, isn't a good idea, especially when you don't have to do it. If teams were lining up for Cousins, he'd already be long gone from Sacramento. But they're not, because nobody wants him. I'd imagine the most important thing for the Kings is getting him out of town, because this era has been an abject failure for them and then some, and they'd rather just start over while keeping costs minimal. The Kings aren't in a position to dictate their price for him. Lowball them with Melo, a throwaway pick, and Wilcox/Collins-caliber filler, and tell them take it or leave it. If they pass and Cousins gets away, oh well, there will be other soft big men in the future.

RollWithEm

If Cousins does wind up landing on the Celtics, he will prove you wrong Floods... and it won't take very long.

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But that's just me.

Ron

I personally saw the Celtics get hammered at Golden State (as I knew they would, after the Clipper debacle), but thought they would fare better in Sacto.

This team is going nowhere, it has to do something to shake up its lineup. Sacto keeps saying its keeping Cousins, but I think a good package would loosen things up a bit.

Floods

Not too late to clean house, Danny.

E.H. Munro

I think a housecleaning is 3-5 weeks into the future. Their re-signed free agents can't be traded until January 15th anyway, so all deals will be on hold until then.

__________________
If everyone loves you you're doing it wrong.

"Opium is the religion of the masses." Fred Reed

The Power of 99 Press

"He thinks it's going to be fun being governor. It's only fun being governor of New York if you have money to spend, and I spent it all." Nelson Rockefeller on his successor, Hugh Carey.

Mattsanity

I'm glad Ainge is making up for that epic Perkins trade.

Bogg

Except he has a good relationship with Doc, and a few teammates have come out this past year basically saying Rondo's stepped up and become team leader, as well as saying that Ray was having problems with a few people in the locker room (it's why you heard Pierce say how important it was to retain KG last year, but wasn't as strong on Ray). I mean, if you want to pretend it's still 2010 and the vets are mad about Rondo wanting to be treated as an all-star, that's cool, but it isn't what's happening anymore.


Obviously everything depends on Cousins being able to turn things around in Boston, it's why he's available and essentially the whole point of a potential trade. I'm also not going to turn this into me saying that Bradley and Sullinger don't have value, because they're both nice supporting players. However, the facts are that Bradley's a defensive role-player with a history of getting banged up and having to miss time, and Sullinger's a PF-C who's under 6'8" with a bad back. Neither one's a guy you can build a team around, and neither are going to take over a playoff series. This is a veteran, win-now squad that's under .500 with no chance of beating Miami as constructed. Cousins, if his head is screwed on straight, is one of the only guys who's both available at a discount and able to give Boston a punchers' chance this spring.