Your__Pal

1 | 10 days ago

The 2027-2028 luxury tax line is at 213M, coming in 2M higher than earlier projections.

More breathing room for the old version of the team, had they wanted to keep the team intact. They could have traded Hauser and made 1-2 small moves and stayed under that line.

Not great.

CarBallAlex

1 | 10 days ago

And that wouldn’t have mattered in the slightest because they would have been in the 2nd apron in 2025-26, which means their draft pick in 2031 moves to the end of the first round.

Porzingis is a complete liability where he played 32 games last season and Horford only played 45. It would have been Queta at Center again and we would have gotten cooked in the first round anyway. In the off chance we scrape by the 76ers, we aren’t beating the Knicks with that team.

Congrats, you kept together an old team that is not competitive as Horford and Holiday near the end of their careers and get to enjoy the idea of sucking in 2031 and basically losing a high draft pick.

We’d be sitting here this year and next saying “get Tatum and Brown some help” and it would be literally impossible because we would have nothing of value to trade. Porzingis went for nothing already, nobody is trading anything significant for Holiday or Horford, we knew Brown’s value after a career year, so how exactly are you pivoting from that team?

I for one am not that upset we didn’t hang on to everyone. We got 1 and that’s more than most teams can say.

Your__Pal

0 | 10 days ago

I am speaking about the 2025-2026 Celtics team before they traded Brown, not the 2024-2025 team.

That other team is still way over the 2nd apron.

CarBallAlex

1 | 9 days ago

Oh. If that’s the case, then I guess time will tell, but I’m leaning towards the Celtics made the right decision because I don’t believe Tatum and Brown could win another championship with the pieces around them since the league got better, and I trust Brad Stevens judgment with his track record.

I think my assessment of the Paul George trade will be who they flip him for. If they let him expire or he’s traded for a couple guys who don’t impact winning really, I think it was a bad trade. If they flip him for someone that does, I think it was the right decision for them.

I don’t think the issue was with Brown staying under the tax for this year, I think it was he was going to ask for a big extension and so having his money on the books for the next 5 years while also paying Tatum a supermax just would have made it really difficult to build a complete roster around them.

You either need a really great starting 5 which requires some discounts of contracts to pay a premium for the pieces around them (us in 2024 had Tatum and Brown making less than Porzingis and Holiday, 2025 Thunder had JDub and Holmgren on rookie contracts which let them go out and get Hartenstein for \(30M, Knicks have Brunson on a discount which let them overpay for Anunoby and Bridges) or 2 elite stars that can carry a roster (2020 Lakers had 2 top 5 guys in LeBron and AD and you could fill out the roster with role players). The last 3 champions all had their best player making under \)40M which is how they fielded deep rosters.

Tatum and Brown simply both aren’t top 5 guys and they didn’t have the discounts to get the parts they needed. Considering Tatum is better than Brown, Brown had to be the guy you move.

Fedora_expert

2 | 10 days ago

I want Franz Wagner on the Celtics

He feels like a Brad player and fixes issues for this team, adding rim pressure and a secondary playmaker

King_Of_Pants

3 | 10 days ago

I feel like Orlando has always been one of those teams that has a bunch of good players worth poaching, without necessarily being a good team in their own right.

But then again getting Evan Fournier and then basically winning a game against Brooklyn the moment we benched him for Romeo Langford definitely makes me wonder about their guys.

TatumBrownWhite

3 | 10 days ago

He also has Jason Glushon as an agent, an agent who has had a lot of good business with the Celtics - Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Sam Hauser, and Marcus Smart as clients who have been with the Cs.

The problem is, the Magic front office just like ours is very analytically inclined, and so if they trade one of their 2 forwards, it’s more likely that they trade Paolo.

nibbinoo8

1 | 10 days ago

drew hanlen been quiet this summer or what?

King_Of_Pants

3 | 10 days ago

Had a quick look and apparently he has a new podcast with Sophie Cunningham…

Daily Discussion Thread - September 13, 2026