Tatum or Brown?

You are the Celtics GM and you can only keep Tatum or Brown

  • Tatum

    Votes: 3 30.0%
  • Brown

    Votes: 5 50.0%
  • Quit in disgust of being put to that choice

    Votes: 2 20.0%

  • Total voters
    10
  • Poll closed .

GarnettFan4Life

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For some reason there’s always been a discussion around can the two not only play together but push the Celtics to the highest heights. Is either a number one option is a discussion for another thread but say they are going to keep one and trade one for another player by this coming trade deadline - who you keeping?
 
Tatum commands more trade value (IMO).
Not much difference in salary (under 10%) with Brown' deal finishing a year earlier.
Gun to head, trade Tatum. Welcome to the big league Brad Stevens. Perhaps touch base with Morey....

Celts salary.JPG
 
(Usual wall of text warning)

If anyone is suggesting Brown is a better player than Tatum they are pretty delusional I am afraid.

It is fair to want to trade Tatum as you will get more back, but, I don't think you will get a package that will make the current team better. If you are trading Tatum because you think Brown is *better* then I don't see it.

Pick an advanced stat, any advanced stat, and Tatum is a better player offensively (clearly) and defensively (marginally). He is also almost 18 months younger.

They run a similar usage rate and while Brown scores efficiently, that is all he really does. He turns the ball over more frequently, involves his team mates less and is weaker on the boards. From the (admittedly limited) Celtics games I have seen the team is much more likely to run offense through Tatum when both guys are on the floor whereas Brown has been more a transition guy. I assume teams know more than we do and it is not dumb luck they prefer to put the ball in Tatum's hands more often than not.

Now trading one of them certainly makes some sense, as to me, their team lacks a lot of direction and identity and I feel they could use a real lead guard. They are a slow-paced team that is just moderately efficient or below everywhere offensively. I think Tatum is stretched as the primary ball-handler and Brown and Smart are ill-suited to the role. Schroeder is fine in limited doses especially with the second unit but you don't want him to be they guy taking touches from Tatum and Brown.

The hard thing is finding a guy to trade for who a team would move and would make the Celtics better. Simmons and Lillard are the obvious big names which are floating around but would either Philly or Portland move one for Brown (they would for Tatum in a heartbeat). I think both would ask for a lot of picks in addition to Brown and Boston would probably not give them up.

Both would certainly help give Boston an identity and I would be intrigued defensively with a Simmons/Williams/Horford/Tatum/Smart line up though you would likely get the same offensive spacing issues Philly had. Lillard would boost the offense greatly and Smart could handle the team's best backcourt player each night reducing Lillard's main weakness. However, how much more do you give up when you are swapping a 25 for 31 year old?

Outside of those two who do you have; Sacramento? The Kings always seem up for something funky and in Fox, Haliburton and Mitchell they have three young PGs. Would they do a Brown for Fox trade? Would it help Sacramento? Is Brown really that much better than say Hield who they are already shopping? Would they do Brown for Fox and Hield? Maybe not? (Again they would for Tatum). Does Fox even make Boston better?

San Antonio? What about a Brown for Murray trade? Murray has quietly become a very good offensive player while dragging his outside shooting up to reasonable. Defensively he is a beast. He probably isn't the true lead guard I would be looking for though. No idea if San Antonio would be interested either though they were apparently kicking the tyres on Simmons.

Houston? Wall's contract is terrible but he is most likely still a cromulent lead guard (how can you know when he has not played!) and you could probably pry Christian Wood plus what else away from Houston? Most likely too risky and Wall having a PO at 47mill for next year most likely makes it a non-starter even if the cap maths could work.

I guess the fact you even have this discussion highlights the immediacy of results the public demands these days — Tatum is 23 and Brown is 25. Neither has even reached their prime yet and we talk of trading them away. Yes, the last two seasons have not gone as planned but they have won five playoff series and been to the ECF twice already. Even Jordan was 26 before he achieved either of those things!
 
I think the real issue lies with not having a facilitator at the 1 spot. Smart, while great defensively, lacks the play making IQ and is so inconsistent shooting the ball. Being a Boston fan I would like to keep both Jay's and try to acquire a play making PG.

With that being said, if I HAD to trade one, I would keep Brown over Tatum. But getting rid of either doesn't make this team better. They need consistent points from the bench, a reliable 3 point sharp shooter and a good distributor/play maker to open up the floor for Brown and Tatum.
 
(Usual wall of text warning)

If anyone is suggesting Brown is a better player than Tatum they are pretty delusional I am afraid.

It is fair to want to trade Tatum as you will get more back, but, I don't think you will get a package that will make the current team better. If you are trading Tatum because you think Brown is *better* then I don't see it.

Pick an advanced stat, any advanced stat, and Tatum is a better player offensively (clearly) and defensively (marginally). He is also almost 18 months younger.

They run a similar usage rate and while Brown scores efficiently, that is all he really does. He turns the ball over more frequently, involves his team mates less and is weaker on the boards. From the (admittedly limited) Celtics games I have seen the team is much more likely to run offense through Tatum when both guys are on the floor whereas Brown has been more a transition guy. I assume teams know more than we do and it is not dumb luck they prefer to put the ball in Tatum's hands more often than not.

Now trading one of them certainly makes some sense, as to me, their team lacks a lot of direction and identity and I feel they could use a real lead guard. They are a slow-paced team that is just moderately efficient or below everywhere offensively. I think Tatum is stretched as the primary ball-handler and Brown and Smart are ill-suited to the role. Schroeder is fine in limited doses especially with the second unit but you don't want him to be they guy taking touches from Tatum and Brown.

The hard thing is finding a guy to trade for who a team would move and would make the Celtics better. Simmons and Lillard are the obvious big names which are floating around but would either Philly or Portland move one for Brown (they would for Tatum in a heartbeat). I think both would ask for a lot of picks in addition to Brown and Boston would probably not give them up.

Both would certainly help give Boston an identity and I would be intrigued defensively with a Simmons/Williams/Horford/Tatum/Smart line up though you would likely get the same offensive spacing issues Philly had. Lillard would boost the offense greatly and Smart could handle the team's best backcourt player each night reducing Lillard's main weakness. However, how much more do you give up when you are swapping a 25 for 31 year old?

Outside of those two who do you have; Sacramento? The Kings always seem up for something funky and in Fox, Haliburton and Mitchell they have three young PGs. Would they do a Brown for Fox trade? Would it help Sacramento? Is Brown really that much better than say Hield who they are already shopping? Would they do Brown for Fox and Hield? Maybe not? (Again they would for Tatum). Does Fox even make Boston better?

San Antonio? What about a Brown for Murray trade? Murray has quietly become a very good offensive player while dragging his outside shooting up to reasonable. Defensively he is a beast. He probably isn't the true lead guard I would be looking for though. No idea if San Antonio would be interested either though they were apparently kicking the tyres on Simmons.

Houston? Wall's contract is terrible but he is most likely still a cromulent lead guard (how can you know when he has not played!) and you could probably pry Christian Wood plus what else away from Houston? Most likely too risky and Wall having a PO at 47mill for next year most likely makes it a non-starter even if the cap maths could work.

I guess the fact you even have this discussion highlights the immediacy of results the public demands these days — Tatum is 23 and Brown is 25. Neither has even reached their prime yet and we talk of trading them away. Yes, the last two seasons have not gone as planned but they have won five playoff series and been to the ECF twice already. Even Jordan was 26 before he achieved either of those things!

Too long mate! haha - don't you know kids have a 30 second attention span these days!

I like the idea of Brown as a 2nd or 3rd option better than Tatum as the same. I don't think either can be the star #1 option on a title winning team.
 
Tatum commands more trade value (IMO).
Not much difference in salary (under 10%) with Brown' deal finishing a year earlier.
Gun to head, trade Tatum. Welcome to the big league Brad Stevens. Perhaps touch base with Morey....

Celts salary.JPG
I voted Brown but after seeing this I think Browns contract is spot on whilst Tatums is down about 3mil, better to keep Tatum under priced for longer.
 
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Too long mate! haha - don't you know kids have a 30 second attention span these days!

I like the idea of Brown as a 2nd or 3rd option better than Tatum as the same. I don't think either can be the star #1 option on a title winning team.

Welcome to the current generation. Praise the idiots who can't read 10 words while bashing the person who puts some thought and effort in to a reply.
 
Welcome to the current generation. Praise the idiots who can't read 10 words while bashing the person who puts some thought and effort in to a reply.

it‘s a struggle to change people opinions these days too - make up their mind and stick to it until death.

these two are not separated by much now, they’ve both developed incredibly since draft day though it just seems somethings missing in Boston. I just wanted to see how people sided in this debate.
 
I agree neither can be the #1 star option in a championship winning team and the Boston hype with No results is getting Old, some big changes might be needed, but Boston did a great job when it came to drafting them both as 3rd picks Brown in my opinion was Boston’s best option in the 2016 draft and the only player that Boston could’ve got better than Tatum in 2017 is Donovan Mitchell but a lot of teams made the mistake of not drafting him, but I have to say I think Brown will improve as a player whilst Tatum is maxed out.
Boston fans are impatient and if people think Tatum is the answer and he will lead them to a championship they will be waiting a long time. Maybe they need to trade them both? I was blown away with some of the action in the off season by the Bulls but seems like it worked.
 
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