Boston Celtics analyst Brian Scalabrine shared during a SiriusXM NBA radio show Monday morning that he heard this weekend Golden State Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson “might be available” on the trade market — and that the Celtics have been linked to the All-Star shooting guard.
Despite it being him who brought up the rumor, Scalabrine expressed his skepticism of his own report.
“That can't be true,” Scalabrine said in disbelief. “I don't understand why they would (trade him). But maybe they're on what I'm on.”
“It's going to be impossible to win a championship without having rim protection against LeBron (James) and Kyrie (Irving). So who's your most valuable asset, or who's your most unneeded asset at this point? I don't know, but I heard that rumor going around and it was specifically to a team that wears green.”
The White Mamba then lined up the projected trade: the Celtics would send the Warriors Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley, and the Brooklyn Nets‘ 2017 first-round pick (which Boston should own by virtue of a swap). Golden State could then flip the expected lottery pick for a young rim protector.
While the trade would be enticing and could work out as Boston has “too much defense” and Golden State has “too much shooting,” the Warriors would have to line up these things very carefully and the plan would have to exactly as outlined, because this trade does not assure them a player in the center position.
Bradley and Crowder are great defenders and would fit fine in a team-first environment, but would be ultimately useless as the problem remains the same — the Warriors are small, very small — and last time we checked, a 6-foot-2 guard and a 6-foot-6 small forward doesn't make them any bigger in the paint.
Landing Thompson on the other hand, could largely benefit a team mired by pedestrian three-point shooting and change the scope of the Eastern Conference standings with a two-way player that can take over a game when the gas cylinders are burning hot.
Klay Thompson had his best game of the season on Sunday, reaching 30 points for the first time in the season, making 11-of-18 from the field and 5-of-8 from deep against the Phoenix Suns.
UPDATE: Well that didn't last long.
Scalabrine has now rebuffed his earlier statement, claiming it wasn't his “rumor or sources” just something he thought interesting.
Btw it's not my rumor or my sources. It's just something I read over the week that I thought was interesting.
— Brian Scalabrine (@Scalabrine) November 14, 2016
Follow Us
Subscribe