Boston Celtics’ plan after trading Holiday 🤔 + Should Giannis stay with Bucks⁉️👀 | First Take

Boston Celtics’ plan after trading Holiday 🤔 + Should Giannis stay with Bucks⁉️👀 | First Take

keep it rolling here guys staying in the East the Celtics are trading Drew Holiday to the Trailblazers for Anthony Simmons and two second round draft picks sources told ESPN on Monday night the move begins what is an expected to be an active offseason for Boston who’s retooling their roster in the wake of Jason Tatum’s right Achilles tear in the second round of the playoffs so with that trade the Celtics save projected 40 million in luxury tax for next season and are now $18 million below the second apron with more moves expected to come for Boston all right was this a good move for the Celtics Wendy it was a necessary move okay because they were looking at having a $500 million payroll this year with luxury taxes and that’s just not a responsible thing to do um if you don’t think your team’s got a great chance to win the championship and and we’ll see what happens with Tatum but right now they can’t count on him so they have to make some moves and if you look at their roster even though Drew Holiday remains an incredibly valuable player he is 35 years old and he has three years and hundred million dollars left on his contract and so there were teams that I talked to because there were four or five teams that were making offers for Drew Holiday was very desired in the market but there were teams that I talked to this week who who thought for the Celtics to get off of Drew Holiday they might have to incentivize in the contract not because of the player he is now but because of the three years he’s got left on that deal especially the last year of that deal which is a player option at age when he’s going to be 37 years old and so for the Celtics to get Simons who is a three-point specialist now he doesn’t fit with their defensive mantra he is not an accomplished defensive player however he is definitely a fire a fire starter on offense and he puts up threes at high volume so Joe Mazul is going to like that that is a player who will help them this year but the problem is here not the problem but the reality is this is just the first move they are now still several like 15 $18 million over the second apron they want to be under that so they’re going to make moves and I would watch again you’re not touching Jason Tatum you don’t want to touch Derek White and you really don’t want to touch Jaylen Brown so those other guys and I would put on the firing line so to speak Chris Apps Porzingis not because they don’t like him but because he’s only got one year left on his contract anyway you can’t trust him he’s always hurt well that’s a factor so that I I think that this this is the beginning of the Celtics taking apart the team that won the championship last year the other thing that I think we got to take into consideration about the Boston Celtics is that it’s going to be pretty difficult to do something with Chris Porzingis because it’s one thing to be injured he’s been ill and they don’t know why like there’s been legitimate questions from the boss and stuff like we can’t figure out what’s wrong with him he has said he can’t figure out molly literally he’s been in the locker room he’s been he’s had a practice or he’s had a game and he’s lamented the level of fatigue that he was feeling and has no clue as to why that is they have not been able to figure it out access to the best doctors i I’m just saying you know to me listen I I I will tell you something right now i ain’t going to make no recommendations whatever but you know a noted biologist Gary Brea helped the helped save my life i’m just telling you i mean you got to find out something you really really got to find out something figure out what the hell is going on because the scariest thing in the world is when you don’t know when you have a definitive diagnosis and okay here’s what it is to alleviate that concern that’s entirely different when you don’t know and you’re a professional athlete and you’re playing for a multi-billion dollar organization you got owners who are billionaires you’ve got all the resources available to you and they say we can’t figure out what’s wrong that is some scary stuff so I wish I wish I wish Chris Bazing nothing but the best figure that out but if I’m a team I’m not trading for somebody that I can’t figure out what his ailment is oh no no no no no that’s a different problem altogether now with this move Boston saved about 40 million in luxury tax dollars so that’s a plus they’re going to need to make more moves Keith i get that part but the bottom line is you saved about 40 million and then let’s let’s look at Anthony Simons here for a second this is a career 38 point three 38% three-point shooter the brother’s not a scrub now defense is not his thing but offense certainly is over the last three years he’s averaged about 20 he’s shoot He’s averaged nearly nine three-point attempts per game okay he’s made about 38% of those shots the brother can play he can play and he is entering the expiring year of his contract so he’s highly motivated and oh by the way even though they’re not going to be a championship contender in the eyes of many because Jason Tatum is out you still have Jaylen Brown there you still have an exceptional executive in Brad Stevens there you still have a championship pedigree because the Boston Celtics just won a championship last year and they’re one of the most storied franchises basketball analysts it’s between them and the Los Angeles Lakers so all of those things help because him playing for on an expiring deal playing for the Boston Celtics this ain’t the Portland Trailblazers this Boston and so being in Boston if you show up and you produce he’s in a position where it could do tremendously for his care do tremendously well for his career i think he sees that i think Boston sees that which is why they went and grabbed him now that Kevin Durant has been traded to the Rockets all eyes are on Giannis and while he’s still under contract with the Bucks unless he’s given an extension trade speculation will continue to percolate around him the Eastern Conference has been significantly impacted by injuries during this year’s playoffs with multiple players suffering Achilles tears these injuries could reshape the landscape of the conference opening the door for other teams to contend for the NBA Finals okay so Stephen A based on all these injuries in the East is that more of a reason for Giannis to leave or to stay for me it’s to leave personally speaking I mean I’m thinking about Miami i’m thinking about a couple of other potential landing destinations that could better position him but I understand listen his loyalty to Milwaukee is unquestioned um I’m just looking at Milwaukeee’s limitations particularly with Dame injured and with how capstrapped they are with the draft picks or them being bereff of the necessary draft picks and what have you that you would need in order to improve your squad it’s not the city of Milwaukee per se it’s the organization and how they went all in and how it didn’t work out and now what can you do moving forward in the future in terms of mobility to improve your chances it can’t just be because other people are injured you might want to go to another organization that can maximize that opportunity instead of staying in Milwaukee that’s why I feel the way that I feel i doubt that he feels that way uh but that’s how I’m thinking about it keith let me just clarify the question before you go there is it more of a reason for Giannis to stay in Milwaukee rather than leave based on all these other injuries in the East i I would keep it short term on this in this situation i would say I would stay right i would see what the next year looks like because there’s so many questions that has to be answered on the east like the team you have now move some pieces around you can compete with those teams on the east now it’s the west that you’re going to have a problem with so being as though like you have one year to kind of get some get some feel of what it’s going to look like you bring Dane back next year not really sure what he’s going to look like right now is just the the the the the part of your career with the way that East is has transpired that you should just stay move some pieces around see what what it look like next year and then come back with the decision again next year based off of what has transpired in the East let’s talk some facts before we get into anything else the Bucks have seven free agents seven three or four of which I would refer to as core players okay the Bucks do not have salary cap space okay the Bucks do not control their first round draft pick for the next five years they can’t trade it they can’t trade the pick or the swap okay wow the Bucks are in situation where they cannot count on Dame Willard for next year maybe he can come back but they cannot count on it the Bucks are not interested right now in trading Giannis and Akmpo and Giannis to our knowledge to my belief has not asked for a trade those are the facts okay now we are also before the draft we are before free agency will the Bucks do some things over the next two three weeks to put themselves in a position where they can look like they could win the Eastern Conference with those limitations maybe highly unlikely right so that’s why the league is waiting people want to know why aren’t the Knicks going all in for Kevin Durant why aren’t the Heat going allin for for Kevin Durant because in part there’s other reasons but in part they want to see what happens here with the Bucks and we’re going to be watching closely well the team that should be having that position are the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat especially with the Miami Heat who has control of some of their draft picks and so when you look at it from that standpoint and the fact that you don’t have a star in South Beach but you got really two really good players in Bam Adabio and Tyler Herro you got to maximize that this is Pat Riley this is Eric Sper eric Sto is a Hall of Fame coach pat Riley’s a Hall of Famer this is a first class organization we all know what they bring to the table you got to capitalize on that you got to take advantage of that and to me the only excuse as Keith pointed out yesterday the only excuse for you not getting KD when KD had them is one of the top three choices his landing destinations if you don’t get KD it’s because you wanted to go and you wanted to get Giannis that is the only possible excuse that you could have you go all in and I don’t give a damn what Milwaukee asked for you go and if you can get Giannis you get Giannis that’s what you do their status quo isn’t terrible i understand that but the point is but it’s worse than that they’re right in the middle you ain’t going anywhere and you won’t plummet to the point where you can position yourself to get a Koopa flag you’re right in the middle everybody knows that’s purgatory in sports you got to be in a position where you can find a way to improve your chances whether it’s by whether it’s by sticking up the joint and getting high picks or already being elite miami is neither i mean the Knicks are a status quo is in good shape got you got you good shape not great [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Brian Windhorst and Markieff Morris join Molly Qerim to discuss the Boston Celtics trading Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers and debate if Giannis Antetokounmpo should stay with the Milwaukee Bucks long-term.

0:00 Is this a good trade for the Celtics?
2:20 Stephen A.’s thoughts
5:45 Should Giannis stay with the Bucks?
6:48 Markieff’s thoughts
8:20 Is the league waiting on Giannis?

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