The Chicago Bulls, one of the most active players in the commercial term, agreed a three-team deal with the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics to acquire center Daniel Theis, guard Javonte Green and striker Troy Brown Jr. In return, the Wizards received center Daniel Gafford and striker Chandler Hutchison, while the Celtics took the greats Luke Kornet and Moritz Wagner.
What help can Theis provide to a reorganizing Bulls team, and how did the Magi and Celtics make the deal?
Kevin Pelton hands out commercial notes for all three teams.
The deal
The oxen get: Daniel Theis, Javonte Green, Troy Brown Jr., cash considerations
The Celtics get: Luke Kornet and Moritz Wagner
The magicians obtain: Daniel Gafford and Chandler Hutchison
Get more Pelton commercial notes here
Chicago Bulls: A
After adding Nikola Vucevic on Thursday, the Bulls thought they could make a capable three-man rotation with him and starters Lauri Markkanen and Thaddeus Young. They managed to add depth and insurance by compiling Theis as part of an expanded version of what was originally reported as a two-team trade with Washington.
When Chicago is in full force, there may not be many minutes for Theis. As long as you accept this role, it will be great to have him as a fourth big man. It is possible that Theis-Vucevic formations will become a bit clumsy, but they have enough room to survive, no doubt, more than the Theis-Thompson fronts we saw in Boston, and Theis should fit in well alongside any other big man.
On the inside card, the Bulls did well on Brown’s error from the Wizards, whose coaching staff never seemed to recognize his worth. Still only 21, Brown has shown potential as a perimeter advocate and game creator. The ability to swing, of course, is to shoot. Brown is just a three-point shooter with a 33% run, which limits his value. Ideally, Chicago would put him with great big-shot characters like Markkanen and Vucevic, which allowed Brown to play more in space rather than detect him.
To Brown and Theis, I would say the Bulls got the two best players in that trade. However, in some ways they are also becoming effective: $ 1.3 million from the Celtics and $ 250,000 from the Wizards for Ryan McDonough of Radio.com.
Boston Celtics: C-
The Celtics resigned from Theis, a starter in almost every last two seasons, to avoid paying the luxury tax after adding Evan Fournier early Thursday. Boston could still go into taxes if Fournier and Jaylen Brown got enough incentives in their contracts for the deep playoffs (both have incentives to reach the NBA Finals and get them), although at the moment the Celtics would surely be happy to pay for this.
Wagner is an interesting addition to Boston. At times, during his three NBA seasons, he has proven to be promising, defeating the occasional 3 points (he has 30% in his career) and has taken charge often (his 11 draws in just 375 minutes for the sixth). league place, by NBA Advanced statistics tracking). Despite these skills, Wagner has not shown enough to maintain a steady place in the rotation for a Wizards team playing without starting center Thomas Bryant due to injury, so expectations should be modest.
Most likely, the Celtics are ceding their center position to the duo of Tristan Thompson and Robert Williams. This is a concern given that their best formations have introduced Theis to the center. According to my analysis of NBA’s advanced statistics training data, Boston has outperformed opponents by 1.0 points for every 100 possessions with Theis in the center, compared to a net score of minus 0.1 with Thompson and minus 3.4 percent possessions with Williams, certainly hampered by playing with the Celtics ’weakest reserve units.
I’m excited to see what Williams can do with more minutes and Theis wasn’t a big showdown against bigger opponents in the playoffs. But I think the Boston head office will probably put too much value on how the Celtics were defeated in the paint in last year’s conference finals against the Miami Heat and weren’t enough in the way they won two playoff rounds with Theis to get there, including full Joel Embiid and the abbreviated Philadelphia 76ers.
Washington Wizards: C +
I don’t like the wing part of this double challenge trade for magicians. By switching Brown to Hutchison, they are three years older (Hutchison will turn 25 next month) and will drop the game category. Hutchison isn’t even an improvement in terms of Brown’s weakness, as he’s a 30-point three-point shooter.
Magicians compensate for this to some extent by getting a more valuable center. Gafford provides the kind of edge protection Washington needs, having hit an impressive 8% of the opponent’s 2-point attempts so far during his NBA career. He is also an over-the-edge finisher who has made 80% of his own 2-point attempts.
The downside is that Gafford usually gets out of position to catch defensive rebounds chasing blocked shots and also commits fouls frequently. Perhaps pairing it with Russell Westbrook will help fix this glass deficiency. The NBA experience should also improve the decision-making of 22-year-old Gafford as a defender. I see it as a capable long-term security center, with a favorable contract with two unsecured seasons after that for a total of $ 3.8 million.