Brad Stevens Is Making Moves! First He Saved Money, Now He Trades Josh Richardson And Romeo Langford For Derrick White

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People wanted Brad to make actual moves….well here ya go! A little pricey, especially with how well JRich has been playing. But here's the deal, when a guy is 27 and has this type of guaranteed years left on his deal

you have to put up real assets to get it. Considering JRich came for free and had just 1 more year after this season, I get it from that standpoint. Romeo is the young cost controlled asset the Spurs can develop, and the 1st round pick is the price of doing business. The pick swap could potentially be an issue, but here's the thing. We talk so much about not wasting the Jays and Brad having to do something. Who cares about 2028 if you have a plan in 2022 to do just that. It also helps that Derrick White is pretty good

He has good size at 6'4, and the hope is obviously that he's able to be a much better shooter next to Tatum/Brown than he was in SA. His splits were only 42/31%, but look at what that life did for JRich. It helped him have the best shooting season of his career. It sucks to lose a guy that fully bought into his role, but it's not like they got rid of him just to get under the tax, they brought back an actual good player. I suppose that's selling high, even if you had to sweeten the pot to pull it off.

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A move like this should seal the fate of Dennis, and if that's the case I would like Brad to find a low cost shooter. Given that's their biggest weakness, they just lost one of their better three point shooters in JRich. Romeo could hit the occasional corner three. There's just still more needs to address even with this deal. I do like the potential of having a bigger guard play reserve minutes in a playoff series, his defense is certainly better than Dennis, so I get it. They just can't be done, that's all. 

Then, there's the part nobody wants to talk about, but we have to mention it. It does give you some Marcus Smart insurance. A good sized point guard with similar production. Nowhere near the defensive player, but you have to mention it given the position. I don't think Brad moves Smart but I also didn't think he would move JRich. That's why this time of year is unpredictable. 

I don't think it's insane to suggest that White could give the Celts close to JRich production, and his long term security could always make him attractive to a potential trade this summer. Remember, you're going to need salary $ for any sort of big time player. You now have that and can assure whoever he'd be going to that he's under contract. 

On the surface, I'm sad to see JRich and Romeo go. But it appears that Brad maximized their value and brought back a good player. That's the good part. The bad part is a team that can't really shoot still really needs shooters. Now we need to see what else Brad has up his sleeve