The Chicago Bulls, one of the most active players in the negotiation timeframe, agreed to a three-team deal with the Washington Wizards and the Boston Celtics to acquire pivot Daniel Theis, point guard Javonte Green and striker Troy Brown Jr. the Wizards hosted center Daniel Gafford and striker Chandler Hutchison, while the Celtics took bigs Luke Kornet and Moritz Wagner.
How much help can Theis provide a reorganizing Bulls team, and how have both Wizards and Celtics fared in the business?
Kevin Pelton distributes business notes to all three teams.
The deal
Bulls get: Daniel Theis, Javonte Green, Troy Brown Jr., money considerations
Celtics get: Luke Kornet and Moritz Wagner
Assistants get: Daniel Gafford and Chandler Hutchison
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Chicago Bulls: A
After signing Nikola Vucevic on Thursday, the Bulls envisioned a three-player rotation on the attacking court with him and titleholders Lauri Markkanen and Thaddeus Young. They were able to add depth and security by choosing Theis as part of an expanded version of what was originally reported as a two-team exchange with Washington.
When Chicago is at full strength, there may not be many minutes for Theis. As long as he accepts that role, it will be great to have him around like a great big man. Theis-Vucevic lineups can get a little clumsy, but they have enough room to survive – certainly more than the Theis-Thompson frontcourts we saw in Boston – and Theis must fit right in with any other great man.
In the tie, the Bulls did well to steal Brown from the Wizards, whose coaching staff never seemed to recognize his value. At just 21, Brown showed potential as a perimeter defender and ace. The swing skill, of course, is the shot. Brown is just a 3-point shooter with 33% of his career, limiting his value. Ideally, Chicago would put him out there with big heavy players like Markkanen and Vucevic, allowing Brown to play more in space instead of detecting.
In Brown and Theis, I would say that the Bulls got the two best players in this trade. However, somehow, they are also getting the money involved – $ 1.3 million from Celtics and $ 250,000 from Wizards, for Ryan McDonough of Radio.com.
Boston Celtics: C-
The Celtics have given up on Theis, who has been a regular for almost the past two seasons, to avoid paying the luxury tax after adding Evan Fournier earlier on Thursday. Boston could still go to tax if Fournier and Jaylen Brown got enough incentives in their contracts for deep playoff races (they both have incentives to reach and reach the NBA finals), although at that point the Celtics would certainly be happy to pay this.
Wagner is an interesting addition to Boston. He has shown promise at times during his three NBA seasons, dropping the occasional 3 points (he is in 30% of his career) and often taking over (his 11 draws in just 375 minutes draw for the sixth biggest in the league, by NBA Follow-up advanced statistics). Despite these skills, Wagner did not show enough to maintain a consistent position in the rotation for a Wizards team playing without Thomas Bryant, due to an injury, so expectations should be modest.
Most likely, the Celtics are handing over their central position to the pair of Tristan Thompson and Robert Williams. This is a concern, since his best lineups put Theis in the middle. By my analysis of NBA Advanced Stats lineup data, Boston outperformed opponents by 1.0 points per 100 possessions with Theis at the center, compared to a net rating of minus 0.1 with Thompson and minus 3.4 per 100 possessions with Williams – admittedly handicapped by playing with the Celtics’ weaker reserve units.
I’m excited to see what Williams can do with more minutes, and Theis was not a big showdown against bigger opponents in the playoffs. But I think the Boston board is probably putting a lot of emphasis on how the Celtics were defeated in the finals of last year’s conference against the Miami Heat and not enough on how they won two playoff rounds with Theis to get there – including the Joel Embiid sweep and the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers.
Washington Wizards: C +
I don’t like the side of this double-challenge trade for wizards. By switching from Brown to Hutchison, they are getting three years older (Hutchison will be 25 next month) and lowering the level of game creation. Hutchison is not even an upgrade in terms of Brown’s weakness, as he is a 3-point shooter with 30% of his career.
Wizards compensate for this to a certain extent by obtaining a more valuable center. Gafford provides the kind of rim protection Washington needs, having struck an impressive 8% of his opponent’s 2-point attempts so far during his NBA career. He is also an over the edge finisher, who made 80% of his own 2-point attempts.
The downside is that Gafford is often out of position to grab defensive rebounds chasing blocked shots and also frequently fouls. Perhaps joining it to Russell Westbrook will help solve this deficiency in the glass. The NBA experience is also expected to improve the decision-making of 22-year-old Gafford as a defender. I see it as a capable backup center in the long run, with a favorable contract with two unsecured seasons after that totaling $ 3.8 million.