Countdown to the trade deadline: YOUR view on a Serge Ibaka trade

You folks seem to be interested in IBAKA2BOS.

The details of how he ends up in green, however, are a bigger factor than most of the previous iterations of this series (which, for the uninitiated, is polling your collective hive-mind on the merits of the many trade proposals and rumors the Boston Celtics are being subjected to in NBA media). This is no coincidence, because Boston is on the verge of some very important decisions regarding how it will complete a roster capable of competing for Banner 18; every dollar spent in future seasons, and every asset spent in trades could be the difference between success and failure.


This is reflected in both Twitter polls and several of your comments; the majority of you (rightly) see the value of what Ibaka could bring to the Celts, to the tune of over 80 percent being open to bringing Ibaka on board, with close to half of you voicing concern that the deal would have to be appropriate to what Ibaka projects in terms of value to a contender.

Some of the bigger - and valid - concerns revolve around position, and not just in terms of how Serge is used on the floor, but when he goes to and comes off the bench. Should he start? Or would he be a better back-up? At the four, or the five? And if we burned a lot of assets to get him, could he end up on someone else's bench next season? Most importantly, how does he help with our biggest problems - namely rebounding and providing a more balanced offensive attack?


Let's start with that last bit. He'd undoubtedly be a big help crashing the glass; elite? No. But far from what some of you seem to think - I saw some of you saying he's a terrible rebounder, which is nonsense. If he joined the roster, Boston would also have three players currently tied for 31st in total rebounds per game (6.9 a night, per basketball-reference.com) in Serge, Al Horford, and Avery Bradley. That's enough - particularly when you consider the offensive prowess Ibaka brings to the table.

In points per game, Ibaka ranks 46th in the league, right behind J.J. Redick and one spot ahead of Horford. And Ibaka is truly a floor-stretching big who can light it up from deep, logging a .387 rate on an average of 3.8 attempts per night - with Horford roaming the interior, and Jae Crowder and Bradley having career shooting seasons - to say nothing of Isaiah Thomas - well, personally, I get goosebumps thinking about it. He's no slouch on the defensive end either - his 1.6 blocks per game have him at eighth in the league considering ties - a skill that helps compensate for his less-than-elite rebounding abilities.


There's still the fact that he might walk at the end of the season if we trade for him or not, which manages to put both Boston and Orlando into a difficult position. Both sides know what the other will face, which makes any deal unlikely. It's not out of the question that a deal could get done that made both sides happy, though - I could see something like Tyler Zeller, Terry Rozier and James Young plus this year's Timberwolves (projected 35th to 40th), Cavaliers and Clippers (both projected 50th to 60th) second-round pickS and next year's Boston first round pick getting the job done.

Offering three players young enough to make sense with Orlando's current trajectory, but with long-term money tied to the only one of the three still likely to have worthwhile upside (Rozier) with a bunch of picks the Celts won't have room to keep that could still shake out to a rotation player or two for Orlando fits with both team's plans and needs. However, there's front office personnel in O-town who are looking to keep their jobs, and anything less than total victory on the trade front may be perceived as riskier than Serge walking in the summer, so...

...don't get your hopes up.

With that, let's take a look at some of your comments:

Some of you bid high:


And some of you bid low:

Some of you want nothing to do with him:

And some of you have other ideas:
Some of you had jokes:
And some of you just want it to be March already:
For more stories about the trade deadline on CelticsLife, click here. For more by Justin, click here.





Photo via Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY
Follow Justin at @justinquinnn