Warriors Owner: Celtics Were On Verge Of Trading Us Nate Robinson for Brandan Wright

Posted by Brian Robb on Mar 9, 2011 1772527 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F03%2F09%2Fwarriors-owner-celtics-were-about-to-trade-us-nate-robinson-for-brandon-wright%2FWarriors+Owner%3A+Celtics+Were+On+Verge+Of+Trading+Us+Nate+Robinson+for+Brandan+Wright2011-03-09+17%3A27%3A43Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D17725

According to CSN Bay Area (h/t: CelticsBlog) there was actually some fire with the plenty of smoke that came along with the rumor that Nate Robinson was close to being traded to the run-and-gun Warriors. Here new Warriors owner Joe Lacob:

CSN-Bayarea: I know there was something with Nate (Robinson)…

Warriors Owner Joe Lacob: That was a separate trade. We agreed to do a deal with Boston, where they were going to give us Nate and a first-round pick for Brandan Wright, and they were going to flip Brandan Wright into another deal. I agreed to it, for sure. But they pulled it back, and they obviously went and did the Oklahoma City deal (in which center Kendrick Perkins and Robinson were sent to Oklahoma City in exchange for Nenad Krstic, Jeff Green, a 2012 first-round pick and cash).

This should tell us a bunch of things about the Celtics wheeling and dealings from that trade deadline, one being that the decision to trade Kendrick Perkins was not a foregone conclusion all along. In fact, according to team sources, the C’s did not agree to the deal until that Thursday morning.

Clearly, the Celtics had planned on in all likelihood upgrading the roster with various buyouts (Troy Murphy, Sasha Pavlovic, Corey Brewer, etc.) once they became available, which ended up happening anyway. With this deal with Robinson clearly on the table though with Golden State, Wright was also a guy who came relatively cheap (a 1st round pick) in order to bring this squad some additional athleticism on the wing.

So as lots of questions continue to swirl, here’s what comes to mind for me.

1) If Kendrick Perkins does not injury his MCL against Golden State, (leaving the team shorthanded for 2-3 weeks) does he get traded? Was that the injury that pushed Ainge over the top and make the decision to pull the trigger on a deal with the Thunder in order to get some healthy and offensive upgrades on the roster?

2) Would you would have rather had Brandan Wright, a cheap deadline pickup (a la Anthony Parker) and the rest of the team’s buyout additions, while keeping Perk all the while, or the team’s roster as currently composed?

I know it may be too early to answer that question, but two weeks later, I’m pleased that Ainge decided to make the bigger deal for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. Curious to hear what you all have to say about this, but I for one, don’t believe Wright could have been a reliable piece at all off the bench for this squad over the remainder of the year.