They trade Theis, making $5M, for essentially nothing, to get under the tax, and you hate the deal. They bring him back, making $9.0M, in exchange for some NBA flotsam and jetsam plus a good player who wans't a good fit here. You must think a) Theis can play and is a good value at $5.M (otherwise you would not care about giving him away for nothing) and b) Theis is overpaid at $9M. Fair enough. But that means we are modestly overpaying a guy who can fill a role here. What is so bad about that? This (second deal) was not a tax deal - they were already under.
It comes down to value for me. The Daniel Theis they gave away to get under the tax making 5M was their starting center. The Daniel Theis they just acquired making just under 9M average for the next two years is a backup center, and a one position backup (please not another season of Theis masquerading a 4 as well). If Rob Williams wasn't here and they traded for Theis on his contract to start, that would be fine.
According to spotrac, he's the 24th highest paid center in the league. That is really pricey in a 30 team league for a backup. That's about where he'll remain. I saw someone saying he'll get passed by guys on rookie deals. Rob Williams passes him next year. I think only Mitchell Robinson and maybe Mo Bamba will have any shot at signing for more than him. Serge Ibaka and Tristan Thompson will for sure not make more than him next year, and maybe Thomas Bryant won't as well. I just took a quick look at this, I could be off by one or two either way, but it's at least close.
That's a lot of resources to spend on a guy you hope is playing 15 minutes or less for you when healthy.
On a team where the tax has been an issue for the past two seasons, I think it would make much more sense to sign a minimum backup for that spot, and if something happens that you need an upgrade there due to injury/performance, then make a move next deadline.
It just doesn't make sense to me to pay Theis close to 9M, when guys like Andre Drummond, Dwight Howard, Hassan Whiteside, Cody Zeller, Dwayne Dedmon, Frank Kaminsky all signed for the minimum this offseason and Ed Davis, Boogie Cousins and Bismack Biyombo didn't even get a contract at all til in season.
Maybe you like Theis better than most, or all, of those guys. For the record, I do. But I don't like him 7M dollars better.
And the tax implication I was talking about on this deal was dumping Schroder into the trade for nothing. If the tax wasn't an issue this season, they could've just kept him as depth since I don't think tanking Houston would've minded us just keeping that money. Again, I don't blame them for trying to stay under the tax, but I think the tax is likely to be an issue going forward as well.
I also saw others noted Theis is valuable as matching outgoing salary. I don't think that matters much either. Already having Horford available as anywhere from 14.5M to 26.5M as an expiring contract should give the Celtics plenty of ballast to make deals.