2008 – Banner 17 is won with a little help from late-season additions
The best-case scenario, this outcome still seems to color many fans expectations of what the team might be able to do by adding players after the trade deadline.
It’s important to remember Boston had the hot new superteam with some of the league’s top players, which has a certain gravity for the best available players. It’s also worth noting that the two candidates who joined the team were still rotation-level players, even if retired or very nearly so.
Boston added big man P.J Brown after being talked out of retirement by Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, and everyone remembers the shot in Game 7 that sent the Celtics past the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Ainge gives updates on buyouts, Walker, Timelord on Toucher and Rich https://t.co/zk1z5hlasE
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) February 27, 2020
What they mostly do not recall is that Brown averaged just 2.2 points and 3.8 boards for Boston in the remainder of the regular season, and just 2.9 points and 2.4 boards per game in the playoffs.
The Celtics also added guard Sam Cassell, who was still playing, and at a fairly high level, too.
Cassell has arguably been the most productive player added in a late-season signing for Boston in recent memory, logging 7.6 points and 2.1 assists per game during the regular season and 4.5 points and 1.2 assists per game in the playoffs.