On the Celtics, trading for James Harden, and looking good ‘on paper’

No matter how much James Harden might appeal ‘on paper,’ the Celtics have learned the hard way to focus on the flesh-and-blood players they have.

Yesterday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania published an article regarding the expansion of Houston Rockets superstar guard James Harden expanding the number of preferred teams to be traded to by his current franchise to the the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat — conspicuously absent several contending or nearly so franchises.

Absent from Harden’s reported list of desirable landing spots was the Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, and of course the Boston Celtics. Rather than some sort of aspersion on the Celtics however, this may reflect that the team was reported by former team beat writer Steve Bulpett to have done its due diligence, and come away unimpressed.

Why would a team be unimpressed by the prospect of adding a top-10, former MVP-level talent, you ask? Context matters here.

On paper, it’s a no-brainer — you trade any player outside of the top 20 without even blinking for the chance to add that kind of player to your team.

But seasons are not played ‘on paper’.

On paper, having two title windows on the same team nearly cost them both title teams in the end, and sent three top-100 players packing in as many seasons.

Without diving into the multivariate chaos that led to these outcomes, one common thread through the last three seasons is a cautionary tale with what can happen when you focus too much on how things could or should be to the point you neglect what you actually know you have in front of you.

Wise to that situation in having three young players who mess excellently both in terms of skillset and personality who will likely be in range of contention for much of the next decade with luck and good team-building around the edges, Danny Ainge and the front office seem committed to this core.

And that is a very good thing, considering the potential it still has untapped.

There’s certainly a case to be made in the shorter-term future for revisiting the roster’s real ceiling.

But, until we see a lack of growth in context from these three significant enough to suggest there isn’t enough there to win big, the fanbase and quite likely team and front office are all of the same mind.

As good as Harden may well be, this ain’t it.

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