Tag: Boston Celtics trade

Which players are MOST likely to be dealt on Boston’s roster?

With every potential Boston Celtics trade comes the inevitable players who would be sent out — which are the most likely to go?

The Boston Celtics have a bench scoring problem, and if they make a deal before the February 6 deadline, it’ll likely be to address this issue.

While center Enes Kanter has been huge for Boston some nights, he also disappears on others, leaving only rookie forward Grant Williams as a relatively consistent bench option, and one who rarely scores at that.

The lack of offense on the second unit can be partially addressed with staggering starters, but the team needs to find one more option for reserve scoring, whether by internal development or trades.

Trading may help another problem on its way this summer, but before we go further, let’s try and sort out just who might be on their way to a new home if a move is made before the deadline.

To start, a splashy, max-contract type of deal is not likely, if also not off the table entirely.

As has been written on ad infinitum this season, there’s a host of factors ranging from a lack of suitable targets to the importance of starting players to the Celtics’ style of play making such a deal implausible, if not impossible.

That leaves a small deal, either built around one of the team’s veteran frontcourt players (unlikely due to depth concerns, but again, not out of the question), from the seven-player rookie class or from a combination thereof.

Circling back to the beginning of this article, Williams has been the lone consistent bright spot among that huge rookie class, providing quality minutes for the bench, and Kanter and veteran guard Brad Wanamaker.

The Pitt product has, in effect, a no-trade clause because of his bird rights situation, meaning unless any deal he’d be part of for an opposing team would have to be one that appealed.

At the same time, they have as many as three guaranteed first-round picks they’ll need space for, and could have as many as 14 deals on the books next season if everyone who can returns.

In short, there’s a simple math problem in need of addressing.

While forward Gordon Hayward and Kanter can both opt out of their current deal, there are arguments to stay and to try their luck on the market, leaving only Semi Ojeleye and Javonte Green as palatable contracts able to be cut to make way for younger talent should the need arise.

They are both serviceable rotation players on good value deals, the sort you don’t just jettison for nothing even if each have their respective shortcomings.

This leaves two windows to address those incoming draft picks — by the close of the business day on Thursday, February 6th, or in the offseason.

Boston could elect to wait and see what happens this summer with the draft, perhaps combining picks and existing contracts to move up in the draft or out of it and into another entirely.

They could also do as much now, before the trade deadline is over. The easiest solution, however, would be an end-of-bench move to consolidate talent and add some scoring off the bench.

Both Williamses on the roster — second-year center Robert and Grant both have shown enough to make it clear they’ll be more than worth hanging onto.

As Forbes SportsMoney’s Hunter Felt notes about the Tennessee product, Williams is “someone who can contribute in every facet of the game, in terms of both offense and defense, and be counted on to make the correct basketball decisions.”

Timelord, on the other hand, could potentially grow into a high-end starter if he can stay healthy enough to develop.

Forward Romeo Langford shows flashes of what made him such a prized college prospect, but looks years away from even a high rotation role on most nights.

NCAA perimeter sharpshooter Carsen Edwards has become an inefficient G-Leaguer, logging just 28.2 % from three on 8.5 attempts per game at that level, and just 31.4 % overall in the NBA, setting off red flags with the length of his current slump, only now showing small signs of turning around.

While such things tend to work themselves out after a year or two in the league, it’s also not rare players (like James Young and R.J. Hunter, for example) never find their way — the rub is figuring out which is which while there’s still time to move the players who aren’t going to make it.

It is probably too early to throw in the towel on either, but perhaps if the right offer came along, it could be worth the squeeze.

While not on regular deals, two way players Tacko Fall and especially Tremont Waters probably are better-value options for a spot on the parent club’s roster than Vincent Poirier has proven to be, and the latter would probably benefit from the reps he’d get against better opponents.

As for the French big man, while it’s true European bigs tend to take time adjusting to NBA, at 26 years old already, Vinny Sexpants may just be the most expendable contract on the Celtics roster.

This leaves forward Javonte Green the next-most likely player to be dealt, as he’s proven a valuable depth option on the wing, a prized position in the NBA that could prove intriguing to opposing front offices.

This is not to say that Green is a bad player, nor Poirier, for that matter — just that if an end-of-bench move does end up happening, it will most likely involve one or both of these two players and some draft assets to whet the appetite of an interested general manager.

Langford and/or Edwards could also be on the table, but given their still-extant upside, would likely only be involved for a player with at least above-average starter upside, which both of these rookies arguably have themselves despite their rough starts.

If the Celtics can find a suitor willing to allow them to combine those incoming 2020 draft assets, or Boston can find no sensible deals before the deadline, all of this information could very well be moot.

But if a deal is to be made at all this winter, it’s those four players who will be most likely to wear a new uniform before Valentine’s Day.

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