A Less Hopeful Celtics Reality Check…
By John Eyler
All those Celtic assets aren’t enough. Current picks , players and scenarios don’t look all that great. Something has to give.
One of the latest scenarios has the Boston Celtics getting Gordon Hayward and Paul George. So, you have Al Horford at nearly thirty million, add those two at thirty million each and what a team. The problem is how do you fill out a 12 man roster with only 10 million left in the kitty. Well you would have to let go of Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley and well everyone. In fact I don’t think you could fill all twelve spots, but you could go through the season with maybe nine or ten players right? Yeah I’m being sarcastic but there is a kernel of truth to be noted.
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There’s more. George has made it very clear that he wants to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Why pay a guy for even a year if he’s going to leave on the next train. As for Hayward I think he will stay with the Utah Jazz. They can pay him more and they want him there. They’ve got billboards on the highways, they’ve got Danny Ainge’s son in the state legislature working to keep Hayward in Utah. That’s a lot of juice working against him leaving.
Okay let’s just say it. Does anyone believe Danny Ainge traded down for Jayson Tatum. Maybe Danny thought Markelle Fultz was overrated. That’s entirely possible and the Celtics don’t need backcourt help. Still Josh Jackson was by far the more interesting athlete. Just saying.
Now about the kids. Currently many Celtics fans have high hopes that Ante Zizic will be the man. He’s who we are betting on as the real deal. No proof of that yet just good reports. We had those hopes for Jordan Mickey at the start of last season. Do we really think this kid is going to hit the floor and be better than Amir Johnson or Tyler Zeller? That’s not an unreasonable question.
More on the kids. If the Celtics get George or Hayward what are they going to do with Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Guershon Yabusele or Abdel Nadar? All of those players become limited performers if George or Hayward come on board. I’ll bet you could trade them for future first round picks.
How many first round picks can you actually use? I think the Celtics have seven over the next three years. Now that’s trade bait no question. But trade for whom? The sad fact here is that every team in the league looks at the Celtics and says “they can pay”. Not a single team is going to enter negotiations with the Celtics accepting anything less than King’s ransum. The Celtics just don’t have leverage. Every team knows they can ask for at least one or even two additional first round picks than any other team in the league can offer. Any deal the Celtics might make will be lopsided.
Next: Silver Lining if the Celtics Strike out in Free Agency
Last season the Celtics made themselves better by acquiring Al Horford. Great pick up. This year the Celtics need to acquire one more piece. What they need is an impactful big. They need someone to rule the paint and rebound. We know already that Johnson, Zeller and Kelly Olynyk aren’t that guy. To expect Zizic to be that guy is just unfair to Zizic. The Celtics should trade for an impactful big. Just not much talk about that on the rumor mill, It’s still early.