The rest of the NBA should be extremely jealous of the situation the Boston Celtics are currently in.
Okay, maybe not the Golden State Warriors or Cleveland Cavaliers, but you get the point. To go along with all the success Boston had this year, they also have plenty of desirable trade assets if Danny Ainge wants to be a big player in the trade market. Out of all the assets Boston has, the below five seem like the most desirable to other NBA teams.
5. Jae Crowder
This spot goes to Jae Crowder over Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas due to the length remaining on his contract. Both Bradley and Thomas are scheduled to become free agents at the end of the 2017-18 season. Crowder is under a team-friendly contract that will pay him an average of 7.3 million over the next three seasons.
Over his time with Boston, Crowder has proven to be a highly valuable player on both ends of the court. He’ll never be a great scorer, but 15 PPG guys that can shoot from deep and take it from the hole will have a spot on any team. That’s not even where he provides most of his value either. The defensive end is what makes Crowder an attractive trade piece for any team looking to acquire him.
Crowder has never made any all-NBA defensive teams but he has long been considered a strong defensive player. He’s the type of guy you can assign to guard the opposing team’s best player and feel confident that he’s probably going to slow them down a bit. He’s not a player you center a deal around but Crowder would be a good sweetener to add to any potential deals for star players.
4. Marcus Smart
Yes I know, Marcus Smart’s contract ends the exact same time as Thomas’. The difference comes down to age. Smart is still only 23 (5 years younger that Thomas) and any team that potentially acquires him would be getting his best years if they re-sign him to a long-term deal. We’re currently witnessing Thomas’ best years and smaller players tend to decline at younger ages. Allen Iverson is a perfect example of that.
There aren’t many peskier players in the NBA than Smart. He’s already considered a plus defender and that alone is valuable to any team in today’s offensive-minded NBA. Speaking of offense, that’s an area with Smart that hasn’t progressed as quickly as Boston had hoped.
There have been glimpses though, including his 27 point outburst in Boston’s surprising game three win over Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals. For most of his career, Smart has been a bench player. However, there’s enough talent and potential for plenty of NBA teams to want him as their starting point guard.
3. 2018 1st Round Pick from Brooklyn (Probable Top-5 Pick)
The first round pick Boston receives from the Brooklyn Nets next year will mark the end of the infamous Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett trade of 2013. Who knows where the Celtics might be without having made that trade. My guess is that it wouldn’t be as promising as where they are right now.
Unlike this year when they had the option to swap picks with Brooklyn, the pick next year is Boston’s outright. Spoiler alert: Brooklyn isn’t getting better any time soon.
Next year will likely be another lousy season for the Nets, so the first round pick that heads Boston’s way will likely be another high lottery pick. Like this season, next year’s projected draft class is looking strong. A top five, and potentially first overall pick, next year is highly valuable. Not quite as valuable as this year’s pick since there’s no guarantee how good of a pick it will be, but still very valuable.
2. Jaylen Brown
As far as current Boston players are concerned, the one with the most trade value is Jaylen Brown. Obviously, Thomas is the best player on the team, but like I mentioned above, his contract currently expires at the end of next season. On the other hand, Brown is an extremely talented and athletic wing that is under team control through the 2019-20 season.
His rookie season was up and down, but there were plenty of glimpses of his star potential. His athleticism is off the charts too. There’s not a lot of players in the league that can go up and get it like Brown. Athleticism and potential are a very attractive combination in any sport, especially the NBA.
There’s also that element of the unknown with Brown which is enticing. No one knows just how good he can really be. Young players like Jahlil Okafor have already shown their deficiencies which have made them less valuable trade chips. That hasn’t happened with Brown. If anything, he’s shown that he can improve his areas of weakness.
Perimeter shooting was considered a flaw for him and he worked to improve that during his rookie season. Before the all-star break, Brown made only 30.4% of his shots from downtown. That number rose to 37.9% after the break.
It remains to be seen how good of a player Brown can become, but his star potential makes him an extremely valuable commodity.
1. 2017 #1 Overall Pick
Out of all the valuable trade assets Boston has, this year’s #1 pick is the most valuable. The beauty of having the number one pick is that you can draft whoever you want without having to worry about another team taking them. If you want player X, you can have player X. That alone makes the #1 pick extremely valuable.
The overall value of the #1 pick changes year to year based on the talent available at the top of the draft. This year’s crop of top NBA prospects is a solid one headlined by University of Washington point guard Markelle Fultz. Boston just had Fultz in for a two-day meeting and everything sounds like it went very smoothly. This kid is the real deal and should be drafted first by Boston or whatever team they trade the #1 pick to. If they decide to deal it that is.
Number one picks don’t come around very often. Picking first overall can make or break a franchise for several years. Recent #1 picks like Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, John Wall, and NBA Finals participant Kyrie Irving have all turned into star players in this leagues. Others like Anthony Bennett and Greg Oden were monumental busts and a waste of a pick.
Next: If the Boston Celtics Don't Draft Markelle Fultz
It’s the ultimate risk/reward pick with usually much more reward than risk. Trading for the #1 pick could help jumpstart many struggling NBA franchises. In the end, I hope Boston keeps the pick because, as I’ve said plenty of times, I’m all-in on Markelle Fultz. If they do end up swapping the pick, it’s high value will surely bring back a star player.