Boston Celtics: Breaking down a possible Mason Plumlee deal ahead of tonight’s game against Denver

Until the solution is found for the Boston Celtics big man conundrum, the Houdini is going to continue breaking down deals that can bring on a starting-caliber center. Today’s focus is on a player toiling away on the Denver Nuggets, the team’s opponent tonight.

Every loss magnifies the biggest problem the Boston Celtics face: the team’s void at the starting center position. Now, to be clear, Boston does have plenty of centers across the roster. Quantity is not the issue in Beantown (you know where this is going)…but quality is.

You could point to their 11-3 record, good for second best in the Eastern Conference, and proudly proclaim that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. No one in their right mind would say that the team is broken, but any rational fan should want to have the most well-balanced, championship-ready lineup on the floor at all times.

Unfortunately, Daniel Theis, with his 16% shooting from the 3-point line and six-foot-eight frame, doesn’t appear to be the answer at the starting center position. In a backup role, Theis (and his 2.5 blocks per-36 minutes) would be perfect for spot minutes against opposing second units.

As a starter, though, he lacks physicality to match up against the Eastern Conference’s best 5’s. In hypothetical playoff match-ups against the Indiana Pacers (Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis), the Toronto Raptors (Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka) and the Philadelphia 76ers (Joel Embiid and Al Horford) Theis would be exploited.

Enes Kanter, the team’s other top option as the starting center, would leave the Boston Celtics even more vulnerable to a huge game from the opposing team’s pivot. While his defensive box-plus/minus is currently sitting at a career-best 1.5, the caveats are a small sample size and battling opposing teams’ backups.

Kanter would also take the ball out of the hands of the Celtics’ top contributors. Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward should not be ceding touches to Kanter, whose game is predicated on post-up touches–as evidenced by his career 23% usage rate. While he is effective on the block (he is currently shooting 65% from inside 20 feet this season), Brad Stevens’ system is best when his perimeter players are attacking in the pick-and-roll.

I’ve long called for the Boston Celtics to make a move at the center position, and tonight’s match-up against the Denver Nuggets is a reminder of what could be out there. Nikola Jokic is the man in Denver, but behind him on the depth chart is a man who has been a starter in the league before and deserves another chance to be one: Mason Plumlee.

Plumlee’s stats have never popped off the stat-sheet, but his deal isn’t a cap-clogger. At $14 million this season, his expiring deal is perfect for a team that can audition the former first-round pick for his next deal. Who knows, maybe he could find a long-term fit in Boston catching alley-oops from Walker and company and protecting the rim; doing exactly what the Celtics need.

So just how exactly would a trade go down for the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets? Well, Boston would need to match the incoming $14 million cap hold Plumlee possesses. Marcus Smart’s $13 million cap hold would fit, but in no universe would Danny Ainge give up the 2014 lottery pick for an expiring deal.

Instead, Ainge could match salaries by expediting the two centers we discussed before: Daniel Theis and Enes Kanter. Their salaries combine to just a shade under $10 million, so to cover the gap the Celtics could throw in the combined $4 million expiring deals of Vincent Poirier and Semi Ojeleye. With the two contributing a combined three points in 15 minutes per game this season, neither can be seen as much of a loss.

The deal would look like this:

Denver would add three international players to join a smorgasbord that already includes Jokic, Juancho Hernangomez and Bol Bol. Theis and Kanter would be a fine platoon that would provide quality bench minutes on both sides of the ball.

The true winners here would be the Boston Celtics. Plumlee checks all of the boxes necessary to be missing ingredient for Boston: a rim-running big who can hold his own on both ends of the floor.

The best part about the deal would be reuniting Plumlee with his fellow Team USA 2019 teammates in Walker, Smart, Brown and Tatum. Seeing how those four have clicked on the court so far this season, adding Plumlee could potentially elevate their ceiling and give them a better chance of making the NBA Finals in 2020.

All it would cost is expiring deals of players whom Plumlee would contribute more to the Celtics than.