Boston Celtics: 3 reasons why the C’s need to trade their picks

Could acquire return package to help Boston win now

We’ve been talking about this for some time: ideas for offseason trades.

The Boston Celtics are in an envious situation. They consist of a roster who’s average age is hovering around 24 years old — which is one of the youngest in the association — yet they are still serious threats in the east to represent the conference in the NBA Finals as soon as this season (assuming the league eventually resumes).

All year, it has been oft covered that one of the biggest weaknesses on the team is at their pivot spot. Currently, their starting five is Daniel Theis, a player who, though has surprised many throughout the 2019-20 campaign, is not a dominant presence at the pivot by any means.

Behind him, the rotation thins out quite a bit. The defensive liability Enes Kanter has served as Theis’ primary backup while Robert Williams — who missed significant time this year due to injury — finds himself in the mix for defensive purposes.

Combined, this trio has the makings of everything a team should want at the center spot: a floor spacing big (Theis) who can feast in the paint on offense (Kanter) and protect the rim on defense (Williams).

Unfortunately for the C’s there is no device that can morph these players into one, thus leaving the team with a well known fact: Boston needs to find a permanent answer at the five.

Sure, we’ve discussed on numerous occasions big men in this upcoming draft who could serve as a potential answer at the position at some point down the road: specifically, I’ve suggested Jalen Smith as this player.

However, I’ll bring us back to my earlier statement: the Celtics are in an envious situation where they seemingly have a long & bright future while also having the capability of winning right now.

Sure, the way of the draft could theoretically make their future prospects stronger but, with the fact that the player(s) selected will need time to develop, the team could see their current championship window close subtly as their key veterans — Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart and Gordon Hayward — get older throughout the year.

If only there were some way the team could add a player who fits their current situation of competing now as well as down the road!

(he says with a clear answer in mind)

Ahh yes, Boston could, theoretically, look into acquiring Orlando Magic center Mo Bamba.

At just 21 years old, the former sixth overall pick in 2018 finds himself in an odd situation in the Sunshine State. Despite solid play, minutes have been tough to come by for the 7-0 center due to the fact that he plays the same position as current face of the franchise, and lone star Nikola Vučević.

Through 60 games played in 2019-20 (zero starts) Bamba finds himself averaging 5.5 points, five rebounds and 1.4 blocks on 47 percent shooting from the floor and 36 percent shooting from deep in just 14.5 minutes per game.

Eye popping? Not exactly.

However, when looking at these numbers in per-36 minutes conversations, the young big boasts averages of 13.8 points, 16.8 rebounds and a whopping 3.5 blocks per game.

Now look, I get it, per-36 numbers are tricky and you cannot perceive these numbers as fact should they actually log 36 minutes a game. Still, it must be stated that during the four games Bamba received 20-29 minutes this season, he finds himself averaging a solid 10 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game on 51 percent shooting from the field and a stupendous 70 percent shooting from downtown!

Mo Bamba’s lack of playing time during his professional career has not been indicative of his play but, rather, the fact that he finds himself on the same team as an All-Star as the same position.

It’s quite apparent Orlando seems set on continuing to bestow 30 plus minutes a night to Vučević, as they re-signed him to a lofty four year, $100 million deal last season. With this in mind, perhaps it would be wise of the team to look to shop the talented Bamba for a sizable return to better fill out their roster.

It might even be a wiser decision for the Boston Celtics to package together their picks in a deal to bring aboard a big who could strengthen their center rotation for both the present and the future.