Boston Celtics: 2 trade packages for C’s to land John Collins

If the Boston Celtics aren’t content with their current crop of big men, they can take to the trade market to alleviate the Atlanta Hawks’ logjam at the center position.

An interesting bit of Boston Celtics scuttlebutt came courtesy of Celticsblog when Adam Taylor brought up the idea of John Collins being a potential trade target. His positional fit aside, it was an interesting breakdown of his game.

Essentially, Collins is a floor-spacing center who can draw his man out of the paint–a staple of Brad Stevens’ offense. Thing is, he may be best suited elsewhere than Atlanta because of their recent acquisition of Clint Capela.

There is no similar player to Capela in skillset or salary on the C’s. Daniel Theis is the top guy in the rotation, but he does not have the same aerial abilities as either Capela or Collins. Both Hawks are able to soar, but Collins has the all-important weapon of the long-ball. In 2019-20, he is shooting above 40 percent from downtown on almost four attempts per game.

Adding that to a lethal Boston Celtics starting lineup that features 40 percent 3-point shooters like Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward, as well as Jaylen Brown (38 percent) and Kemba Walker (37 percent) seems like a recipe for modern basketball dominance.

What comes next is just how these two teams match up salary-wise to facilitate a deal. As Taylor mentions in his piece, Collins’ sub-$5 million cap figure sets up a few deals that could allow Danny Ainge to give up draft capital and end of the roster players to avoid breaking up his vaunted core.

While Collins’ eventual extension could force difficult questions for the team…let’s focus on that when that bridge is to be crossed.

To bring Collins to Beantown in the interim, here are two different deals that could get it done: