Boston Celtics: ranking the fit for 3 recent C’s trade targets

2) Kevin Love

Kevin Love has been occupying the trade block for just about the entirety of his tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Whether it was to find a better fit besides LeBron James and Kyrie Irving or to officially move on from the “big-3” era in Cleveland, Love has been renting space in the rumor mill.

That included this season, when Cleveland made Love available this past season at the trade deadline. One such scenario had the Cavaliers dealing Love for Portland Trailblazers center Hassan Whiteside. Somehow, the Cavs got a better center for less in their deal for Andre Drummond.

But it was a possibility. The C’s have a much better player they would offload in a deal. That’s because any such deal for the 2016 NBA Champion would need to include either Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker, Gordon Hayward or Marcus Smart.

Dealing any but Hayward would be an oversight, but if Hayward isn’t long for Beantown, it would behoove the Shamrocks to bring balance to their lineup by adding another big-man. Love has done his best work as a traditional power forward, making his fit alongside Daniel Theis an intriguing one.

Ultimately the goal of a Love deal is to give the C’s a chance to start their five best players, which they currently can’t do due to their surplus of talent on the wing. A floor-spacing center in Love would give the Boston Celtics clearer lanes to the rim, ultimately giving their athletes the best chance to score easy points.

Hayward is already a good fit in the current offense, but Love could open up a new dimension for the Celtics attack.