Boston Celtics: 3 players Cs could trade their 2020 picks for

Mitchell Robinson, C

Number of picks needed in a deal: 2

No, we do not view Mitchell Robinson as a future star in this league like some wishful New York Knicks fans believe. However, we do see the 22-year-old as a solid starting center for years to come and one who would compliment this current Boston Celtics roster quite nicely.

Around the trade deadline, many news outlets were proposing Danny Ainge should consider making a move for guys like Andre Drummond, Tristan Thompson and Clint Capela with the majority of reasons being the fact that they can excel in grabbing boards, play solid defense and require little touches on offense to make an impact.

Sure, that’s all well and good.  In fact, some of us here at the Houdini even agreed with this sentiment.

At the end of the day, however, the team refrained from making any moves as it was believed the cost would not be worth the acquisition — although, we did later find out Drummond could have been had for a snack-pack bag of Doritos, but I digress.

To be honest, I too believe Boston could thrive with a player of these aforementioned name’s skill sets. While he is a less polarizing name, a guy like Robinson provides essentially the same production, and is younger than all of them.

Currently in his second year in the NBA, Mitchell Robinson currently finds himself averaging 9.7 points, seven rebounds and two blocks per game on a sensational 74 percent shooting from the floor in 23.1 minutes per game.

On a team rostering a plethora of top-10 selections from over the past several years, Robinson — a 2018 second-round pick — is currently their best player. With this fact you’d expect he’d be at the very least starting for the team, right?

WRONG!

Instead, they’ve opted to insert the 34-year-old journeyman into the position and have Mitch come off the pine where, night in and night out, he proves to be the team’s most consistent player. And yet, they still don’t start him.

Though rumors suggest the Knicks view him highly — as evident by their reported reluctance to trade him for Anthony Davis last summer –, the fact that he is passed on in the starting lineup for journeymen even in a lost season is very odd. When it comes to that organization — at least, from over the past few years — one can assume that they truly have no idea what they’re doing.

But, in the defense of this current front office with Leon Rose at the helm, we have no idea how they’ll handle things moving forward. Perhaps things will start to take a turn for the better with this total revamping of the front office.

However, based on their past trends I’d say the Knicks are as committed to Robinson as an insomniac is with sleep, which has us at HH believing that, with the right kind of trade offer, he could be had.

What does any re-building team strive for? Draft capital.

What do the Boston Celtics have at their disposal? Draft capital.

Again, we’re not suggesting he’s destined for all-time greatness. However, at 7-0, 240 pounds with a skill set that would fit in soundly with the current state of the C’s — rim-protecting, rebound grabbing, efficient shot-making big — and the athleticism to coast up the court on fast breaks alongside Walker, Tatum, Brown, Hayward, and Smart, he could prove to be a great complimentary piece to have at the five for years to come.