The offseason isn’t over just yet. If the Boston Celtics wanted to add one more bench piece, they can add one of these 3 targets in a trade.
Now that the calendar has flipped to December, the anticipation for the 2020-21 season is at a fever pitch. Boston Celtics fans especially feel that way now that the Gordon Hayward sign-and-trade is complete.
The main reason for that is the fact that Danny Ainge was able to acquire a seismic $28 million traded player exception. That is a lot of money to play with to add just one more playmaker.
Rumors have it that Marcus Smart is “not ungettable“, and that is something the Houdini will certainly look into further in the near future. But with this new trade exception, the Cs are in a position to add one more piece to put them over the top.
Assuming Smart isn’t dealt (which we will for right now), the Cs will bring back a starting five that proved effective against every team in the Eastern Conference throughout their playoff run.
So the Houdini takes a look at 3 players that could serve a role off the bench:
Lou Williams
Dalton Sell of HoopsHabit did a great job of selling me on the idea of Sweet Lou Williams on the Boston Celtics:
"Boston’s bench scoring was clearly among the weakest components of their roster this past season, and they will need to strengthen it this offseason to make another run for an NBA title next year. The departure of Gordon Hayward only illuminates this issue further, as it will likely make Marcus Smart a full-time starter, leaving Boston’s bench dry. The team made some solid free agent acquisitions by bringing in Jeff Teague and Tristan Thompson, but swinging a trade for a professional scorer off the bench like Lou Williams could fortify their second unit even more."
He’d be a nice insurance policy if Jeff Teague turned out to be a supbar signing, but Williams would be another crunch-time option opposing teams would have to worry about. Having two isolation virtuosos like Lou and Jayson Tatum would make Boston dangerous.