Boston Celtics: Pros and cons of making a trade in 2020-21

Pros

The first pro of any trade for the Boston Celtics is ditching the potential ominous feeling in the future that the team could have done more but instead stayed pat. Danny Ainge didn’t do much to improve the roster last season after it had already begun, and lo and behold, Vincent Poirier, Enes Kanter, and other players the Houdini repeatedly called to be traded all season contributed nothing.

I don’t come up with ways to send players across the country almost every day just because I want to help out the airline economy following a rough 2020. I do it because I want to see the Boston Celtics have the roster best equipped to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers from winning their record-breaking 18th NBA Championship.

The Cs have two superstars (Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum) that are at the top of their games. Marcus Smart is set in stone as a role player, seemingly unable to become an adequate offensive player to take on any substantial responsibility in Brad Stevens’ system. Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith are ahead-of-the-curve rookies that seem destined for long-term roles in Boston.

Everyone else could be used in a deal to bolster their big man rotation (which is still middling at best) and improve their bench–which ranks in the lower half of the league as far as second units go.