Boston Celtics: “Agree or Disagree” on recently rumored trade ideas
By Mark Nilon
Boston Celtics trade idea No. 1) “Add backcourt experience”
First up on the docket we discuss the idea that the Boston Celtics should look into trading for some backcourt experience.
As things currently stand, the team has a guard rotation consisting of All-NBA caliber, but injury-prone Kemba Walker, the rapidly declining offseason acquisition Jeff Teague, the recently injured, though quite impressive rookie Payton Pritchard, and a few other unproven commodities such as Aaron Nesmith, Romeo Langford, and Carsen Edwards.
At the moment, the most consistent presence in the backcourt for Boston is Marcus Smart, and even he has gotten bit by the injury bug, as he is suffering from a pinched nerve in his left shoulder.
The most important position in basketball is somewhat in shambles for this Celtics squad, and B/R writer Zach Buckley believes they should consider targeting trades to bring on some insurance to the rotation:
"There may not be a ton of sellers in this market, but that small group still provides a good number of guards. JJ Redick would be a dream get in Stevens’ offense, but the Celtics could also get mileage out of George Hill or Derrick Rose. None should be cost-prohibitive, and all are experienced enough to engineer a rapid acclimation process midseason."
The name most often brought up in the rumor mill thus far into the season has been Hill. However, we at HH don’t view him as someone the Cs should strongly consider trading for; frankly, none of these aforementioned players really do it for us.
Sure, we’ve discussed the idea of trading for Redick earlier this week, but that proposal mainly revolved around helping the team in their 3-point escapades, not bolstering their backcourt.
Honestly, the Boston Celtics might be better off bringing on someone via the buyout market or free agency to fill this void in the backcourt. One person in particular that comes to mind as a preferred target over any of the listed names above is an already proven commodity in a Brad Stevens-led system in Isaiah Thomas.
In our honest opinion, if Danny Ainge wishes to improve the team’s frontcourt rotation, he should try and scour the open market before dealing for the lot listed above.