Boston Celtics: 2 P.J. Tucker trade packages Cs could offer

Why the Boston Celtics do it

If Danny Ainge can simply meet the Rockets’ price for P.J. Tucker by offering three future second-round draft picks…he better.

In recent years, Ainge’s reluctance to deal or make any sort of transaction during the season has cost the Cs come playoff time. While it can be forgiven why the team lost in 2017 and 2018 in the Eastern Conference finals–they sort of ran into an inarguable top two player to ever grace the hardwood in LeBron James smack dab in the middle of his athletic prime–their ECF loss to the Miami Heat could have been avoided had there been any effort to beef up the bench.

Acquiring Tucker would accomplish that by way of pushing Marcus Smart to the second unit or having Tucker add his brand of veteran toughness to a bench that is comprised of mostly recently drafted blue-chippers.

With Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith, Romeo Langford, Grant Williams, and Robert Williams all on rookie-scale deals, there is minimal room to add more talent via the draft unless Ainge wants to perpetually be “a season or two away”.

Why the Houston Rockets do it

Well, this package does meet the criteria mentioned by Brian Windhorst. Three second-round picks is a high price to pay for almost any franchise, but the Cs are so talent-rich right now that those picks hold minimal value on the Boston roster.

Houston can get good value here for one of the last vestigials of the Mike D’Antoni era.