After making it to within just two games of reaching their first NBA Finals in over a decade just a season ago, the Boston Celtics have seemingly played like a shell of themselves in this 2020-21 follow-up campaign.
What makes this all the more shocking is the fact that their two best players in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are having themselves phenomenal seasons and, even still, the Cs find themselves barely staying afloat.
Looking at the rotation overall, there are a few sore spots to be found which, in turn, has resulted in the rumor mill spinning away, as reports have surfaced, insinuating that Boston may be “up to something.”
The Boston Celtics could look to make moves between now and March 25th
Should this “something” be along the lines of looking to make trades, we at the Houdini are, and have always been, on board with such ideals.
That said, this team has played such a bad brand of basketball over these last several weeks, it must be stressed that not just any trade will work in an effort to get them back on track.
In our humble opinion, there are only a handful of players who believe can help fix this struggling Boston Celtics team.
Today, we present to you 3 of them:
Boston Celtics trade target No. 1) Myles Turner
The idea of the Boston Celtics acquiring the likes of Myles Turner is one as old as time for us here at HH and, now with the team’s struggles becoming more and more prevalent, we see the addition of the Pacers’ big man as being one that could help them in numerous areas of their game.
As we saw last season, the team needs to up their presence in the frontcourt if they wish to compete with the Bam Adabayos and Joel Embiids of the world once the playoffs roll around.
While they tried to bolster their frontcourt this past offseason by bringing in Tristan Thompson, ultimately he has not proven to be the combatant that Boston is looking for.
Turner, however, very well could be.
So far this season, the 24-year-old is posting averages of 13.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and a league-leading 3.5 blocks per game on 50 percent shooting from the field and 33 percent shooting from deep.
Playing his way into the Defensive Player of the Year conversation, Turner has been out on a mission this season to prove he’s a defensive monster and that he takes pride in his efforts on that side of the court.
"“My drive this year pushes beyond rim protection,” he continued. “I want to show the league what everyone in Indy’s known for years now — that I’m a defensive anchor and I take pride in that.”"
Outside of Indiana fans, the Houdini has also seen and has been enamored with the sixth-year center’s play on defense for quite some time now.
Landing a tough-nosed, rim-protecting big who can space the floor and flourish without the ball in his hands like Myles Turner is a luxury to have, especially for a team trying to contend for a title.
Landing the 6-11 center would be an all-in move for the Boston Celtics to make, and we here at the site are all in on the idea.
Boston Celtics trade target No. 2) Nikola Vucevic
Next up, we stay at the center position as we believe it is the area in which the Boston Celtics need to improve the most.
Recently, Bleacher Report came out with a piece discussing the idea of Orlando Magic big, Nikola Vucevic being an ideal trade target for the team and, frankly, we can’t find any reason to disagree with their judgment:
"Assuming the Celtics aren’t ready to hit the panic button on Kemba Walker (although maybe they should be), Boston’s focus should be on the frontcourt. Vucevic would be an upgrade over Tristan Thompson, giving the Celtics a center who can shoot threes and create for others. He’s having a career year (23.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 41.7 percent shooting from three) for a sinking Magic team, and Vucevic’s $26 million salary fits into Boston’s massive trade exception from the Gordon Hayward sign-and-trade."
A legitimate 7-footer, the All-Star center would be an unbelievable presence to have at the five for this Celtics team both for his stature and his skillset — an in and out scorer with a 19.3 assist percentage and a box plus-minus rating of 6.1.
His pick-and-pop game would be an unbelievable asset to have for this team (second in the league in points per possession by these means) and his distribution skills (leads the league in post-up passes and has ranked in the 87th percentile in assist percentage among big men over the last six seasons) would only help the team’s surrounding shooters get easier looks.
He would easily be an upgrade over what Boston is rolling out now at the five — and by a long shot at that — and could prove to be that fourth star to thrust the Cs over the hump out east.
Boston Celtics trade target No. 3) Bradley Beal
Speaking of stars…
Alright look, we get it — Bradley Beal has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t want to quit on the Washington Wizards and, thus, is nowhere near requesting a trade out of Washington.
However, with the return value that comes with trading a star — remember, even Jrue Holiday landed the Pelicans three first-rounders and two pick swaps –, the Wizards could wind up being enticed to land a large package to help build for the future should they believe it’s time to hit the reset button and, if I’m Boston, I’m offering everything outside of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
In the Eastern Conference, it seems as though big-3s are all the rage — James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Holiday in Milwaukee, Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris in Philadelphia.
While the Cs hoped Tatum, Brown, and Walker would be a serviceable trio of their own, with the point guard’s injury woes and underwhelming start to the season, the team’s grouping of stars is easily behind all three of the aforementioned units.
That said, if they brought on Beal, they’d find themselves vying for the best big-3, not just in the east, but in the entire league.
So far this season, Beal is posting unreal averages of 33.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.4 steals per game.
Him teaming up with the likes of Tatum (a hometown connection) and Brown would be absolutely menacing for opposing defenses to handle and, especially if Ainge plays the buyout market right, this collaboration of stars could be an unbelievable move for the Boston Celtics.