Boston Celtics: B/R confident Cs will make a ‘big move’ by trade deadline

Seemingly since their inception, the Boston Celtics have constantly found themselves linked to some of the game’s best players.

Fans of the organization have been spoiled by the amount of top-tier talents they’ve seen don the green and white threads over the years. From guys like Bill Russell to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale to Paul Pierce, the list of all-time greats that have represented the city of Boston is rivaled by few other organizations.

Because of their allure of having rostered some of the best to ever play the game coupled with being the league’s co-winningest franchise, virtually every year we find the shamrocks linked to star players as preferred destinations should they leave their respective franchise, be it via free agency or, more often, trade.

Bleacher Report believes the Boston Celtics will make a “big move” this season

That said, despite their constant connections to such high-level talents, as of late, more often than not we see the Cs play coy and pass on making any big splashes.

Now, through the first half of the season, we’ve seen the team once again connected to stars such as Victor Oladipo and Nikola Vucevic — both of whom are viewed as possible trade assets — and, to some, it is believed that this chatter will likely end in more of the same.

However, Bleacher Report seems to be more confident than they have in the past that Danny Ainge and co. will make some moves, but not just any moves… BIG moves.

In a recent article discussing whether they are “buying or selling” some of the latest NBA trade rumors, writer Grant Hughes discussed why he’s under the impression that the Boston Celtics will finally pull the trigger on a mid-season deal.

"We know the security of having players under contract isn’t what it used to be. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that “league insiders don’t believe the Celtics can stand pat and potentially waste a year of the primes of their two young building blocks who are playing at an elite level,” per Tim Bontemps of ESPN.The Celtics are a special case. Their cornerstones are as uncommonly young as they’ve been uncommonly successful. The Shamrocks have been to three of the last four conference finals, which sets their bar higher than it’d normally be for a team led by players in their early 20s.Fair or not, Tatum and Brown must have lofty expectations. The Celtics know they need to help meet them.Add to that the talent drain of the last few seasons—Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Morris Sr., Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward are all gone—and it’s even more reasonable for the Celtics to be on the lookout for ways to support their young stars.A $28.5 million trade exception and control of all its own future first-round picks gives Boston the tools to get something significant done.You always have to be careful with Danny Ainge’s Celtics, who have a habit of making it known they were oh so close to pulling off a major deal. But given the clear lack of depth behind Tatum and Brown and the unmet expectations of a season hovering around .500, it seems safe to believe Boston is going to make a significant move."

Some of the bigger names that have been rumored to be potential deadline trade targets include Andre Drummond, Kristaps Porzingis, and, the prized jewel, Bradley Beal who we’ve discussed the Boston Celtics pursuing many times in the past.

There seem to be several quality targets that the franchise could find themselves pursuing between now and March 25th, and B/R is under the impression that they’ll take a swing at one of them.