Boston Celtics: Jerami Grant and Nikola Vucevic perfect trade options for C’s

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Boston Celtics are among the teams interested in acquiring Detroit Pistons forward Jerami Grant and Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic before the NBA’s March 25th trade deadline. The Celtics are in need of a roster shakeup, and the C’s have the money to add a bigger name thanks to their $28.5 million sign-and-trade exception created by Gordon Hayward going to the Charlotte Hornets.

In my opinion, both Grant and Vucevic would be perfect options to make a big difference for the struggling Celtics.

Boston has a lot of needs to address if they want to turn around their 2020-21 season. Point guard play has been sporadic at best with Kemba Walker, bench depth is young and inconsistent, and post-play hasn’t been effective in many games.

Adding someone like Grant or Vucevic would address one of those glaring needs, and Vucevic in particular could be the answer to a couple of Boston’s woes. In fact, I’ve written before about how Vucevic in particular would be an ideal addition to the Celtics’ roster.

Why do I say that? Because this team’s paint-production has been very underwhelming.

Looking at the breakdown of production by position for the team this season, Boston’s post players have been outmatched time and time again by their opponents. According to 82Games.com, the Player Efficiency Rating for Boston’s power forwards has been 14.2 this season, and their centers have a PER of 19.7. Meanwhile, opposing power forwards have a PER of 17.0 when they play the Celtics, and opposing centers have a 22.4 PER.

Combined, the C’s frontcourt is being outscored by an average of nearly eight points per game and is being outperformed on a nightly basis. The PER deficiency between the Boston Celtics frontcourt and their opponents is a -5.5 PER.

Both Grant and Vucevic could really boost that frontcourt production.

The 26-year-old Grant is enjoying a breakout campaign in his seventh year in the league, averaging career-highs across the board. The 6-8, 210-pound forward is averaging 23.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.9 assists while connecting on 43.3% of his shots in 36.2 minutes a game. He’s also making an impressive 88.9 percent of his free throws and has the highest PER on the Pistons’ roster with a 17.8 rating.

Vucevic, meanwhile, was just voted an All-Star for the second time in his 10-year NBA career, and he’s in the midst of his best year as a pro. The 6-11 center is averaging a double-double with 24.6 points and 11.6 rebounds while also dishing out 3.7 assists and averaging one steal a game. The Swiss native is also capable of spreading the floor, making a career-high 41.2% of his threes this year. Just like Grant, Vucevic has the highest PER on his team, earning a rating of 24.2 for the Magic this season.

For a team with one of the youngest overall rosters in the league, adding someone like the 30-year-old Vucevic is a no-brainer as long as Orlando is willing to part ways with him. Acquiring either Grant or Vucevic won’t come cheap for Boston, but both make a lot of sense for the C’s and have the potential to give this team a legit scoring threat in the frontcourt — something Boston doesn’t really have right now.

The Boston Celtics currently have a lot of options in the frontcourt, with Tristan Thompson, Daniel Theis, Robert Williams, Semi Ojeleye, and Grant Williams all playing primarily at the four or five this season.

Just because they have a multitude of names doesn’t mean the Celtics have the right collection of talent in the frontcourt, though. That’s evident by the numbers.

Hopefully for Boston, Kemba Walker’s recent stellar play will become the norm for him, and Marcus Smart will be a productive scorer again once he returns from injury. This season has shown, though, that this team can’t count on that type of consistency from anyone other than Jayston Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and it would really behoove Boston to make a move to bolster their frontcourt and offload some of their less productive pieces there.

Ultimately, Detroit and Orlando may decide not to trade their talented big men, or they may not choose to deal them to Beantown if they do. The Boston Celtics are right to target Grant and Vucevic, however, and either option could be exactly what this team needs for the second half of the season.