Boston Celtics: The change Danny Ainge is afraid to make

The Boston Celtics are currently not a good basketball team.

Frankly, the blame goes all around — Brad Stevens has questionable rotations; the Jays “only look for their own shot”; Marcus Smart plays too much hero ball; Kemba Walker is a shell of his former self.

So many reasons, but they all truly boil down to one man: Danny Ainge.

Maybe Stevens’ rotations wouldn’t be so bad if the roster was deeper.

Maybe Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could move the ball around more if they weren’t the only capable scorers. Maybe Smart could focus more on a playmaking role with a more scoring-capable lineup.

Now, as this team sits at 20-21 more than half the way through the season, no changes have been made.

The last time the Boston Celtics were .500 or below this far into a season was seven years ago. The difference is they now have two All-Stars, an All-Defensive First-Team guard, and last year’s All-Star Game starting point guard.

We all knew the Cs had some holes, but I’m not sure if anyone would have predicted them behind the New York Knicks or Charlotte Hornets 40+ games into the season.

The Boston Celtics have deals waiting for them

The even more disappointing part is, there are offers on the table ready to be taken. They could go for a smaller deal, like Wayne Ellington where, according to Shams Charania, all the pistons are seeking in return for Ellington is a second-round pick.

The 12th-year pro is posting the second most points-per-game of his career (10.6) and is shooting 42.2 percent from deep on over six attempts per game. He could really light a fire under the bench and it would cost nothing but a second-rounder, as he falls perfectly under the $4.8 million Enes Kanter trade exception.

Is it time for the Boston Celtics to part-ways with Kemba Walker?

Another player to keep an eye on is Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball. His father, Lavar, recently stated New Orleans “needs” to trade Ball, and immediately. Although Lavar truly has no say in that, trade rumors have picked up.

Marc Stein reported the Clippers and Knicks have significant interest in the fourth-year guard.

The interest is warranted, as Ball is having a career year averaging 14 points and six assists on 38 percent shooting from beyond-the-arc on eight attempts per game. That is a better percentage, on more attempts per game than the C’s own Jayson Tatum.

While Lonzo’s name has not exactly been linked to Beantown in a legitimate report, I think a point-guard swap for the Boston Celtics and NOLA would be quite beneficial.

Walker is being improperly utilized here as the Celtics are trying to turn a high-volume shot-creator into a spot-up shooter.

In New Orleans, he would thrive off the spacing that Zion Williamson creates with his dribble-drive ability. Zion and Brandon Ingram are both splitting the usage, but still iso far less than both Tatum and Brown.

Walker would undeniably have a larger role in the Big Easy as well as adding veteran leadership to a team that clearly needs it.

Ball fits the Cs perfectly, both in play-style and timeline.

He is a pass-first, defensive-minded point guard who is also one of the league’s best three-point shooters. He is just 23-years-old and can compete alongside the Jays for a long long time.

With Ball and the Pelicans not finding an agreement on an extension this past offseason, the fourth-year pro will become a restricted-free-agent.

With the current state of trade rumors, as well as the comments from Lavar Ball, it seems unlikely Lonzo is staying in NOLA. By trading for him, The Celtics would acquire his Bird rights, allowing the them to go over the cap to re-sign him.

The Boston Celtics remain engaged with Barnes talks, but they could be slipping

As said by Sam Amick of The Athletic, the most “logical” and “likely” trade candidate for the Boston Celtics, is Kings forward Harrison Barnes.

Barnes is the perfect blend of shooting, defense, scoring, rebounding, and playmaking.

He is undoubtedly having his most complete season, averaging 16.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists on 62 percent true shooting. He can be what Gordon Hayward was for us, but with better defense, and a track record of staying healthy in order to play meaningful minutes.

Also, more recently reported by Amick, the Kings are “holding on a little tighter than expected” to Barnes. Not exactly best-case scenario, but that’s not to say a deal can’t still get done.

The Kings are holding onto a glimmer of hope that they can fight for the play-in spot. They don’t want to tank if they think they can get valuable playoff experience for their young players.

But going away from the trades themselves, let’s dive into why Ainge has done nothing, and will probably continue to do nothing.

Why Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge is afraid of change

Ainge has made few meaningful deals if any since the Kyrie-for-IT trade.

In my honest opinion, I believe he’s simply afraid of potentially losing a trade. He feels that the deal has to benefit Boston more than the other team, because of the reputation Ainge has created with other deals in the past.

However, that mindset is running the team into the dirt.

More recently on morning talk-show, Toucher and Rich, Ainge stated:

"“This is the week where the heat gets turned up, the people that want to make deals get a little more serious about deals and we’ll see. I think that’s probably a conversation we should put off until next week.”"

How many times have we heard this? The “phones are ringing” yet no deal is made. “We couldn’t find the right deal”… you mean you couldn’t win the deal?

However, the most disheartening of them all is this quote:

"I think like we’ve talked about before, the most likely scenario is in the offseason but if there is a good deal that we can really get and secure a player that can be with us for more than just a one-time run, we certainly are in that business right now.”"

Even with the overarching comments from Ainge saying the team “isn’t good enough” or “we are not contenders”, he says a trade is more likely in the offseason. He is blatantly admitting this is a throw-away season which is quite infuriating.

Every Boston Celtics fan has heard the same comments every year and, at a certain point, you wonder when things will change.

Other deals are getting done as we speak. The Bucks pulled the trigger on a deal to acquire PJ Tucker just days after they were rumored as interested. Now, players like Barnes, Collins, or Vucevic, who the Cs have been tied to for months, aren’t even in the negotiation stage.

Let us all hope, for our own sanity, this years deadline is different. Danny Ainge has never openly admitted to the team being poorly constructed like he has this year, so maybe he finally knows it’s time to shake things up here in Boston.