Boston Celtics: 2 blockbuster deals to make Cs instant title contenders
By Mark Nilon
Cs bring on Oladipo & Wood, Clippers get a point guard, Rockets rebuild
Why the Boston Celtics do it
Victor Oladipo is a player we at the site have discussed in the past about being a potential trade target for the Boston Celtics.
In this league, star power is everything and, in our humble opinion, adding the former All-Star AND rising star Christian Wood — another player we’ve been enamored with dating back to last season — would certainly be enough of an add to thrust them back into legitimate championship contention for this season.
Through 28 games played, the two guard is finding himself posting impressive averages of 20.8 points, five rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.3 steals per outing. The 28-year-old’s two-way excellence would be a blessing to Boston if acquired while his natural instincts to get out on fast breaks would be a huge plus for this 23rd ranked fast break scoring Celtics team.
As we mentioned, this deal also brings Christian Wood to Massachusetts. Finally getting a chance to be a full-time starter, the 25-year-old big man is taking advantage of this newfound opportunity, posting the best per-game numbers of his entire career with a logline of 21.7 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game on 56 percent shooting from the floor and 40 percent shooting from deep — this is why we were begging you to sign him this past offseason DANNY!
Also in the deal we see the scrappy Patrick Beverley coming aboard to serve as a replacement for Marcus Smart within the team’s second-unit (in this deal, Smart goes into the starting lineup to replace Kemba at the one).
Truly the kind of guy a fanbase hates unless he’s on your team, Beverly is a nitty-gritty All-Defensive player who can also serve as both a ball-handler and 3-point threat (shoots 38 percent for his career) for this team’s bench rotation.
Why the Los Angeles Clippers do it
When the Los Angeles Clippers nabbed both Kawhi Leonard AND Paul George two offseasons ago, expectations were through the roof — and rightly so. As we all know, however, their first year in La La Land did not go as planned, for they were mere second-round exits in the 2020 postseason after surrendering a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets in the Semifinals.
Now, in their second season together, the front office must try to do everything they can to better position this team for a run at glory come year’s end for, if they don’t, they risk the possibility of Leonard jumping ship this upcoming offseason — holds a player option for 2021-22 and could easily turn it down if LA underperforms again.
All rumblings suggest that GM Michael Winger is looking to improve their weakest spot in the rotation, which is starting point guard and, frankly, the idea of bringing on a 4x All-Star in Walker for just a future first-rounder, two seconds, and a few relatively expendable players — they’ve been rumored to be upen to parting with Lou Williams for some time now — is certainly an idea worth considering.
A Kemba-Kawhi-PG-13 trio could prove to have enough star power at their disposal to make even a team like the Brooklyn Nets a bit more concerned.
Why the Houston Rockets do it
As the rumor mill tells us, the Houston Rockets are very much open to tearing things down in Space City, with noise of a supposed ‘fire sale’ being right around the corner.
This, of course, should come as no surprise for essentially the entirety of the NBA faithful, for, seeing the way in which things ended with James Harden, everything were bound to get even messier before they could have a chance to get better.
The biggest draw for the Rockets in this deal is the bevy of picks that they’d be receiving, with a grand total of four first-rounders and two future seconds. It’s clear that this team is looking for a full-out rebuild and, in an effort to get back to respectability, attaining as much draft capital as they possibly can will be a major key.
They also see a couple of expiring contracts coming aboard to help clear up some excess cap space leading into this upcoming offseason, Marcus Morris as a potential trade chip right after acquiring or perhaps after the season ends, and Boston’s most recent lottery selection in Aaron Nesmith to serve as a potential building block as they approach this rebuilding phase.