Another year, another “we were close to getting a big deal done” takeaway for Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics.
Leading into the March 25th trade deadline, all the buzz surrounding the franchise was that they were in serious talks with the Orlando Magic to acquire one of this year’s top players on the market in big man Aaron Gordon, and were even viewed as a favorite to get a deal done.
While the two parties did wind up executing a trade, Gordon was not a part of the deal, as he was ultimately sent to the Denver Nuggets. Instead, Ainge and co. opted to address their wing depth by swapping a couple of future second-round picks for veteran sharpshooter, Evan Fournier.
The moves didn’t stop there for the shamrocks, however, as they would later go on to ship off Daniel Theis and Javonte Green in exchange for Moritz Wagner and Luke Kornet from the Washington Wizards.
Looking back on the day, it’s quite evident that the Boston Celtics were a busy bunch. That said, just because they may get an ‘A for effort’, it doesn’t mean they deserve an ‘A’ for their transactions.
In fact, as far as Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report is concerned, the team deserves no more than a ‘C’ for the way their deadline ultimately played out.
Bleacher Report is underwhelmed by the decisions made by the Boston Celtics
Citing the belief that taking the likes of Fournier over, say, Gordon or Harrison Barnes (another player heavily rumored to be a target for the Celtics) was Ainge simply “settling”, Swartz remains unsatisfied by the team’s moves made:
"The 28-year-old is having a fine season (19.7 points, 3.7 assists, 38.8 percent from three), but he’s likely to become a backup unless the Celtics want to use Jayson Tatum at power forward again. Gordon would have been a far better addition, especially since Boston had the capability to top the Denver Nuggets’ offer.While the asking price for Fournier (two seconds) was fairly low, losing the majority of the exception for a player who doesn’t fill a huge need and can walk as a free agent after the season seems like a risk.Theis was a solid starter for Boston, one who now becomes a casualty of ownership not wanting to dip into the luxury tax.At 21-23, the Celtics had to do something, but not addressing the frontcourt was a mistake."
We at the Houdini are also severely disappointed in the decisions made by the Boston Celtics at this year’s deadline and are certainly not convinced that these trades have moved the needle in the direction they wish it to go.
Perhaps they’ll look to make more moves via the buyout market in an effort to fill out the rest of the roster with some much-needed talent upgrades — specifically within their frontcourt — but, as of this publication, we stand with B/R’s ‘C’ grading.
What say you Celtics fans?!