Boston Celtics: 3 offseason Portland Trail Blazers deals

Rolling into tonight’s contest with the Portland Trailblazers, Boston Celtics fans can breathe a sigh of relief. The Cs have taken three straight wins, with two coming against teams in the driver’s seat for a postseason appearance.

The New York Knicks victory was a morale-boosting late triumph, while the Minnesota Timberwolves win was a gritty come-from-behind effort fueled by a monster 53 point game by Jayson Tatum.

Beating down the Denver Nuggets made this stretch a roll, and that could continue tonight in the Rose City.

The Portland Trailblazers have won five of their last eight, while alternating wins and losses in their last six. As has been the story since his arrival to the league, Damian Lillard is leading the Blazers to another likely postseason appearance.

Unfortunately, as has also been the narrative, it seems like the guys around him may not be enough to lift Portland to the NBA Finals. The top half of the Western Conference likely feasts on another close-but-no-cigar Lillard-led unit.

Boston may be in the same boat this offseason. They could have one more round in them than the Trailblazers do, but the likelihood of either winning a title is…we’ll say not overwhelmingly high.

So with that in mind, Hardwood Houdini is having some fun and imagining which players could swap jerseys in the offseason if these two teams engaged in trade talks:

Why the Boston Celtics do it

Robert Covington proved that he could provide capable rim-protection as the small-ball center on the defensive end for the Houston Rockets in 2019-20. This deal provides more lineup parity for the Cs while also adding a future draft pick in the case Marcus Smart asks for more money.

Why the Portland Trailblazers do it

C.J. McCollum will be a hot trade target this offseason, so this could be the first step in reshaping the roster and giving Damian Lillard a new backcourt mate that could guard opposing teams’ best offensive threats and give Lillard a break on defense.