Boston Celtics: 2 chances Cs should have taken at this year’s deadline

Boston Celtics move No. 1) Working Aaron Gordon into the Evan Fournier deal

As already mentioned in the introduction, at this year’s deadline the biggest name the Boston Celtics ended up nabbing was veteran swingman, Evan Fournier.

On paper, bringing on the likes of a near 20 point per game scorer makes a ton of sense for this offensively inept second-unit that the team has been rolling out all season. Add in the fact that they landed him for the likes of just two second-round picks and Jeff Teague, and you actually find a pretty good deal was made by the Cs.

That said, right from the get-go the trade was widely viewed as one not strong enough to move the needle in the direction the team needed it to go and, while it’s hard to fully gauge the impact Fournier has had on the team since arriving about a month ago, as he has only suited up for five outings, it must be noted that during said games the team has only wound up winning twice, while the wing has proven to be wildly inconsistent.

Coming into the deadline, one of the biggest names linked to the franchise was the 28-year-old’s own Orlando teammate, Aaron Gordon, and Boston was even viewed as the frontrunners to land the talented power forward.

To take it a step further, in the days leading up to the deadline, it was even rumored that there were whispers of a Gordon deal being worked out that also included Fournier.

Now, obviously we now know that the 25-year-old big was dealt to the Denver Nuggets instead, by all means, this should have been the move Boston should have made.

The deal that ultimately landed Denver Aaron Gordon would have been relatively easy to match for the Celtics, as they managed to swap a bad contract (Gary Harris), an underwhelming rookie (R.J. Hampton), and a top-5 protected first-round pick for his services.

You’re telling me Ainge couldn’t have at the very least matched such value?

Should they have been able to snag both the big man and the sharpshooting wing, the Boston Celtics would now find themselves with both a quality scorer off the pine (Fournier) as well as a clear upgrade in the frontcourt in Gordon who’s boasting season averages of 13.2 points, six rebounds, 3.6 assists, and just shy of a block on 46 percent shooting from the floor and 35 percent shooting from deep.

The duo coming to town would easily have made this team a lot more menacing of a matchup to deal with and, based on what actually wound up happening, this scenario becoming a reality was seemingly more realistic than one may wish to believe.