Boston Celtics: What big men should Cs pursue this summer?

Why these big men for the Boston Celtics?

Why these big men in particular? Why doesn’t Stevens just go trade for KAT or Bam?

First of all, there are no star big men on the move this off-season so acquiring one is extremely unlikely. Second of all, all these bigs can stretch the floor which is imperative to the Boston Celtics offense.

Unless Williams comes out of the off-season with a brand new jumper, the Celtics will not have a stretch big on the roster despite their two best players being pick and roll and isolation dominant scorers. The C’s offense needs a big guy that can step out and hit the 3-pointer off the catch or else they are going to run into some trouble in the postseason when teams start bringing two guys into the paint.

The other thing these guys offer, minus Dieng, is passing. The Boston Celtics roster was near the bottom of the league in every passing-related stats for two reasons: They did not have a true point guard for a majority of games and their two most active big men(Theis and Thompson) were not adept passers.

Now, Williams is an exceptional passer, but with his injury history and minute restriction, the Celtics would be best to bring in someone that can keep on carrying on his passing load when he steps off the floor. This passing would make Boston’s pick and rolls or pick and pops twice as dynamic without needing one of Brown or Tatum to be the one to make the play. We saw this with Horford; it’s time the C’s brought something like that back.

The third and final reason, these guys fit the job description in their price. Nance and Dieng would be absurdly cheap given what they offer and Horford’s scary deal trickles down to just $14.5 million next off-season.

It’s pivotal that Boston does not overly invest in a big man core with no All-Star or All-NBA caliber player so that they might be able to acquire one in the future via free agency or the trade market. Keeping the books clean has been a struggle for Ainge over the past few seasons, it is imperative that Stevens and his crew do not make the same mistake but at the same time they cannot be as passive as Ainge.

One of these three big men needs to be on the C’s roster before the season ends or else it’s going to be another rough ride for the Boston Celtics’ offense and defense, especially when Williams inevitably gets injured.