Friday, news broke that the Boston Celtics were trading Kemba Walker and the remaining two years left on his deal to the OKC Thunder in exchange for Al Horford and Moses Brown.
With this, though Brad Stevens may have found a way to bolster the weakest spot within the team’s rotation at center, they simultaneously carved out a six-foot sized hole at the starting one which, even with the former All-Star, was perceived as a rather lacking talent pool.
Now with trade season already underway, coupled with the fact that free agency is not so far away, the front office will have the opportunity to find a replacement for Kemba in the starting rotation between now and the start to the 2021-22 campaign.
To us here at the Houdini, there are 3 specific players that must be considered for the role:
Boston Celtics starting point guard option No. 1) Malcolm Brogdon
The Boston Celtics may have traded away a perceived negative asset in Kemba Walker, but this team still needs a little bit of everything to help them get back on track towards being viewed as a legitimate playoff contender.
With this in mind, why not try and pursue a guy like Malcolm Brogdon who can provide a little bit of everything for a franchise while also filling in at the now vacated starting point guard slot?
Despite having himself a solid overall campaign, where he posted 21.2 points, 5.9 assists, 5.3 rebounds, and just shy of a steal per game on 45 percent shooting from the floor and 39 percent shooting from deep, it has been rumored virtually all year that the Indiana Pacers have been interested in parting ways with the fifth-year player.
Now, with the fact that they seemingly want to have Caris LeVert running the show moving forward at somewhat of a point-forward, perhaps they’d be interested in swapping the guard out for players who better fit around the wing and All-Star, Domantas Sabonis.
Should he be placed on the block Stevens should be very interested in a pursuit, as the 6-5 guard would fit in rather nicely alongside this Celtics core on both ends of the floor, making their starting rotation one of the more menacing units in terms of length and two-way potential.
Boston Celtics starting point guard option No. 2) Marcus Smart
The simplest course of action for the Boston Celtics to find a replacement at the starting point guard slot is simply by promoting from within.
While he was a consistent contributor in the starting lineup at the two last season, perhaps sliding Marcus Smart to the one could prove to be a great move for the team as a whole as well as, more specifically, for their two focal points in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
The most willing passer on the Cs over the last few seasons, the seventh-year pro is coming off of a 2020-21 campaign where he posted a career-high 5.7 assists (8.4 per 100 possessions) per game to go along with 13.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals.
Him running the show rather than Kemba would give the team a more natural distributor, which would only stand to benefit the likes of the Jays offensively, while also giving an opposing team’s starting point guard quite a challenging time when going up against the 2x All-Defensive selection.
To this point, the 27-year-old has been positioned at the one on quite an inconsistent basis, but recent history suggests that the team has performed rather well in these sets — let’s not forget, during the first 11 games of this past season when Kemba was still out, Smart was the main point guard where he posted 12.4 points and six assists on 37 percent shooting from deep and, during this span, they went 8-3.
Thrusting him in at point full time whilst having him surrounded by quality shooters could wind up being a positive shakeup for Boston.
Boston Celtics starting point guard option No. 3) Lonzo Ball
We’ve been pounding the proverbial drum since March that Lonzo Ball would be the perfect option for the Boston Celtics at point guard, and believed that a trade at this year’s deadline should have been pursued by the front office.
Of course, in the end, the 23-year-old remained in New Orleans, leaving us at HH feeling dissapointed over the fact that they missed their only realistic chance at nabbing him, for, though he’s slated to hit restricted free agency this summer, it was a known fact at the time that Boston’s salary cap situation was holding them back from being legitimate players on the open market.
However, now with the Kemba Walker deal to Oklahoma City, the Cs have managed to accumulate $20 million in financial savings, thus officially thrusting them into the conversation as being a potential destination for the fouth-year pro.
Viewed as one of the top agendas in our recently discussed 6-step plan towards the perfect offseason, the idea of bringing on Lonzo Ball makes a ton of sense for this team moving forward.
Simply put, his game is the perfect compliment to Tatum and Brown, and he’s one of the best set-up artists in the entire league with arguably the highest basketball IQ (according the Magic Johnson that is).
Coming off of his best season in the NBA, Ball went about and posted sound all-around averages of 14.6 points, 5.7 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and just over a half-block per game on 41 percent shooting from the floor and 38 percent shooting from deep.
With his desire to push the ball on fast breaks, this slow motion Cs team (ranked 20th in Pace this season) would get an up-tempo spark in Ball who can push the rock on the break to either find the open man or knock down shots on his own while also having the ability to get back on defense and simply excel with his stupendous versatility due to his size (6-6) and quickness.
Though there are many things the Boston Celtics could do this offseason to make it a good one, somehow landing Lonzo Ball would make it an absolutely great one.