Boston Celtics: Taurean Prince traded to Cs in recent B/R piece

At this point into the 2021 NBA offseason, it’s evident that the Boston Celtics are willing to make significant shakeups to their organization.

From the personnel found within their front office to players residing on the roster, come tip-off to next season the Cs will look different when in comparison to last year.

Though there will certainly be a plethora of familiar faces logging minutes for the shamrocks in 2021-22, including an old friend in Al Horford who was acquired in the Kemba Walker deal, there could also turn out to be quite a few newcomers donning the green and white threads as well.

We at HH have gone about on numerous occasions and discussed players that could be sought after by Brad Stevens and co. this offseason and, recently, the folks at Bleacher Report jumped in on the action and discussed a deal that the Cs could pursue this offseason to bolster their wing depth while also “cutting costs” along the way.

The specific deal proposed reads as follows:

Citing their less-than-glamorous cap situation, coupled with their need for bench depth, writer Dan Favale believes dealing for the likes of Taurean Prince could make a lot of sense for the Boston Celtics:

"Boston messed up burning its MLE on Tristan Thompson last year. This remedies that move and lets head coach Ime Udoka build the 5 carousel around Horford, Moses Brown and Robert Williams III.Taurean Prince’s $13 million salary won’t make team president Brad Stevens feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, but he comes off the books next summer, and the Celtics need true wings beyond Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Boston is in position to streamline Prince’s offensive role—i.e. fewer dribbling escapades—and he’s a career 37 percent shooter from deep. His defense is better in theory than practice, but he’s a body to roll out against 2s, 3s and 4s."

As Favale stated, the concept of swapping Thompson’s mere $9.7 million salaries for next season in exchange for Prince’s $13 million isn’t necessarily a strong starting point when it comes to rationalizing such a hypothetical deal.

However, parting ways with the veteran big would certainly help simplify the center rotation for the Boston Celtics next year, thus bypassing a massive headache, while bringing back a player who’s only heading into his fifth season, plays a position of need, and was once the 12 pick back in the 2016 NBA Draft seems like a solid tradeoff.

In a reserve role last season with both the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers, the wing posted per-game averages of 9.8 points and 3.4 rebounds on an impressive 43 percent shooting from deep.

Though perhaps not the sexiest name in the association, having someone like Taurean Prince take the place of, say, Semi Ojeleye as one of the main replacements for Jayson Tatum and/ or Jaylen Brown in the rotation could prove to be a solid upgrade and, frankly, a smart move that the Boston Celtics should strongly consider making.