Boston Celtics: “Pass or Pursue” on 2 recently listed All-Star trade targets

Boston Celtics target No. 2) Damian Lillard

Countless times in the past, we’ve seen the idea of the Boston Celtics and Damian Lillard linking up discussed my both fans and media alike.

In fact, just recently, the folks at Bleacher Report took this concept a step further, as they made a bold prediction that, come Christmas time, the All-Star guard would be traded to the Cs and, just days later, concocted a trade that could help get him there.

In C.P.’s piece, we see Cruz discussing this same idea of Lillard landing in Boston and even brought up the proposed transaction by B/R along the way:

"Should Lillard request for a trade, the Celtics should do all they can to acquire the 6-time All-Star. A recent trade proposal from Bleacher Report suggested an ideal scenario for Boston, where they would not need to part ways with any of Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, or even promising center Robert Williams in a potential deal for Lillard. In that suggested deal, the Celtics would trade Al Horford, Aaron Nesmith, Romeo Langford, Grant Williams, Payton Pritchard, two first round picks, and two pick swaps to acquire the 6-time All-NBA guard. You’d think Boston would at the very least need to give up Jaylen Brown to land Dame Time. And from the Blazers point of view, Brown should be the centerpiece of any kind of Celtics offer they would entertain. Nonetheless, if Boston is somehow able to pull the proposed Bleacher Report trade, this will undoubtedly propel them toward championship contender status and place them in the same echelon as that of the Nets and Bucks."

Cruz makes several good points in this piece, with one being that he labled B/R’s trade propoasl as an “ideal scenario” — we couldn’t agree more, what with the fact that in our own response to this hypothetical deal we labled it an absolute steal for the Boston Celtics.

Unfortunately, however, another noteable point he made is perhaps the strongest — though the proposed trade would be amazing, it’s likely not a realistic one and, in reality, the Cs would almost certainly have to give up their core building block, Jaylen Brown, in any deal involving Lillard heading to Boston.

Now yes, in the past we’ve talked about how we believe a swap of these two players could make sense from a pure talent perspective and we’ve even gone on to say that the point guard would push Boston closer to championship contention than they currently are.

That said, this was before the recent signings and transactions that the front office made (Dennis Schroder, Josh Richardson, Al Horford, etc.), which have certainly helped better round out the rotation and, in turn, push them in the right direction with Brown serving as an integeral part.

Acquiring Lillard now would cost, not only Brown, but a decent chunk of this improved rotation as well and, as we all know, it takes an entire team to win a title.

Trading for the point guard would cost about half of the C’s core rotation, which isn’t an ideal situation in our opinion.

Verdict: Pass