Boston Celtics: 5 moves to improve each position in the starting lineup

Best way Boston Celtics can improve at power forward: Use TPE on Thaddeus Young

For the second straight year, the Boston Celtics find themselves in possession of a rather lucrative Traded Player Exception, this time in the price range of up to $17 million thanks to the sign-and-trade that shipped Evan Fournier to the New York Knicks.

Since attaining this TPE, we at HH have gone about and compiled quite a few lists discussing players in which the front office should be interested in trying to acquire, and, quite often, we find ourselves revisiting the concept of trading for veteran big man, Thaddeus Young.

Despite producing rather well with Chicago last season, posting averages of 12.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.1 steals on 56 percent shooting from the field, the 14-year-veteran still managed to find himself getting shipped out this summer in the deal that landed the Bulls DeMar DeRozan from San Antonio.

Now seemingly the odd-man-out within the likely rebuilding Spurs rotation, Young’s future with the franchise is undeniably up in the air and, if he were to be placed on the trade block, the Cs should definitely be interested in pursuing him.

As things currently stand, Boston has no legitimate power forwards at their disposal on the roster, hence why they’ve been slotting Tatum in as the starting four.

Bringing on a player like Young would easily fill this void within the rotation, as he is one of only a handful of true fours currently remaining in the NBA.

Despite having a rather inconsistent year shooting from deep (converted on only 27 percent of his long-range attempts), over the four years prior he proved to be one of the more reliable floor-spacing power forwards in the association (converted on 35 percent of his attempts from 2016-2020).

On top of this, though he may not have been all that reliable from deep last season, he somewhat managed to make up for this with his impressive distribution skills, dishing out a career-best 4.3 assists per game.

From his defensive chops and shooting abilities to his distribution skills and overall versatility, Thaddeus Young would be a tremendous grab for the Boston Celtics this season and, in turn, would help improve the position greatly.