Boston Celtics: CJ McCollum traded to Cs in B/R’s latest piece

When it comes to offseason shakeups and maneuverings, the Boston Celtics have proven to be one of the most active organizations in the entire league.

From the resignation of Danny Ainge as President of Basketball Operations early on to the most recent key transaction that landed the Cs this year’s biggest free agency steal in Dennis Schroder, Boston has been unbelievably busy and, though we may be just over a month away from tip-off to 2021-22, there is still plenty of time to see some more entertaining moves be made.

Be it by means of scooping some savvy veterans off the free-agent market or having Brad Stevens utilize the team’s newly acquired $17 million TPE, there are a bevy of different ways in which the shamrocks can continue their re-tooling efforts as we transition into the season.

Now, while we at HH generally find ourselves leaning towards having the Boston Celtics stay rather conservative with their future moves — unless, of course, you can land a legitimate superstar — there are some who believe that a blockbuster trade could be one of the more beneficial routes the franchise could look to take.

Recently, the folks at Bleacher Report tried their hand in thinking up some sort of major deal the Cs could take part in and, ultimately, came to the conclusion that a certain Portland Trail Blazers star could be an ideal grab.

If you’re thinking that we’re talking about Damian Lillard… well, you’d be wrong.

Instead, writer, Grant Hughes, concocted a four-team trade between Boston, Portland, Indiana, and New Orleans that would send shooting guard, CJ McCollum to eastern Massachusetts.

B/R’s proposed trade package reads as follows:

• Boston Gets: CJ McCollum, future second-round pick (via Pacers), future second-round pick (via Pelicans)
• Portland Gets: Jaylen Brown, Myles Turner, Garrett Temple, Torrey Craig
• Indiana Gets: Brandon Ingram, Robert Covington, Payton Pritchard, future second-round pick (via Celtics)
• New Orleans Gets: Malcolm Brogdon, Anfernee Simons, 2022 first-round pick (via Pacers), 2024 first-round pick (via Trail Blazers), future second-round pick (via Celtics)

Citing their need for secondary playmakers outside of franchise building block, Jayson Tatum, Hughes believes that a move for McCollum could help the Boston Celtics improve on this front:

"The Celtics might need that aforementioned extra first for parting with a player as valuable as Brown, but McCollum would address a backcourt creation need more substantially than bargain signing Dennis Schroder. He could take the playmaking load off Jayson Tatum in ways Brown, for all his versatile skills, can’t."

Now, this is certainly not the first time we’ve seen the idea of a trade revolving around McCollum heading to Boston, and, quite frankly, we don’t envision this to be the last. However, as we’ve stated with past proposals involving a swap of Brown for the Trail Blazers stud, it’s likely not in the C’s best interest to make said proposal into a reality.

Don’t get us wrong, McCollum is by no means a bad player to have on a legitimate playoff-contending team — over the past five years the two-guard has gone about and posted stellar averages of 22.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists on 46 percent shooting from the floor and 39 percent shooting from deep.

That said, is he really a better franchise cornerstone to have than Jaylen Brown?

Let’s look at the facts, here: McCollum’s best overall season in the league was back in 2016-17 where he posted 23 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists on 48 percent shooting from the floor and 42 percent shooting from the deep. Brown’s best overall season came just last year where he posted 24.7 points, six boards, and 3.4 assists on 48 percent shooting from the floor and nearly 40 percent shooting from deep.

McCollum is currently under contract through 2023-24 that will pay him an average salary of $33.3 million a year. Brown, on the other hand, is signed through this same duration of time but makes an average of $26.5 million under the guidelines of his deal.

McCollum finds himself heading into his ninth season in the league at the ripe age of 30. Brown, heading into his sixth campaign, will be just 25 by the time the season comes to an end.

Based on our metrics, each of these aforementioned categories — which, if I may add, are rather important — seem to favor Brown.

Add in the fact that, should the Boston Celtics actually do this proposed deal, they’d be giving up promising second-year point guard, Payton Pritchard, as well (sent to Pacers) and the concept of this transaction becomes far less enticing from the C’s perspective.

Easily receiving the short end of the stick in this proposed trade, the Houdini believes that this deal should absolutely not be considered by Brad Stevens and co.