Boston Celtics: A 3-team Ben Simmons blockbuster Cs must pursue

The Boston Celtics may be off to a rather underwhelming start to their 2021-22 campaign, going winless through their first two games, but there’s still plenty of time for them to try and reach their full potential moving forward through the season.

Though Brad Stevens and co. did take part in a bevy of moves this past summer to better bolster the C’s overall talent pool, it’s never a bad thing to continue scouring the NBA’s markets to see what other transactions they may be able to execute in an effort to make their seemingly improved rotation even better.

While we at HH have discussed many different ways in which the front office could consider going about continuing their movement to stockpile players that could have a positive impact on the Boston Celtics moving forward, recently the thought of seeing them serve as a third-party in any potential high-profile trades has been one of great interest for us.

While there could be quite a number of players that could find themselves changing area codes between now and March’s trade deadline, the biggest name that many expect to be on the move is Philadelphia 76ers star, Ben Simmons, who has only ramped up hypothetical trade talks with his recent antics.

Since the early stages of this past offseason when it was first reported that these two parties were on the outs and, in turn, could look to part ways, many of us here at the Houdini started chiming in on possible ways in which the Boston Celtics could get themselves involved in trade talks surrounding the point guard, be it to bring him to the shamrocks directly or to simply help expedite the process of sending him out of Philly.

Already, we’ve concocted a deal that would involve the Cs serving as a third-team in a deal that would land Simmons in Sacramento, and, today, we follow this same formula only instead we have him sent to San Antonio to join the storied Spurs franchise.

The specific deal we’ve come up with would read as follows:

For each team involved in this transaction, such a move could wind up benefiting them significantly.

In the case of Philadelphia, it’s evident that their time with Ben Simmons is likely heading towards an end at some point during this coming season anyway. Because of this, they should be hell-bent on trying to get a return package that would help them stay atop the Eastern Conference standings in the now while also setting themselves up for continued success moving forward.

The assets they’d be acquiring would do exactly that.

Filling in at their lead guard position would be sixth-year veteran Dejounte Murray who, though not the high-end talent that Simmons is, would be a tremendous two-way contributor for the Sixers who would easily complement the team’s focal points in Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris with his impressive distribution skills.

Improving every year that he’s played in the association, over the last two campaigns the 25-year-old has found himself stuffing the stat sheet with averages of 13.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.6 steals on nearly 46 percent shooting from the floor.

On top of this, Philadelphia would also be bringing on two future first-round picks and combo guard Derrick White who would be an instant contributor on both ends of the ball and could help better space the floor on offense (career 3-point average of 36 percent).

For San Antonio, despite the fact that they have established themselves as being one of the best organizations in the entire league what with them having gone to the playoffs in 22 of the past 24 seasons, reaching the Finals six times, and winning five titles in the process, they currently find themselves in somewhat uncharted territory: a rebuilding phase.

Though some may believe this could be a positive thing for the franchise, for they now can organically build themselves another potentially lethal squad through the next several years, the concept of landing an already established franchise cornerstone at the ripe young age of just 25 may be too enticing for the front office to pass up on.

Since entering the league, Simmons has established himself as one of the most dominating all-around forces that the game has to offer today.

Built like a traditional power forward with the game of a natural floor general, the 6-10 Aussie has put together an unbelievably impressive resume that consists of three All-Star selections, two All-Defensive First Team selections, an All-NBA selection, and career averages of 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 1.7 steals, and just shy of a block per game on 56 percent shooting from the field.

With Ben Simmons on board, not only would it allow the Spurs to automatically breeze past a few steps within the rebuilding phase by landing them a legitimate building block, but it would also make them a much more enticing free-agent destination being that they’d have a top-tier star already in place — with all due respect to both the organization and the city, without someone possessing a star-status, San Antonio is likely not a top-billed landing spot for high-end talents hitting the open market, even with the allure of being able to partner with Gregg Popovich.

And, as for the Boston Celtics, they ultimately land a player we’ve been suggesting they pursue for quite some time now in veteran power forward, Thaddeus Young, while also helping San Antonio clear their books along the way.

Stuck in an odd position with the rebuilding Spurs, the 33-year-old’s talents are likely best served helping a team looking to contend in the now rather than wallowing away on a squad that would be content with receiving a lottery selection in next summer’s draft.

To us, Young would be a sensational acquisition for the Boston Celtics, especially if all it took were two second-round picks.

A 14-year veteran with plenty of experience providing quality contributions for each of his respective ball clubs throughout the years, the power forward is a multi-faceted talent that could easily help Boston in a multitude of ways.

Just last season, the big man posted per-game averages of 12.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.1 steals on 56 percent shooting from the field in 24 minutes of play.

With Ime Udoka’s apparent desire to roll out double big sets, bringing on a guy of Young’s skill set and experience could prove to be a tremendous add, as he would help bolster their rather weak power forward position, improve the team’s ball distribution (dished out 6.4 assists per 75 possessions), help with floor spacing (converted on nearly 35 percent of his 3-pointers prior to last season), and can hold his own on the defensive side of the ball as well.

As we’ve been stating for months now, Thaddeus Young would be a low-key great trade target for the Boston Celtics to pursue.

This deal would finally make such a hypothetical acquisition into a reality.