Boston Celtics: 3 popular trade targets Cs should avoid

Boston Celtics trade target to avoid No. 2) John Wall

A popular belief amongst those who follow the Boston Celtics is that, should they be interested in making a move, they should be in the market for a legitimate floor general — someone who can quarterback their offense and make the lives of Tatum and Brown easier when it comes to finding scoring opportunities.

While there have been several names mentioned over the past several months who are believed to be capable of filling such a need, recently an idea by CBS Sports writer, Seth Quinn, floated out the concept of the Cs trading for veteran point guard John Wall who, currently, is sitting out of action until the Houston Rockets find a way to trade him to a team better suited for his talents.

To Quinn, Boston could be that team:

"The basketball implications here are relatively straightforward. Wall, for most of the past decade, was among the very best passers in all of basketball. From 2014 through 2019, Wall ranked in the top three in the NBA in points created by assists each season. Even last season, after returning from multiple major injuries and missing the entire 2019-20 campaign, ranked a respectable 12th despite playing on the worst team in the NBA."

"On balance, Wall’s scoring didn’t decline nearly as much last season as one might assume of a point guard reliant on athleticism coming off a torn Achilles. His 20.6 points per game beat his career average and his 45.8 effective field goal percentage hovered around his career level of 46.2 percent. He has never been an especially strong shooter, but he has always been better off the catch than he has off the dribble. That held true last season when he made 38.4 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s, more than enough to preserve spacing while Tatum and Brown work. Defensively, there are still questions to be answered. At his peak, Wall was rather effective on that end of the floor. Without having seen him play within a functional NBA defense since his injury, it’s not clear how much he has left to contribute there now. He’d also be joining a Celtics team capable of protecting him defensively. When you factor in Boston’s playmaking need and Wall’s likely desire to join a winning team, there might not be a better fit for him in all of basketball right now than the Celtics."

Frankly, we at HH actually can see the appeal of a guy like John Wall running point for the Boston Celtics and have even discussed trade ideas in the past that would have landed him in Eastern Massachusetts.

However, any realistic move would almost certainly see Al Horford and/ or Marcus Smart being the main players sent packing from the Cs in exchange for the former All-NBA talent and, with the way they’ve been playing thus far (especially Horford) coupled with how much of an impact they have on this team from a leadership perspective, parting with them may be a more challenging decision to make than some realize.

On top of this, while Wall’s game could actually benefit the likes of Boston’s two cornerstone wings, he’s a well-documented injury risk over these past few seasons and would come at a per-year average salary of $42.7 million that will pay him so much as $47 million next season.

All in all, Wall may still have some solid game left in him, but committing to dealing for him at his price range makes it a rather difficult settlement to make.