Boston Celtics: This Payton Pritchard-Aaron Nesmith trade returns sharpshooter

With just under a quarter of the 2021-22 season in the books, it’s clear that the Boston Celtics have the necessary support pieces to aid the ‘Jays’ in making a run back to the top of the Eastern Conference.

But as it stands, actually getting over the hump and into the NBA Finals doesn’t seem like a realistic goal yet.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are providing star-level scoring totals, Al Horford and Robert Williams are holding it down on the block on both sides of the ball, and Marcus Smart and Dennis Schroder are setting the table with their dribble-drives and volume scoring. Grant Williams has also emerged as a 3-point marksman in both a starting frontcourt role and as a sixth man.

Beyond them? Inconsistency in spades.

Josh Richardson is coming on as of late but has largely struggled so far in 2021-22. Romeo Langford has been doing very little offensively with the minutes given to him outside of a few double-digit scoring performances.

Worst yet, Danny Ainge’s final two first-round draft picks, Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith, have been unplayable, most recently being on the floor in garbage time during a double-digit OKC comeback this past Saturday and having to be replaced by the starters after the game was well in hand.

With Enes Kanter playing his way into a rotation role, Brian Robb of MassLive believes Pritchard and Nesmith could be glued to the bench for the foreseeable future:

"With Richardson likely to be back in the lineup on Wednesday against the Nets and Brown trending towards a heavier minutes load, there doesn’t appear to be a path to regular minutes for Pritchard and Nesmith for the time being."

Considering the status of this team–good enough to make the postseason but far from good enough to guarantee the ‘Jays’ won’t have wandering eyes if the Cs stick to the status quo–trading the two youthful reserves could be the best way forward.

So here’s latest Hardwood Houdini’s attempt to mine some value out of the pair to better the Boston Celtics in the near future:

Why the Boston Celtics do it

In trading Kemba Walker, the Cs lost a ton of 3-point shooting in the backcourt that wasn’t replaced by Dennis Schroder, a below-average gunner from beyond the arc.

Neither Schroder or Marcus Smart are the sort of ideal catch-and-shooters that would make defenses think twice about blitzing Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown with either double-teams or triple-teams.

Bryn Forbes, though? That’s exactly the kind of complementary launcher the ‘Jays’ would thrive alongside on the floor.

Forbes comes with championship experience, and although he doesn’t come with bird rights, he also comes with a second-round pick that figures to be just as valuable as a late first-rounder.

Why the San Antonio Spurs do it

It doesn’t appear as though the Spurs will be competitive this season, and in making this deal, they are rolling the dice on two recent first-round talents that may thrive with a simple change of scenery.

As San Antonio transitions from the Gregg Popovich era, this deal adds two rebuilding pieces for the price of one (the draft pick) and sends away an expiring contract that doesn’t belong on the current roster.