Why the Boston Celtics do it
Perhaps getting more complementary players is in the best interest of the Celtics front office. And by that, we mean complementary to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Robert Covington is the perfect player to deploy next to stars, as he proved as a small-ball center in the isolation-heavy 2019-20 Houston Rockets lineup. If he can thrive next to a James Harden-Russell Westbrook star pair, trust his 3-point shooting and rim-protection making life easier for the ‘Jays’ and Robert Williams.
Norman Powell aims to replace the scoring void in the backcourt left by Marcus Smart and then some, though his role will be as a scoring specialist that perhaps anchors the second unit. He or Covington would have to be a reserve and that’s a great problem to have.
Jusuf Nurkic would become the first big off the bench with Al Horford gone and Covington/Powell joining the first five.
Why the Portland Trail Blazers do it
If the Damian Lillard-C.J. McCollum pair is going to stick in Portland, the Blazers front office is going to have to spice things up to give the team a chance of contending.
Acquiring Marcus Smart is an all-in move towards keeping the duo’s attention on scoring. Al Horford could be a stop-gap big that could play alongside Larry Nance Jr. before turning into a potential sign-and-trade piece or he could simply stick in the Rose City.