The Boston Celtics find themselves sinking deeper and deeper towards the unholy land that is the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings and, if their decision-makers don’t act soon, they could realistically find themselves enduring a similar, if not worse fate than the one they saw last season.
While sand is already falling, based on where we are on the year the hourglass has only just been flipped over, thus meaning the Cs still have some time to partake in much-needed shakeups between now and campaign’s end in an effort to help save their season from turning into a total failure.
That said, in order for the franchise to make said shakeups, the front office will have to be tactical in their approach. As many are already aware, this team doesn’t need just a few small tweaks here and there — they need sizeable makeovers to specific parts of their rotation.
A popular approach both fans and media outlets alike would like to see the C’s take is by means of attacking the trade market in order to scoop up some sound talents that could become available between now and February’s trade deadline.
Of course, before any deal can officially be made, trade talks must be held between all involved parties to ensure that their interests and intentions are known.
Naturally, it is expected that each organization will strive to hit specific topics throughout the process in an attempt to get exactly what they wish out of these discussions and, when it comes to the Boston Celtics, we believe that there are 3 key talking points they should look to broach during any potential upcoming negotiations:
Boston Celtics talking point No. 1) “Picks are more valuable than your player”
Now, due to the current state of the Boston Celtics, should they make a deal at some point this trade season the package being sent out on their end will almost certainly have to rely heavily on draft capital which, in turn, likely means that they’ll be looking to engage with rebuilding ball clubs who have talents that may not be ideal fits for a youth-movement.
For such organizations, draft picks are much more valuable than an aging player that takes away ample minutes from younger prospects on the roster.
Let’s take a popular trade target like Terrence Ross for example.
Wallowing away on the rebuilding Orlando Magic, considering where the franchise is at right now (7-32 on the year) the 26 minutes that the 30-year old is registering per game this season almost certainly would be better utilized on much younger players that could be key core contributors at some point down the road like, say, sophomore guard R.J. Hampton who’s only seeing 19.7 minutes of action on a nightly basis.
On the opposite side of the coin, the 26 minutes Ross currently finds himself logging are simply being wasted with the tanking Magic and, in turn, if dealt away he would be much more of a positive contributor on a team like the Celtics that actually is looking to win now.
While we can go on and on about the Magic’s current state, there are plenty of other examples of teams that could, and should view picks as being more valuable than some of their current players such as the Houston Rockets (Christian Wood), the OKC Thunder (Mike Muscala), and even the Indiana Pacers (Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday… they need to dismantle their roster).
Boston must take advantage of their situations, be it by shelling out some capital or by hyping up this next talking point…