With the page on the calendar now having been flipped to February, trade season is now inching towards its apex and Boston Celtics fans are at the edge of their seats waiting to see what exactly President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens will wind up doing to get their favorite ball club moving in the right direction.
Undoubtedly, 2021-22 has been an unbelievably challenging season for C’s fans to watch, as the shamrocks have simply proven to be one of the most disappointing teams what with the fact that they came into the season with such high expectations yet have only been able to muster up a record of just 27-25 through 52 games played.
Because of this, it’s more than evident that Boston’s decision-makers must look into ways in which they can try and improve their chances of competing during this year’s postseason, and, to many, a great way for them to accomplish this goal is by being active on the trade market.
For months now, we have been seeing a plethora of ideas being pushed out by both fans and media alike pertaining to moves they believe the team could make at some point before the passing of February 10th’s deadline and, recently, the folks at Bleacher Report concocted a deal that would absolutely give the roster an all-out facelift.
That concept of the deal: split up the Jays by sending Jaylen Brown to the Atlanta Hawks for roster fillers and draft capital.
The exact trade package reads as follows:
Now, within this section of his piece, writer, Grant Hughes, made it rather clear that this trade ‘to dream about’ was more likely to be seen when a Hawks fan slumbers rather than when a faithful follower of the Boston Celtics does, being that we are obviously a site focusing on the latter mentioned franchise, we’re viewing this proposed trade through green and white lenses and, frankly, we don’t like it.
As a result of the underwhelming season turnout by the franchise as a whole, we at the Houdini have seen quite a shocking amount of pleas to see a split-up of the All-Star tandem, Jayson Tatum and Brown.
Generally speaking, when trade packages have been concocted with this narrative in mind, the C’s are found bringing back an already made star, or a budding star in return and, while we at HH still don’t usually believe such a move would ultimately be worth it, at least you’re seeing fair value coming back in return that could, in theory, help the franchise be in more of a win-now mode.
This proposed deal by Hughes, however, sees none of this, which makes us beg the question: What would be the point?
Don’t get us wrong, De’Andre Hunter, Kevin Huerter, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are fine players in their own right, and are even individuals that we’ve gone about labeling as possible trade targets for the Boston Celtics at times in the past.
That said, by no means do we believe that this grouping of players is enough for Stevens and co. to part with their wing for.
Still just 25-years-old, Brown has proven to be a legitimate franchise cornerstone who, in year six is once again putting forth All-Star deserving production, averaging 24.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, three assists, and just over a steal per game on 46 percent shooting from the floor and 36 percent shooting from deep.
Though they possess quality skills that could help complement this team moving forward, none of the three talents that would be coming to the Boston Celtics in exchange have shown the potential that Brown has — perhaps one could argue Hunter has similarly high potential, but his inability to stay on the floor through his first few years in the league has somewhat hindered this narrative.
On top of Hunter, Huerter, and Bogdanovic the C’s would also be bringing on two first-round picks which, yes, could easily be viewed as quite valuable.
That said, with the fact that one would be coming this year via the Charlotte Hornets (a thoroughly competitive/ talented team in the East) and the other coming next year via Atlanta (a team that was just in the Eastern Conference Finals and that would now have Trae Young, John Collins, and Brown in tow), it’s safe to assume that neither would prove to hold much value so, with this, Hughes’ proposed deal would then bring the Boston Celtics three role players and likely a couple of later first-round selections in exchange for a still young All-Star wing.
Broken down like this, does B/R’s proposed deal really seem to be all that worth it for Stevens to consider?
To us, the answer is an easy no.
What say you C’s fans?
Do you like this hypothetical move by Boston or are you more aligned with us?
Whatever your thoughts are, go ahead and leave them in the comments section below!