As the NBA deadline fastly approaches, Boston Celtics guard, Dennis Schroder, has been at the forefront of a bevy of trade rumors. The latest report comes from Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, who claims there is already a framework in place on a deal.
A deal that would send the German-born baller to the Chicago Bulls for Troy Brown Jr and a second-round pick.
On the surface, this deal looks to be a significant downgrade for the C’s.
However, we have to understand the reality of having the veteran guard as a rental on this ball club. We do not have the financial flexibility to retain Schroder’s services.
This move would help Boston get closer to below the luxury tax threshold and free up minutes for former first-round picks in Payton Pritchard, Romeo Langford, and Aaron Nesmith.
There is no long-term benefit to having the veteran guard take away from our youngins precious developmental years. This would not be a win-now move by any metric, but another salary shedding trade to position us better for the coming offseason.
Let’s look into why each team would do the potential trade.
Why the Boston Celtics do the trade
The Boston Celtics are not in a position to compete for a championship this year. In turn, they need to lean on the development of their young players.
The reason why they have no bench is precisely due to the stalled progress of their younger pieces.
Players like Romeo Langford — where art thou minutes?
For a guy like Aaron Nesmith, his rhythm is more out of wack than an untuned guitar.
And we cannot forget about Payton Pritchard, whose minutes have proven to be more inconsistent than New England weather patterns.
The move not only opens up minutes for our young pieces but ships out a player we simply cannot keep.
The return of Troy Brown Jr could just be a filler. It is noteworthy that he’s a former 15th overall pick and has been a serviceable bench piece on other teams.
The 6-6 guard is only 22-years-old and fits our timeline perfectly. He’s a good NBA athlete with all the physical tools to be a strong defender and has already shown to be a capable shooter.
On an offense void of space, he’s an astronaut.
The bad news is filler players in trades sometimes get waived.
Do not get too invested in a TBJ jersey should we acquire the guard.
Why the Chicago Bulls do it
There are more reasons I can list here for why the Bulls would do the deed.
Firstly, their lead guards in Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball are out with long-term injuries.
The Bulls are in the midst of a much more meaningful run right now and need to stay afloat. Schroder could be their life preserver.
He could be used as a temporary starter with his ability to serve as a primary ball-handler/playmaker.
They could also deploy him off the bench as the lead guard for the second unit. It was not too long ago, many NBA pundits viewed Schroder as one of the best Sixth Men in the league.
Surely we remember him dropping nearly 20 points per game on the Oklahoma City Thunder!
The savvy veteran still has the sauce, averaging 14.6 points and 4.4 assists per contest this season.
The Bulls are looking to not just compete, but to contend and this move could propel them to the mountaintop of the Eastern Conference and towards a deep playoff run.
The Bulls are in a position to make the playoffs, while we are play-in bound at best. The trade would establish a clear direction for the Boston Celtics going forward.
Brad Stevens with the map, how is he going to chart our course?