“Pass or Pursue” on 3 recently listed Boston Celtics trade targets

Boston Celtics trade target No. 3) John Collins

Even outside of this piece by Bleacher Report, John Collins has recently found himself linked to the Boston Celtics as a player the franchise could be highly interested in pursuing by this year’s trade deadline.

All season long, it has been rumored that the budding star has been frustrated over his role with the Hawks which, in turn, has obviously pushed his name smack dab in the middle of the trade rumor mill and, naturally, C’s media has been all about trying to bring him to Eastern Massachusetts.

Buckley, too, appears to be under the impression that such a pursuit should be strongly considered by the franchise, and he went about and listed the big man as ‘an excellent third wheel’ option to have running alongside the Jays:

"He’s a good enough scorer to serve as the primary option some nights, but on the rest, he could complement the stars while subsisting on catch-and-launch threes and hard rolls to the rim. Defense isn’t the sharpest weapon in his arsenal, but his length and bounce have value on that end, plus the Celtics have Williams to cover up any miscues."

Currently in year five of his already impressive career, the big man finds himself once again in the midst of a phenomenal season despite seeing his usage dropping to the second-lowest mark since his rookie campaign (19.9).

Logging 32 minutes per night, Collins is putting up stellar per-game averages of 16.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, two assists, and just over a block per game on 54 percent shooting from the floor and 39 percent shooting from deep.

With the ability to flush it home at the rim just as easily as he can stroke it from deep, having this athletic specimen in tow would allow Ime Udoka to effectively run his desired big-ball lineup on offense while also not relenting much on the defensive side of the floor.

A young and talented Big-3 of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and John Collins would have an unbelievable amount of overall potential and firepower and could be a truly menacing trio for the Boston Celtics to have moving forward towards quite a bright future.

Verdict: Pursue