The Boston Celtics may just have all of their ducks in a row with their current roster after a February 10th trade deadline performance for the ages by President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens.
They had won 11 of their last 12 games before yesterday’s loss to Indiana. Let’s hope that was a schedule loss on the second night of a back-to-back.
That game aside, since the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve, the Cs have made good on likely resolutions to get out of an NBA Play-in slot and work towards a top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Currently five games back of the Miami Heat, the Cs could turn out to prove infallible. Maybe a deep playoff run is in the cards for a team led by two of the greatest players (the ‘Jays’) in the game under 25.
Or, they could turn out to be an average Eastern Conference team and lose to one of the other game squads in what has become the NBA’s better half.
If the latter turns out to be the case, one must figure the Bradley Beal chatter will kick back up considering the current state of the Washington Wizards.
And if it does, the Cs must consider the following trade to unite him with his St. Louis brethren Jayson Tatum…without trading away Jaylen Brown…AND landing a potential fourth star in the process…
Why the Boston Celtics do it
You team up Bradley Beal with the ‘Jays’ and Robert Williams and you got the best lineup in the Eastern Conference.
Add Kyle Kuzma to that foursome, assuming much of his progress this season translates into a fourth option role in Boston, and all of a sudden we’re talking about far and away the best starting five in the NBA.
It’ll take most of the team’s depth and immediate future draft stock to get such a deal done. I’d still do it.
Derrick White and Marcus Smart have already been rumored to be trade pieces in a future Beal trade.
Why the Washington Wizards do it
Why not get this many assets in one fell swoop in an attempt to also build around Kristaps Porzingis (if that’s possible) and move on from the failed John Wall-Bradley Beal era for good?
There may not be a mix of picks, prospects, and useful veterans that could be used in other deals out there, so the rebuilding Wizards ought to cut bait with their highest value assets and try to build for a brighter future.