Boston Celtics: Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins not on table

The Boston Celtics have a big man problem until Robert Williams III returns from arthroscopic knee surgery that was announced in September. His return is projected to be sometime in December or January.

Without Williams, the Cs are relying on vet minimum bigs like Noah Vonleh, Blake Griffin, and Luke Kornet to get by — with Al Horford, Grant Williams, and Jayson Tatum absorbing the majority of the minutes in the absence of ‘The Timelord.’

Just because there is a need and two recent down outings revolving around those weaknesses, doesn’t mean Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens is going to deviate from his prior strategy.

Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins, two veteran bigs commonly floated as fill-ins for any contender in need due to the glory of their primes, are still not being considered according to MassLive’s Brian Robb in his latest Celtics Mailbag:

"“I’ll reiterate that I believe the Celtics will be prioritizing this position on the trade market down the line but don’t expect any movement to come until December, at which point we will get a clearer understanding of Rob Williams situation. In the meantime, a true big man free agent isn’t going to be brought in anytime soon. There’s a reason guys like Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins are still available for anyone to sign and still remain on the market. They may be able to help solve Boston’s rebounding problems but their limitations will outweigh those pros.”"

The Boston Celtics could consider the trade market for a big man instead

The Boston Celtics backcourt has been effective thus far, but when there’s as glaring of a need as there currently is at center, sometimes depth must be sacrificed at positions of strength. Malcolm Brogdon and Derrick White are clearly the team’s best trade chips out of their core members, though the more White capably fills in for the starting five, the better chance he has of being put in that group himself.

Either players, coupled with Payton Pritchard, could make for a worthy trade package for a big like Domantas Sabonis or Myles Turner who are wasting away on teams that don’t have immediate hopes of contending and are hiding their talents.