The Boston Celtics are a team that could be returning their starting center, Robert Williams III, away from being the top contender in the conference. With the Cleveland Cavaliers, who narrowly beat the Cs in their two matchups thus far, falling off a bit, no team — outside of a fully healthy Milwaukee Bucks team with Khris Middleton — looks like a worrisome roadblock for Boston.
Still, the Cs would do well to at least explore upgrades to make use of roster spots of guys who may not be in the rotation come playoff time. Not to mention ‘The Timelord’ could take time to reintegrate into the starting lineup.
Should the Boston Celtics look to add a big man via the trade market, and it looks like that’d be Brad Stevens’ means of adding one given his disinterest in the free agent market’s current options, MassLive’s Brian Robb relayed in his latest Celtics Mailbag that both Orlando Magic center Mo Bamba and Sacramento Kings big Richaun Holmes could be available in a trade.
Why the Boston Celtics won’t pursue either
According to Brian Robb, though, there are flaws that could prevent the Boston Celtics front office on taking a gamble on either of the reserve centers.
For Mo Bamba, the MassLive reporter doesn’t see him as the type of guy Joe Mazzulla would trust in the postseason in any form. As for Holmes, his salary is the reason Robb would steer clear of him, along with the fact that his offensive skillset is fairly redundant to Robert Williams III.
With the Orlando Magic and Sacramento Kings likely to fall further in the race for an NBA postseason spot as the season progresses — though to the Kings’ credit they’ve been winning since Keegan Murray became a starter — the price for both should fall.
If either of their values falls far enough, one would think that the opportunistic Brad Stevens would explore every avenue of bringing on whichever big man comes cheap enough.