A possible explanation for Boston Celtics signing nine-year vet to G-League
The Boston Celtics announcing the addition of nine-year veteran Tony Snell to their G-League affiliate Maine Celtics on January 31 was somewhat of a surprise.
Snell has 10 years of NBA experience and is a season removed from converting 21/53 of his 3-point attempts in 15 games with the New Orleans Pelicans, but the surprise isn’t that Brad Stevens brought a competent player into the organization.
The surprise is due to the timing. With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, adding a player whose experience is exclusively at the NBA level could seem to indicate that there could be an opening in Boston soon.
The Boston Celtics could be preparing a multi-player deal
In order for the Boston Celtics to maximize this upcoming trade deadline, President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens needs to find a way to package draft picks and reserves to get low-cost role players. Multiple players at the end of the C’s bench are expendable, and with team co-owner Wyc Grousbeck giving the front office the green light to pursue win-now moves, trading them seems to be the edict from the top.
Given Snell is a ready-made plug-and-play wing who’s played on six NBA teams, it’s not implausible that the Celtics are posturing to trade multiple players to bring on a higher caliber role player. Using the Malcolm Brogdon as an example, Stevens has found ways to acquire higher salaries for spare parts.
Does that mean the team will find a way to do a 5-for-1 for a player like Bojan Bogdanovic? Unfortunately, that’s too much of a pipe dream. But whatever deal gets done, we know that it’ll be the Cs bringing in the higher salary and higher caliber player.
If and when when they do that, they’ll have a reliable wing who’ll be able to step onto the pro team after first getting reps in the G-League under Alex Barlow. It may seem to be a small move for now, but it could be part of a larger plan.
Brad moves in silence. Of course there’s no noise right now.