The Celtics’ big trade deadline move for Nikola Vucevic seemed perfectly straightforward for a number of reasons. For one, the trade saved them a good chunk of money, and was the major domino that needed to fall for the team to have a chance to reach their eventual goal of ducking the luxury tax.
Beyond that, they attacked their greatest area of perceived weakness, bringing in a proven, veteran, former All-Star center who can stretch the floor and impact the game with his post scoring as well.
Vooch’s money was also expiring, much like the $27+ million they sent out with Anfernee Simons, so at the end of the day, everything seemed to come out in the wash for the Celtics.
But according to Brian Windhorst, on The Big Number with Tom Haberstroh, that move may have been about more than this year, and the interest in Vooch may be more than meets the eye. On the podcast, Windy shot down a popular narrative that the Cs made the Simons/Vooch swap because Jayson Tatum is coming back and will render Simons’ role less meaningful.
Windy claimed the problem with that line of thinking is that he believes the Celts made the move with an eye towards the future and that they plan to re-sign Vucevic to a smaller extension in the offseason, which they wouldn’t have been able to do without acquiring him now via trade as an expiring deal.
Windhorst believes Celtics will re-sign Vucevic beyond this season
He further suggested that the team had no interest in bringing SImons back in the summer, so this was a bit of pre-agency, as they’d like to lock up Vooch for the tail end of his career. It makes some sense, as Boston has no clear long-term plan at the center position. Neemias Queta has been awesome and should be extended as the starting center going forward.
But Luka Garza and Amari Williams are still longshots who may not be ready for primetime. There’s no savior on the horizon in free agency or otherwise, so targeting a vet like Vooch, who at least theoretically can fill some needs, especially on the offensive end, makes a lot of sense.
It’s a low-risk, high-potential upside move, and the fact that it accomplished so many other goals as well makes the trade a slam dunk across the board. Brad Stevens and his staff have a pretty good track record with these kinds of moves, and if they believe that Vooch can be the next version of Al Horford to pair with the Jays on a cheap deal, who am I to doubt them?
On the downside, this would definitely pour some cold water on the potential of a Tatum return this season. Maybe it makes no impact one way or another, but if the moves were for this year alone, it would make a lot more sense if the plan was indeed for JT to come back and play this season.