The latest name to come up in the rumor mill for the Boston Celtics is Trey Murphy III. A 3&D wing who has shown a lot of promise as a scorer, but unfortunately is seeing his talent wasted in New Orleans. Murphy would be a stellar addition for Boston going into next season. But there's only one problem: the Celtics don't really need another wing, nor an upgrade at the wing.
That's not to say they don't need help, nor is that to say Murphy is a bad idea as a trade target. But there are more pressing areas they need to look at, ones worth spending their assets on first. It became pretty clear in the playoffs how badly they needed a better big man.
Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, and Nikola Vucevic did a solid job holding down the fort in the regular season, but the playoffs were a different story. Sure, they could run it back with those three, but Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are right square in their primes. Do they really want to take that chance after getting ousted in the first round?
It's why, if Boston really wants to use their assets on something useful, it should be on a big man who can hold his own in the postseason. Adding to that point is that the Celtics' wing rotation is actually pretty good as is.
That's not just because the Jays should be back with a clean bill of health and a chip on their shoulder, but also because Boston has quite a few promising wings they are sure to develop over the next few years: Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh, and Baylor Scheierman.
No, we haven't forgotten about Sam Hauser, but that trio of young wings is promising enough that they might trade him to make room for them. None of those three wings is better than Murphy, but they're good enough to justify Boston going for a frontcourt upgrade over him.
If they address those areas while adding Murphy, that's a perfect offseason
In a perfect offseason, the Celtics would get a big man upgrade while managing to pull off a Murphy trade, though it's hard to see how they would pull that off. By all accounts, Murphy is an excellent player. So much so that it's kind of hard to see why the Pelicans would part ways with him, let alone trade him for what would likely be primarily draft assets from Boston.
Even if they entertain the idea of trading Murphy, odds are that they would get a much better offer from a team like Oklahoma City than they would from Boston.
However, miracles happen, so who's to say these Murphy whispers aren't legitimate? Brad Stevens has pulled them off before, so never say never. He's been able to execute trades that absolutely no one would have seen coming, so an upgrade at center, along with Murphy, gives Boston the title contender they need.
The Celtics already have the main ingredients of a title contender, but now need game-changers to surround them. We shouldn't brush off Murphy as an option if they really want an upgrade along the wing, but he should only be considered if and when the big-man issue is resolved.
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