The Celtics and Hawks have been attached to a lot of the same rumors recently. Both teams could be potential suitors for Giannis Antetokounmpo, and if the Celtics decide to trade Jaylen Brown - whether as part of a Giannis deal or not - his hometown Atlanta Hawks are a team that is known to have interest.
That makes sense for a variety of reasons, but even if JB is staying put in Boston, the Hawks’ roster is one that Brad Stevens and company should be looking at closely. The Hawks made a massive organizational shift this season, trading away Trae Young to build around Jalen Johnson, and the team thrived.
They made a huge run to end the season and briefly held a 2-1 lead over the Knicks in round one, which is looking more and more impressive with each passing day. It was a great step for the Hawks, but they’ve clearly got a long way to go before becoming a true title contender, hence their interest in a player like Brown.
If Hawks chase big move, role players may become expendable
If CJ McCollum slips away, he’d be a great option for the Celtics’ sixth-man role that could possibly be had with their midlevel exception, but Atlanta will almost surely want to keep their playoff hero. The Celtics would be wise to target a handful of players who may be undervalued and underutilized in Atlanta.Â
The Celtics want a stretch big man, and the Hawks have two great options. The younger, flashier one who could be a true building block in Boston is Onyeka Okongwu, but the one that may be easier to steal away is the veteran, Jock Landale.
Okongwu had a strong season in Atlanta as their starter. He offers some defensive versatility and good athleticism for his size, and stretched his game out to punish teams for leaving him open outside the three-point line. The Hawks likely want to keep the 25-year-old, who has two years and $33 million left on his contract, but they may be eyeing bigger moves, and OO could become expendable. If that’s the case, Boston should pounce.
Okongwu and Landale are two great stretch-bigs to target
But if Okongwu is off the table, Landale would be a great fallback plan. The 30-year-old Australian has bounced around the league a bit, but emerged as a very solid rotational big last year for Memphis and then Atlanta. He got injured before the playoffs, which ended up being costly.
Now, he’s a free agent, and the Celtics could use some of their MLE to give Landale a nice little raise from his minimum and a solid role as a backup center on what figures to be a contender. He has great size and strength to battle with bigs around the rim and hit over 38% of his threes last year, scoring 10.8 points and pulling down 5.7 rebounds per game this season in just 22.1 minutes a night.
The Celtics obviously have big ambitions this offseason, but if they are just looking to add another center to the rotation without breaking the bank, Landale would be an excellent and realistic choice.
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