The Boston Celtics opted to kick off their offseason work by trading Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers, and while they have earned high marks for the move, two of their franchise legends, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, were quick to note that this deal isn’t an automatic win for the C’s.
In exchange for Holiday, Boston landed Anfernee Simons and a pair of second-round picks. While Simons has subsequently seen his name pop up in trade rumors again, he figures to help shoulder the scoring burden next season amid Jayson Tatum’s lengthy injury absence if he stays put.
While Boston’s ability to land Simons, who is a talented scorer, in exchange for Holiday is being praised, Garnett and Pierce pumped the brakes on all the excitement that comes with moving on from the two-time champion, saying his intangibles and locker room presence will be missed.
“I don’t know if I would have given up Jrue Holiday for scoring,” Garnett said on “KG Certified.”
“People on the outside looking like, ‘Oh, that’s a good one. He’s averaging 20, scoring punch,'” Pierce added. “But they don’t understand the little intangibles, the locker room, the whole DNA of the team shifts a little bit.”
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Simons averaged 19.3 points per game on 42.6% shooting from the field last season, so he certainly would give the Celtics a scoring boost if he sticks around. Holiday, however, was such an integral piece of Boston’s game plan on both sides of the ball that it makes his absence a tough pill to swallow.
Of course, it’s worth noting that the primary objective of his trade from Boston’s perspective was to get under the second apron of the salary cap. While this deal alone didn’t accomplish that, they did manage to achieve that goal when they traded Kristaps Porzingis away the next day.
The Celtics’ offseason work is only just getting started. In an ideal world, they wouldn’t have had to trade Holiday away, and while they got a strong return for him, Garnett and Pierce are likely right in saying that this isn’t a home run deal for Boston like some folks believe it is.