Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics
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Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics
On Tuesday, the Boston Celtics addressed their need for a veteran center by acquiring Nikola Vucevic from the Chicago Bulls. Anfernee Simons went in the opposite direction, while both teams sent out a future second-round draft pick.
That trade saw the Celtics duck underneath the first luxury tax apron. However, Boston is still $6 million over the tax threshold. As such, Brad Stevens may look to make one more deal before the Feb. 5 trade deadline to ensure the Celtics aren’t a tax-paying team this season.
According to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston, the Celtics have enough assets to make another deal, assuming they find a willing trade partner, of course.
“There’s probably another shoe to drop,” Forsberg said via the “Celtics Talk” podcast. “It’s not hard to put these pieces together. Chris Boucher was unlikely to be here long-term … so we’ll see what happens from here. They could look on the trade market. They still have plenty of exceptions. They have plenty of means. They might crawl back onto the first apron depending on how much salary they take on, but they could figure that part out. With the fact that Boucher’s money will come off, it should clear enough money to make some moves.”
Both Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman make sense as minor-tweak trade targets. However, if the Celtics wanted to make a bigger swing, Sam Hauser’s four-year $45 million contract would be highly attractive to other teams around the NBA.
Celtics Could Target Low-Cost Veteran Guard
In the same podcast episode, Forsberg shared his belief that Boston should seek out a low-cost veteran guard to both round out the rotation and help the team’s cost-cutting measures.
“The comp I would always use is a Kris Dunn type: a veteran guy who plays defense, can be a secondary ball-handler, spell Payton and Derrick at times,” Forsberg said. “(He’s) probably not going to play a ton of minutes in the postseason, but if you could get somebody like that on a minimum deal or end-of-season money, then it’s just another body to navigate both the end of the regular season and potential spot minutes in the postseason.”
Finding one of those guards could be difficult. However, someone like Ayo Dosunmu, who is on an expiring contract, could make sense, especially due to the Bulls’ incredible logjam at the guard position.
Trading Simons Created A New Need For The Celtics
Without Simons on the roster, the Celtics are short on guards. Derrick White and Payton Pritchard are the only two senior guards in the rotation. Baylor Scheierman will likely receive a bump in ball-handling duties until another guard is added to the rotation.
Of course, if/when Jayson Tatum returns to the rotation, there will be less of a need for an additional ball-handler. However, depth is still important, especially if the Celtics are aiming for a deep playoff run. If either White or Pritchard is forced to miss time, there would be a significant talent drop-off as a result.
If the Cetlics can land a low-cost veteran guard, even until the end of the season, it would drastically improve the current roster. Whether an opportunity to do so arises will remain to be seen.