Why Boston Celtics Could Make The Most Sense
The Boston Celtics are under new management, as Brad Stevens, their head coach the last eight seasons, moved into the front office. He is taking over for Danny Ainge, who stepped down from his position. Ime Udoka will be taking over as head coach.
In his first offseason in the front office, Stevens has shown that he is aggressive when pursuing trades. It was a knock against Ainge, who had a war chest of assets following the Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry trade to the Brooklyn Nets, but was never able to turn them into that superstar player.
Any time an All-Star hit the trade market, Boston was mentioned as a possible landing spot but it never came to fruition. Jaylen Brown in 2016 and Jayson Tatum in 2017, after another trade was made, were the best things to come out of that huge trade in 2013.
Boston would make sense for Damian Lillard now because they have arguably the best trade chip the Portland Trail Blazers could receive in Brown. Brown made his first All-Star team this past season and is turning into a legitimate two-way wing player. His offensive game is coming along nicely to match an already strong, versatile defensive game.
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In addition to Brown, the Boston Celtics have recent first-round picks such as Romeo Langford, Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith they can include in a deal as well. Boston also has all its first-round draft picks going forward, but cannot trade their 2022 pick because of the Stepien Rule.
Having a duo of Lillard and Tatum would help balance out Boston’s roster and give them a one-two punch that can compete with the other top duos in the Eastern Conference. They wouldn’t have the Big 3 of the Brooklyn Nets or overall team depth of the Milwaukee Bucks, those two with the other additions made this offseason could push Boston into a top-4 seed.
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Parting with Brown would be a tough pill to swallow, but landing a superstar like Lillard would be worth the price.
