The Boston Celtics put together a stellar second half of the 2021-2022 NBA regular season, clawing their way back from an unideal 18-21 start to nab the second seed in the Eastern Conference, and eventually battled their way through the East to get to the Finals. Whether it was wear and tear, their star players coming short, a team playing above their heads coming back to Earth, general poor roster construction, or all of the above, ultimately, the Cs failed to capitalize on their title bout appearance and faltered against the Golden State Warriors in six games. With the offseason underway, the Celtics need to make some moves, and a trade for former Celtic Kelly Olynyk might make some sense.
Second-year general manager Brad Stevens has to find a way to improve on his rookie year campaign. He wasn’t able to do much in the 2022 NBA Draft, as Boston only held the 53rd overall pick.
With that selection, the Celtics took scrappy Alabama point guard JD Davison, who doesn’t project to be able to contribute right away but should be a stout point-of-attack defender and downhill playmaker someday.
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Mostly, Stevens will be counting on internal development from his young star wings, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, to take his team over the hump. Boston will only have their mid-level exception, bi-annual exception, and veteran minimum contracts to try to add talent in free agency.
Any other upgrades will have to be accomplished in the trade market.
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One piece that should help them in that regard is their $17 million traded player exception they got in return in the deal that sent Evan Fournier to the New York Knicks. Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey suggested that the Cs target Kelly Olynyk with that TPE:
“He’s set to make $12.8 million next season (fits in that trade exception), is currently on a team that should be turning over more responsibility to the young core and is one of the league’s more underrated playmaking bigs. For his career, Olynyk has averaged 3.5 assists, 2.0 threes and 2.0 offensive rebounds per 75 possessions. No one in league history matches or exceeds all three marks.”
Olynyk also has a history with the Celtics and Stevens. He would be able to fit right in and aid them in their title chase next season.
