The Celtics, much like the Bulls, have an overabundance of front court players on their roster this season. While depth is certainly a nice luxury to possess for any franchise, having more players than minutes to go around can create locker room issues if some team members feel slighted by playing time cuts. It can also slow the development of younger players needing as much game experience as they can get their hands on. With the February trade deadline rapidly approaching and the team clinging to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, Boston’s president of basketball operations, Danny Ainge, could look to alleviate Boston’s frontcourt logjam, as Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com noted on Sunday.
This brings me to the topic for today: Should the Celtics look to deal one or more of their current crop of frontcourt players, and if so, who should the team look to move?
Tyler Zeller and Jared Sullinger are both eligible to hit restricted free agency after the season, provided Boston tenders them qualifying offers, and David Lee is playing on an expiring deal, which makes them all prime candidates to be moved. The team would likely prefer to deal Lee, seeing as he’s not in the Celtics’ long-term plans, but his $15,493,680 salary for 2015/16 makes him a difficult player to find a suitor for without having to take back a less than desirable contract or two in return. Offseason signee Amir Johnson is also a possibility, and his non-guaranteed salary for next season could certainly be attractive to a team looking to free up cap space. Boston could also look to make a smaller trade involving Jonas Jerebko, whose 2016/17 salary is non-guaranteed, or Kelly Olynyk, who still has one more season on his fully guaranteed contract remaining after this one.
But what say you? Should the team look to deal one of the players I mentioned above, or would you prefer the Celtics stand pat? If you think Boston needs to make a trade, who should the team look to move first? What’s the best realistic trade you can come up with for your choice? Take to the comments section below to weigh in and share your thoughts on the matter. We look forward to what you have to say.
As a die hard C’s fan, the only big I wouldn’t deal is Kelly. I don’t envision him as a starter on a championship team, but he is a match up nightmare that is great in Brad’s system (when he plays defense). Olynyk could easily be a 7th or 8th man on a championship team, on a cheap contract for a few more seasons and arguable low market value. Amir is a good player, but obviously not a player you build around. Amir is a player you acquire when you are on the brink of contention to add a big to your bench (for much cheaper than 12 mil a year… i.e. david west or (maybe) Amar’e). Sullinger will want too much for too little potential, Zeller is a better trade chip than player, and David Lee is unathletic, too small, and lacking on defense.
I like Noah as a target, but a third team would need to be involved because of the aforementioned surplus of bigs in Chi-town.
Other names to look at are Robin Lopez, Tyson Chandler and Al Jefferson.
Whether it be in the draft, at the trade deadline, or in free agency, or a combination of the three, the Celtics need a new starting frontcourt to eventually compete for a championship.
that’s a pretty good summary, Jay. None of those bigs are worth much, maybe a high 2nd round pick or an equivalent rotation/backcourt player.
If the C’s want to get aggressive and Win this year and next, I could see trading Zeller and the ’18 1st rounder from the Nets to the Suns for Tyson Chandler.
i don’t know about chandler, hes declining pretty seriously. But i would trade pretty much any big on the roster for a second rounder or late first. Nobody is getting much better. The only bigs I think the Celtics should keep are Kelly and Johnson. Ultimately i dont feel like it matters much in the long run though. As a cs fan im just waiting for boogie to become discontent enough that we offload the brooklyn pick and change for him
OMG!! Are you serious? As a celts fan living here in PHX, I can tell you that the Chandler signing has been a disaster. He’s over the hill AND signed for 2 more years. Please don’t even think about bringing him to Boston.
I’d keep all of them as ballast for trades, but the problem here is that their trade value declines as long as they’re competing for minutes. Eventually, injuries will take their toll; they always do. So, I wouldn’t trade more than one of them, but I would see what I can get from Sullinger, who’s performed well this season but will be tough to re-sign at any sort of a bargain in restricted free agency as a David Falk client.
I cannot envision guaranteeing Jared Sullinger a dime after this year, and then watching him balloon up to his prior “rotundness”!
I’d offer Minnesota Sullinger and two of their 2016 2nd Rd picks for Gorgei Dieng. Karl Anthony Towns owns the 5 for The next decade in Minnesota!
I don’t see the Rockets factoring into the playoffs and even if they did, there is no championship coming. I would go for Dwight, it’s his last year on that contract before having the option to opt out. Trade Lee and a projected high pick to finally gift Brad an NBA center. If only for half a season, Brad can get a lot of production out of Howard and Boston would swoon him by season’s end.
G. Dieng, K. Martin and cash for A. Johnson
I’m okay with sullinger, olynk and zeller. Problem is they are not super athletic. Waiving david lee and bring up jordan mickey in his place and then trading amir johnson would be a good start IMO.