The Boston Celtics Stand Pat Once Again
The Boston Celtics are still really good, but they could have made a run at the Cleveland Cavaliers. Is really good quite good enough?
The Boston Celtics have an impressive war-chest of assets perhaps unlike any other in decades. They possess the Brooklyn Nets’ first round draft picks for the 2017 and 2018 drafts, and it’s a virtual certainty that the scrappy but dreadful Nets will be the favorites for the first overall pick in both drafts. They also have a cadre of young players under team-friendly contracts, and they’re roughly a piece away from being able to put pressure on the wounded Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavs are down two men with Kevin Love and J.R. Smith out for the majority of the regular season, and they’re relying heavily on Kyrie Irving and the superhuman but aging LeBron James who leads the NBA in minutes played. If ever there was a time to throw caution to the wind and attack the weakened Eastern Conference favorites, this was the time.
The Toronto Raptors made their move, acquiring Serge Ibaka from the Orlando Magic for Terrence Ross and the lesser of their first round pick and the Los Angeles Clippers first rounder, and right before the deadline buzzer picked up P.J. Tucker for Jared Sullinger and second round draft picks in the next two years. The Raptors smelled the blood in the water from the defending champs and pounced.
The Boston Celtics did not.
Their efforts can’t necessarily be faulted because any way you look at it, the Celtics will retain their hold on the Nets picks, one of which comes in this year’s stacked draft class. They’ll hold on to their stockpile of young players including Terry Rozier, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley, some combination of which would have been required along with at least one of the Nets picks (most likely this coming season’s if not both). These are good players now, and under coach Brad Stevens they’ll have higher ceilings than they will under most coaching staffs.
As for what the Celtics could have gotten for this treasure trove of assets, the haul could have been huge. The Celtics wanted to make a play for Jimmy Butler, but the Chicago Bulls didn’t seem especially interested. They were in serious talks with the Indiana Pacers for Paul George, and may have even offered both Nets picks according to Adrian Wojarnowski of The Vertical.
The risk with George is that he has a player option in the summer of 2018, and he’s certain to exercise it. He’s likely to bolt to the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency in two summers if the Pacers (or whatever team he plays for at the end of next season) can’t build a title contender around him. Any time you trade a huge part of your future for a piece you won’t be able to assure control of for more than a year and a half, you want to tread cautiously.
The downside to that cautious outlook is that there hasn’t been a time in almost a decade where a LeBron James-led team has had such a tenuous grasp on the Eastern Conference. If you build up these assets with an eye towards making a serious push for a title, it requires some luck (Kevin Love and J.R. Smith’s injuries for example) and opportunistic nerves of steel to capitalize.
The luck was there, but the Celtics weren’t able to take advantage and as such may find they’re the third-best team in the East (or even fourth behind the surging Washington Wizards). While they’re assured of being a highly competitive team for many years to come with their youth and the two Brooklyn draft picks (no need to discuss Danny Ainge’s specious draft record here, but it hasn’t been great), this could have been the year where Paul George, Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford and a host of young, versatile and athletic Celtics put LeBron James and his ragtag band of Cavaliers through seven games of bloody hell to defend their title.
While the Golden State Warriors surely await in the Finals, once you get there anything can happen. A freak injury, Draymond Green loses his mind and kicks somebody, whatever.
The Pacers asked for a king’s ransom, the Celtics balked, and will be the third best team in the East at best. Third best is really good. A dozen other Eastern Conference teams would love that problem. But they won’t be the best, and that was theirs for the taking this afternoon.
