The Celtics have stayed quiet on the trade front for the better part of the last few seasons but a big reason for that is the work they put in earlier this decade. As we wait for the NBA season to return, we will be taking a closer look at some of the more memorable seasons and transactions over Celtics' history. A fun place to begin is the 2014-15 campaign which nearly set a record for the franchise with 11 separate trades and 22 different players suiting up for Boston over the course of the season. Let’s dive into those deals individually (some more meaningful than others) and look at how they shaped the squad that set the stage for today’s group.
Part 1, Summer dealing: Inside the busiest year of trades in Celtics history: Part 1
December 2014
The Setup: The Celtics were in year two of the Brad Stevens era with low expectations out of the gate (27 wins was over/under total for season in Vegas). The future of Rajon Rondo was the top storyline for the franchise as the 28-year-old point guard entered a contract year for a rebuilding squad. Would Danny Ainge invest in him as a future building block for a core that lacked many long-term pieces? Or would he cash in to use Rondo to acquire more rebuilding assets? A 9-14 start to the season gave Ainge little incentive to hold onto Rondo in the present with the worry that he might walk for nothing after the season ended. On the heels of one of Rondo’s best games of the year in a win over the Magic (13 points, 15 assists), Ainge elected to pull the trigger, ending weeks of speculation.
The Trade:
Celtics received:
Mavericks received
• Rajon Rondo
• Dwight Powell
Why’d the Mavs do it: After a first-round exit in the postseason in 2014, Dallas was looking to make a bigger splash in the Western Conference. Despite a 19-8 start, an upgrade at point guard was a reasonable need over a 32-year-old Jameer Nelson who was a size liability on defense and wasn’t producing efficently on the offensive end (37.4 percent shooting from the field). Rondo was nearly two years removed from his ACL tear and had looked strong at points during his first full season back despite having little help on a bad Celtics team. With better talent to surround him in Dallas, the Mavs made the bet he would be worth a protected first-round pick along with a couple of expendable young role players for the gamble of bolstering their starting five with a four-time All-Star. Powell had played just nine minutes for the Celtics in his rookie year and needed to be included so Boston had enough roster spots available to make the trade. Incredibly, he ended up being the most helpful long-term piece Dallas acquired in the deal after Rondo walked in free agency following a disastrous postseason.
Why’d the Celtics do it: The Celtics had moved into asset acquisition mode in year two of their rebuild, knowing they had to sell high on their talented veteran pieces (Rondo, Jeff Green) upon deciding they were not going to be building blocks for this team over the long-term. Rumors had swirled around Rondo’s status for weeks but Ainge opted to pull this deal nearly two months ahead of the trade deadline not only to maximize his return in the present on the point guard but to get assets as part of the deal that could be dealt again in the coming weeks. Nelson had no trade value at this point beyond salary filler, so the real prize here was the Mavs top-7 protected first-round pick in 2016 as well as the younger role players.
By landing Crowder and Wright as well, the Celtics had a couple of players in their mid-20s that they could get a look at in their system. Wright was on an expiring deal but Crowder had team control heading into free agency in the summer (restricted free agent). At the time, a late first-round pick and some role players looked like an underwhelming haul for a four-time All-Star in Rondo but Ainge did about as well as he could have hoped in this situation given the lack of teams that needed starting point guards around the league.
The Long-Term Impact
This kicked off a crazy regular season of dealing for the Celtics that set the stage for Brad Stevens to help mold this group from a roster that was set up to tank to .500 squad that managed to squeak into the postseason to the surprise of everyone.
The biggest piece acquired by the Celtics in the deal ended up being Crowder by a long shot. The swingman emerged as a gritty wing defender during the 2014-15 season while taking over the sixth man role off the bench for Boston and made the most of the additional minutes he received for a Boston team that lacked a small-ball four that could shoot the 3 after they trade Jeff Green. The Celtics were ahead of the curve on recognizing Crowder’s progress, ultimately signing him to a five-year deal worth $35 million in the summer of 2015 that turned into one of the best value non-rookie contracts in the league by 2017. Not only did Crowder's improved play help allow the Celtics rebuild to advance ahead of schedule (which made the team more appealing to players like Al Horford and Gordon Hayward in free agency) but it opened the door for the team to use Crowder as a big trade chip in the Kyrie Irving blockbuster on top of the Nets first round pick.
Dumping Rondo at the time also handed the starting point guard gig to rookie Marcus Smart, giving him some valuable reps and needed growing pains at the position while establishing himself as a defensive force early in his career.
The common perception now was this deal was a slam dunk for Ainge but it could have been even better with some better drafting luck/execution. The Celtics got essentially nothing of value out of their top draft picks in the deal as Yabusele was a draft-and-stash that never matured into more than a fringe NBA player. The Celtics had a strategy of stashing draft picks in 2016 in order to create the necessary cap room that summer for max free agents (like Durant or Horford) but they would have been better off just dumping those picks for future first-rounders. Other late first-round picks that year included Malik Beasley, Caris LeVert and Pascal Siakam, all taken after the C’s selected Yabusele and Ante Zizic.
Wright ended up bringing back two additional second-round picks as well in a separate deal with the Suns one month later, giving the front office tremendous draft capital that has helped the C’s draft stash remain stockpiled to this day. Semi Ojeleye eventually became one of the second-round picks acquired in the Wright deal, while Jameer Nelson was traded in a salary dump in January as well.
All in all, for a player coming off a serious knee injury in Rondo, Ainge did about as well as he could have with the return in a depressed point guard trade market.
Other early-season trades in 2014-15 season that occurred in connection to Rondo deal
Celtics traded Brandan Wright to the Phoenix Suns for two second-round picks (2016, 2017).
Analysis: The high flying Wright who can't shoot beyond a few feet or dribble/pass adequately was simply not a good fit for Stevens’ system. Ainge sold him off the highest bidder in Phoenix after 10-plus games in Boston, landing a pair of early second-round picks. Those selections proved big later as one produced Semi Ojeleye and the other helped the C’s land a future first-round pick from the Clippers a couple of years later when it was packaged with another second-round choice.
Celtics traded Jameer Nelson to the Nuggets for Nate Robinson
Analysis: This was simply a way for the Celtics to cut costs. Nelson wasn’t playing much as a veteran with no future in Boston and the Nuggets felt like he would be an upgrade on Nate Robinson in their backcourt. The C’s were happy to do the deal and simply cut Robinson afterward since they would owe Robinson significantly less ($600,000) than Nelson while also clearing a needed roster spot for additional trades.
Next up in our look back: Analyzing the Jeff Green trade that is responsible for the Memphis pick the Celtics are still waiting on