The Boston Celtics need shooting. We’ve been over that. It’s obvious.
So now the question is where will they get it?
It could come internally. They can certainly wait a few weeks and see if the percentages start to creep back up, especially after Jaylen Brown and Robert Williams return. Maybe they can get some kind of bump from different combinations of players.
If that’s how it goes down, then great. Then the rest of this piece is just typing practice for me.
If it doesn’t, then it’s up to Brad Stevens to make some changes. When asked a couple weeks ago if this is the right group, he answered, “We’re gonna find out. ... My responsibility is to look at it from the 10,000-foot view and not make those decisions based on the emotion of a tough 14 minutes in a basketball game.”
So what if the Celtics need to make a move. What can they do? There are two real options when it comes to a trade.
1: Straight player-for-player trade
This is very simple. You call up a team, ask them if they’re willing to trade a certain player, and you make a direct deal.
My personal favorite trade target is Terrence Ross of the Orlando Magic. He’s generally a good shooter although he, too, is struggling right now. But let’s hope he can get back up to about 37% from 3.
Here are the pitfalls of a player-for-player trade. Boston is currently over the tax line so a fantasy trade like Juancho Hernangomez and second-round picks for Ross might not fly with ownership because it adds about $6 million to the payroll.
The Celtics, I’m guessing, will not make any moves to add salary. If anything, paying a team to take Hernangomez for nothing is the much more likely scenario since he’s providing nothing to the team at the moment.
They could wait and try to finagle a three-team deal with someone looking to add Dennis Schröder, involve the Magic to get Ross, and send out enough salary to cut down, or cut out, the tax bill. If they can accomplish that AND get some shooting, then the Celtics are cooking.
Regardless of how it goes, there will certainly be limitations on straight trades for Boston.
Since we’re talking about limitations, let’s knock a few of those out right here:
Trades generally don’t start until December 15: That’s when newly signed free agents from this past summer can be traded. If you’re looking to move Schröder, that’s when he can be traded.
Marcus Smart can’t be traded until January 25: He signed a big extension, so there’s a longer waiting period, per CBA rules.
Josh Richardson can be traded right away: He also signed an extension, but because it was basically the lowest possible extension, the rule that applies to Smart doesn’t apply to him.
Robert Williams can be traded, but ... : He’s a poison-pill contract. That applies to rookies who get big extensions over their rookie deals. Basically, when it comes to salary-matching rules in a trade, Williams counts to the Celtics as his current salary, which is $3.6 million. But to the team wanting to acquire him, he counts as the average of all remaining years on his deal, including this one, which is more than $10 million.
2: The Traded Player Exception(s)
Boston has three good ones: A $17.1 million TPE from the Evan Fournier deal, a $9.7 million one from the Tristan Thompson deal, and a $6.8 million one from the Kemba Walker deal.
Remember the rules here:
- They cannot be combined. You can’t put the Fournier and Thompson TPE’s together to get Buddy Hield. You can’t combine all 3 to get Karl-Anthony Towns. They are separate things.
- They can be split up. You CAN get two $8 million players with the Fournier exception.
- This is not free money! You can’t use the $17.1 million TPE to throw free agent money at Schröder because you think he’s the missing piece. These are only allowed to acquire players via trade. Or…
- This CAN be used to claim players off waivers. This would sort of go down as a trade in this scenario. So let’s pretend a player asks for a buyout after the trade deadline. That player has to go through waivers before he can be signed somewhere else.
Generally, no one claims these players because it would mean having to pay his full salary. By letting him clear waivers, teams can pay him the minimum and the waiving team would be responsible for the rest.
BUT, if Boston has the money to spend via the TPE (unlikely, but maybe Wyc Grousbeck got into the ether), they can acquire the player at his full salary provided he fits into the slot.
So those are the rules. Here’s how they can be applied.
2A: Using the TPE to simply acquire the player Boston wants
It’s very simple. This is how they got Josh Richardson. Applying this to my Ross scenario, Stevens would call up the Magic, offer a 2nd round pick (because the other team needs to get something of value), and simply absorb Ross’s deal.
The problem: This is added money. Adding Ross could help, but does it solidify a Finals run? Is it worth not only paying him this $12.5 million but however much the taxes are on top of that? Probably not. Which brings us to...
2B: Using the TPE to help facilitate a bigger trade
Think of this as a version of Chicago picking up Daniel Theis last trade deadline. A lot of the rumors surrounding Boston’s discussions with the Philadelphia 76ers regarding a Ben Simmons trade centered around Boston acquiring Simmons. What they didn’t take into account was the possibility that Stevens told Daryl Morey that one of these TPEs would be available should some team trying to get Simmons need to clear some salary, or move a player Philly can’t take.
There exists a possibility that one of these TPE slots could fold in a useful player in a scenario like this.
Again, the problem is money, but it’s also easier for Boston to send out salary in this scenario.
Stevens is going to be busy. It’s most likely that there is no one move to be made here; that anything Boston wants to do has to involve a few moving pieces to accomplish all of Boston’s goals.
