Five reasons why Celtics need to strike a deal at deadline

February 24 04:59 2017

All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas, who set the Twitter world and National Basketball Association rumor will abuzz this week with cryptic emoji tweets of peering eyes and an hour glass, said he was intrigued by the idea of adding another All-Star like Indiana’s Paul George or Chicago’s Jimmy Butler. Bringing in new players sometimes messes up your whole chemistry, and it shifts somebody into a different role that they’re not accustomed to doing.

While the trade deadline inches closer the Boston Celtics may be reviewing the market.

At that time, the Bulls exchanged proposals seeking four assets – Jae Crowder, either Marcus Smart or Avery Bradley and the Nos. The asking price for Anthony is reportedly too high right now so it’s likely NY will have to bring its demands down a little bit in order to facilitate a move to Indiana. The question only is if they are going to do it now or maybe at the draft night. That is the case for the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics.

Looking further into the future, Celtics fans should be circling May 16 on their calendars. It will also give Chicago great pieces to rebuild going forward and will allow the franchise some serious flexibility. First George, He is averaging 14.6 points per game and 13.8 rebounds per game with 1.1 assists per game and 1.2 blocks per game and 1.7 steals per game. We know Boston has the picks, and we know that Olynyk and Sullinger are comparable. Suddenly, the Bulls had a hard time defending the paint and predictably, their three-point shooting was lackluster at best. Boston is a combined 2-4 against the Raptors and Wizards this season; they represent the bar the Celtics should be trying to hurdle, not Cleveland.

The Celtics should feel more pressure to act one day soon. Any team would take George in a heart beat. We want a guy that is going to be able to grow with us, along with one of those high picks.’ They want a top half of the lottery type pick for Jimmy Butler, along with a starting established player under contract. Most likely, Bird and co. are just gauging George’s value anyway, as NBA.com’s David Aldridge has reported.

There are many other trade rumors floating around, but this is the one that got my attention the most. The injury to George has obviously been a setback but he is still only 26 and will continue to improve. George to Boston now seems like a possibility. The “main sticking point” in this is that Boston doesn’t want Crowder to go anywhere. The Nets are a virtual lock to finish with the worst record in the league which gives that pick a 25% chance of being the top overall pick (see here for full pick odds). They’ll have a similar problem to past year in that they will have too many picks and players to fit into a 15 man roster. They still have to pull the trigger for Mavs Center Andrew Bogut and I’ll tell you why. The schedule doesn’t get much easier in March, with the Bulls facing off against 11 current playoff teams in their next 14 games. Mark Medina also revealed that Lakers may instead wait for him to become a free agent than try for a trade, which may mean that Celtics can swoop in for a deal. The Celtics had more assets than Exxon Mobil.

NBA Indiana Pacers at Chicago Bulls

Five reasons why Celtics need to strike a deal at deadline
 
 
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