The Celtics Were Very Active At The Trade Deadline But Will Any Of Their Moves Matter?

 

    The NBA Trade Deadline was this afternoon and the Celtics (31-25) were quite busy. In total, new GM Brad Stevens shipped seven guys out of town and only brought back two which means that they have five open roster spots to fill (they technically only need to add two more players for tomorrow's game vs. Denver). Boston acquired point guard Derrick White from San Antonio for guards Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford and a protected 2022 first-round pick. They also reacquired center Daniel Theis from Houston for centers Enes Kanter and Bruno Fernando plus guard Dennis Schroder. Finally, they dumped center Bol Bol (we hardly knew ya!) and guard P.J. Dozier to Orlando in exchange for a swap of conditional second-round picks while the C's also gave the Magic cash considerations. 

    When I look at who the Celts lost, Richardson (9.7 ppg) and Schroder (14.4 ppg) are the ones worth noting while everyone else is either a bust (Langford) or mostly useless (Kanter and Fernando). Admittedly, I don't know a ton about White since the Spurs (20-35) have become an awful team these last few seasons. However, he was part of Team USA at the 2019 FIBA World Cup along with Jayson Tatum so Boston's All-Star must have liked what he saw there with him. Head coach Ime Udoka also has to be very familiar with White since he was drafted by San Antonio in 2017 (29th overall) and has played there for his entire NBA career which is where Udoka started his coaching journey. Looking at his numbers, he seems like Marcus Smart Lite: 11.6 ppg for his career with 3.9 assists per game and 3.3 rebounds per game. He has decent size (6-foot-4 and 190 pounds) but he is not a good three-point shooter (.344 for his career). Thankfully, he is very solid at free throws (.836 for his career) so that shouldn't be an issue in close games. By most measures, he was having a career year for the lottery-bound Spurs: he's started 48 of 49 games and averaged 14.4 ppg, a career-best 5.6 assists per game, one steal per game and a career-best .869 from the free throw line. 

    If you are a Celtics fan, Theis needs no introduction because he was here for parts of four seasons before being traded to Chicago. Most recently, he was rotting away on the tanking Rockets (15-40) who are the worst team in the Western Conference. The C's have often been accused of falling in love with their own players and this is further proof of that. Still, Theis gives them some more quality depth at center/power forward behind budding star Robert Williams and veteran Al Horford who has been decent in his return to Boston but he can't have much left in his old legs. Based on their deals, we knew that Richardson and definitely Schroder weren't going to be Celtics for too long. Josh had actually come on lately off the bench and helped the C's on their season-high six game win streak that has brought them back from the dead. Predictably, Schroder has been more erratic and since he is going to be a free agent this summer, you could tell that he didn't care about anything but himself this season so good riddence to that clown. 

    Ultimately, all of these trades will be judged by how well White performs in Boston. Out of all the guys that were moved to and away from the Celtics today, he should be the best one of them all or at least very close to it. If he can mesh well with Tatum and Brown, he will be a Celtic for a long time. Likewise, if Udoka enjoys working with him then he can settle in and buy a house in the area rather than rent an apartment or condo. I assume that he'll be available tomorrow night (7:30, NBC Sports Boston) as the Celts host the Nuggets (30-24) at TD Garden. Much like the Patriots last season, Boston has taken advantage of a soft portion of their schedule and Denver will represesnt their toughest test since they finally got untracked. 

After A Brief Comeback, Tuukka Rask Officially Retires With One Very Complicated Bruins Legacy

 

    In my time as a Boston sports fan, I cannot recall a more polarizing figure than Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask. No matter if you thought he was great or if you believed he was a complete choke artist, odds are that you were pretty dug in with that particular opinion. I bring this up tonight since earlier this afternoon, Rask put a pin on his ill-fated comeback attempt (which lasted just four starts) and he retired from the B's after his surgically-repaired hip didn't respond like he wanted it to. There are a few things that we can at least all agree on when it comes to Rask's career: Boston's trade for him-flipping mediocre goaltender Andrew Raycroft to the Maple Leafs in 2006-was one of the great steals in franchise history and he was an outstanding goalie at least when it came to the regular season. 

    Tuukka had the tough task of backing up then following a legend-Tim Thomas-but over parts of 15 seasons (all with Boston), he put up some wonderful numbers in the regular season: 308-165-66 with 2.28 goals against average, .921 save percentage and 52 shutouts. He was a two-time All-Star (in 2014 and 2020), won the Vezina Trophy in 2014 and combined with Jaroslav Halak to capture the William M. Jennings Trophy (lowest combined GAA) in 2020. Still for many those stats and accolades feel rather hollow since he never won a Cup as a starter (he was Thomas' backup for Boston's last title in 2011 vs. Vancouver). It's tough to blame him for losing in six games to the better Blackhawks in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final but 2019 vs. the Blues was the one that will sting him and his teammates forever since they lost Game 7 at TD Garden to what should have been an inferior St. Louis club that played over its head all postseason long. 

    Being Finnish also probably helped Rask in some ways to survive here for so long but it also didn't help his cause after tough regular season or especially postseason losses. Other than a well-publicized freak out when he was with the Providence Bruins (AHL) and a few random little incidents in the NHL, Rask was pretty even-keeled on the ice and almost flat-line in postgame interviews immediately after some brutal results. This is another instance where following Thomas who was so emotional was a bit of a curse for Rask. He took his job seriously but unlike many other pro athletes, it was clear that it didn't keep him up at night after he left the rink. While that is a healthy lifestyle choice, it didn't lend itself to desparate Bruins fans that wanted to see a guy that they believed was as passionate about the team as they are, as goofy as that might sound to an outsider. 

    Reputation can be a strange thing since when you look at Rask's playoff numbers, they are way better than you probably remember: 57-46 with .925 save percentage, 2.22 goals against average and seven shutouts. The ironic part about the heartbreaking loss to the Blues is that he had been Boston's best player throughout that postseason and he seemed to be exorcising many personal demons that is until the entire club fell flat on its face in the worst possible moment. Another thing you must consider when you think about Rask's legacy is that he was here for so long and also during such unprecidented success for both the Patriots and Red Sox. Suddenly, championships were all that mattered and we dumped on any players and teams that couldn't get them, even though the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in sports. I feel like time away from Rask will make us appreciate him at least a little bit more. We are all excited about Jeremy Swayman's potential but he is unlikely to match what Rask did in his long journey with the B's. Thanks for all the good times Tuukka, we just wish that you had gotten it done against St. Louis and then your whole career in Black and Gold would have a completely different final grade to it.