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. 

Evan Fournier & Mo Wagner Become Celtics While Daniel Theis, Jeff Teague & Javonte Green Are Out

 

    The NBA trade deadline came and went this afternoon with the Celtics (21-23) involved in two deals: they traded guard Jeff Teague and a pair of second-round draft picks to Orlando for French swingman Evan Fournier; they were also part of a three-way trade with center Daniel Theis and guard Javonte Green going to Chicago while power forward Mo Wagner (traded earlier in the day from Washington) and center Luke Kornet also came to Boston. Out of all these names, the only ones that really matter are Fournier and Theis. The rest are all guys that will either sit on various benches, be bought out or won't be in the league in a year or two.  

    Celts GM Danny Ainge was reportedly interested in Magic power forward Aaron Gordon but they lost out on him (of course) as he was sent to Denver in a separate deal so they settled for the consolation prize in Fournier. He was drafted by the Nuggets in 2012 (20th overall) and played there for two years before being traded to Orlando where he's played for the past seven seasons. I certainly have heard of him and have seen him plenty of times in games against the Celtics but with so few national TV games or playoff appearances, I'm not going to claim to be an expert on his game. 

    For his career, he has averaged 14.4 points per game, 37.6% on 3-pointers and 80.6% on free throws. He was obviously gunning for a big contract headed into free agency this summer as he is averaging the most points (19.7 per game) and the most assists (3.7 per game) in his career. At 6-foot-7 and a slim 205 pounds, he appears to slot in as a shooting guard or small forward depending on the lineup that Boston head coach Brad Stevens wants to employ. He's been a starter for basically the past six years with the Magic but then again, he's almost never been on a good team (not that the Celtics could be considered one either at the moment) so it'll be interesting to see what role he gets.

    It's sad to see Theis go, especially since his last moment as a Celtic was missing a game-winning 3-pointer last night against the Bucks (29-14). He will never be the biggest guy but as an undrafted free agent from Germany, he got better every year in his four seasons with Boston. He has averaged a career-best 9.5 points per game and 5.2 rebounds this season. He was a likable guy and easy to root for, hopefully he doesn't get lost in the shuffle with the Bulls (19-24) who have been rebuilding for years. For a guy that nobody knew a thing about when he signed with the C's, he had plenty of nice moments in big games including the playoffs. 

Celtics Flip Two Expiring Contracts (Barbosa, Collins) To Wizards For Jordan Crawford

The 2013 NBA Trade Deadline came and passed today without any major names being dealt around the league, unless you count J.J. Redick going to Milwaukee as particularly notable. The Celtics mostly stayed the same-Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are still in Green and White-although they made a minor move which could pay off quite soon. They traded injured guard Leandro Barbosa and useless center Jason Collins to the Washington Wizards for guard Jordan Crawford.

First of all, the Celts basically obtained Crawford (who has averaged 13.2 points per game this season, 13.4 points per game in his career) for nothing. Washington wanted Barbosa and Collins because their contracts expire after this season. As always, the Wizards are rebuilding so they are trying to unload as much money as they can. If you don't follow Washington, you are forgiven since they have been hopeless for years. However, if you consider yourself a basketball fan then you should know Crawford for two reasons. 1) He was great in college at Xavier and 2) He dunked on LeBron James (when he was at Xavier) which forced hyper-sensitive Nike to destroy all recordings of that special moment.

It might seem like Boston doesn't have much use for Crawford with Avery Bradley, Courtney Lee and Jason Terry all on the roster. There is a logjam at shooting guard with the C's but with Rajon Rondo, Jared Sullinger and Barbosa out for the season, they are in desperate need of bench scoring. Enter Crawford who has started less than half (62 of 149) the games in his NBA career yet still managed to play 26.2 minutes per game. Barbosa had provided a real spark after Rondo went down so Crawford should help replace what they lost when Barbosa tore his ACL.

Crawford will be motivated since he is back on a good team. He started out with the Hawks for 16 games in 2010-11 before he was traded to the black hole known as the Wizards. Being part of a contender that will be in the playoffs should do wonders for him as he regains his confidence. He was playing less since John Wall came back from an injury but he was having a decent season: .415 field goal percentage, career-high 34.5% on 3-pointers and 82% on free throws. I would expect him to make his Celtics debut tomorrow night as they continue their West Coast road trip in Phoenix (9 p.m., CSN).

Bigger picture, this lack of action proves that Celtics GM Danny Ainge was more willing to see what the current group could do in a watered down Eastern Conference versus trading KG or Pierce for future assets. I can't say I disagree with him, might as well give them one last chance (haha I know we've said that like the last three years) then re-evaluate the situation during the summer when I'm assuming many more big names will be available via trades and free agency. There was no reason to blow it up now when they've proven in the last few weeks that they can beat anybody.

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