Celticsblog reacts to reader submitted Celtics trade ideas

We asked you for your best trade ideas, and you came through with... a bunch of trade ideas! I picked 4 of them to break down and you’ll see quickly that there’s a common theme.

Note that I didn’t immediately rule out ideas that involved Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, or Al Horford, but there are very few trades I would entertain for that group anyway (for various reasons).

The name that came up most often was Terry Rozier, and for obvious reasons. Despite his uptick in quality play recently, he’s the one most cited as perhaps needing a change of scenery to maximize his career. There’s also a good chance that he’ll find a new home at a much higher salary this offseason.

I put each of these trades before the staff of CelticsBlog and here are their reactions.

Trade 1: Rozier, Yabusele and Baynes for Vucevic. (via #1 lakerhater)

Simon Pollock:

Let’s assume the money works here (and at least on the back of the napkin, it kind of does!) and that this is a great opportunity for the Celtics to get some money off the books next season.

I like the idea of big like Vucevic—a scoring big other than Horford—available in the Boston lineup. The 2018-2019 campaign has been a banner one for the Orlando big man.

But I get stuck on the minutes. Vucevic is racking up 31.0 minutes per game (per Basketball Reference) and I find myself asking: does Brad Stevens have 31 minutes for another frontcourt player? Vucevic is averaging 20.3, yes, but he’s doing it on 16.3 shots.

Baynes, by comparison, gets a little under 15 minutes a game right now and finished the 2017-2018 campaign averaging a smidge over 18.

Do the Celtics maintain their top-tier defense with Vucevic? Think about the defensive production and dirty work Boston gets from Baynes, who’s emerging as an energy guy since returning from his most recent season. He’s not the offensive producer that Vucevic is, but he’s been a delightfully aggressive defender and brawler on the glass.

Orlando’s emerging big man is also getting it done on a team that is sorely in need of a scoring backcourt. Considering the lack of balance on the Magic roster, I’m not entirely buying that Boston provides the same type of environment to allow Vucevic to put up the same numbers. I pass on this one.

Trade 2: Yabusele, Theis, and Rozier for Bjelica (via Random Coffee Table)

Jack Noonan:

While this could give the Celtics a little more size by bringing in a 6’10 body to the frontcourt, Boston shouldn’t put this one on their radar.

Bjelica is averaging 10.2 points and 5.9 rebounds, however, that is in a starting role with Sacramento. He obviously wouldn’t start with Boston, so his current numbers would decline severely. In addition, he is a defensive liability that wouldn’t fit the current scheme with the Celtics.

I would agree that it would be a good idea to bring frontcourt size to the roster, but I do not think the solution is trading away Theis and Rozier for Bjelica.

Trade 3: Rozier to PHX for Jamal Crawford (via Timbaland7)

Daniel Poarch:

Ew!

Jeff Clark:

First of all, the salaries don’t match up, so you’d need Phoenix to include an additional player. I thought about a deal involving Richan Holmes, but I’m not sure what he gives us that Robert Williams can’t do already. You could include De’Anthony Melton or Elie Okobo if that does anything for you as a long term depth play, but I feel like you can get guys like that in the 2nd round of most drafts (here I have to admit that I don’t know their games very well).

Ultimately I don’t buy into the “addition by subtraction” theory with Rozier. He’s a talented player when he’s on his game and playing within the flow of the offense. Coach Stevens has the option of limiting his minutes when he’s not playing well (with Brad Wannamaker as a viable option).

Jamal Crawford is a great vet and would likely be a good locker room guy but I’m not sure if he’s providing the kind of production you’d be looking for.

Trade 4: Rozier to the Pacers for Kyle O’Quinn (via Kyrie On My Hayward Son)

Jeff Clark:

First of all, great screen name.

Again, the salaries don’t match, so the Celtics would have to send someone else out in the deal in this case. I suppose you could include Jabari Bird’s salary (though there are all sorts of legal and league ruling issues that would have to be sorted out first). Another option is including Guerschon Yabusele which would end up saving the Celtics a little over $1.2M which could get them closer to getting under the luxury tax.

With that said, I’m not sure I’m convinced that O’Quinn is all that good. He has his moments and he’s probably underutilized in Indy because of their depth at the position. Though I guess I could see something like this happen if the Celtics ran into additional injury issues in the frontcourt positions.

Worth noting, however, that O’Quinn is on a one year deal, so we’d still be “losing Rozier for nothing” in the long term. I’d much rather get a guy that has a deal that extends into next year that we could include in a trade over the summer.

Conclusion:

It is very easy (if unoriginal) to say “trade Rozier for a bag of basketballs!” It is a lot harder to actually find a deal that works financially and makes sense for both sides. You guys did come up with some good examples of ideas that at least pass the sniff test. I’m proud of our staff for (mostly) reacting with constructive feedback. Ultimately this exercise illustrates why I’m not expecting much of anything much to happen this trade deadline. You never know though.

Thanks everybody for participating!