If A Deal Needs to Be Made

As I've stated a few times before, I don't think the C's should make a trade this season. They did their work just before training camp when they got Jrue Holiday, and what incredible work it was. The team has still been running out lineups that have played sparingly together, if at all. I think the main thing holding back some of our bench guys is not their inability to perform, but the coaching staff's ability to trust them for extended periods of time. The C's are trying to win a championship, so there is less time for guys like Dalano Banton to make mistakes during games. It doesn't mean he or other bench guys aren't potentially valuable players.

I am also well aware that after starting 28-7, that the team is just 9-5 since, and that management may think that the vibes need an adjustment. I don't necessarily share that sentiment. One of the losses came down to the egregious missed calls in Indiana. Another was the schedule loss in Milwaukee. A third was the two-point game against the champion Nuggets. These things will happen. The two beatdowns vs. the LA teams – these are the games that hurt, and are the best evidence that the team may need reinforcements in order to keep the starters fresh. I trust Brad Stevens to find a great deal, but I wanted to look myself anyway out of curiosity.

In looking at the trade market, we need to start from the place that none of the top eight players – the five starters plus Al Horford, Payton Pritchard, and Sam Hauser – need to be or should be dealt. That limits who the C's can bring in in a trade, because most of the team's salary flexibility is accounted for in those eight guys. That's OK! Let's take a look at who is available.

There are 475 players on the Basketball-Reference Contracts page pulling down a 2023-2024 salary. The $6,202,500 Grant Williams trade exception gives the C's access to 253 of them. That's more than half! The top 222 players make more than that, and so I'm going to work under the assumption that they're all off limits in terms of acquisitions. So who is a good fit among the players available to the C's?

Well, obviously, my opinion and that of the team may differ, but I am of the belief that the one thing the C's could use more than anything else is someone who can be a facsimile of Kristaps Porzingis, so the team can be as prepared as possible if he gets hurt. There is no replacing Porzingis, but if you can find someone who can stand in the center of a zone and consistently hit shots, then that's something. Bonus points if that same player can run pick and pops. You would think that guy is Al Horford, but the C's haven't really run the offense like that this season. I think Sam Hauser could do it, but the team hasn't tried that either. Jayson Tatum could also do it, but then you need to shift someone into his role, and there simply aren't any other guys like him on this or any team. No one else on the team has the requisite mixture of skills and height. After that, I think you just want to find one more good player that coach Joe Mazzulla will trust at least as much as he trusts Oshae Brissett.

The other thing I did was separate players into those who make less than $2.5 million and between that number and $6 million. Players under $2.5 million have a higher likelihood of being acquired, because one of Svi Mykhailiuk, Lamar Stevens, or Banton could be used in a deal. Again, I don't really want to trade any of those guys – Banton in particular – but some teams may just not want the salary matching of a trade exception. They may want an actual human player in return.

One more note: I only pulled from teams that either look hopeless at this point, or who may be active, and need to move some of their players in separate deals to make things fit properly from a roster or salary perspective. OK, here we go, with players presented in order of desirability.:

Players Who Could Immediately Enter the Rotation

• Dario Šarić ($2.019M, free agent after this season): The Sarge would easily be the best fit, and he fits the prime Brad Stevens player acquisition criteria in that he lit up the C's this season. When the team visited Golden State in December, he put in three of four threes, and overall had 11 points and six rebounds in 14 minutes. If he could do that for 10-15 minutes per game for the C's, the team could stagger him and Porzingis and play the same way the entire game if they want to. The complicating factor and main concern with Šarić is his health. He's been on the shelf a lot during his career, but ever since he tore his ACL in Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals, he's been relatively durable. He hasn't missed five or more consecutive games since December 2022. And you're playing percentages here. What are the odds that both Porzingis and Šarić would be hurt at the same time? I think he's the best fit by far. My friend Peter asked me if I would trade a first-round pick for him. My initial reaction was "definitely not," but the more I think about it, the more I'd be willing to. Though obviously trading three or four second rounders would be preferable. Will Golden State look to trade him? That's the real question, but they've now reached a place where they can't even win when Steph Curry scores 60, so...
• Lonnie Walker IV ($2.019M, free agent after this season): Walker has been on fire this season, shooting .475/.435/.767, but it hasn't mattered much because the Nets are as anonymous as an NBA team can be. His 12.3 points per game is a career high, and he is essentially having the best season of his career – his FG%, 3PT%, 2PT%, eFG%, PER, TS%, and USG% are all career highs. And after what he did for Los Angeles last season, you know he has the confidence to come in and take over a quarter in the playoffs. And that's a player type you always want to have. The C's have fallen victim to players like this far too often in the past five years. Walker could be Boston's Tyler Herro or Jordan Poole. At 6'4", he isn't filling any wing positions, and thus becomes a little redundant with Payton Pritchard, but if the price is right, Walker could be a great player to have.
• Simone Fontecchio ($3.044M, free agent after this season): Fontecchio would be the poor-man's version of Šarić. He's having a good season for Utah, and who knows what Utah is up to, but given that he's already 28 years old, he seems unlikely to fit in with their next great team.
• Naji Marshall ($1.930M, free agent after this season): Marshall is an incredible defender and ball of energy very much in the same vein as Oshae Brissett, but perhaps a better three-point shooter when it matters. He seems beloved in New Orleans, but he's not playing as much this season, and given that they need to find playing time for Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones, Dyson Daniels, and now Jordan Hawkins – all guys who more or less play the same position as Marshall – it's hard to see how he fits there after this season.
• Andre Drummond ($3.36M this season, free agent next season): The C's have been getting killed on the glass lately. Few have ever rebounded better than ole' Andre. Again, skills that others don't have. Luke Kornet is probably a better passer, screen setter, etc., because of their relative ages and Kornet's knowledge of Boston's system, but he's nowhere near the rebounder Drummond is. Every Kornet tip that doesn't come close to going in brings me just a little closer to my grave. Drummond doesn't have that problem. He is a big boy who comes down with the rebound and then goes back up strong, and there's not a thing you can do about it.
• Cam Thomas ($2.24M this season, $4.041M next season): Brooklyn would be pretty foolish to trade such a gifted scorer, but Brooklyn has been very poorly run now for two decades. Thomas is a true liability defensively, so he's not a Brad Stevens kind of player, but again, you're just looking for guys who bring skills the team doesn't currently possess, and there's not a lot of bench guys who can go off for 40 points at a moment's notice.
• Isaiah Stewart ($5.266M this season, $15M per for each of next four seasons): I still have questions about him, but he does fit well salary-wise this season, and he is basically the third and final guy I see who could a) be available and b) be a Porzingis facsimile after Šarić and Fontecchio. But his salary could cost the team the opportunity to re-sign Jrue Holiday. In that case, he'd be a hard no for me. But if Detroit's price is somehow really low, and Boston's ownership would absorb his salary and still bring back Holiday, well then OK, let's ride. I have him this far down because I see these things as very unlikely.
• Aaron Wiggins ($1.836M this season, $1.988M): Wiggins seemed a lot more likely to be dealt a few weeks ago. Through January 13th, Wiggins was averaging 12.2 minutes per game. In the 10 games since, he's averaging 18.9 minutes per game, and with Jalen Williams out this past Wednesday, he played crucial minutes against the Nuggets. On the other hand, Oklahoma City has a billion draft picks, and could make a play for a real building block kind of player. If they do, it may force Wiggins out of the rotation again. Unlikely, so he's last here, but certainly his .542 three-point percentage (yes, you read that correctly, if in fact you've read this far) would be a welcome addition.

Other Players Who Could Be Helpful If The Team's Depth Was Tested

• Corey Kispert: He shoots well, but he has also literally never played in an important NBA game.
• Torrey Craig: Can he still be effective?
• Dwight Powell: Will the Mavs need to move on from him?
• Moses Moody: Does he need a change of scenery?
• John Konchar: Can white guys with sleeve tattoos really be valuable NBA players?
• Day'ron Sharpe: In the Andre Drummond mold.
• Keita Bates-Diop: The Suns have stopped playing him decent minutes. Probably not a good sign, unless you think Phoenix doesn't know what they're doing.
• Kris Dunn: Would be hilarious to see the fans who wanted him over Jaylen Brown finally get to have him on the team.
• Trenton Watford: I should let this one go, but I still think he could be a pretty good player.