Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Celtics can have a terrific offseason by making these two big moves this summer.
After losing in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs, the Boston Celtics need to reevaluate everything when it comes to getting back to playing championship-caliber basketball.
Boston saw its long-time president of basketball operations Danny Ainge step down after well over a decade on the job. Replacing him was former Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, who will pick his successor on the Boston bench. While the Celtics have two franchise cornerstones in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they need to add two more players to potentially get them over the top.
With one trade and one free-agent signing, the Celtics can be back in business after this summer.
Trade for Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Collin Sexton to revamp the position
This first move is an attempt to get younger and more explosive at the most important position on the hardwood: Point guard. Kemba Walker used to be an outstanding player with the Charlotte Hornets and collegiately with the UConn Huskies, but he is getting up there in age. We have to wonder if Boston would have rather kept a younger player ascending into his prime in Terry Rozier.
Walker is fine at this point of his career, but he was not reliable during the Celtics’ latest playoff run. Brown and Tatum need to be able to lean on their point guard to be able to get them the ball, as well as having a primary ball-handler to get buckets in crunch time. One team that has a redundancy in the backcourt is the Cleveland Cavaliers. Maybe they can trade for Collin Sexton?
Cleveland continues to go nowhere without LeBron James in the organization. While Sexton and backcourt mate Darius Garland are fun to watch, it has not translated to winning whatsoever so far in Cleveland. Because Sexton has one more year’s worth of NBA experience, trading for him will not as pricey as doing business with the Cavaliers for Garland. Besides, Cleveland will be in the lottery.
So they could draft another guard in the top five if they feel so inclined, but they may roll with Walker and a few other assets in the meantime and draft a more glaring need to fix their roster. As for Boston, Sexton would be the perfect third piece to their core. Maybe he can ascend to an All-Star-level playing alongside better players than him in Brown and Tatum? He resets their timeline.