Celtics Trade Ideas for Boston to Keep Pace with Nets, 76ers

The Boston Celtics have played in three of the past four Eastern Conference finals. In the other year, they were conference semifinalists.

Clearly, coach Brad Stevens has a really good team. But since the group has so far been denied access to the NBA's championship round, it's hard not to wonder whether this roster has enough to leap from very good to great.

The simultaneous ascensions of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown make you want to answer in the affirmative. But there are enough questions with the supporting cast—everything from Kemba Walker's health to the underwhelming center spot to the inconsistent bench—to make it difficult to do so.

Boston could ease that difficulty with the kind of productive trade season that helps it keep pace with the East's elite. The following three options are worth exploring.

No offense to Daniel Theis or Tristan Thompson, but the Celtics still haven't really adequately replaced Al Horford. That's kind of a big deal (pun partially intended) when interior play must be razor-sharp with the likes of Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis all potentially standing in Boston's path to the championship podium.

Buying bigs in today's Association is tricky, since few centers are worth unloading the war chest to get. And those who qualify aren't remotely available.

Saying that, the need is great enough for Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and his staff to examine all avenues to an impact big. From Nikola Vucevic and John Collins to Andre Drummond and Myles Turner, there are a number of intriguing bigs who could conceivably become available between now and March 25.

What's the right price to bring one back? Great question—and one that defines why Ainge makes the big bucks. It's easy to say picks, prospects or both should be used to grease the gears of an exchange, but it gets a lot thornier if the salary of Smart would need to be included to make the money work.

The Celtics miss Gordon Hayward. Not wanting to pay him $120 million over four years is a totally reasonable stance to take, but the fact he left for nothing created noticeable voids in the scoring and playmaking departments.

Except Hayward didn't leave the Shamrocks totally empty-handed. His sign-and-swap move to the Charlotte Hornets left behind a gargantuan $28.5 million traded player exception, the highest in NBA history. That's a valuable asset to have, especially to entice non-contenders who might be less than enthusiastic about paying major money to non-elites.

The Celtics should have options. If the Sacramento Kings are taking the long road to sustainable success, maybe they'd be willing to unload Harrison Barnes or Buddy Hield. Barnes is a multi-positional defender who can splash spot-up threes. Hield is an electric shooter from distance. Both could be strong contributors playing off of Tatum, Brown and Walker.

Should the Orlando Magic ever ditch their perpetual push for the eighth seed, maybe this is finally the year Aaron Gordon gets out of Disney's backyard. His defensive versatility is drool-worthy, and his offense could have room to grow if he joins a stronger roster with more potent scoring threats.

All three could play their way into Boston's opening group and, more importantly, any of the three could work with the Celtics' postseason closing lineup.

Boston's forward spots are in great hands with Tatum and Brown, and the club's challenges at center have already been detailed. That leaves the backcourt, which doesn't lack for intrigue but is long on uncertainties.

The Celtics need stability, both to flesh out their playoff rotation and to provide insurance behind the 30-year-old Walker and his recent knee trouble. Jeff Teague has provided almost nothing beyond three-point shooting. Payton Pritchard has impressed, but he's still a late-first-round rookie. Aaron Nesmith, Carson Edwards and Romeo Langford are all unproven.

Boston can't count on Walker, Smart and Pritchard to do all the heavy lifting come playoff time. Luckily, it shouldn't have to.

There may not be a ton of sellers in this market, but that small group still provides a good number of guards. JJ Redick would be a dream get in Stevens' offense, but the Celtics could also get mileage out of George Hill or Derrick Rose. None should be cost-prohibitive, and all are experienced enough to engineer a rapid acclimation process midseason.

All stats current through games played on Jan. 26 and used courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.