Kofi Inkoom
The Boston Celtics have secured their spot in the NBA finals after sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
While their focus is solely on the upcoming finals, Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes believes that trading for Memphis Grizzlies guard Derrick Rose could be a smart move for the Celtics this summer.
Hughes acknowledged the challenge of making improvements to a team already well-stocked like the Celtics.
“The Boston Celtics are basically the team with everything, making shopping especially tricky. Any improvements they’d make to the rotation have to come in the 7-9 range on the depth chart—the spots occupied by Peyton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet.”Hughes wrote.
“All three players offer something significant to the Celtics’ operation, and second-apron restrictions make upgrading any of them tougher. Boston can’t, for example, aggregate salary. So that takes away the option of bundling Pritchard and Hauser to creep up toward $9 million in matching money.”
Also, Hughes thinks the C’s could use a traditional playmaker to help out Tatum and Brown when their offense hits rough patches.
“Between Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Boston has four high-end advantage creators on offense. But that’s not quite the same thing as saying the Celtics have a true, old-school facilitator. Considering Boston looks worse (a relative term) when its offense bogs down, maybe that’s the place to start.” He added
Rose had his share of injury issues last season, playing only 24 games for the Grizzlies. Despite this, he averaged 8.0 points per game in limited minutes.
At 35 years old, Rose is approaching the twilight of his career, but his skillset and leadership could still make him a valuable addition to the Celtics roster, which is already stacked with talent.
The Boston Celtics are gearing up to face either the Minnesota Timberwolves or, more likely, the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals set to kick off on June 6, with hopes of clinching a ring this season.