{"id":77571,"date":"2024-01-05T01:45:24","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T01:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nbahang.aweu.info\/?p=77571"},"modified":"2024-01-05T01:45:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T01:45:24","slug":"brad-stevens-details-celtics-trade-plans-to-upgrade-center-position-thanh-hang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/brad-stevens-details-celtics-trade-plans-to-upgrade-center-position-thanh-hang\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Stevens details Celtics trade plans to upgrade center position"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the NBA\u2019s February 8 trade deadline approaches, the Boston Celtics are sitting atop the league with a 26-7 record. The concern of depth hasn\u2019t presented itself as drastically as some anticipated before the season began, but as is always the case for title contenders heading towards the trade deadline, monitoring the market will be crucial.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Of the Celtics\u2019 potential needs, the center position jumps out at first glance. Behind Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford, there is a steep drop-off to Luke Kornet and two-way big man Neemias Queta.<\/p>\n

However, adding an upgrade at the 5 is much easier said than done.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, adding a rotation center, that would have to be one hell of a player, right?,\u201d President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens said at Celtics practice on Thursday afternoon. \u201cWhen you think about [it], we\u2019ve got really good players. I think what we\u2019re looking for and what we most likely [will do], especially with where we are from a tool standpoint, there\u2019s really not a ton [of big things] we can do without touching our main guys, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Boston\u2019s primary tool heading into this year\u2019s trade deadline is the Traded Player Exception they received in the Grant Williams trade over the summer, which comes out to roughly $6.2 million.<\/p>\n

Not only would it be difficult to add a quality player at that salary, but finding a team willing to trade a player on a deal like that makes things even more complicated.<\/p>\n

Stevens noted at practice that guys making less than that amount are either on minimum contracts, small contracts, or rookie-scale deals that \u201cteams aren\u2019t exactly excited to move on from yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

And perhaps more importantly, he\u2019s been happy with the play Boston has gotten from their current center rotation.<\/p>\n

\"Boston<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve obviously [gotten] good play, great play out of Kristaps. I think Al has been good. I think Luke and Neemy, when called upon, have both added great value. And so, you know, if we end up adding somebody, you know, I don\u2019t know that it will be a game-changer in the way that you said it from the rotation standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porzingis and Horford have always been filed away as big-impact players, but Kornet and Queta came into the year as question marks. However, their effective play this year isn\u2019t a surprise to Stevens.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, they haven\u2019t [surprised me],\u201d Stevens said. \u201cThey\u2019re good players. And when you\u2019re surrounded by good players, especially our guards and wings that we have, the job\u2019s a little easier. You get to the rim, they\u2019re either gonna throw it up to you or they\u2019re gonna throw it out to the other guy for a wide-open three because your guy is on you. They\u2019ve done a good job of fulfilling their roles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kornet came into the year as Boston\u2019s go-to third-string center, but an injury in warm-ups sidelined him for an extended stretch in December. During that time, Queta stepped up and proved himself worthy of more opportunities.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s averaging 5.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 12 games this season, but still on a two-way contract. Queta can only be active for 50 games this season and is ineligible to play in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Queta has made a case to earn a standard contract, and the Celtics have one roster spot open. However, maintaining flexibility could be crucial as the trade deadline rapidly approaches.<\/p>\n

Boston Celtics v Sacramento Kings Photo by Rocky Widner\/NBAE via Getty Images
\n\u201cWe have discussions every day about how we\u2019re gonna move forward with those other spots in our roster, right?\u201d Stevens said. \u201cWe have one open spot right now. You have to carry 14. I think it\u2019s helpful to go into a trade deadline or whatever with a little bit of flexibility from a roster standpoint. But we have those discussions every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stevens said that Boston has communicated with Queta from the jump that he could be an important member of their big-league squad rather than just a G League project.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s made a great case,\u201d Stevens said of Queta. \u201cHe\u2019s a hard worker. He\u2019s been a really good player for us. We anticipated and communicated to him when we got him that he was going to be in Boston a whole heck of a lot more than Maine because we were gonna have Al sitting on back-to-backs, because Kristaps was gonna sit a little bit here and there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t anticipate Luke getting hurt in warm-ups a couple of weeks ago. But now that he\u2019s back here, we feel a little bit more secure there. He\u2019s done a good job, and it\u2019s been obviously noted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtics\u2019 limited trade tools make it difficult to envision any significant additions at the center spot, or at any position, for that matter.<\/p>\n

Some names that jump out at the center position purely because of salary and potential availability include Chicago Bulls big man Andre Drummond, Charlotte Hornets center Nick Richards, and, depending on their deadline plans, LA Clippers veteran Mason Plumlee. That said, none stand out as significant upgrades over Boston\u2019s current group.<\/p>\n

Boston has been pleased with how things have been going in-house, and it seems as though the center position may look the same come February 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the NBA\u2019s February 8 trade deadline approaches, the Boston Celtics are sitting atop the league with a 26-7 record. The concern of depth hasn\u2019t presented itself… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":77578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}