Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this before: the Celtics have a Big problem.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
As in, the need for a starting Big, rather than the reliance on a rotation of developing, or past-peak centers.<\/p>\n
Even though Tyrese Maxey was the best player on the floor for the second half of the Celtics\u2019 first-round playoff series against the 76ers, it was largely the return of Joel Embiid who preemptively ended their season.<\/p>\n
Embiid\u2019s availability issue reared its ugly head in the next round. At this point in his career, he\u2019s no unicorn like Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic. The Celtics had a version of one of these guys for two years in Kristaps Porzingis, but like Embiid, erratic availability and injuries come with the territory of these special body types.<\/p>\n
President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens bid adieu to both Porzingis and Al Horford last summer and asked coach Joe Mazzulla to pivot to other options: Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, and, eventually, Nikola Vucevic. <\/p>\n
Vucevic can\u2019t be long for this Boston team. They flourished with Queta as their starting center during the regular season, but his inexperience and foul-heavy play caught up with him quickly in the postseason.<\/p>\n
As speculation continues to swirl around whether Giannis Antentokounmpo will wear a different shade of green this fall, here are three other options the Celtics could consider for the starting center position:<\/p>\n
Trade for Bam Adebayo<\/p>\n
Adebayo is one of the more obvious fits for Boston, both in terms of his play style and potential chemistry with star Jayson Tatum. The two have been friends since their teenage years. He\u2019d be an immediate major upgrade in the paint, averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds a night for Miami last season, (including his 83-point showcase against the Wizards). What would it take? It depends on what Miami\u2019s goal for the upcoming season may be. In terms of making the money work, Boston would likely need to part with two roster players with at least the caliber of Derrick White and Sam Hauser \u2013 if not more. Adebayo has a three-year, $166 million extension that kicks in next year. Remember, though: it\u2019s tough to win a deal against Pat Riley \u2013 especially when you\u2019re in his conference.<\/p>\n
Sign Jusuf Nurkic<\/p>\n
Nurkic\u2019s season with the Utah Jazz was cut short by repeated facial fractures that eventually necessitated season-ending surgery, but before then, he was having his most productive season offensively in the last three years. At 31, the \u201cBosnian Beast\u201d still provides plenty of presence in the paint and on the glass. Best of all, the Celtics wouldn\u2019t have to give up a rotational player to get him. He\u2019s coming off a contract with an AAV of $17.5 million.<\/p>\n
Trade for Wendell Carter Jr.<\/p>\n
Could two one-and-done Dukies team up on the Celtics next year? Carter Jr. offers a lot to like in a potential fit with Boston: he\u2019s coming off a season with his best availability in Orlando, (78 games), he\u2019s got over a 50% field goal shooting percentage, and he\u2019s a decent three-point shooters. We know Mazzulla loves a three-and-D guy. Carter Jr. may not provide massive scoring volume, but he\u2019s a solid defender, can stretch the floor, and he\u2019s young \u2013 but experienced. Boston could make the money work with rotational pieces further down the bench, like Hauser and one of their recent draft picks, Hugo Gonzalez or Baylor Scheierman. One issue they could see with a trade of that sort, however, is loss at wing depth by trading both Hauser and his would-be heir apparent in Scheierman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this before: the Celtics have a Big problem. As in, the need for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,75,91480,144,295,189,3881,6,1783],"class_list":["post-740970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami-heat","tag-basketball","tag-boston-celtics","tag-giannis-antentokounmpo","tag-heat","tag-miami","tag-miami-heat","tag-miamiheat","tag-nba","tag-nba-trade-rumors"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116617780139883190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}