The Boston Celtics have been busy this offseason, but they might not have maximized their potential.
Since falling in the second round to the New York Knicks, the Celtics have been viewed as a team set to be involved in big trades this summer. Already, the Celtics have made a couple of the biggest transactions that we’ll see the entire offseason, including a deal that sent out starting point guard Jrue Holiday after only two years with the team.
In return for the defensive star, the Celtics received Anfernee Simons and a couple of future second-round picks from the Portland Trail Blazers. While Simons adds some offensive potential, his defensive shortcomings might not make him the best fit in Boston, with rumors already swirling about him potentially never playing a game with the Celtics.
In ESPN’s Kevin Pelton’s trade grades, he handed Boston a B- for the deal, citing some of those same concerns and calling it an imperfect trade. While Simons’ fit isn’t perfect and him playing with the Celtics might not happen at all, Brad Stevens still deserves plenty of credit for pulling off this deal.
As Pelton noted, Holiday was the only big-money player for the Celtics who didn’t fit the timeline of the stars. At 35 years old, Holiday appeared to be a potentially difficult player to move, but Boston managed to do so without giving up any draft capital, and actually secured some in the deal.
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Although the deal was far from perfect for the Celtics, they received a well-deserved passing grade for pushing over the first domino of their offseason.
