Some friendly advice: Don’t go purchasing any custom Blake Griffin and/or Russell Westbrook Boston Celtics jerseys just yet.
Jahlil Okafor orders are totally fine, though.
According to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com, the Celtics are more likely to trade for the Philadelphia 76ers’ sophomore than they are two deal for either of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers superstars:
As much as the rumor mill churns out smoke signals that a deal involving the Celtics is forthcoming, multiple league sources have indicated that Boston’s eagerness to pull the trigger on a trade has done little to get teams like the Los Angeles Clippers and the Sacramento Kings to budge in their resistance to moving players targeted by the C’s.
And the reason I’m told is quite simple.
“You win with players, not picks,” one assistant GM told CSNNE.com. “Boston has lots of picks and some good players. But there’s not a great player on that roster. And the players you (media) guys keep writing and talking about that they’re interested in, are great players. [Celtics president Danny Ainge] will tell you, it’s not easy making trades. And when it comes to great players, it’s even harder to acquire them no matter how many picks you offer up.”
The consensus among league executives spoken to by CSNNE.com is that the most likely trade for Boston will be one in which they wind up with Philadelphia’s Jahlil Okafor.
This makes a ton of sense, especially in the case of the Clippers. If they trade Griffin, they won’t be looking to rebuild. They will want to deepen the cast around Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan. Picks and prospects from Boston won’t help them do that immediately.
Same could go for the Thunder, albeit to a lesser degree. They will absolutely need to rebuild if they ship out Westbrook. But they still have Victor Oladipo, Steven Adams, Enes Kanter and Andre Roberson on the docket–guys who are on the brink of their primes. They may not be so inclined to accept a package built around collective maybes. Boston may need to get a third and fourth team involved to help grease the wheels of any Griffin or Westbrook deal.
That makes Okafor infinitely more obtainable. The Sixers have too many bigs and too little leverage. They cannot hold out for a king’s ransom. The Celtics might be able to pick up Okafor, a top-two prospect, on the cheap.
And though he doesn’t make too much sense, since he forces Al Horford to almost exclusively play power forward, he would help the Celtics expand their treasure chest of assets—assuming, of course, they don’t break open the stable to get him. And a move that helps deepen their own pool of talent could help the Celtics later, as they continue their trade pursuits.
