After spending each of the last two seasons hoarding assets in the form of picks, prospects and uber-reasonable contracts, the Boston Celtics are supposed to be in consolidation mode.
And, in case you were wondering, they absolutely are.
Consider the stance taken by team president Danny Ainge during his weekly appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich show show, via Mass Live’s Jay King:
Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge knows his roster is overcrowded and would like to remedy the issue, if possible.
During a weekly appearance with 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich show, Ainge suggested he will look for trades in which the Celtics send out more players than they receive.
“Consolidating quantity for quality right now is sort of something that we’re looking to do,” he said. “But we like all of our players. We don’t have to do anything by the trade deadline. But we’re certainly busy trying to find something to upgrade our team.”
If you take this to mean the Celtics are still in the market for a star, that’s fine. Because that’s exactly what they’re looking for.
The roster is too damn crowded for it’s own good right now. David Lee, an impact player who, despite being past his prime, could help Boston’s inconsistent offense, can’t carve out a definitive role in the rotation. That’s the state of the Celtics in a nutshell. They have too much serviceable talent, and their arsenal will only grow in number as their many first-round picks turn into actual players.
The issue, of course, is actually parlaying some combination of assets into a star. Superstuds aren’t just readily available. The Celtics are incessantly linked to DeMarcus Cousins because he’s just about the only All-Star considered accessible, and even he has never been tied to a rumor that had him on the brink of departure.
All the Celtics can do for now is bide their time, contend for an Eastern Conference playoff spot, hope head coach Brad Stevens can continue to make sense of his mess of talent and wait for the transcendent player they seek to become available.
