Bring Me The Latvian Laser
This is not the first time we've heard that Danny Ainge was in on the Latvian Laser. A report came out last month that the Celts were among the teams interested in potentially snagging him at the deadline so it's only right we get those same type of reports now that we're just two days out. Just like I said at the time, this is a move I could 100% get behind. Why? Because Bertans was born to play in Brad Stevens' system. A stretch 4/5 that is a legit flame thrower from deep. Someone you could use as a stretch big to neutralize any opponent that may have a front court advantage that will ultimately open up driving lanes for the Kemba/Hayward/Tatum/Jaylen four headed monster? Give me that over Clint Capela every day of the week and twice on Sundays. I am even willing to ignore my #1 Danny Ainge rule where if we hear about it on Twitter it's not going to happen because it fits my narrative. Hey it's my blog, I make the rules.
You can start him, you can bring him off the bench, either way Bertans is giving you much needed shooting which in my opinion is still this team's #1 need. The problem here is that the Wizards have been pretty adamant that they are not going to move Bertans, and he is a UFA this summer who has earned himself like $15M on the open market which you most definitely cannot pay. You're basically giving up assets for a rental, something we've seen Danny Ainge be very reluctant to do in recent years. But then we also have that very same Danny Ainge going on the record just last night saying maybe he needs to consolidate some of these players/picks which in my opinion makes him a prime rental trade partner.
If the Wizards know that Bertans is gone no matter what after this season, they have to move him. You can't let him walk out the door for nothing, and I'd be curious what his rental price would be. It can't be anything all that crazy I would imagine, and his $7M salary means the Celts don't need to trade a core piece to get him if the Wizards were finally open to listening to offers.
You also have to factor in the power of Weird Celtics Twitter. You see the leader of this movement, @Riffs_Man, has been speaking this into existence for months, basically since the season started and he is one powerful dude. Just look up his history with Robert Williams. So if you're telling me that Danny Ainge is finally going to drop some assets on the table and you can pair that with some WCT juju, well then this may as well be a done deal.
Plus I just really want to be able to use Latvian Laser on the regular. That is an all time fantastic nickname.
