We Finally Have A Celtics Trade Rumor That Actually Makes Sense!
Sean Gardner. Getty Images.
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Now this is what I'm talking about! Every day you hear Jakob Poeltl this and Jakob Poeltl that, and for the life of me it never ever made sense. I get wanting frontcourt depth, that's fine. But given his contract (expiring), his price (multiple 1sts), his salary ($9M), and his price in free agency (20M), it just didn't add up that he was an legitimate option for the Celts. They can't use Gallo's money to make it work, so it would require at least a 3 team deal to pull it off in my opinion, which is unlikely.
Do I think Brad called? Sure! That's what he should be doing! But when you lay it all out, it just didn't make sense. Maybe we'll be proven wrong, but it feels like smoke more than anything else.
This rumor? Willy Hernangomez? This is MUCH more believable. Let's run down the check points
Salary: $2.4M
Stats: 6/4 on 52% shooting. 25% DREB%, 18% OREB%, 11% AST%
Role: 22 GP, only 11 minutes a night
OK, right off the bat you see that his salary fits into one of your TPEs. That's a big check. He also has 1 year at a club option next year at $2.5M. From a production standpoint, it's nothing crazy, but we're talking about a 3rd string center. His rebounding and passing percentages are more than fine. In terms of his availability, he's not really playing for NOP, so he's a name that's way more realistic.
Is it possible the Pelicans would be open to an end of bench guy and a 2nd or two? Who knows. I can't imagine it would require a 1st round pick. It's hard to know what the Pelicans might want, and the market in the NBA makes no sense. Just look at what Rui Hachimura just went for.
The point is, if you haven't seen much of Hernangomez, he most definitely can help
and he's the type of low cost depth that I would certainly hope Brad is looking into. Remember, he was also the Eurobasket MVP this past summer
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and while I don't think anyone should go overboard and say Willy Hernangomez makes or breaks the Celts potential playoff run, if we're going to be looking at 3rd string big man options, you can certainly do worse. The goal should be finding a guy who can give Rob/Al some rest during the year who most likely will not have to play in the postseason. You don't want to overextend yourself with that type of player and give up multiple 1sts or a rotation player. That's not what this deadline is about in my opinion.
The one thing I do know is that Brad knows what the hell he's doing. Until he makes a bad move, he has my complete trust. There are things he's probably working on that none of us are even thinking about. So while names like Poeltl may get the headlines, moves like this make way more sense. Whether it's Hernangomez or someone else that fits his same profile, these are the names that I think fans should be thinking about.
Part of me also wants this to happen just to stick it to Pat Riley. It's a yearly tradition that the Heat are reportedly interested in every player on earth, so I would find it fun to steal someone on their list. If you also address a positional need, even better.