One of the NBA’s most reliable trade-deadline traditions is hearing after the fact which big-name players the Celtics came close to acquiring. Although Boston was active at this year’s deadline, adding Evan Fournier in one deal and moving Daniel Theis in another, the team didn’t let that annual tradition fall by the wayside.
League sources tell Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe that the Celtics were a finalist in the Nikola Vucevic sweepstakes, having included multiple first-round picks in their offer to Orlando before the big man was sent to Chicago.
Additionally, Himmelsbach reports that the Celtics offered a first-round pick and a young player (believed to be Aaron Nesmith) to Orlando for Aaron Gordon, and were prepared to increase that offer, but the Magic accepted Denver’s offer before Boston had a chance to do so.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Another post-deadline tradition? Teams insisting they didn’t offer players whose names were repeatedly mentioned in trade rumors. The Heat did that today, issuing a statement stating that they never offered Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Precious Achiuwa in any deals. “They were asked for, but an offer was never made,” the team said, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. While the Heat’s reluctance to part with Herro was widely reported, at least one of Robinson or Achiuwa – and perhaps both – would’ve had to be included in any viable package for Kyle Lowry, so saying they were “never offered” is likely just a matter of semantics.
- Although they were the subject of several trade rumors prior to the deadline, the Pacers were one of the few teams to stand pat. According to J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required), that inactivity can be attributed in large part to the team’s belief in Caris LeVert. Indiana, encouraged by the early returns, is satisfied letting LeVert get back up to speed and seeing how he meshes with the club’s current core.
- Addressing the Wizards‘ acquisition of Daniel Gafford, general manager Tommy Sheppard cited the youngster’s shot-blocking ability and athleticism, as Ava Wallace of The Washington Post relays.
Is Ainge a close relative of the Celtics owner? How is he still running that team
He traded down from 1st overall to 3rd overall and drafted Tatum over Fultz. Drafted Brown. Acquired Kyrie for half an Isaiah Thomas and consistently makes the playoffs. Not to mention fleecing the Nets with the Pierce/KG deal that Brooklyn is JUST NOW getting over. The team is young. They will learn how to win. I think the solution is actually hiring an assistant/motivator to get them over their “blow 20 point lead and lose by 3 points” hump. They have the talent to beat any team in the league but lack the experience of closing a game out. They need a killer that’s not afraid of the moment or thinks “here we go again” once they go up 15. They don’t need to get rid of Ainge
He also gave away hayward for a heavily protected 2nd instead of myles turner. Oh and the pick they gave up for kyrie was collin sexton. Soim sure celtic fans would prefer him over kemba currently.
Its a what have you done for me lately business.
If the goal of the NBA is to make cool moves then this would be relevant. But it’s not, the goal is to win a championship. He hasn’t won one in over a decade.
But he has won one.
Ainge’s facial feature tells me that he is a chief guy
IMO
Celtics won’t win championships next 3 years
Bulls fans, is Gafford any good?
If you keep your expectations in check, yeah, he decent. Ceiling is probably good backup big. Not the most skilled or even the highest basketball IQ but he’s a hustle guy. Rebounds, some interior defense, offense is pretty limited to rim running and layups/dunks. But he can be a solid rotation piece. Tell me about Brown, can I be optimistic he can be an all around, decent but not great, rotation wing?
He’s floundered when he’s had big minutes, like in the bubble. He can probably be a good rotation player in Billy Donovan’s system, but in DC he sat through a ton of DNP’s. His defense is also questionable. I’d be more excited about Theis as a backup big
Ainge stopped pick clutching finally and then the Magic were like nah haha. And say what you want about the virtues of getting under the tax but Theis for Kornet and Wagner is probably a losing move too. Tough
Crazy that 2 years ago Wagner had all this upside now dealing Theis for him is a losing move…we’ll see
Yeah that’s fair. I guess it’s just hard for me to see Wagner giving them more than what Theis was in the immediate term (which matters if you’re trying to win now). But maybe Wagner ends up being a steal for an expiring contract. It’s just tough cuz with the Ainge pick hoarding there’s always more young guys with potential than you have minutes for, which in and of itself is pretty inefficient.
Bulls Fan here. Gafford is a likeable high energy shot blocker off the bench. Obvious comp is Javale McGee.
Yes good comparison.
Magic were not going to give their players to Boston. And have them winning in their own conference. Unless they gave away the house to them. So it makes sense Gordon went to Denver. Celtics should have been in on McGee. Now they should be in on Aldridge. Fournier was a good move but they need a big. Aldridge goes to Heat, Blazers or Celtics. He makes them a serious contender. Show some big ones Danny
Aldridge has all the leverage and what can Ainge offer him to get him?
Have you watched Aldridge at all since 2019?
He will barely do anything to improve the Nets.
What does Ainge give these writers that they’re willing to write stuff like this? The Celtics were a finalist for Vucevic? Offered two 1sts? All while the Celtics were working “sincerely” hard to close the Gordon deal? Does Ainge really think he can shed his deal unmaker rep via media reports? He at least traded for Fournier.
“One of the NBA’s most reliable trade-deadline traditions is hearing after the fact which big-name players the Celtics came close to acquiring.”
Wow man you didn’t have to come at my team like that lmaooo
Haha, that was more snark than you’ll usually get from me, but I had to express my disbelief that they keep putting this stuff out there, given what a running joke it’s become.
Ainge hate on this board is a tad overdone.
outside of the ny/la teams and miami, who have clear geographic advantages, who’s run their team better than danny the last 5-8 years? a few, but he’s easily top 5
How can you say that he built this team through the draft it’s not like he inherited it this all on him
Once they made that nets trade all we ever heard was all the draft assets they had to make it back to the top but he didn’t trade any of those picks and every free agent he signed wanted out as soon as possible so this whole team is on doofus Danny and chickn’ sh it Stevens who’s to afraid to change things up and control his guys
bro – boston lost in the ecf 3/4 years and lost in the semis the other year. havent missed the playoffs since 13-14
i have my quibbles with ainge but saying “this is all on him” as if their last half decade have been nothing but blunders is just nonsensical
even with their struggles this year they have two all-nba level guys under 25 under contract. if you really think danny ainge is a doofus, ok … but empirically you would have to think every gm in the league outside pop and riley is a doofus and then some
I find Ainge sayin’ all the guys they almost got makes him look even worst than he is, if that is even possible, right?
I am sooo tired of hearin’ BOS fans sayin’ how they fleeced in a historical way BRK, actually from where I am standin’ I would say BRK did fleece BOS, how?
Well since the trade BOS has been good, never really contending, but… BRK is now a real favorite to win it all this year, sadly BOS hasn’t been there since the trade, so who really won it?
BTW that BOS got to 3 ECF in the last 4 years, is that meant to be a good thing?
Just asking, I can see that been good for many teams, but for a franchise like BOS, I would expect them to at least win a championship every 4-5 years, at the very least, not been that good,
I mean LAL & BOS must win at least 2-3 rings a decade!
How the mighty have fallen if BOS is happy with ECF losses!
I bet Larry wouldn’t settle for that… then again BOS has won ONLY 1 ring in the last 35 years!!!!!
LOL is 3/4 ECF’s a good thing? IDK pal do the math: there are 30 teams in the league and 4 make the conference finals each year
So they’ve only finished in the top 15% of the league 3 times in 4 seasons, go ask Orlando or Sacramento if that’s good
Your other points are neither here nor there — dont know or care what Larry Bird thinks or the straw men in your head who are talking about a BK trade 9 years ago
BTW I’m not a Celtic fan, I’m a Knicks fan – last time Celtics missed the playoffs was the last time we MADE the playoffs. I’d take Ainge any day of the week tbh
If you are a NYK fan that explains why you think loosin’ ECF is a good thing, I truly feel sorry for you as a human being!
Thanks for the condolences my friend.
Good luck with the voices in your head.
Points for punctuation Don
Minus points for the thoughts getting progressively worse
End Result- A landfill chalk full of complete garbage
This epitomizes New Gen thought of all or nothing and then taking a dump on everything in-between. Add a pinch of comparative fallacy at the end to deflect the bitter taste of the dish and…. Viola!
Serve Cold, of course
Sometimes the best moves are the moves that didn’t happen. C’s looked good tonight. Hopefully the deadline moves and non moves lit a little fire.
Have been supportive in past w/ Ainge but he needs to get more aggressive to get over the hump. Losing out on Vucevic is tough as he’s exactly what team needs. If keeping Smart was part of the reason, that’s even disappointing. Ainge needs to realize he can’t win every trade. Teams won’t want to deal w/ you, noboby wants to look like a fool.
The linked Globe article deepens the Ainge mystery. Apparently Ainge was ALMOST able to close for Gordan AND Vusevic, with both Denver and Chicago. Then he did cloze with Orlando for Fournier. Did Ainge settle after missing big-man targets?— or was he setting up a lowball play for Founier? Maybe indecisive, or messing with people. Maybe entertaining himself, or just doing his job. ORL GM is not complaining…
F act, it was the last day to trade, and Ainge did not get his best offers out there. I dislike that it all went down on the last day, overloading followers.