Celtics Eyeing Barnes

 

    As we are now firmly into the second half of the NBA season the playoff race has begun to reveal the buyers and the sellers. One of the players that the Celtics are eyeing is the Kings' Harrison Barnes. The Celtics have really lacked wing depth this entire season and could definitely use a guy capable of creating his own shot. Ainge said they plan to wait until the offseason to use the Hayward TPE, but Ainge also loves to lie right to our faces. So here is what a trade for Barnes might look like. 

    

    The Kings' GM said that he wanted to get younger and cheaper, thankfully the Celtics roster is almost entirely both young and cheap. I think logically they would Robert Williams to be the centerpiece of the deal, unless Bagley plans on improving dramatically on defense he doesn't look to be the center of future. Hield also has seemed to be unhappy with management in Sacramento, so maybe they want to replace him with a guy who projects to have a similar skill sets like Nesmith. Rob and Nesmith seems to be a pretty fair price for Barnes, but as a huge Robert Williams' fan I would love to find a way to acquire Barnes without giving him up. Maybe they could sell themselves on the upside of Grant, Romeo, or Carsen. 

    Barnes would almost be a perfect fit for this Celtics team, he can shoot, he can create his own shot, and is decent playmaker for a big. His splits this season are 16.7/6.1/3.6 on 49/39/83 shooting splits. He isn't quite the level of player Hayward was, but he'll be pretty darn close. So let's hope we can get Danny to pull the trigger at the deadline. 

 Mid-Season Awards

                                             

   

    After a very up and down first half, I thought it is time to give out some first half awards. I'm not going to be giving out traditional awards, but I'll be giving out most surprising (in a good way), most disappointing, and 2nd half breakout player. I will also be giving my reasons for each as well as a runner up for each award. 

    Most Surprising: Payton Pritchard, Prichard was the 26th pick in this years draft class and I didn't really have any expectations for him. I thought he was going to get minutes while Kemba was out, but thought he probably would get shelved when the Celtics were at full strength. He played so well in the beginning of the season it was impossible not to play him for the rest of the season. He has easily been our best bench scorer and he is doing it very efficiently. This team is relying heavily on Pritchard and we'd be much worse off this season if we didn't have him. The runner-up for this award is Robert Williams, I had pretty high expectations for him coming into this year and he has still exceeded them. He has provided such a huge role off the bench this entire season, and will continue to do so in the 2nd half. 

    Most Disappointing: Jeff Teague, I thought when we first signed Teague it was a great pickup. Last year we needed a facilitator off the bench and better spacing from our bench unit, and in the past Teague has done that. He is shooting well from three, but has been terribly inefficient from every where else on the court. He also hasn't been the facilitator I had hoped he would. He did play well the last few games before the break, so hopefully he can continue to use that momentum in the 2nd half. My runner-up is Grant Williams, Grant was a guy I had hope to play major role for this team and provide spacing and be a versatile defender. The biggest problem with Grant is he cannot stop fouling, it is to the point where he is averaging almost six fouls per 36 minutes. If he can fix that he can be a very productive player in the 2nd half. 

    2nd Half Breakout: Romeo Langford, we haven't seen Romeo yet this year and I think he is poised to play a big role in the 2nd half. I really didn't want to go with Romeo because it seemed too easy, but I don't see very many guys who have the opportunity to improve on their first half performance. I think Langford will start slow when he first comes back, but still play a large role for this team as we've been lacking wing production. Nesmith seemed to have the opportunity to take a lot of those Langford minutes in his absence, but the last few games has been shelved. My runner-up is Grant Williams. Grant has been disappointing, but he has earned minutes the last few games and looks to have the opportunity to earn back his minutes in the rotation. Like I said earlier, he needs to stop fouling and continue to be a consistent three point shooter if he wants to have a significant role for this team. 

Sorry Celtics Fans, No Chance for Grant or Vucevic

 Sorry Celtics Fans, No Chance for Grant or Vucevic

    As much as I would love to have both of these guys to come to Boston, I just don't see why either the Magic or Pistons would move their best player, to a team that really doesn't have a whole lot of assets. Boston's best young piece is probably Robert Williams or Payton Pritchard, who both are 23 years old. The Celtics are also going to be contenders for the next few years, their picks are likely going to be in the 20s. The Magic, although not competing for a championship will be a lower tier playoff for the next couple seasons as long as their players stay healthy. They have been without Isaac, Gordon, Fultz, and Anthony for at least a decent portion of this year. For Detroit, they finally have a fairly young player to build around and he locked up for the next couple of seasons. 

    While we may not get Vucevic from the Magic, I do think that there are a few players on the Magic that make a little more sense. The first is Terrence Ross, Ross has been nicknamed the "Human Torch" for a reason, he is a guy who can heat up quick and provide a lot of value off of a team's bench. He is a type of player that Boston's bench desperately needs. He is locked up for two more years after this year on a pretty affordable contract at about 12 million a year. Fournier is another guy on the Magic that could provide a lot of value for the Celtics, he is a great offensive player, who would certainly help with spacing. He is also on an expiring deal which could be more motivation for the Magic to move him. 

    Detroit may not want to give up Grant, but there are two players on the Pistons I would really like. The first one is Wayne Ellington, Ellington does really only one thing well. That one thing is shooting threes, but he does that very well. Adding a guy that you can relying to hit his threes forty percent of the time would be very cool. The other guy I would like from Detroit is Blake. I definitely would not like to trade for him, but if he is bought out I think he can do a lot of things that helps the Celtics, if he would be willing to take a lesser role. Just based off the money that he's making I really doubt he'll get bought out, but it is still nice to think about.