The Boston Celtics are surprising many people this season. Partially due to the fact that they traded away their 2 best players in Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green yet they still sit in the 8 seed in the Eastern Conference by the slimmest of margins. The playoff push in Boston can be attributed to their unselfish play and terrific coaching from Brad Stevens.
They won’t make any noise and they have a slim chance to upset the recently crowned number one seed in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks. Their main issue seems to be that they lack one thing all great teams have. A star player. It appears that even though Boston’s team may be focused on pushing for the postseason, their front office is planning for an immediate culture change in the future.
There are talks in Boston to make an offer for the 2014 Finals MVP, ‘The Claw’, Kawhi Leonard.
Following from Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.
Kawhi Leonard said he is 100 percent healthy again, giving the Spurs their most versatile player back for the stretch run. Leonard will be a restricted free agent this summer and will receive his share of offer sheets, likely including one from the Celtics. Boston coach Brad Stevens gushed about Leonard’s defensive prowess
Just about any and every team with money to spare will be looking at Kawhi to potentially bring him in the fold for their future plans. He could fit very well and change some things on the offense. He’d slide into that 3 position, putting Evan Turner at the shooting guard and Marcus Smart stays at the starting point guard. This also makes for a formidable back court coming off the bench with Isaiah Thomas coming in to put the ball in the hoop and Avery Bradley defending anyone in the opposing back court.
Leonard could change a lot in Boston but don’t expect there to be much of anything going on with Kawhi and Boston. The chances of him leaving San Antonio are miniscule. It appears the Spurs are ready to lock up Leonard for as long as possible so they can to pass the torch to Kawhi to lead the future of the team. Whether that be with or without Gregg Popovich or Tim Duncan remains to be seen.
