The Celtics have been in the market for a superstar for several years now. Armed with a treasure chest of valuable assets in draft picks and players on great contracts, most have expected Boston to eventually pull the trigger on a blockbuster move.
But that has not been the case. Celtics’ president Danny Ainge has received a ton of criticism for being too stingy in negotiations, unwilling to attach certain players or picks instead of making the trade.
That criticism will surely only get worse with this bit of news from Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald:
One agent with ties to a potential deal insists that even preliminary talk between the Bulls and Celtics recently went nowhere when the C’s did not want to include this summer’s Nets choice. There is no definitive word on whether they would be willing to include it for George, though that would certainly seem likely and even a requirement from Indiana’s standpoint.
Bulpett also reports that both Jimmy Butler and Paul George are unlikely to be dealt to the Celtics by the deadline. According to him, the C’s have now shifted their focus to role players like P.J. Tucker and JaMychal Green.
This news comes on the heels of a different Bulpett report claiming that Ainge would be willing to attach the Nets’ pick in a sufficiently impactful trade.
If this is true, then this is a sign of gross incompetence from Ainge. Jimmy Butler is a superstar player and would immediately add a huge amount of confidence in what the Celtics can accomplish in the postseason. He is still young and under contract and would improve Boston on offense and defense.
If the hold up for Ainge is including a top three pick, then that’s a real issue. No matter how good this draft class is (and it’s predicted to be a very good one), the player they pick won’t be able to help them immediately the way Butler can.
Ainge has done this for years now, all the while making it seem as though the C’s did everything they could to get their trade target. At this point, he is harming the Celtics’ shots of contention among the Eastern Conference elite.
