Celtics ‘all in’ on Gordon trade
But Smart is a deal-breaker
Asked on Wednesday about the Celtics’ involvement in jockeying for Aaron Gordon, the Orlando power forward who has reportedly demanded a trade, a league source said the C’s are “all in.”
“It’s alive, but nobody does anything until the last minute” he said of how business gets conducted at the trade deadline.
The Celtics, on the hunt for a floor-spacing power forward who can also bolster the team’s lackluster defensive edge, have offered a first round pick and a young player, but not the one most often mentioned.
Marcus Smart is not on the table in the offer for Gordon, though the Celtics’ all-NBA defender may have been at the top of the Magic’s wish list.
“I don’t think so,” the source said when asked if the team would be forced to part with Smart to get a deal done. Smart has been the most popular name mentioned by other teams in trade talks with the Celtics.
He added that though Orlando may be asking for a second first round pick as part of the deal, DannY Ainge is trying not to part with another first rounder.
The Celtics’ struggles this sea
Son considered, their 2021 first round pick may have more value than first thought. heading into wednesday’s game against the bucks, the celtics were 18th in the overall league standings. though they are expected to move higher, especially if ainge secures some additional talent by today’s 3 p.m. deadline, they would have the 13th pick based on their current position.
The source added that the team is likely out of the running for toronto’s explosive sixth man, norman powell.
Though they also have interest in gordon’s sharpshooting teammate, evan fournier, ainge would likely have to construct a separate deal for the veteran wing player.
Squashing rumor mill
Brad stevens took the time on wednesday to make sure his players aren’t paying too much attention to the rumor mill. foremost in the celtics coach’s mind was a podcast report by the ringer’s kevin o’connor that tristan thompson had become the source of discord in the locker room.
Thompson, along with romeo langford, continues to miss time in health and safety protocols. shortly after o’connor’s comments spread, kemba walker and jaylen brown both took to twitter in support of their relatively new teammate.
“With the trade deadline coming up, we really took the time to talk about what’s real and what’s not,” said stevens. “i talked a little bit about it on my radio show today, and i had to address some discussion about tristan. it’s not real. i think guys that have been in the league hear rumors all the time, and you react to whatever is put out on social media and that gets gassed up and becomes something that guys can react to negatively.
“The older guys that have been in the league kind of realize they’ve been through a lot of these and most of the time it’s nothing,” he said. “yes, there’s a reality that we could make changes, yes there’s a reality that anybody could. but also don’t over-react to the rumors. i get it, the way the media works, the way social media works. i understand how things get accelerated and it becomes more of an entertainment thing and not necessarily all based in reality. but react accordingly.”
Stuck in isolation
Though jayson tatum has increased the proportion of time he spends trying to score in isolation, statistics show that he’s not all that efficient in that mode. though stevens didn’t address his star’s lack of efficiency directly, he did stress the need for the team as a whole to keep the ball moving.
“Four games, five games before the break, we really have tried to emphasize more movement, playing off cutting by getting the ball through our bigs,” said the celtics coach. “and even if that’s late clock, we want to do that more. if you really go back, look at the last 11 games or so, we’ve had a couple of bad offensive games in that stretch overall, shootingwise, but the shots we’ve generated have been much better. the offensive numbers have been much better.
“And it’s more of a team thing that we’ve discussed, than in an individual way. jayson is really committed to doing whatever it takes to win. like, he wants to win. he is a competitive guy, and he doesn’t, and i’ve told him many times that, what we want you to do is be aggressive on the catch-and-shoot because he’s such a special shooter, but he’s always been used to just being able to put the ball on the floor, catch it where he wants, get to where he wants to go, so there’s a little transition. and, over time, i think with the cutting, with the just simply catch-andshooting, i think that everybody’s efficiency will rise and certainly his will as well. this is part of the adjustment of being one of the guys that they are really targeting and really lasered in on. it’s much harder to score in isolation when you’re guarded by the best guy every night, and it’s happened to him often over the past couple of years and it certainly bounces back and forth with him and jaylen. but that’s an adjustment for guys.”