Danny Ainge over the weekend downplayed the Celtics’ need to make a trade, pointing out how much he liked Boston’s roster despite the team’s inconsistency this season. That said, Ainge has been known to be aggressive, and the Celtics president of basketball operations made it clear Boston still will do its due diligence leading up to the Feb. 7 NBA trade deadline. The Celtics have no shortage of assets — from talented young players to a bevy of draft picks — so they theoretically could go in a number of different directions in the coming weeks. They ultimately might decide to stay the course, though, and do their heavy lifting this summer. The Celtics could have as many as four first-round draft picks in 2019, with two having the potential to be lottery selections. But league sources recently told Sporting News’ Sean Deveney that none of Boston?s picks are expected to be available at the deadline. Here are the first-round draft picks the Celtics could end up with in 2019: — Their own draft pick — Sacramento Kings’ pick (unless it’s the No. 1 pick, in which case it goes to the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston receives Philly’s pick) — Memphis Grizzlies’ pick (top-eight protected in 2019, top-six protected in 2020, unprotected in 2021) — Los Angeles Clippers’ pick (top-14 protected in 2019 and in 2020 — if not conveyed by 2020, then Boston receives second-rounder in 2022) Keeping the picks now would allow Boston to be more aggressive this offseason, when New Orleans Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis might be among the players available on the trade market. The Celtics, of course, have long been linked to Davis, a five-time All-Star who’s established himself as one of the NBA’s best players since being selected No. 1 overall in 2012. Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports<doc-sep>The Memphis Grizzlies owe a first round pick to the Boston Celtics at some point in the next three years. The team would prefer for that to convey this summer in the 2019 NBA Draft. The way the Memphis Grizzlies have been playing they don’t have much of a choice in this regard. With how many games they’ve been losing recently they will very likely be in the bottom eight of the NBA standings. They already made a move to acquire Justin Holiday to try and right the ship but that hasn’t helped at all. They dealt Wayne Selden and MarShon Brooks to get him but they also traded away two second-round picks. If they really want this pick to convey this year then they should consider another move but it may be time to just admit they messed up and embrace the tank. They don’t necessarily need to tank at the moment but if they’re going to be in the top eight of the 2019 NBA Draft then they might as well try and get the best pick possible. One reason they want the pick to convey this year is that the consensus about the 2019 draft class is that it is relatively weak compared to other classes. There are still a handful of prospects that they could select if they were to keep their pick so if that were to be what ends up happening then they should feel confident in selecting a good player. The way this franchise has drafted recently it doesn’t matter how good the draft class is until they can show that they are capable of drafting successfully. While they seemed to have been drafting better recently they still have a lot of bad picks they need to make up for if they want to turn this franchise around. Jaren Jackson Jr. at 4th overall was a great pick and he looks like he can be a building block for the next chapter of this franchise’s history. They have also done some good things in the 2nd round of the draft. Dillon Brooks and Jevon Carter have both shown that they can do a lot of good things while they’ve both also become fan favorites. While many fans may want the first round pick in this year’s draft it may be in the best interest of the team to have the pick convey to Boston instead. If that’s how the team feels then that’s what they should do. It’s not an extremely deep class so they definitely have a right to feel that way. Keeping the pick wouldn’t be a terrible thing either though. There are plenty of targets who would fit in nicely with this young core going forward. We shouldn’t act like the Grizzlies have a choice in this matter though. The way that they’ve been playing they won’t have a chance for the pick to convey because they will be locked into a top-eight pick if they continue their losing ways.<doc-sep>The Feb. 7 NBA trade deadline is fast-approaching, so why not engage in some rumor mongering? On Saturday, Bleacher Report’s Ken Berger published a piece about possible trade destinations for Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal, who is expected to be available. Many teams are expected to be in on the 25-year-old, but let’s focus on one club in particular: the Boston Celtics. Berger, who spoke to numerous anonymous league executives, believes a deal would make sense, and here’s why: “With the Celtics struggling to find an identity — and defined roles for their plethora of wing players — there could be a path to a deal,” he wrote. “Jaylen Brown, the expiring contract of Marcus Morris or Aron Baynes (2019-20 player option) and a first-round pick would have the makings of a compelling offer, according to one executive. “The C?s could win the East with a core of Kyrie Irving, Beal, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford. Whether the Wizards would want to help Boston is another story.” Now that’s some juicy trade speculation. It’s hard to imagine the C’s offering such a large package for Beal, despite the Florida product’s obvious talents. Furthermore, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge likely has his eyes on an even bigger prize.<doc-sep>BOSTON - OCTOBER 22: Boston Celtics' Gordon Hayward, center, walks off the court after missing a three-point shot against the Magic during the final seconds of the fourth quarter. The Boston Celtics host the Orlando Magic in a regular season NBA basketball game at TD Garden in Boston on Oct. 22, 2018. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Back by the popular demand of pretty much only myself, it’s the second annual edition of Around the NBA in 15 Trades. We’re taking all 30 teams in the lead up to the Feb. 7 trade deadline and finding a happy middle ground for prosperous barterdom. Last year, Boston looked like they’d be among the best teams in the league for the next decade. Though this season’s been more of a challenge than most expected. The problem could be that they have too much of a good thing with their glut of backcourt options. There just aren’t enough minutes to go around for guys clearly deserving and it’s thrown off their equilibrium. Jaylen Brown took a step back and Terry Rozier no longer has the Scary Terry mojo. Orlando’s still entrenched in the rebuild of the Dwight Howard fallout. While they’re putting foundational pieces down, they’re a team that doesn’t make much sense yet. Counter to the Celtics, the Magic need to alleviate a logjam in the frontcourt. Sounds like the perfect swapsies partners to me. Celtics Get PF, Aaron Gordon; C, Nikola Vucevic; PG, D.J. Augustin Magic Get G/F, Gordon Hayward; PG, Terry Rozier; F, Marcus Morris; C, Robert Williams; Clippers 2019 First Round pick Why the Celtics do it: The return of Gordon Hayward hasn’t gone as seamlessly as planned. His monster contract looks more like a monstrosity by the day. With more time, he should get back to the swing of things. There’s also a chance it turns into a full-blown anchor for the Celtics and bogs down their cap space. It’d be far less risky to not take the chance on him at all. Boston needs rebounding. They currently rank a non-remarkable 17th in rebounds per game, something Nikola Vucevic would single-handedly boost by himself. Aaron Gordon would give the Celtics a whole new dimension of player to work with. Gordon’s numbers slid a little this season, but his fit in Orlando’s never been tailor made. Getting saddled with subpar point guards surely didn’t help matters either. Gordon’s still only 23-years old and has all the tools to burst into stardom, he just needs to find the right situation. He’s no longer cheap, but his freshly-inked extension actually scales downward over the next three years. Why the Magic do it: While the Magic try to change the culture, they’ve had trouble getting big names to sign or even consider them. Hayward’s star faded since his gruesome injury at the inception of last season, but injuries of that magnitude need mental rehab in addition to the physical. He should regain his old form as more time passes and would be a great fit alongside their pair of long, stretchy big men. Rozier’s found himself in a reduced role after his breakout last season and is (understandably) frustrated. He’s shown the capability of a starter and getting granted a leading role should juice him back up. Also, two words: Time Lord.<doc-sep>
The Boston Celtics own the Memphis Grizzlies first-round pick in the 2019 NBA Draft but, as it’s been well-documented, the pick — like two of their other potential first-round picks in the upcoming draft — has protections; it’s top-8 protected in 2019, top-6 in 2020 and it will become unprotected in 2021. The Celtics acquired the Grizzlies first round pick back in 2014 in a three-team deal that included the New Orleans Pelicans. The Grizzlies wanted, and acquired Jeff Green from the Celtics. centered around forward Jeff Green, who was considered to be one of the more dynamic frontcourt players in the league and who had just entered his athletic prime at 27-years-old. However, Green would only play portions of two seasons with Memphis (a total of 88 regular season games) after a horrendous 11-game stretch in the 2015 NBA Playoffs before being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. Green now plays for the Washington Wizards, after a forgettable stint with the Orlando Magic and a NBA Finals appearance with the Cleveland Cavaliers last season. Nowadays, the Grizzlies — who have been trying to get over the hump and transform from a good, solid team to one of the great teams for number of years — are led by two star players in point guard Mike Conley Jr. and Marc center Gasol who are both over 30-years-old while the team seems to have reached it’s peak. As a result, the future of the team remains uncertain in the years to come. Interesting enough, ESPN’s Zach Lowe believes that — though Memphis needs at least one more game-changing talent — the Grizzlies are keen on delivering their first-round pick to Boston as soon as possible (heard on The Bill Simmons Podcast). “It’ll depend on how they do in the next month,” Lowe said. “They would rather get this obligation over with and give the Celtics the 10th pick in this draft then roll it over when the protections get even lighter and maybe Gasol leaves, maybe Conley is a year older.” “Memphis, according to everyone I’ve talked to, would rather just get it over with now unless they spiral so badly. ” “Unless they spiral so badly that it becomes, “oh we have a chance at a top whatever pick.” I mean they’d have to spiral a little bit more than they are currently. But I think they wanna get it over with now and just give Boston the pick. I mean look, they’re 19-24; they’re 14th in the West already. They’re not gonna get to 14th in the west, they’re there. Their next four games are absolutely brutal. It’s like Milwaukee, Boston, Toronto [and] Pelicans who are surging now that they’re healthy and playing with some urgency. If you’re 19 and 28, it’s over. You’re done. You’re not gonna make the playoffs in the west.” If this happens to be the case, the Celtics will — as expected — have another lottery pick in a deep draft. When they last had a lottery pick from another team, they capitalized and drafted sophomore forward Jayson Tatum who has quickly risen to become a star in this league. With another deep draft, the Celtics are once again in prime position to acquire another potential star this offseason. The pick could also turn into a trade asset if Boston wants to acquire a star, like Pelicans superstar center Anthony Davis, in a trade. The Celtics will have endless possibilities on what they want to do with the pick.