The Celtics have confirmed that their core players in Marcus Smart and Gordon Hayward are absolutely not available for any trade talks. Brian Windhorst reports via ESPN:
Boston has made it clear to anyone who has asked that their core players are absolutely not available. That includes, sources said, both Hayward and Smart, players who have been floated as possible trade chips in the past.
However, this isn’t just to speculate that the other players are available then. Brad Stevens seems very high on his core players as reported in the same article above:
“We’re just trying to play to our strengths. And our strengths are, without Gordon here, Marcus, Jaylen [Brown], Jayson [Tatum], Kemba, those are our best players,” Stevens said. “So we’re going to have them out a lot, and they’ll be out a lot together. And when Gordon’s back, all five of those guys, [there will] be four of them on the court a lot.”
That seems to be the gameplan for the Celtics as it has been working for them so far this NBA season. Through 14 games of the NBA season, the Celtics are 11-3 with no signs of slowing down. This is better than what I originally had them out, especially because they don’t have the best frontcourt. But now, it seems that the Celtics do not even need a big man to succeed.
They’re winning without a prominent big man AND Gordon Hayward, with him being out with an injury. The Celtics are going to be scary this year and might even contend for a title this year and years to come. They are not to be taken lightly. Why would they even consider messing it up? I’m just stating quotes that insiders have said, but it’s obvious they shouldn’t change anything about this team. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, am I right?
