Do The Celtics Have Interest Trading For Kevin Huerter?
The Celtics are underachieving and Brad Stevens is already working on shaking things up. Cam Reddish was traded by the Hawks and was eventually sent to the Knicks. Apparently, that almost didn’t happen. Stevens had an interesting trade lined up with Atlanta that included Kevin Huerter but the Hawks decided to take the Knicks offer instead.
Wrote Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer on Thursday: “Another interesting Hawks tidbit: Before Atlanta sent Reddish to New York, the Hawks and Celtics discussed a framework that would have swapped Marcus Smart for Kevin Heurter and Reddish, sources said. It’s unclear how far that dialogue progressed.”
Woah. That’s big time. We know that the Celtics value Marcus Smart. Stevens was ready to risk it all for Kevin Huerter! Should we read anything else into this? Absolutely.
The Celtics and Hawks are in semi similar situations. The Celtics are trying to find the right pieces to fit next to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Hawks are trying to do the same with Trae Young.
The Celtics need more shooting in the worst way. They don’t have a premier shooter on the roster minus Aaron Nesmith and they don’t really have any minutes for him. In a shooters league, the lack thereof in Boston has likely caused their downfall.
With Trae Young being such a poor defender, Marcus Smart does feel like a fit on paper. He’s also locked up to a pretty friendly contract. This could be something the two teams eventually revisit as we get closer to the deadline.
There is a clear shooting deficiency in Boston and Stevens has clearly earmarked Kevin Huerter as someone they are interested in. The last time there was a red head in Boston, things worked out pretty well, right? If you know, you know.
