Sean Grande: Celtics could become surprise buyers

[BleedGreen1989]

"Danny [Ainge is] going to have a lot of things up his sleeve," says Grande. "His phone has been ringing non-stop.”

The Celtics have been aggressive in shuffling pieces throughout the season.

"The Celtics have been almost a walking shopping cart for 54-some-odd games," says Grande. "'Look, what Brandon Bass can do. Look at Jeff Green. What can Green do for you? What can Kris Humphries do?'"

Ainge has stockpiled a large collection of draft picks, which puts him in a position to do just about anything at the deadline. Grande says that could even include something unthinkable at the beginning of the season.

"It’s not going to surprise me if the Celtics suddenly became surprise buyers at the deadline instead of sellers."

http://www.csnne.com/article/grande-celtics-could-be-surprise-buyers

“We would do a deal to make our team better and use assets to get better right away,” Ainge, who is remaining back home to work the phones this weekend, said yesterday. “And we would also move veteran players to create flexibility and get draft picks. So we could go either way right now. But right now I think it’s a feeling-out process.”

Don’t misunderstand him when he talks about improvement now. He is not looking to move the Celts a few rungs up the ladder.

“I’m not talking about getting three wins better,” the Celts’ president of basketball operations said. “I’m talking about being able to be significantly better next year.”

But, yes, he is willing to look at opportunities that would jump the C’s out of the lottery picture this year. He will not refuse if an opposing team wants to make him an offer that’s one-sided — in his favor.

“I mean, I have some deals that I would do,” Ainge said with a laugh, “but I don’t have a trading partner as of this moment.”

With the league on break for All-Star weekend, there seems to be a lot of stage-setting talk.

“Right now there’s just a lot of people trying to feel out what everybody’s trying to accomplish,” Ainge said. “A lot of it is teams wanting to find out where everybody is in case there’s a chance to do a three- or four-team, multiple-team deal, in case there isn’t something that will work with just two teams.

“But I think everybody’s still trying to figure out what are the goals of each team going forward. And some teams don’t have as clear goals as other teams have.”

The best trade talk seems to be emanating from more creative sources. The only problem is it’s not based in reality. For example, it’s been written that the Knicks would like to have Rajon Rondo and are willing to take on bad contracts and give the Celts more flexibility to do it.

But, of course, Ainge isn’t about to give up his best asset for no real major asset in return.

“I honestly haven’t paid that much attention to it,” he said. “I’ve been asked those questions before, but I don’t know anything about those rumors. It’s all a little crazy.”

[hpantazo]

Ainge always goes for the best opportunities. If everyone is selling, and it's a buyers market, then it may be best to switch sides and buy low.

[hpantazo]

I wonder who we would go for. Eric Gordon? Pau Gasol? Both?

[tyrone biggums]

IF and thats a big IF New Orleans would be willing to take Gerald Wallace then I could see Boston being interested in Gordon. I do not think its wise for them to become buyers right now as they would be competing for the chance to get blown out by Miami. They really aren't that far off from being a pretty good playoff team in the East to be honest. Sully is going to be or already is a double double threat every game. KO is looking solid, although I hope he puts on some muscle so he can survive as something other than a jump shooting big, although Dirk has made a pretty good career of it. The only player I would say screw it and buy is Melo. But the Knicks for some reason want to stay the course. The two NY teams are in the worst situation in the NBA.

[PhoSita]

I like Sean Grande, but I get the sense that a lot of the time he's speaking the company line.  Doesn't surprise me that he'd suggest the Celtics are just a move or two away from being truly competitive next season.

[BleedGreen1989]

I like Sean Grande, but I get the sense that a lot of the time he's speaking the company line.  Doesn't surprise me that he'd suggest the Celtics are just a move or two away from being truly competitive next season.

Yeah, he certainly could be speaking the company line. Hard to tell.

Also don't think he's stating anything breaking. If Ainge sees good players being sold at a discount, I'm sure he'll make a move.

[PhoSita]

To be fair to Grande, I do think it's at least plausible that Ainge could make a move or two to add Asik or Monroe and maybe somebody like Afflalo or Eric Gordon, if he really wanted to, and doing so would make the team good enough to probably be a middle playoff seed next season.


But would it really be worth doing so?  Almost certainly not.

[clover]

I like Sean Grande, but I get the sense that a lot of the time he's speaking the company line.  Doesn't surprise me that he'd suggest the Celtics are just a move or two away from being truly competitive next season.

Yeah, he certainly could be speaking the company line. Hard to tell.

Also don't think he's stating anything breaking. If Ainge sees good players being sold at a discount, I'm sure he'll make a move.

To be fair, I don't think outright saying this is exactly the company line:

"The Celtics have been almost a walking shopping cart for 54-some-odd games," says Grande. "'Look, what Brandon Bass can do. Look at Jeff Green. What can Green do for you? What can Kris Humphries do?'"

[PaulAllen]

it basically same old story for DA... we alll knew that he is always looking for trades... He did it last year calling about Cousins and this year Waiters so far... if the deal is too good to pass up he will make it..

[Who]

There isn't much top talent on the market so I am not expecting Ainge to get any big trades done now. Better chance in the summer.

I think it will be mostly complementary pieces that are in the offing. With Omer Asik being the best of the bunch.

[BleedGreen1989]

There isn't much top talent on the market so I am not expecting Ainge to get any big trades done now. Better chance in the summer.

I think it will be mostly complementary pieces that are in the offing. With Omer Asik being the best of the bunch.

Question for anybody and not just Who, but is it really "buying" if Ainge moves a Bass or Green for Asik? Or more "shuffling of pieces"?

What constitutes a GM "buying"?

[BballTim]

I like Sean Grande, but I get the sense that a lot of the time he's speaking the company line.  Doesn't surprise me that he'd suggest the Celtics are just a move or two away from being truly competitive next season.

  It's not just him though. When it looked like we were getting Asik there were plenty of posts here about how good we could be with 1 other move.

[boscel33]

I wonder who we would go for. Eric Gordon? Pau Gasol? Both?

Please not gasol.  I don't want to do anything to help the lakers in the future!

[86MaxwellSmart]

Seems like Ainge is shopping OUR 2014 Lottery Pick....the way teams are desperately tanking---Some team might call with the right offer.

[csfansince60s]

Cs could be buyers and still get a good lottery pick.

Larry Sanders is hurt, and out, I think 6 weeks. Brooke Lopez out till next year. Rose out till next year.

Also, the addition of someone like Monroe or Josh Smith, especially with the logjam at 4 really creates an unbalanced roster which will keep our lottery odds OK.

I'm sure there are other opportunities where we could be buyers and still tread water for the rest of this year.

Any ideas?

EDIT: Asik, Gallinari and Horford also come to mind.