Potential Trade Targets that play the 5

[nicpresta]

Hey guys I'm Nic from Australia and I've recently joined CelticsBlog after months of reading some amazing articles and I finally used some initiative by creating an account! This first article that I am posting centres ( ba dum thhs) around potential trade targets that play the center position. We currently have two players who play the 5 as their natural position, Tyler Zeller and Vitor Faverani are these fellas. The reason we need to trade for another center is because these two players can't play very great defence. Potential players would need to be relatively young and their value should not be very high, so let's rule out Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins etc. Some targets may be, Clint Capela, Larry Sanders, Rudy Gobert, Gorgui Dieng, Deandre Jordan (unlikely but oh well) or we could bring back Mutombo (very likely). The Celtics would excel with a defensive center because it would allow our guards to play tight defence knowing that they have something ready behind them.

I'd love all of these players in a Celtics uniform but we would obviously only need one. So I narrowed down our options to three guys. I was looking for defensive anchors that can also rebound very well.


Clint Capela
23.1 points per 36
18.4 rebounds per 36
8.1 blocks per 36
D league
Rudy Gobert
11.3 points per 36
11.4 rebounds per 36
3.3 blocks per 36
Gorgui Dieng
12 points per 36
10.5 rebounds per 36
1.6 blocks per

Clint Capela is a beast, yes I do know that those absurd stats were put up in the d league but they cannot go unappreciated and unseen, Capela is an absolute animal and is the presence in the key that we need. Capela is 6'11" with shoes on and is 20 years old.

Rudy Gobert is a 7'2" tower, his stats are for his play in the NBA and are very promising, Rudy is 22 years old.

Gorgui Dieng has been discussed multiple times on CelticsBlog and for good reasons, he is still young (24), is 6'11" and has been putting up very good stats per 36.

These are some players I'd really love to have in Green, please put forward some trade ideas and some constructive criticism! Cheers guys!

[Celtics18]

Hey guys I'm Nic from Australia and I've recently joined CelticsBlog after months of reading some amazing articles and I finally used some initiative by creating an account! This first article that I am posting centres ( ba dum thhs) around potential trade targets that play the center position. We currently have two players who play the 5 as their natural position, Tyler Zeller and Vitor Faverani are these fellas. The reason we need to trade for another center is because these two players can't play very great defence. Potential players would need to be relatively young and their value should not be very high, so let's rule out Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins etc. Some targets may be, Clint Capela, Larry Sanders, Rudy Gobert, Gorgui Dieng, Deandre Jordan (unlikely but oh well) or we could bring back Mutombo (very likely). The Celtics would excel with a defensive center because it would allow our guards to play tight defence knowing that they have something ready behind them.

I'd love all of these players in a Celtics uniform but we would obviously only need one. So I narrowed down our options to three guys. I was looking for defensive anchors that can also rebound very well.


Clint Capela
23.1 points per 36
18.4 rebounds per 36
8.1 blocks per 36
D league
Rudy Gobert
11.3 points per 36
11.4 rebounds per 36
3.3 blocks per 36
Gorgui Dieng
12 points per 36
10.5 rebounds per 36
1.6 blocks per

Clint Capela is a beast, yes I do know that those absurd stats were put up in the d league but they cannot go unappreciated and unseen, Capela is an absolute animal and is the presence in the key that we need. Capela is 6'11" with shoes on and is 20 years old.

Rudy Gobert is a 7'2" tower, his stats are for his play in the NBA and are very promising, Rudy is 22 years old.

Gorgui Dieng has been discussed multiple times on CelticsBlog and for good reasons, he is still young (24), is 6'11" and has been putting up very good stats per 36.

These are some players I'd really love to have in Green, please put forward some trade ideas and some constructive criticism! Cheers guys!

Nice first post.  Welcome to CB and TP!!!

I don't think you'll find much disagreement with your overall thesis. 

[greece66]

It will be very hard to get a 5 through a trade. I'm not saying it is outright impossible, but I wouldn't put my hopes too high...

[Tr1boy]

None of those guys are "available". Danny does not overpay either

Ed Davis from the lakers  is a nice above the rim player option that likely will be available by the deadline. It would prob take multiple 2nds for him

[Rosco917]

Ed Davis is just the type of rim protecter we need. He's 6-10 and really long and athletic. Best of all he went cheap to LA as a free agent. I was clamoring for DA to look at him last spring.

Keep an eye on Larry Sanders, with the Bucks, I have a feeling he's going to become available.

[thehumburger]

I like all those players as prospects but would say both Dieng and Gobert are definitely ungettable based on their potential and the Wolves and Jazz being bad and in a position to wait for youth to develop. David Thorpe just ranked Dieng as his top-rated sophomore one spot ahead of Giannis Antetoyouknow (two players drafted after the C's pick--[dang]). I wonder about Capela, though, as the Rockets are trying to win now. Will they be willing to wait a couple years for him to develop (he's very raw)? If they look to upgrade at the deadline maybe they'd be willing to move him. Anyway he was just called up so it will be interesting to see how he does if he gets any PT.

[Smitty77]

Hey guys I'm Nic from Australia and I've recently joined CelticsBlog after months of reading some amazing articles and I finally used some initiative by creating an account! This first article that I am posting centres ( ba dum thhs) around potential trade targets that play the center position. We currently have two players who play the 5 as their natural position, Tyler Zeller and Vitor Faverani are these fellas. The reason we need to trade for another center is because these two players can't play very great defence. Potential players would need to be relatively young and their value should not be very high, so let's rule out Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins etc. Some targets may be, Clint Capela, Larry Sanders, Rudy Gobert, Gorgui Dieng, Deandre Jordan (unlikely but oh well) or we could bring back Mutombo (very likely). The Celtics would excel with a defensive center because it would allow our guards to play tight defence knowing that they have something ready behind them.

I'd love all of these players in a Celtics uniform but we would obviously only need one. So I narrowed down our options to three guys. I was looking for defensive anchors that can also rebound very well.


Clint Capela
23.1 points per 36
18.4 rebounds per 36
8.1 blocks per 36
D league
Rudy Gobert
11.3 points per 36
11.4 rebounds per 36
3.3 blocks per 36
Gorgui Dieng
12 points per 36
10.5 rebounds per 36
1.6 blocks per

Clint Capela is a beast, yes I do know that those absurd stats were put up in the d league but they cannot go unappreciated and unseen, Capela is an absolute animal and is the presence in the key that we need. Capela is 6'11" with shoes on and is 20 years old.

Rudy Gobert is a 7'2" tower, his stats are for his play in the NBA and are very promising, Rudy is 22 years old.

Gorgui Dieng has been discussed multiple times on CelticsBlog and for good reasons, he is still young (24), is 6'11" and has been putting up very good stats per 36.

These are some players I'd really love to have in Green, please put forward some trade ideas and some constructive criticism! Cheers guys!

Welcome to Celticsblog!!! 

This is one reason why I really don't like the per 36 and per 48 stats.

Here are Capella's REAL stats:

http://stats.nbadleague.com/playerStats.html?PlayerID=203991

Smitty77

[Future Celtics Owner]

I've been talking about Gobert for awhile, so I'm not gonna beat a dead horse.  I really think he could at least be like our own version of Roy Hibbert.

We also have the draft. If we trade for Gobert and then we draft Towns that would make us the tallest and longest front court in the league.....also we would get a lot of blocks. This scenario is my dream.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

I want Alex Len. Just because...

I just think there's a ton of potential there.

[gpap]

None of those guys are "available". Danny does not overpay either

Ed Davis from the lakers  is a nice above the rim player option that likely will be available by the deadline. It would prob take multiple 2nds for him

This I agree with.

I know Davis is more of a 4, but I was impressed with what I saw yesterday.

And yes, we need some more athleticism in our front court.

Speaking of the Lakers, Jordan Hill would be nice too.

As for the guys originally mentioned in this thread, not sure if it's because I haven't really seen them play, but I am not really interested in any of them.

If anything, Zeller is just as good as those guys.

[gpap]

I want Alex Len. Just because...

I just think there's a ton of potential there.

But we should be looking for talent, not "potential."

As for Len, again I haven't seen enough of him to know either way.

[Celts Fan 508]

I want Alex Len. Just because...

I just think there's a ton of potential there.

He has made progress this year particularly raising his OBPM from -5.2 to -1.3, his DBPM from -.1 to 1.7, his BPM from -5.2 to .4 and his VORP from -.9 to .3 in his age 21 season.  I agree that he has a lot of potential and can impact games blocking shots, grabbing rebounds, as well as being a solid back to the basket center which would fit real well with this team.  I have no idea what it would take to get him or even if he is available but I believe he will blossom into a solid starting center.

[Future Celtics Owner]

I want Alex Len. Just because...

I just think there's a ton of potential there.

He has made progress this year particularly raising his OBPM from -5.2 to -1.3, his DBPM from -.1 to 1.7, his BPM from -5.2 to .4 and his VORP from -.9 to .3 in his age 21 season.  I agree that he has a lot of potential and can impact games blocking shots, grabbing rebounds, as well as being a solid back to the basket center which would fit real well with this team.  I have no idea what it would take to get him or even if he is available but I believe he will blossom into a solid starting center.

He seems pretty weak for a big guy...I'm gonna go look at some videos

[nicpresta]

It will be very hard to get a 5 through a trade. I'm not saying it is outright impossible, but I wouldn't put my hopes too high...

We should be hopeful, we have a ton of assets and with the right sales pitch we could easily grab one of these guys, to Houston it could be, "You guys currently have Dwight Howard, Joey Dorsey and Motiejunas that can play the 5, why keep Capela as he is crowded in this frontcourt". We need to offer things that can help them win now (quality role players)  then we can offer picks or whatever and Morey most probably will bite.

[chambers]

Hi Nic, welcome to the forums.
Where are you in Aus? I'm in Melbourne in in Elwood (near St Kilda).

TP for your trade targets.

So (to me at least) there are a 3 roads that Danny can take for us to 'fill the hole' in the key.

1) Trade for a young, improving big man like the guys you've suggested. They all appear to be rising above their fellow draftee bigs and are looking like at the very least they'll be efficient back ups like Mahinmi or Brandon Wright, with ceilings that we can only drool over for now.
 I'd say we'll look into players like this once we know what's happening with Rondo this offseason. If he stays, we probably look to get someone like this as a bench piece rather than a key contributor. If he leaves however, we'll very likely go down this road and also look to the draft as we basically start fresh. This years draft has some very nice small forwards and big men which is where we'll obviously need help. If Rondo does leave, I'd expect Ainge to try and trade up in the first round (Bradley+ Clippers pick might nab us a top 12 pick) to run a squad of something like:
PG Smart
SG James Young
SF draftee (Kelly Oubre, Justice Winslow, Stanley Johnson, Heznoja)
PF Sullinger/Olynyk
C Capela/ draftee (who I also love and wanted if we could have traded Jeff Green for a first rounder last year).

2) Draft one in our 5-10 pick range.
Okafur
Towns
Cauley Stein
Alexander
Kevin Looney
Montrezl Harrell- although he's more of a PF (which we don't really need) he's a personal favorite of mine with Clippers pick if we can move up to the 12-15 spot. He's small for center at 6'9" but 7'3" wingspan and good rim protecting ability ie Ibaka. Competes his ass off and reminds me of KG with his passion. Put him in with Marcus Smart and they'd be an insanely hardworking, mentally tough combo that can run a perfect pick and roll.
Runs the floor harder than anyone I've seen in a long time and rebounds like an animal. Almost like a better, bigger defensive version of Kenneth Faried.

3) Our most likely avenue of getting an elite defensive/rim protecting big man- trading for Roy Hibbert.
I'm not sure if we'll be able to get him this season, but I believe that Roy Hibbert is the 2nd (and most likely achievable) trade target for the Celtics. Marc Gasol is obviously #1 but Memphis are a force this year and I can't see why he'd leave that situation for the Celtics with just Rondo.

What would we give up before the deadline? It's hard to say just how badly Hibbert wants out of Indiana after the trainwreck they've been for the last 6 months. In order to get Hibbert in town and happy with Rondo and Jeff Green (and get his bird rights) before this summer, I think we'd have to sacrifice something like:
Olynyk+ Zeller +Bass+the Clippers pick.

Danny can gamble and wait till free agency and give up something slightly less for his bird rights  but I think you'd have to make an offer to really put the nail in the coffin of any chance of him going back to Indy. I can't see how he'd leave when we can:
* give him 5 years
* pair him with a passing PG in Rondo who can help him solidify his position as an All Star center and get him up over the 15-16 ppg mark.
* play with his best buddy Jeff Green
* play with a brilliant coach and franchise with a tenacious young SG in Marcus Smart.

Ultimately we run a line up of:
Rondo
Smart
Green
Sully
Hibbert

Hopefully Green's contract is very friendly and tradeable, and we can develop a nice Small Forward or two with our own pick.
The hope here is that Marcus Smart becomes an All Star shooting guard ala Dwyane Wade. In a worst case we'd hope he becomes a better version of Avery Bradley that attacks the basket AND shoots 38%+ from three. With a bit of luck, Sullinger becomes a better version of David West/Boozer in their All Star years and we have a championship contender for a solid 4 or 5 seasons depending how quickly Smart comes along.
If we had to give up Sullinger to get Hibbert, then having Olynyk as a stretch four next to him would be a very nice match up nightmare for opposing teams with two 7 footers to worry about, with one of them sitting on the three point line and driving/dishing or giving space to Hibbert and Rondo.

Smart and Hibbert would be a defensive juggernaught- we'd just need to make sure that our PF, SF and SG can all shoot a very solid clip from three with Rondo out there finding them.