The Boston Celtics brokered two of the 2023 NBA offseason’s biggest blockbusters.
They may not be done dealing just yet.
While their starting lineup is stacked with Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziลฤฃis now alongside Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, their roster is a little top-heavy.
Their lack of depth obviously hasn’t been much of an issue to this point, but that could be a different story come playoff time.
Unless, of course, the Shamrocks take action during trade season to address this deficiency.
And it sounds like that’s exactly what they have in mind, asย Shams Charaniaย of The Athletic and Stadium relayed an expectation of the Celtics being “active in the trade market … to try to see if they can beef up their bench rotation.”
Before Reggie Bullock signed with the Houston Rockets in early October, the Celtics were reportedly one of the teams that had interest in him, per HoopsHype’sย Michael Scotto.
If they were already drawn to Bullock’s established skill set, it’s hard to imagine they’ll let the choppy start to his Space City tenure turn them away.
They’re far more likely to trust his nearly decade-long run of solid three-and-D play. His 6’6″, 205-pound frame allows him to cycle through multiple defensive assignments without missing a beat.
And while his three-ball might be running cold right now, it’s barely made a dent in his sizzling 38.4 percent career success rate.
If the Celtics guessed right on his bounce-back potential, this could be one of the rare opportunities in the modern NBA to snag a three-and-D wing for cheap.
While the Celtics are surely thrilled with what they’ve gotten out of Luke Kornetโnamely, his 78.4 field-goal percentage andย 2.3 blocksย per 36 minutes, per Basketball-Referenceโthey might still have some hesitations about fully entrusting him with their third-big-man role.
That may sound like a niche role, but it potentially looms large given the question marks surrounding Boston’s top two bigs.
Porziลฤฃis is once again struggling to stay healthy, while Al Horford’s 37th birthday keeps moving further into the rearview mirror.
If the Celtics are at all concerned about their interior collection, they could find a cost-effective depth piece in Andre Drummond.
The Chicago Bulls seem primed for a fire sale, and it’s tough to see how that wouldn’t involve a Drummond deal, given that he’s a 30-year-old backup on an expiring deal.
His strengths and weaknesses seem pretty cemented at this point, meaning Boston shouldn’t expect anything of note from him on the perimeter but should anticipate plenty of activity around the restricted area.
He is a steady scorer at the rim and a relentless rebounder, and while he’s never been the shot-blocker that his build and bounce suggest he should be, he can still cause chaos as a sneaky-strong steals source with quicker hands than you’d expect.