Report: Celtics Possible Destination For Goran Dragic
By DJ Smith
ESPN.com: ESPN sources say Celtics emerging as contender on the outside for Goran Dragic in trade with Phoenix. Celtics have the assets to jump into Dragic talks and, like Houston and Sacramento, also have the guts to trade for a free agent-to-be. Don’t forget Celtics [president of basketball operations] Danny Ainge and Suns GM Ryan McDonough have strong working relationship and have already done a deal this season.
According to Marc Stein who first broke the story on Twitter, the Celtics and Danny Ainge are in serious talks in regards to landing SG Goran Dragic. The report outlines that the Suns are looking to trade Dragic before the Thursday 3:00pm deadline because according to all accounts he will not come back to Phoenix when his contract expires at the end of this season.
I like the potential move to bring Dragic to Boston, as I’ve discussed on the C&C Podcast last week I think the Celtics would be better off trying to go for the 8th seed than they would tanking the rest of the season. Based off of everything that happened last year when they tried to tank and ultimately landing the 6th overall pick. So living in a city where we expect success and playoff births, I would like to see the Celtics make a push for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference and even if they get bounced by the Hawks in the first round it will give some of their younger stars like Marcus Smart and Kelly Olynyk a chance to experience the NBA Playoffs.
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Bringing in Goran Dragic to the Celtics would give them a solid scorer in their starting five, this season he has averaged 16 PPG along with 4 APG and almost 4 RPG. So while he won’t be leading the league with those stats, he would be a welcome addition to the Celtics. Now what would it take to land Dragic? The Celtics have a slew of draft picks in the next few years, thanks to trades they’ve made in the past but you’d have to think that Phoenix would be looking to add at least one player to potentially replace Dragic. Certainly you can throw Brandon Bass in the mix of players that could leave Boston for Dragic, also Tayshaun Prince and Marcus Thornton are two names also being floated as potential players to leave Boston.
With the trade deadline set for 3:00pm Thursday, the next 20 hours should be interesting to see if Dragic is moved and if the Celtics are able to land the Suns star. As always make sure to keep it locked into ChowderAndChampions.com for all the latest NBA Trade Rumors as the deadline approaches.