The Boston Celtics are now making their move after the DeMarcus Cousins news rocked the NBA trade rumor mill.
Team president Danny Ainge was criticized for letting Boogie slip away especially since the latter was named as the Celtics' ultimate target. Also, because the return that got the New Orleans Pelicans a top 15 player in the league was so paltry, the Celtics could have easily outbid it.
The deal is done, Cousins has bid his goodbyes to the city of Sacramento and the question on everyone's mind is whether it was a mistake for Ainge to watch all this happen and not flip their assets. CBS Boston writer Brian Robb seeks to answer the question.
"For Danny Ainge, I think the situation largely comes down to his ability to be picky with his next major move." Is Cousins the best prospect to flip their major assets for? While the talent it unquestionable, Boogie is hardly a model citizen. He has the most technical fouls this season and he has had three coaches fired. To say that Boston likes Brad Stevens is an understatement.
"There's no doubt that this team needs to make a move at some point to cash in those assets, but was Cousins the right player to do it on? Perhaps in a world where the Celtics lacked other appealing options they would have pushed harder for Cousins, but that's not the case here," Robb said.
Before the Cousins trade sprung out, the top rumor was the Boston Celtics pursuit of Jimmy Butler, the Chicago Bulls' franchise player. While we will discuss a new rumor, that pursuit has not ended. Nothing final has been announced and there are still a couple of days before the deadline.
Ainge wants to display his diligence and now it is revealed by Zach Lowe of ESPN that he is targeting another star: Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers.
"They have talked intermittently with the Clippers about Blake Griffin in recent weeks, per several league sources," Lowe said. But there are obstacles: "Griffin will be a free agent this summer, and Boston would probably need official permission to talk to him about his future -- a concession Minnesota allowed Cleveland before the Kevin Love trade. The Clips would ask for a bounty, starting with Jae Crowder and one of the Avery Bradley/Marcus Smart duo, plus picks, per league sources."
There must be an overlap of assets between the pursuit of Blake Griffin and Jimmy Butler, hence they will only get one of them at most. It could also be a ploy for the Celtics to push the Bulls and trade Butler. The Chicago brass is known to stall talks until the last minute.