The Boston Celtics struck a commercial deal with a deadline this season – and used part of Gordon Hayward’s huge commercial exception – to get sniper Evan Fournier out of Orlando. This is a quality choice; Fournier will be a good option in attacking the Celtics.
However, this did not interrupt the tradition of an annual negotiation deadline for the “Danny Ainge stories just missed this big negotiation”.
Every year these stories come up, sounding like your grandfather after a fishing trip, talking about the one who just ran away. This year, it was how close the Celtics came to taking Nikola Vucevic or Aaron Gordon out of Orlando. From Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe:
According to league sources, in addition to their well-documented courtship with Aaron Gordon, the Celtics were a finalist for Magic All-Star pivot Nikola Vucevic, including several choices in the first round as part of their package …
The Celtics also offered a choice in the first round and a young player to Orlando in exchange for Gordon, the sources said, and they were prepared to raise that bid, but Magic accepted Denver’s offer, which included Gary Harris Jr., RJ Hampton and a choice in the first round, before Boston had a chance.
Orlando ended up swapping Vucevic for Chicago in one of the day’s surprise deals. Magic got two choices in the first round, Wendell Carter Jr. and Otto Porter. Boston may have offered two first-round players, but what probably changed Chicago’s path was the quality of those choices – even with two All-Stars in Vucevic and Zach LaVine, at best the Bulls seem to be a second or second team. third line in the East, ending in the 6 to 9 age group in most years, and these choices are likely to fall into adolescence. Boston must be a first-rate team and should end up above the Bulls in most years, which means that their choices will be worse.
Consider all of the team’s post-term leaks about how close they were to some negotiation with a grain of salt. Every GM wants the fan base to think it’s active and trying to improve, that keeps the main fans happy.
However, in Boston, the saga “we come close to a big deal” is an annual tradition, as reliable as the Patriot Day Parade and the spectacular Boston Pop fireworks on the 4th of July.