Boston Celtics Plan to Make More Moves After Trading Avery Bradley
The Boston Celtics may have signed one of the most sought-after free agents this summer when Gordon Hayward agreed to join them. However, the cost of signing him to a max contract had been steeper than anticipated.
In an effort to free up the necessary cap space for a Hayward contract, the Celtics had to place Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart and Jae Crowder on the trading block. All three were key players who helped transform the Celtics into contenders, but one of them had to go. In the end, the Celtics traded Bradley to the Detroit Pistons for forward Marcus Morris.
A lot of fans were upset because Bradley was one of their top players, but fans will have to be patient right now because Celtics general manager Danny Ainge isn't done tinkering.
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Ainge told the Boston Herald that they are going to make more changes to the roster this offseason, and they didn't waste any time in signing center Aron Baynes to a one-year, $4.3-million deal.
Baynes should help the Celtics in the rebounding department. That's one area they really needed to upgrade this summer.
In any case, Ainge knew what he was doing when he pulled the trigger to send Bradley to Detroit.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Ainge said they decided to let go of Bradley because they have a lot of players who are capable of playing shooting guard.
"And so we were thin more at [power forward/small forward]. so from that standpoint, it sort of served two purposes at creating opportunities for some of the young guys to play, and playing a little bigger, which we feel like we needed to get with a smaller point guard [Thomas]," Ainge told the Boston Globe.
Celtics fans will miss Bradley, but it's a reasonable move because Crowder's contract is a bargain and Smart's younger than Bradley.
Morris is a solid player as well, so it's not like the Celtics are getting a bad player in return. He can play both forward positions and make shots from beyond the three-point line.
