The Boston Celtics appear to be seeking more depth at forward, based on a pair of new free-agent workouts.
According to NBA insider Shams Charania, the Celtics are hosting forwards T.J. Warren and Lamar Stevens for workouts. Charania noted that the C’s have multiple open spots on their roster, so they could feasibly sign both.
Dec. 15, 2018; Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Suns forward TJ Warren against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Footprint Center. (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)
Warren, 29, split his time between the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets in the 2022-23 season. He averaged 7.5 points per game in a bench role.
It’s been a rough few years for Warren on the health front. He suffered a stress fracture in his foot late in 2020 that forced him to miss most of the 2020-21 season, then all of 2021-22. Between his last game with the Indiana Pacers and debut with the Nets, Warren missed almost two calendar years of action.
NEW YORK CITY: T.J. Warren of the Brooklyn Nets looks to shoot the ball against Moses Moody of the Golden State Warriors during a game at Barclays Center on Dec. 21, 2022. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Before Warren’s recent injury woes, he had established himself as a legitimate wing scoring option with the Pacers. From 2016-20, Warren averaged 17.9 points per game over four seasons, while shooting 50.9 percent from the field.
The C’s have long been searching for answers as far as wing scoring off the bench behind Jayson Tatum. They signed veteran sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari last offseason, but a torn ACL kept him out for the entire 2022-23 season and he ended up part of the trade that brought Kristaps Porzingis to Boston.
If Warren can finally put his foot issues behind him and regain something close to his Indiana form, he’d have a chance to be that bench wing scorer that Brad Stevens has been digging for in recent years.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Lamar Stevens of the Cleveland Cavaliers rebounds the ball against the Chicago Bulls during a game at United Center on Dec. 31, 2022. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Stevens, meanwhile, is more of a defensive specialist. In 62 games (25 starts) with the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, he posted a defensive rating of 111, which ranked 10th in the NBA among small forwards (via Basketball-Reference.com).
Since the Celtics still have more than one spot to fill on the roster, it wouldn’t be surprising if they ended up signing both Warren and Stevens. Warren, in particular, would be intriguing, based on his scoring pedigree.
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Danny Ainge spills beans on a franchise-altering near-trade for Celtics
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JULY 17: Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge reacts during a press conference introducing Kemba Walker (not pictured) and Enes Kanter (not pictured) at the Auerbach Center at New Balance World Headquarters on July 17, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Tim Bradbury/Getty Images)
“Red [Auerbach] once told me when I first got the job in Boston, he said, ‘Some of the best trades I ever made were the ones I wasn’t able to make,'” Ainge said when asked about any notable trade that didn’t come to be in Boston.“There was a time when I was trying to get Jimmy Butler from Chicago when I was in Boston, but [the Bulls] wanted a lot, so we didn’t do it.”
A Bull from 2011 through 2017, the trade rumors involving the 6-foot-7 wing during his time in Chicago seemed to hit a fever pitch during the 2016 NBA Draft, when Butler was considered an almost certainty to be moved.
The Celtics, who at that point still possessed an absolute ton of assets and in possession of the No. 3 overall pick in that year’s draft, were one of the more popular teams bandied about during that time.
So, what was the ask from the Bulls that made Ainge & Co. pivot off a player they loved?
“And it ended up [that] it would’ve been Jaylen [Brown] and Jayson [Tatum]. Both those draft picks that we got Jaylen and Jayson with,” Ainge revealed. “Like, I loved Jimmy and I was trying to get him. Could’ve drafted Jimmy late [in 2011]. I liked him even then, but like now he had proven how good of a player he was.
“So yeah, that was probably one.”
MIAMI, FLORIDA – MAY 17: Jaylen Brown #7 of the Celtics and Jimmy Butler #22 of the Heat look on during the third quarter in Game One of the 2022 NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference Finals at FTX Arena on May 17, 2022. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Heavy price tag and all, it’s a move that Celtics fans appeared to want at the time (though they likely didn’t know the complete asking price), as the selection of Brown with the No. 3 overall pick was booed by those in attendance at the team’s draft watch party. The Celtics also booed the Guerschon Yabusele and Ante Zizic selections that came 13 and 20 picks later respectively (can’t blame ’em there, as time proved).
Brown, for what it’s worth, has remembered the booing of his selection over half a decade later.
“They booed me,” Brown recalled in an interview with Slam Magazine’s Deyscha Smith earlier this year. “Wyc [Grousbeck] was calling my name and he’s up there saying, ‘Jaylen, he’s gonna be one of the best players the city has ever seen. He’s up there, like defending the pitch. We’re sticking with it, y’all get over it. This is who we’re going with.’”
Whether or not the Celtics were booing Brown himself or the fact that the Celtics didn’t move the pick for what would be considered more of a ‘win-now’ piece remains up for debate.
MIAMI, FLORIDA – MAY 17: Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat talks with Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics during the third quarter in Game One of the 2022 NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference Finals at FTX Arena on May 17, 2022. (Eric Espada/Getty Images)
But the fact that the Celtics didn’t move all of that for Butler remains one of the greater what-ifs throughout Ainge’s run with the Celtics, especially when looking at Chicago’s insistence that the C’s included both the Brown and Tatum pick, both of which were acquired via the Celtics’ swindling of the Nets for Garnett and Paul Pierce.
That’s also without getting into what else would’ve had to be thrown in on the part of the Celtics to complete the deal, which almost certainly would’ve been more than two draft picks given the NBA’s trade structure.
Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat is defended by Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics during Game 6 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
What’s interesting is that the Celtics did ultimately decide to part with some of the assets Stewart mentioned in his 2016 scoop on the Bulls-Celtics talks, but they used ’em to acquire Kyrie Irving from the Cavaliers and Marcus Morris from the Pistons in 2017.
Would a Kyrie-Butler-Horford trio been enough for Kyrie to want to stay with the Celtics (it was once rumored that Butler and Kyrie had interest in a potential team-up together somewhere in the East), and more importantly, would it have been enough for the Celtics to ultimately win a championship?
That, like all hypotheticals, is a complete unknown.
But Ainge and the Celtics’ genius behind opting not to move the 2017 Brooklyn pick honestly goes without saying.
With that pick, the Celtics got a legitimate superstar in Jayson Tatum. And there’s no denying that Tatum has a greater ceiling than Butler, and that the Celtics’ window to win a championship is greater with Brown and Tatum than it would’ve been with Butler and (insert other big pieces here).
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – MAY 29: Jimmy Butler #22 of the Heat dribbles against Jaylen Brown #7 of the Celtics during the third quarter in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden on May 29, 2023. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Of course, there’s tremendous irony in Brown and Tatum nearly being traded for a player they’ve gone head-to-head against in three of the last four Eastern Conference Finals (and with Butler’s heat emerging victorious in two of those three playoff meetings), but this remains a clear-as-day win for the Celtics.
When the Bulls ultimately decided to move Butler, it was to Minnesota and in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and the rights to Lauri Markanen. 17 months later, Butler was on the move again, this time to Philadelphia and in exchange for Jerryd Bayless, Rob Covington, Dario Saric, and a second-round pick. As the trade returns dwindled in terms of high-ceiling impact, and as Butler ultimately decided to walk to Miami via free agency, there’s no denying that gifting Chicago two franchise cornerstones for Butler would’ve aged like milk for Ainge’s club.
Maybe Red was onto something.
