The dumbest thing someone could do would be to assume Danny Ainge is done making moves, so what’s next? What if the Celtics trade the No. 3 pick, Tyler Zeller and Jae Crowder to the Bulls for Jimmy Butler?
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Correction: The dumbest thing someone could do would be to trade the No. 3 pick, Tyler Zeller and Jae Crowder to the Bulls for Jimmy Butler.
Think of it this way: If you polled a bunch of Celtics fans week ago asking if they’d trade the first overall pick as part of a package including Crowder for Butler, nobody would say it. But what, now that the Celtics have picked up what could be the 12th pick in the 2019 draft in order to move down two spots, they should suddenly be OK with moving their top pick for Butler? Get the heck out of town.
It’s one thing to move down because there’s someone the C’s prefer to Fultz. That way, they continue to delay their next young core’s prime until after the Cavs’ dominance ends, all while keeping the veterans that allow them to go deep into the playoffs in the present.
But if the C’s start the offseason with the first overall pick and come out of it with no young building block, one less major asset and a star player who doesn’t put them over the top in a series against the Cavs, this will have been a puzzling summer.
Then again, if the C’s add Butler and either Blake Griffin and Gordon Hayward, the C’s could actually give the Cavs a series. Is that really the goal, though?
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