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Adrian Wojnarowski on M&M: Celtics ‘going to look at everything’ regarding trade possibilities 01.28.13 at 12:03 pm ET
By

Adrian Wojnarowski

Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski joined Mut & Merloni on Monday morning to weigh in on the Celtics following Rajon Rondo‘s season-ending injury.

Wojnarowski said the C’s prospects for the postseason haven’t changed that much. “This is still probably a first-round loser in the Eastern Conference playoffs,” he said.

However, the C’s could decide to make some changes to the roster. Rumors around the web have the Celtics interested in Magic sharpshooter J.J. Redick and Raptors guard Kyle Lowry. Wojnarowski said neither of those players would make much sense for the C’s, because Boston would have to give up too much — likely including first-round draft picks.

“They’re not giving away picks right now — maybe if Rondo was still around, possibly,” Wojnarowski said. “Danny [Ainge] said it to me yesterday, and it’s true: Picks are hard to come by. People don’t want to trade them anymore. … I just don’t see Boston giving away picks right now — to do what? Maybe somebody could make them better, but you’re mortgaging your future a little bit if you start giving away picks for a player who might able to help you win a couple of regular-season games and at best maybe a playoff game, if even that. I’d be surprised if Boston started to do that and gave away pieces of their future for a stopgap for the rest of the year.”

As an alternative, the Celtics could sell off a star like Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett in an attempt to rebuild.

“I think it’s possible and I think there is a chance,” Wojnarowski said. “And I talked to Ainge about this yesterday, I talked to Doc [Rivers] about it. It gets back to the fact of, you can’t just do it for the sake of doing it. People say let’s blow it up, get rid of KG, get rid of Pierce and ‘start over.’ But you’ve got to remember that you have owners who still see the place is full every night. And maybe they can get in the playoffs, and the [revenue from] playoff games. Versus dumping these guys for what might be very modest returns.

“It’s one thing when you have a Carmelo Anthony and a Dwight Howard and you do the deals Orlando and Denver did, where you got good young players, you got draft picks. … KG and Pierce are aging All-Stars in the mid- to upper 30s. People in this league anymore aren’t giving you young players and picks for those guys. So, like Danny said, tell me what the offer’s going to be. We can’t just say, hey, we’re going to ‘blow this up’ and start over. What will the offer be? Tell me what we’ll have the opportunity to do and then we’ll look at it. But you can’t just go into it and say, ‘Well, this is definitely what we’re going to do,’ because there may not be a deal out there that’s worth doing for those guys.

“But there’s no question they’re going to look at everything; they’ve been looking at everything. Danny’s not afraid to have a discussion about all his players. He’s always done it, to see what they’re value is. But I don’t think there’s any big deal out there where Boston’s going to get a great young player or one or two good first-round picks for either of those guys.”

Another rumor has Pierce going to the Grizzlies, Rudy Gay going from Memphis to the Lakers, and Pau Gasol going from Los Angeles to Boston.

“I’ve heard about that deal for days, I’ve asked about it, and I haven’t found anybody who’s given yet any credence to it. … For the Celtics, giving up Pierce to get Gasol? Obviously they have a problem in the middle, there’s no question he could help them go back to being a grinding low-post team. But it’s a lot of money for Boston to take on going forward by bringing in Gasol — two years, [$]40 million. I guess we’d have to see if ownership would be willing to take on that much money and if they think that would put them over the top. To me, that deal makes them a little different; I don’t know if it makes them significantly better.”

To hear the interview, go to the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page. For more Celtics news, visit the team page at weei.com/celtics.

Read More: Adrian Wojnarowski, Danny Ainge, J.J. Redick, Kevin Garnett Print  |  Email  |  Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Daly/100002270354596 Michael Daly

    I don’t get how anyone could think Brady and the offense don’t need the extra reps given how little rhythm they had in the Bucs game.

    • Brendan

      They do need the extra reps, but the need for reps is outweighed by the potential for injury.

      • WhaleBelly

        Brady is a football player and anytime they walk onto the field they risk injury. Brady’s risk for injury is no higher or lower in the first quarter of a preseason game, provided he is playing with the starters, than in the 3rd quarter of Game 5 in the regular season. So he should play at least a quarter or two.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/ZVFM2HRNC5CTO2OUXD4XTX65O4 Dennis

     How about they sit every starter for the 4 preseason games, so they can get a good read on the scrubeenies. Starters need “game situation” reps in order to get into a game shape rhythm.

  • Nate

     I’d hate to see him get hurt before the games count and I voted No.  Maybe he should play a quarter just to work out some kinks that exist.

  • Jzdubbz

    Please do not bring that Ostrich into Boston!

    • capitons

      its llama! 

    • capitons

      its llama! 

  • Jwol16

    Why do you direct people to the Audio On Deman page to hear an interview you have n’t posted there yet?

  • San Diego Dreamer

    Go young if we go anywhere. Pierce for Gassol no way. We owe Paul and if he’s traded I’d like to see him go somewhere he would like as in LA

  • Dpalm789

    just stick with what yuh have right now and see what it does this year, then in the off season figure out what to do depending upon what happened at the end of the season/playoffs, from a ticket buyers perspective i hope they blow it up so the tickets would be cheaper and I could actually go see a game haha

  • Shannon Cage

    One of the most ridiculous articles that I have ever read in a long time. Where is your Celtic Pride? Pierce and KG are Celtics and any talk of trading them is extremely disloyal. Does anyone remember how Ray Allen was treated? Do we need to set a trend in abandoning our stars to win a few extra games…

    • chris in syracuse

      good lord how old are you? “celtic pride?” this is a business not some high school pep rally

      • Tombookah

        Yeah but it ain’t your business so calm down, lesscoast

    • evanander

      Ray Allen should have been traded.  Supposedly the Grizzlies were ready to trade OJ Mayo for him and the Celtics backed out.  Obviously they should have done it.

    • Brent Lafond

       We arnt getting rid of our stars to win games, obviously if you get rid of them you are going to lose more games an that is the point to re-build. Its time to re-build an if they get good value in trades for the veterans, clear cap space an get a couple high lottery picks of the next two or three years an hit it big on those picks they can be a top young team in 2-3 years an back in the playoffs making big things happen. Look at OKC they had two good drafts back to back (Durant an Westbrook) an quickly became a great young team. It will take good trades, great drafting, cap space an patience but this team can back at the top in a short time.

    • Brent Lafond

       We arnt getting rid of our stars to win games, obviously if you get rid of them you are going to lose more games an that is the point to re-build. Its time to re-build an if they get good value in trades for the veterans, clear cap space an get a couple high lottery picks of the next two or three years an hit it big on those picks they can be a top young team in 2-3 years an back in the playoffs making big things happen. Look at OKC they had two good drafts back to back (Durant an Westbrook) an quickly became a great young team. It will take good trades, great drafting, cap space an patience but this team can back at the top in a short time.

  • Chrisgator

    To me, Pierce for Gasol makes sense if you are gonna pair him with Garnett for this year and next year. Otherwise Pierce for Gay is a better long term deal. But Gays contract is huge and I cant see them going that far over the tax limit. To be honest not a lot of options out there. I could see the lakers being most interested in PP but how?

  • Whoknowsanymore

    LOL………… Why take Gasol? If I were the Celtics I would try to trade Pierce for Rudy Gay and the hell with the Lakers.

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