The Boston Celtics may be prepping for a multi-player trade, DeMarcus Cousins rumors abound
After Jarvis Varnado and Kris Joseph were waived Sunday evening, CSNNE.com’s A. Sherrod Blakely reported that the Celtics may be prepping for a trade, or at least the possibility of one:
Two league sources contacted on Sunday said that the Celtics will look to bolster their roster via a multi-player trade.
And now that the C’s are starting to play better, the C’s will have more attractive trading pieces to work with.
While it’s unlikely the Celtics will look to move any member of their big Three – Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett – league sources confirmed that there’s “growing” interest in Courtney Lee who might become more expendable with the return of Avery Bradley.
Brandon Bass is another possible Celtic on the move, one league source said.
“But it’s not like the Celtics are shopping those guys,” the second source said. “They have some good players who haven’t played as well I think as those players would want or what the Celtics expected.”
With the Celtics just starting to play well it seems unlikely anything is imminent, Green and Bass aren’t even eligible to be traded until the 15th (and Barbosa isn’t eligible until the 18th in case you were wondering). The Celtics aren’t likely to try and trade Rondo, Pierce, or Garnett and will probably try and hold on to Bradley and Sullinger if they can. We know Ainge isn’t afraid to shake things up though, so if the right deal comes along he won’t hesitate to pull the trigger. The Celtics have cut a small bit of salary and positioned themselves to take in extra players if the need arises. And of course DeMarcus Cousins’ name came up again, but Sam Amick put an end to that:
While the Celtics are certainly interested in Cousins, I don’t see why the Kings would make this move unless they’re getting Rondo in the process. The Celtics have a plethora of expendable assets at shooting guard, but that’s an area where the Kings are already over-saturated. Sacramento doesn’t have a lot of horrible contracts to dump either, and without one of those it would be difficult to build a trade around Cousins’ 3.8 million dollar salary. If the Kings aren’t looking to sell it’s as simple as that, but if they change their mind I have no doubt that Danny will be picking up the phone. He just might not find the deal he’s looking for.
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Celtics Blog | Jordan Higgs | January 7, 2013
this team needs a change, but doesn’t need a dismantling. Ainge is bold and willing to take risks (that not always pay dividends, alas) but he’s not stupid. The assets the Cs can do without are one between Bass and Sully, and one between Lee and Jet. Green, as a bust as he’s been, is hardly replaceable since he’s PP only backup. And his 4years-9mil/year contract doesn’t make him very palatable, either. The worst case scenario sees Sully and Lee out of the picture (both young and with reasonable contracts), the best involves Bass and Jet. I think Bass and Lee would be acceptable for a pretty decent big man. Definitely not Cousins, though, unless the Kings are totally nuts.
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This team is 2-4 in the past 6 games. It remains to be seen if they have turned the corner although I hope they have. I would draw a hardline with any available to be shipped out of town. No room for soft to quote my man KG. Really this team has too many small guards and not enough varied position at F/C. Forget this crap ”we have to keep up with the Heat”. We have to STOP any team that mounts a challenge.
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Yep. Other teams should worry to keep up with the Cs
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I have a new theory… I think the Celtics are trying to trade Green to the Grizzlies for Rudy Gay so they can send Gay to the Kings and in return we get Cousins. The salaries don’t match so other pieces would need to be included but I’m guessing that’s basically the deal.
The Grizzlies need to save money and getting rid of Gay makes sense. Green is a less expensive forward so maybe that would make sense to them.
The Kings want a forward and might decide to let Cousins go if they can get someone like Gay.
The Celtics get Cousins.
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I live in SAC and the Maloofs will not trade Cousins unless they get a young, proven stud lottery pick like Griffin. Rudy Gay is not that player. You don’t understand their thinking and all this speculation and rumor is worthless. Go Cs…
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Of course it’s just speculation and rumor, I said I was just guessing… Though I disagree about it being worthless because it’s fun to speculate and after all isn’t that what it’s all about, having fun?
Anyhow I agree, Rudy Gay isn’t what Cousins might eventually become (big what if there) but maybe Gay and an additional player(s) within the trade would persuade the Maloofs to pull the trigger or they might even be able to shed some unwanted contracts… Who knows…
By the way, at this point they couldn’t get anyone even close to Griffin for Cousins, even with all of his upside Cousins has proven to be way too inconsistent and troublesome.
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Of course they couldn’t get a player of Griffin’s quality, but that’s what they would want. Cousins’ stats are actually up this year to 17/10 so I don’t know where you see inconsistency? He has maturity issues and those certainly are inconsistent. Go Cs…
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All this speculation is pie in the sky now that it looks like the Maloofs are about to sell the team and it’s going to Seattle (my condolences to Sacramento). I think this might help with a trade because I doubt the new ownership and new town would want to deal with a troublesome player.
Actually his stats are down a little from last year, yes he’s currently 17/10 but last year he was 18/11. By inconsistency I mean recent games like he had against Memphis when he had 10/8 but versus Toronto he had 31/20. With his skill set, size, and the fact that the Kings aren’t very good, his stats should be overflowing.
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When the Kings leave, which I fully expect as the Maloofs are major A-Holes, then I really, really don’t believe Cousins will be going anywhere as the first to go will be the GM, coach and staff. The new environment with a new coach will allow for a fresh start and if I was the new owner I would build around Cousins and Tyreke. I would keep Thompson, Thomas, Thorton, Robinson and Fredette and can everyone else. Then hit FA and get another good draft pick and then they’re in business growing a solid young nucleus much like OKC has done. I got my stats from ESPN, but the inconsistency you mention is due to coaching not Cousins talent. Go Cs…
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It’ll be interesting to see what new ownership decides to do with Cousins but I think it makes sense to get rid of him now and replace him with a good citizen, he’s just too immature to build around.
The whole thing is so weird, it seems like just yesterday the Maloofs were the toast of Sacramento and the NBA. The fans were energized, the team was competing for championships and everything was going in the right direction but now all that is gone and the Maloofs are scorned. What happened?
By the way, it’s time for you to get a new pair of glasses, I also got my stats from ESPN, currently 17/10 and last year 18/11.
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No glasses – I just compared his ‘career’ stats to this year and did not look at his full stat line, which shows you are correct. As far as the Maloofs are concerned they were ‘loved’ many years ago. They have jacked the fans and city around to the point where they are hated. They’ve blown through most of their outside money including ownership of the Palms. The people of Sac have suffered enough and now it’s up to Kevin Johnson to bring in local money, which he is already doing. The Maloofs will make more selling locally, but owe Sac $90MM on a loan and supposedly $150MM to the NBA. The reason it would be better to stay is the relocation fee will be close to another $150MM. That’s $390MM of the current $500MM Seattle is pitching. Go Cs…
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Thanks for the info, it’s just sad. It’s sad for the people of Sacramento and all the NBA fans. It would be nice for Seattle to get back a team because of what happened to them but it’s an ugly situation.
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