Bulpett: Sorting through Celtics trade rumor season

BOSTON HERALD

Steve Bulpett Wednesday, July 13, 2016

LAS VEGAS -- When it comes to rumors, the Celtics have been hotter than Vegas in July. Here in Vegas. In July.

There should be no question by now that the Celts still believe they need to make changes to their roster before the season begins, and it has been confirmed that they are trying to accomplish this on multiple avenues -- to no avail thus far.

Sources indicate the Celtics are very much open to major moves, but, while situations certainly remain fluid and they have expressed interest in Blake Griffin and Russell Westbrook in the past, there have been no discussions regarding those players in quite some time.

For those into analytics, I can state that approximately 25 percent of my time is spent hearing really cool stories that involve the Celtics -- with 75 percent of the time devoted to tracking down how much, if any, truth there is to the 25 percent.

The benefit to driving down some of these dead-end streets is learning along the way the thinking that is driving the Celtics decisions and just how much work goes into each separate matter.

For example, one league source said he’d been told that if the Celts had been able to trade for Jimmy Butler after signing Al Horford, then Kevin Durant would have come to Boston.

The verdict after three days of research? Perhaps true, but ultimately not true.

There is strong evidence that the Celtics could have made a trade for Butler, but neither side felt what was being offered by the other was worth doing. If it had simply been a matter of getting Butler to get Durant, the C’s would have overpaid and done it.

But that’s where the story changes. According to sources close to Durant, one of the things that interested him about the Celts, as we’ve stated before, is the core that has been gathered. He was very interested in playing with a cohesive and complementary unit, which is what he is getting in Golden State.

The Celtics would have had to give up players Durant wanted to play with to make the deal. So, no, the original information from the league source didn’t pan out exactly.

Additionally, we found that pretty much everyone in the Durant sweepstakes was willing, to some extent, to let him play general manager. Clubs wanted to know if there were moves they could make to attract him.

“Everybody asked him who he wanted to play with, and I’m sure Boston did the same thing,” said one source whose team was in the hunt. “If you could make a move that would get him to sign with you, you were going to make that move. There are only so many big stars in this league. If you can get one, you do it and then you work out the other details with the roster.”

Apparently, Durant was already thinking ahead to that part, which is why he was interested in keeping some key Celts that would have had to be included to satisfy the Bulls and why he shied away from the Clippers, who would have had to gut their roster beyond Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and Griffin.

While the Celtics believed Horford was well worth acquiring on his own merits, there was no secret that Durant had expressed an affinity for the big man.

Said Isaiah Thomas of the if Butler-then Durant talk, “I didn’t hear that, but I think if we could have brought Al to the meeting, that would have made a difference.”

Then again, Danny Ainge said he believed Durant and Horford had been in contact and that KD knew Horford was picking the Celtics before the Celtics found out shortly after completing their July 2nd meeting with Durant.

But that ship has, of course, sailed. In terms of moves that are at least technically possible, it’s important to identify the requirements that would need to be met.

Considering how strongly Ainge has praised Westbrook in the past, it is logical to conclude that he wouldn’t mind having the Oklahoma City guard playing for his basketball team. But there are several hurdles between here and that.

For the Celts to give up the kind of assets it would take to get one of the most talented players in the league, they would have to be convinced he would remain in Boston beyond a 2016-17 season that is the last on his contract.

It’s similar to the Kevin Garnett situation in 2007 where he had to agree not to exercise his opt-out in 2008 and additionally agree to a three-year extension.

And in this case, there would be cap issues with a Westbrook extension at this time after the Celts have picked up the options on Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko. They would need space to do the extension -- if he was even willing to commit to Boston long term.

The Celtics have built themselves to handle this kind of situation, but as can be seen when players have the ability to move on after a year or so, there is more than one part that needs to fit.

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