After initially acquiring two future hall of famers prior to the 2007 season the Boston Celtics future looked bright. Then after winning the title in explosive fashion that same year, the question in Boston became "how many rings?" Unfortunately high times in Boston couldn't stick around forever, and the Celtics final piece of the big three era was officially used up by the Celtics this week with their trade involving the Cavaliers and Nets.
The trade sent two players (Tyler Zeller and Marcus Thornton) to the Boston Celtics along with a future first rounder in return for only a second round pick from Boston.
The first round draft pick acquired in trade is a terrific asset to have (especially because the Cavs tend to be bad). Not only could this first rounder be used as trade bait in a blockbuster deal, but it could also be held on to and used much farther down the road in 2019 if the team is happy where they are at and the Cavaliers are back in the basement of the Eastern Conference.
No one is surprised to see Celtics GM Danny Ainge make another trade to acquire assets, especially in light of what he did in 2007, but what threw most fans initially with the trade was just how the Celtics managed to take on millions of dollars in salary and only give a draft pick in return.
Turns out most fans forgot about the Celtics trade exemption that they acquired from the trade that sent Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry to Brooklyn last year. The trade exemption allowed them to receive up to 10.3 million dollars in salary without giving any back in return, unlike the usual trade policy in which the NBA is quite strict about salaries being similar.
This last portion of the deal with Brooklyn allowed the Celtics to acquire the two salaries from the trade today along with a first round pick in exchange for only a second rounder, leaving their entire roster and small time assets in place.
Looking at the Brooklyn deal as a whole now, the Celtics have received three first rounders in 2016, 2018 and now the conditional pick from Cleveland. Add in that the C's also have the right to swap 2017 first round picks with a Brooklyn team headed down hill and the pot is only sweetened.
It was a sad day when the remaining two of the big three was forced to exit Boston via trade. However, looking at Danny Ainge's acquisitions in the initial trade and now the Cleveland deal, it is pretty hard to argue that Ainge did not maximize the value of the three players he traded away.