Boston Celtics: 5 cheap replacements if Marcus Smart leaves
4. David Nwaba
Not the sexiest name on the market, David Nwaba has fought his way into the NBA nonetheless. This attitude could make him a Celtic favorite.
The 6’4″ guard logged 70 games for the Chicago Bulls last year and defensively is very reminiscent of Smart. In fact, the possess a very similar build to go along with a knack for making winning plays.
Yet, Nwaba is akin to Smart in a less appealing way as well. The restricted free agent made 18 total 3-pointers last year. Despite that, he did join an odd statistical club, as Jordan Schultz of Yahoo! Sports tweeted out:
#Bulls RFA SG David Nwaba has a barrage of interest around the league. Nwaba’s new agent is surely selling prospective teams on Nwaba being one of 9 guards in NBA who averaged over 4.4 RPG and 45% FG% (also Harden, Paul, Simmons, Holiday, Beal, Jaylen Brown, Oladipo, Butler).
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 5, 2018
Nwaba would never be able to replace the creation of Smart, something critical to the Celtics’ offensive schemes. Yet, Nwaba does just about everything else. Brad Stevens would love his off-ball movement and uncanny ability to come up with big plays.
The catch? The Celtics would need to overpay for him. Chicago could be tempted to match an offer, especially after trading away Jerian Grant, and the Cs probably do not want to dip too far into their non-taxpayer mid-level exception.