Boston Celtics: Pass or pursue on these 5 NBA trade deadline rumors
Pass or pursue: Nemanja Bjelica, PF, Sacramento Kings
In the modern NBA, a team has to find shooting from as many positions as possible. Without spacing, NBA offenses are smothered into contested shots and turnovers. The Celtics, in large part due to injury and in other part roster construction, have played a significant amount of time with two non-shooting big men on the court at the same time.
That has included 29 starts for Tristan Thompson, who is 0-3 on 3-pointers this season. Grant Williams has soaked up the reserve minutes, and he is a career 32.1 percent shooter from deep who isn’t closely guarded even when he’s hitting shots. Burly combo forward Semi Ojeleye, while shooting 38.3 percent from deep, has been pushed to the 3 while head coach Brad Stevens has trotted out a variety of big men.
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The Celtics need another option, and the Sacramento Kings have one to offer in sharpshooting power forward Nemanja Bjelica. He has appeared in just 19 games for a Kings team in decline, averaging 18 minutes per game. He is fresh and underutilized on the Kings, but he could make a significant impact on the Celtics.
Bjelica is a career 39 percent shooter from 3-point range, entirely unafraid to bomb away from even a few steps behind the 3-point line. He would give the Celtics’ offense a new dimension immediately. The other benefit is that he would not cost very much, both in terms of assets needed to send to the Kings and financial cost. Making just $7.15 million, the Celtics could absorb his salary using only part of the trade exception, or even trade a player or two and retain the entire exception.
The problem is that the Celtics only have so many assets, and they need to find a player who can finish games for them in the playoffs. Bjelica is a very limited defender, and teams such as the Milwaukee Bucks or Brooklyn Nets would destroy a weak spot in the lineup, especially if he and the diminutive Kemba Walker tried to close games together. At a low cost he could be helpful, but the Celtics probably need to go big-game hunting with this spot.
Verdict: Pass