Blinksportsnews247There’s still a slot available on the Celtics roster. Scal and Chris Forsberg talk about potential buyout candidates that the Celtics should target.
Jaden Springer was acquired by the Boston Celtics from the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday afternoon during the trade deadline, helping them to fulfill their objective of increasing their bench depth.
With Springer selected with the 28th overall choice in the 2021 NBA Draft, Boston now has additional guard depth off the bench. Despite his lackluster scoring average of just 4.0 points per game this season, according to his numbers, he excels at defense, which is fellow C’s guard Payton Pritchard’s greatest weakness.
Social media users for the Sixers were eager to voice their displeasure with the move. Springer was selected by Philadelphia with a first-round pick, and the franchise saw him develop into a good talent. Although fans were disappointed to only receive a second-round selection in exchange, Daryl Morey, the president of basketball operations for the 76ers, stands by his choice and even goes so far as to say that the deal was successful for Philadelphia.
When questioned by the media about the deal, Morey defended it by saying, “I feel like in the phase of our team, we want things that help us on the court now with Joel [Embiid].” “That was a pick that generally we’d rather push into the future — and almost all these later picks — or if we do end up picking someone, we feel like they will either help us on the court or end up in something like this, where you’re retaining the ability to use them to go get a Buddy Hield.”
According to Morey’s statement, it appears that Springer wasn’t considered an essential member of the Sixers, a club that has a history of winning during the regular season but losing in the postseason. Morey now has a second-round selection at his disposal, which may be seen as an easier item to include into a deal than a player, in place of a young, promising first-round choice. This should enable him make more moves in the future to bring in someone who can make more of an instant effect. Sadly, the deadline has past, therefore Morey and the Sixers will now have to postpone the planned deal to acquire a player who can start right away.
“The Jaden [trade] was successful in my opinion,” Morey continued. “I’m totally fine if people want to write the opposite, but if you take any look at late-first or end of the second round [players], 85 percent of those players can’t be traded, aren’t helping their team on the floor, and can’t be traded for positive value that helps you get another player — Jaden did that. I have to keep my focus on the playoff team now, so that’s our focus.”
The Sixers did not exchange their second-round selection for Boston, so it’s not apparent how this move improves Philadelphia’s postseason chances. They did, however, execute a different deal in order to get Hield, who, although playing little for the Indiana Pacers this season, is presently 15th in the NBA in 3-pointers made. However, this move has nothing to do with Morey’s justification of the Springer trade.
In the end, it appears that Morey flipped Springer for whatever he could get since he didn’t think the player would help the Sixers win a championship this season. Boston’s depth allows Springer to continue growing and learning from some of the best players in the game while yet being utilized sparingly in situations when his defensive abilities can be fully utilized.
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