Celtics ownership reportedly urged team to be buyers ahead of season-changing trade deadline

When the trade deadline was approaching in late January into early February, it didn’t look like the Celtics would be buyers.

Boston hovered around .500 for much of January and was as low as 11th in the Eastern Conference standings during that month, which meant it wasn’t even on track make the Play-In Tournament. As the Celtics stared at another disappointing season, rumors swirled that they were looking to offload salary in order to get under the luxury tax; a sign that not only would they not be buyers, but that they would also be sellers.

However, Celtics vice president of basketball operations Mike Zarren told The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach, in a story detailing the Celtics’ midseason turnaround, that owner Wyc Grousbeck wanted the team to be buyers.

“Wyc came to us and said, ‘I think this team could be really good,’” Zarren told Himmelsbach, sharing details of a January meeting involving top Celtics brass and coach Ime Udoka. “He said. ‘Let’s go for it. We’re not sellers. We’re buyers.’ And that was kind of our lodestar.”

Himmelsbach reported that Grousbeck told Udoka and Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens to not feel uneasy if Boston got off to another poor start, with the owner wanting to wait and see how the team performed.

Boston lost star Jaylen Brown for 13 games in November and December due to injury and nearly every player was sidelined at some point in December or January due to COVID-19, giving more reason for the Celtics to be patient.

Things began to turn around in late January and early February when the team won eight of nine games heading into the Feb. 10 trade deadline. During that January meeting, the organization discussed which players to build around and Udoka gave his take on what the team should pursue: outside shooting and a wing and a big who offer defensive versatility, according to Himmelsbach.

“We were losing some leads in games, and offensively stuff didn’t fit all the time,” Udoka told Himmelsbach. “How could we get a group that would really help Jayson [Tatum] and Jaylen going forward? And when [Derrick] White’s name came up, I said, ‘If possible, let’s do whatever we can to get him.’”

When deadline day came, the Celtics began it by trading two players (PJ Dozier and Bol Bol) to the Magic for a future second-round pick. They got Udoka’s man from San Antonio later, trading Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, a 2022 first-round pick that was top-four protected, and the Spurs the right to swap first-round picks in 2028. Zarren told Himmelsbach that agreeing on the pick protections was the final hurdle that needed to be cleared to complete the trade.

Dennis Schröder became the next piece to move as the trade for White made it easier to offload the point guard. The Celtics had some trouble finding the right deal though until the final minutes before the deadline, according to Himmelsbach. They eventually got one of the other things Udoka was looking for, acquiring center Daniel Theis from the Rockets for Schröder, Enes Kanter, and Bruno Fernando.

As the Celtics had the quintessential buyers’ trade deadline (trading more players than acquiring players and trading draft picks), they started to enter the league’s elite. White had an impact right away, scoring 15 points off the bench in his Celtics debut. His defense and decision-making off the bench has been credited for the Celtics’ torrid stretch, holding a league-best 20-6 record since the deadline. They’ve also held the best offensive and defensive ratings during that stretch, too.

Theis didn’t have the same immediate impact as big men Al Horford and Robert Williams controlled much of the minutes at center. But Williams went down with a torn meniscus on March 27, which led to Theis getting inserted into the starting lineup.

With Theis in the starting lineup, the Celtics’ defensive rating has only taken a slight dip (from 107.7 from post-deadline on to 109.9 with Williams out) and the offensive rating has roughly stayed the same (121.6 to 121.7). Having Theis as safety insurance helped the Celtics get the No. 2 seed going into the playoffs. And as the elite defense remains largely intact with Theis in Williams’s spot, Boston looks to have as good of a chance as any of beating Brooklyn’s superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

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