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Stein: Keep an eye on Boston

From ESPN:

The advice offered to us on Sunday was stern: Keep an eye on Boston. The Celtics possess two players in different salary ranges that would presumably fit in useful ways next to Dwight HowardJeff Green and Brandon Bass. The Celts also have a spare first-round draft pick or two to plug into any trade equation to sweeten the deal for Houston, amid rising suspicions around the league that Morey’s Rockets are going to find a way to come out of the Asik saga with at least one future first.

In the report, he also speculates upon the possibility of Millsap and wonders whether, if receiving either Thad Young or Jeff Green, Houston would be willing to pay the long term obligations due to either player with the prospect of the Chandler Parsons extension looming on the horizon.

The big key there are those Boston firsts as up to this point, we have not yet heard of a dance partner willing to part with an asset of that sort; Sam Hinkie almost definitely would not trade a draft pick.  Jeff Green has many warts, most famously documented by Grantland’s Bill Simmons.  But to date, a package of Green and a first stands as the most compelling I’ve heard thus far.  Still, its unclear whether Green would be acquired to plug into the lineup or to be moved on elsewhere before the actual deadline.  To respond to the question of some, if kept, Green almost undoubtedly would be played at the ‘4’ spot next to Chandler Parsons.  The 27-year-old is also shooting 41% from the floor.  He shot 39% last season.

Most ironic, however, is the Thunder connection.  Recall that it was Green whom the Thunder drafted 5th alongside Kevin Durant and then subsequently dealt to the Celtics to free up time for a budding James Harden.  Harden had had a disappointing rookie season and Green’s departure is widely considered to have been the impetus for his breakout.  The man Oklahoma City received in return for Green, Kendrick Perkins, was the reason–via a bloated salary–that the Thunder could not afford a Harden extension and opted to deal the shooting guard to the Rockets.  If a deal is made, it would be quite the sight to see Harden and Green, reunited, in the Houston lineup when the team visits Oklahoma City on the 29th of this month.

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About the author: Rahat Huq is a lawyer in real life and the founder and editor-in-chief of www.Red94.net.

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