Getty Hamidou Diallo, Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics will enter the new season armed with a $5.6 million trade exception, which they could potentially use to add an additional veteran to their rotation before the trade deadline.
Of course, identifying a player who can improve your roster, and being able to acquire them via trade are not easy things to do. However, according to Heavy.com’s Sean Deveny, Boston does have multiple options available to them, should they choose to explore them.
The Boston Celtics could target Justise Winslow with one of their trade exceptions, per @SeanDeveney
In Deveny’s August 23 article, he spoke with multiple assistant coaches from around the league, in a bid to get a firmer grasp on which players the Celtics could potentially hold interest in trading for. Hamidou Diallo was a name that got discussed, although he was listed among the ‘wishful thinking category’ – but given his reasonable $5.2 million salary, he does fit the bill as a potential trade target.
“He’s a really good finisher at the rim, he’s very good with the ball in his hands on the attack but he is mistake-prone though he seemed to clean that up a little last year. Same with his defense—you always want him to be better defensively than he is, but he has pretty good tools, he is good on-ball and he might get there as a guy who can help. Can’t shoot, though, and four years in, I am not sure he’s going to fix that.
He’s young (24) and I don’t think the Pistons are really looking to give him up but he’ll be a free agent and they need shooters, so maybe he can be had if they decide to give up on him mid-season,” The assistant coach told Deveney.
Diallo participated in 58 regular-season games for the Detroit Pistons last season, starting 29 of them, and averaged 11 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 55% from two and 24.7% from deep.
Could Diallo Improve The Celtics?
Last season, Diallo split his playing time between the shooting guard and small forward positions, operating as a slasher for the Pistons. That’s where the biggest concern will be – Diallo’s lack of perimeter offense, you see, he may only be 24 years old, but the New York native is shooting 27.7% from deep in his career – which is difficult to swallow for a wing player.
Where’s Hamidou Diallo when you need him
Of course, Diallo’s offensive upside comes when he gets around the rim, with the explosive youngster converting 65% of his looks around the rim along with 43% of his mid-range attempts – most of which are floaters. Interestingly, Diallo ranked in the top 9% of wings in terms of shots at the rim, but in the bottom, 2% for three-point attempts – meaning his presence on the floor could seriously impact a team’s spacing.
Defensively, Diallo has all the tools necessary to be a reliable presence guarding the perimeter and has shown upside in this area, and it’s worth noting that the Pistons were 1.7 points per 100 possessions worse without him on the floor.
Stevens Speaks on Jaylen Brown’s Mindset
Beyond a potential need to find some additional role players, the Celtics also need to ensure Jaylen Brown remains happy with his current situation in Boston after finding himself linked in trade rumors for Kevin Durant.
Luckily, those rumors were put to bed on August 22, when news broke that Durant and the Nets had re-committed to each other moving forward – but that doesn’t necessarily stop Brown from feeling slighted.
In an August 22 appearance on WEEI where he spoke to Merloni, Fauria, and Mego, Brad Stevens spoke about Brown’s current mindset and how he’s prepared to get to work once the new season gets underway.
Brad Stevens on @WEEI today said he sat down with Jaylen Brown in LA last week. Noted how you have to be able to have “have candid and transparent communications” with players in rumors.
(Brad also noted Jaylen didn’t ask him to partake in those crazy underwater workouts 😂)
“I think one of the things you have to be able to do is ignore the noise and know what’s important. Also, be able to reach out and have candid and transparent communications with the people involved. We’ve had those and been very open from the get-go as all of this has been going on for any of our guys. I sat down with Jaylen last week in LA. He looked great, and he will be back to Boston soon,” Stevens said.
Hopefully, Brown and Jayson Tatum can hit the ground running and give the Celtics a solid platform to build off in the latter half of the season – and if they can do that, there might not even be a need to venture into the trade market at all.