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Another great man is rumored to be available as the NBA trade deadline approaches.
First, it was reported that the Cavaliers were evaluating commercial interest in André Drummond. The team’s top center is seated until the team can figure out what to do with him. The Pistons do the same with their veteran striker Blake Griffin.
And now another big one would be available. According to Shams Charania of Athletic, the Houston Rockets and DeMarcus Cousins ”plan to go their separate ways in the next few days.”
Cousins, 30, is averaging 9.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game this season, but Christian Wood’s return to the roster would have pushed him into a substitute role. And with the Rockets wanting to get smaller, as Charania reports, a split makes sense.
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So, should the Celtics be interested in acquiring Cousins? On the surface, he might be a reasonable target. Danny Ainge has spoken about his desire to acquire both size and shoot in any potential acquisition from the Celtics. Cousins would provide that. He’s 6-10 and has had 33.6% of his 3-point shots this season, a solid percentage for a cross.
Cousins also has the advantage of being inexpensive from a contract point of view. The Rockets have just guaranteed Cousins a minimum contract of $ 2.65 million for the remainder of the season. By comparison, Griffin is making $ 36.6 million and Drummond $ 28.8 million this season. And none of them shoot as well as Cousins.
The Celtics wouldn’t even have to dip into their $ 28.5 Traded Player Exception (TPE) to acquire Cousins for that money. They could use the Enes Kanter trade exception or dispatch one of their many deep players to open up a spot in the roster and make the money work easily.
However, Cousins wouldn’t come without some concerns. While Cousins shoot slightly above his career average behind the arc this season, his overall shooting percentage stands at 37.6%.
This explains why its production fell even more than expected. Some regression was expected as he was recording career lows in minutes played (20.2) and utilization rate (23.1) behind Wood, but his shooting could improve.
The other thing for the Cs is that they already have a relatively crowded central room. The team started two great games with Tristan Thompson and Daniel Theis while Robert Williams also got plenty of center minutes. The line recently came to life against the Atlanta Hawks and enjoyed their best team game of the season.
Cousins could certainly fit into this rotation and would qualify as the best offensive player in this group. But how many minutes would there realistically be for him? If he doesn’t have enough guaranteed minutes, he might prefer to go elsewhere – provided he has a say in the matter. And acquiring Cousins still wouldn’t solve the Celtics’ wing depth problems.
Still, Cousins would provide the team with veteran depth and additional offense off the bench. Considering how cheap it can be, the Cs might well consider it, as adding Cousins wouldn’t stop them from adding Harrison Barnes, JJ Redick, Jerami Grant or PJ Tucker, among others, somewhere on line.
Forsberg’s latest TPE wishlist for Cs
That should be the Celtics’ plan. Even if they acquire Cousins, they will have to continue to seek other options in the trade and redemption markets.
Adding him on his own probably wouldn’t be enough to get this team over the hump.
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