Robb: Danny Ainge Trying To Consolidate Quantity For Quality On Trade Market
BOSTON (CBS) -- Depth was supposed to be a luxury for the Celtics this season.
With nine players on the roster with significant starting experience in the NBA, the bench was primed to be an area of strength once again, as the team hoped to build upon an impressive 24-12 finish last year.
With nearly a half of the regular season in the books now though, uneven play, especially from the team's second unit, has been a recurring problem for Brad Stevens.
The big man rotation has been a revolving door as Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk have been the only members within that group to provide some sense of reliability for the coaching staff. Young backcourt players such as James Young, R.J. Hunter and Terry Rozier have not made the most of their minutes, more often than not failing to produce offensively in their court time.
Overall, the roster construction has not provided enough solutions for Stevens as he juggles 10-11 players on a nightly basis to find a winning combination. Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder have both voiced their concerns about their head coach finding a set rotation more than two months into the season, but Danny Ainge had a response for their pleas on Toucher and Rich earlier this week.
"I think that we knew going into this year that we had too many players. I think that was all of the talk coming out of training camp is guys are going to have to play lesser roles in some cases, and there's a lot of jobs to be won. I think that that's what Brad is trying to figure out. The whole thing with who's in the rotation, who's not in the rotation, there's nobody who wants to identify and establish a set rotation more than Brad Stevens. That's all he thinks about.
"And so there's five, six, seven guys that have established themselves. And there's other guys that haven't. And he's trying to figure that out. And on great teams, yeah, there are consistent rotations. And on most other teams there aren't. Not because a coach doesn't want it to be that way or he's playing mad scientist. He's waiting for guys to step up and take those jobs."
With none of those options working lately in the midst of the Celtics dropping four of their last fives games overall, Ainge admitted the team is trying to trade in some of its depth for an upgrade.
"Consolidating quantity for quality right now is sort of something that we're looking to do," Ainge told Toucher and Rich Thursday. "But we like all of our players. We don't have to do anything by the trade deadline. But we're certainly busy trying to find something to upgrade our team."
The biggest problem for Boston has been on the offensive end, with the team struggling with their shooting mightily in recent contests, especially late in games. Those issues have Ainge looking specifically for some help in that department.
"I'm always looking for closers," Ainge said. "Of course you're always looking for the elite players in the league that can help you finish games because those are the hardest players to find. So yeah. And then at the same time if those things aren't available then we're looking to just upgrade and make it easier."
With over a month remaining before the trade deadline, the Celtics will have plenty of time to explore their options. After falling out of the playoff picture in the tight Eastern Conference this week, Ainge might not afford to wait too long longer to shake things up.
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter@CelticsHub.
