Brad Stevens' trade deadine expertly plays the margins after a summer of going big

If you want to get a good sense of how a trade went, go ask fans of the other team. So I rolled on over to LibertyBallers.com to see how Sixers fans felt watching Jaden Springer get moved to a rival. 

“He hasn’t figured his jump shot out, but I sure bet the Celtics will find a way to make it work,” author Sean Kennedy wrote. “I’m already breaking into hives thinking about having to watch Springer clamp down on (Tyrese) Maxey at least four times a year for the next half-decade.”

So they're handling things well. 

Springer arrives in Boston as part of a long-term play for Brad Stevens. Sure, the Celtics think he can replicate some of the amazing defense he showed off against Steph Curry and Luka Doncic in recent starts with Philadelphia, but his youth gives him a long runway for growth in Boston.

“He's still a puppy. He's still 21 years old,” Stevens told the media Friday morning. “He was unbelievable in the G-League playoffs last year. He's done a lot of good things against us when he's been up in Maine. We've seen him live several times up there. He's a guy we've been tracking for a while."

In some ways, we should consider Springer a guy Boston drafted and outsourced the development to Philly. He was the G League’s Finals MVP last season, which is notable in that while it’s against lesser competition, it’s still a standout performance in an elimination situation. He has played 472 NBA minutes over three seasons, most of them this year, with great defensive success but some struggles offensively.

He’s only shooting 39% from the field and 21.6% from deep, but his 82.4% from the line suggests there is hope for fixing what ails him on his jump shots. The Celtics should have plenty of time to work on that with him. 

“We just have to look at where are we – how can we maybe try to do things that could maybe help us improve by the margins now, but also give us a chance as to hit on guys later that we otherwise can’t get,” Stevens said. “In the draft that Springer went in, I think we had the 45th pick, the next year we had the 53rd pick. Again, even this year we had a late first-rounder, or whatever that Dallas second becomes, we’re going to be talking guys, in a lot of cases, that are older than the guy that we just traded for that’s a third-year pro.”

The Celtics didn’t do anything to avoid the new obstacle now in front of expensive teams, the dreaded second apron. If Boston finishes next season over the second apron, which they almost certainly will, their 2032 draft pick will be frozen and un-tradeable. It might not seem like much, but teams have to get under the second apron for three out of four seasons to unfreeze a pick. 

Brad Stevens better like this team, because getting out of it will be painful. 

“The ability to make trades is tougher, and it's tougher in a lot of ways,” Stevens said. “The ability to aggregate contracts and those type of things are all things that you have to consider. You can't send cash out in deals if you're a second apron team after this year. So there's a lot to consider and everything we've done has at least an eye towards what those things that we'll have to balance are moving forward.”

That's why Stevens made moves for Springer and Xavier Tillman. These are affordable players who can not only potentially make an impact now, but be around for the long term on reasonable money. Tillman enters free agency this summer, and Boston can re-sign him to whatever contract they want because they acquired his Bird Rights as part of the trade (that happens automatically in trades). Springer is under contract for one more season at $4 million before becoming a restricted free agent. 

“I think when you're in a position like we are or some of the other teams that have been playing well throughout the year, and with these different basketball penalties with the second apron, there's not much that you can do,” Stevens said. “For us, it is about how do we balance fortifying ourself this year to give ourselves our best chance this year and also give ourselves options moving into he future because we're going to be limited in what we can do.”

Stevens was never going to get any of the big-money guys mentioned in recent rumors. It was always too restrictive. He had to find the right balance of current help, which he found in Tillman, and the high-upside guy, which he found in Springer. Tillman can slide into a role right away with the Celtics, and maybe work on building that role as the season rolls on. 

“(He brings) toughness, he can pass, skilled, high IQ, obviously a good defender in pick-and-roll. I’m excited to have him,” Joe Mazzulla said of adding Tillman. “It’s important for our bigs to be versatile … He’s shown that. We just need to continue to coach him on it, and get him up to speed in our system. So I’m looking forward to it.”

Springer was available because the pressure is on Philadelphia to win NOW. Joel Embiid is a 29-year-old with a much older body. He’s an MVP, but he’ll never play a full season again, so the Sixers have to find a way to get him as much help as possible. Trading Springer got them the financial space they needed. Boston was just there to find a gem at the flea market. 

Stevens made his big splashes before the season started. He went big for Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday. He took the baton from Danny Ainge and remade this roster around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, giving them high-level help through blockbuster moves, a sly high-end play to get Derrick White, and now playing the margins to fortify the supporting cast. 

Stevens came into the NBA as a wunderkind head coach who found immediate success getting the absolute most out of his rosters. His move the front office felt rushed and awkward at the time, but now it’s pretty clear that he’s even better at this job than he was at the last one. 

The Celtics are all about tradition. If these moves pay off, Stevens will be carrying on what Red Auerbach started in Boston … fleecing the competition to build champions on Causeway Street.