Gm20: Celtics @ Sac Kings (Wed 2/3/21' on NBCSB @ 10PM EST)

Boston Celtics offseason regret No. 2) Not making a real run at Christian Wood

Like we did with Jeff Teague, last season we at HH were big on the idea of the Boston Celtics pursuing the, then, 24-year-old big man, Christian Wood.

Citing his skillset on both ends of the floor, age-range, production when given extended play, and, frankly, their need for a talent upgrade upfront as the four biggest reasons for our hope of a Cs pursuit of the center, we saw him as an ideal fit for the roster.

Unlike our opinions on Teague, however, Wood actually proved us right — in fact, he has exceeded our expectations quite a bit.

Signing a reasonably priced three-year, $41 million deal with the Houston Rockets this offseason, the fifth-year baller is finding himself flourishing in his new role serving as a core player in the rotation, posting averages of 23.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game on 56 percent shooting from the floor and 39 percent shooting from deep.

Leading his team in both box plus-minus and offensive box plus-minus, Wood seems to be well on his way to receiving the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, while Boston still finds themselves with struggles within their frontcourt.

Now, of course there’ll be those of you who will say “but how could they have signed him with such limited cap space?”

To this, we say, the answer would have been quite simple: sign and trade.

After all, the cash-strapped Rockets managed to do it in such a fashion, so why couldn’t the Cs have done the same?

We preached the idea of Christian Wood being a quality fit for the Boston Celtics throughout last season as well as during the offseason.

Heck, there was even a time where the shamrocks were seen as betting favorites to land the big man.

Seeing what he’s done through the first quarter of the season, if Danny Ainge were to say he feels no regret about not making a stronger push for Wood, he’d be lying.

Boston Celtics offseason regret No. 3) Botching the Hayward to Indiana deal

Last, but certainly not least, we have the offseason fiasco that was the Gordon Hayward dilemma.

Yes, ultimately the Boston Celtics did end up getting an impressive grab in the league’s largest TPE of $28.5 million from the Charlotte Hornets in their sign-and-trade involving the forward, but, as of this writing, they are still looking to utilize it.

Prior to them accepting the deal with the Hornets, however, there was another trade reportedly on the table, one involving Boston bringing back an actual player at the position they currently hope to use their player exception on.

That trade: Hayward heading to the Indiana Pacers for a return package headlined by center Myles Turner.

As reports have it, the Celtics could have traded the oft-injured & highly-paid 30-year-old for the big man and a quality scoring role player in Doug McDermott but Danny Ainge seemingly wanted more from the deal.

Though in some instances one can make the argument that “greed is good”, this was most certainly not one of those instances.

Still, we find the biggest problem within the C’s rotation is at the pivot.

This proposed deal would have given them a quality player in Turner who, with his play thus far, is making fans more upset by the day that the proposal didn’t become a reality.

Through 18 games played, the 24-year-old is boasting impressive averages of 14.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and a whopping 3.9 blocks per game on 50 percent shooting from the floor and 33 percent shooting from deep and, in turn, looks like an early frontrunner for the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Had Ainge not gotten greedy, the Boston Celtics would have themselves a floor-spacing big who is also one of the best defensive-oriented players at his position in the league down low, rather than finding themselves still merely looking for a quality option.

This botched deal easily takes the cake as the biggest regret the Boston Celtics have from this offseason.