Celtic head coach Brad Stevens is used to running guard-heavy systems from his days at Butler, but the Boston roster holds a ridiculous number of guards.
All-Star Rajon Rondo is joined by first-round pick Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley, and Phil Pressey at the point with first-round pick James Young, Evan Turner, Marcus Thornton, and Rodney McGruder at shooting guard.
Seven of those guys should still be on the roster after training camp, which would take up a considerable chunk of the 13-man active roster teams take going into a game. To make matters worse, all of the seven guys are going to expect playing time, so how should Stevens handle this situation?
First off, you have to cut McGruder or send him to the D-League to bring the number down to seven. I like what he did at Kansas State, but there's just not enough room for him.
Up next is Phil Pressey, who played quality minutes for Boston in his rookie season last year. He's another odd man out (why would you want to carry four point guards?), but he does have some trade value. Maybe Pressey to the Lakers for stretch four Ryan Kelly?
So that leaves the Celtics with Rondo, Smart, Bradley, Turner, Young, and Thornton. Thornton is a good, cheap rotation guy, Turner wants to start, Smart and Young look like young studs, and we know what Rondo can do.
The best move Boston could make here would be to trade either Rondo or Turner. Rondo seems like the logical choice since he has higher trade value, his contract expires after this year, and Smart was drafted to be the point guard of the future. There aren't a lot of teams out there looking for a point guard, but Detroit is looking to move past Brandon Jennings, who has two years left on his deal.
Maybe a three-team trade where Boston sends Rondo to Detroit for a disgruntled Greg Monroe, then the Pistons send Jennings and a second-round pick from both Detroit and Boston to New York for Iman Shumpert?
While that deal is unlikely to happen, look for Rondo to be the one who gets moved before the trade deadline this season.
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