If You’re Scoring At Home, Blazers Just Got Better. The Celtics? TBD.

It’s too soon to say for sure what the Boston Celtics or even the Portland Trail Blazers were thinking, but it seems each had a different idea in mind.

The Celtics needed to unload salary. They did that by sending Jrue Holiday to the Blazers. 

The Blazers needed a veteran to help lead their young backcourt. They got that by acquiring Holiday (age 35) and sending guard Anfernee Simons (25) and two second-round picks to the Celtics.

Boston is expected to be without star wing Jayson Tatum (Achilles) for most, if not all, of next season. Hard to envision the Celtics getting too far without him. They were also handcuffed financially, thanks to the new labor rules. They absolutely had to shed the contract of a valuable player. That man became Holiday.

On the bright side for the Celtics, Simons is on an expiring deal. So if it doesn’t work out … well, they can quickly move on from him and again, shed more salary.

This is the business side of the NBA, and it’s not always favorable when the idea is building a dynasty. Of course, neither is your best player going down in late May with an Achilles tear.

So the Celtics had to do something. They could’ve done worse.

Sources tell Hoops Wire that more moves are likely on the way, though no one expects Boston to trade Jaylen Brown. But no matter what happens next, it will be incredibly difficult for them to compete for another title next season. The season after that will make more sense.

As for Portland, GM Joe Cronin has made it clear this team is ready to get back into the playoff picture. Holiday has two championship rings (Boston, Milwaukee) and is a team-first and defensive leader that every team covets. Assuming he stays with the Blazers, we can say they’ve done well for themselves.

Holiday will do more than help the Blazers win. He’ll be great to have around the likes of youngsters Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe and Donovan Clingan.

There will be a lot of opinions on who won this trade, but truth is, we won’t know until the start of next season. On paper, though, each team did a nice job of filling what was a pretty evident need.