By P.J. Wright

The trade deadline is just over a week away and the Celtics enter Wednesday with one of the more unique situations we’ve seen in the NBA in a long time.

Having won eight of their last ten, the Green are sitting by their lonesome in the third spot of a crammed Eastern Conference, but hold onto a Brooklyn pick that has a legitimate shot at landing top-three.

Contending, with a plethora of assets – young, affordable contracts, picks up the wazoo, and a juicy expiring contract in David Lee – this Celtics team is virtually begging for a trade.

Additionally, they have a surplus of solid players throughout the entire roster. Lee could be a productive big man on many teams around the Association, but is stuck riding the pine in Boston.

"They may be 13, 14 guys deep," Rajon Rondo told reporters, via WEEI. "You never know who’s going to get it going for them each night. You look at the box score and someone is leading them in scoring different every night. So they’ve been playing well as a team."

And if you’re looking to get the most value for your superstar, you’ve reached your destination. Heck, the Celtics supposedly offered six picks for Heat rookie Justice Winslow back in June.

However, with DeMarcus Cousins and Kevin Love reportedly off the table this trade deadline, Danny Ainge is being "quietly aggressive", ready to pounce on the first bit of superstardom that comes his way.

Dwight Howard has been linked to the C’s, but it makes no sense for the team. He’s an uncomfortably unfunny, injury-prone mess that would ruin the beautiful flow of a Celtics team that’s gelling as of late.

When I was at Matthews Arena at Northeastern University a week ago and I ran into Ainge, supposedly scouting Huskies' David Walker, and it was my first time meeting him. I shook his hand, and I said to him, "Please not Howard."

He laughed and walked off.

I know Ainge and Rockets general manager Daryl Morey are good buds, but c'mon, do you actually see it happening?

Boogie’s probably not going anywhere (although it’s the Kings, who knows?), the Cavaliers are taking their sweet time with Love, and Howard would be disaster. Where’s this superstar we’re looking for?

Al Horford? Okay, now we’re talking.

The Hawks’ big man is third among centers in assists per game (3.1) and first in assists to turnover ratio by a wide margin (2.37). Spurs' Boris Diaw (2.08) and David West (2.09) are the only other two players 6’8’’ or taller that have a ratio over 2.

Horford is in the final year of his five-year $60 million contract he signed back in 2011, and could be looking at maximum-level offers in free agency. After losing two straight to the Magic on Sunday and Monday, Hawks management believes that this team is no longer a contender, which makes Horford a prime trade block candidate to get some value back.

So how do the Celtics get Horford?

Let’s take a look at a similar situation in Phoenix a year ago with another expiring contract – Goran Dragic.

Dragic's and Horford's similarities in performance in the second to last years of their contracts are uncanny.

Dragic's PER 2013-14: 21.4

Horford's PER 2014-15: 21.4

The center position is at more of a premium than the point, but Dragic also didn’t sign a max contract the following offseason like Horford is projected to do (5 years, $90 million w/ the Heat).

The Celtics might have to give up close to what Miami gave up in last year’s deadline.

To Miami: G Goran Dragic, G Zoran Dragic

To Phoenix: C Justin Hamilton, F Danny Granger and first-round draft picks in 2017 and 2021.

David Lee is going to have to play the salary match-maker in such a deal. If the Celtics throw Lee and Sullinger, the Hawks can make this deal with only two more projected losses, via ESPN's trade machine. Throw in the 2016 Celtics and Mavericks picks and I think this trade can happen.

Here's the trade

What do you think Celtics fans? Is this trade reasonable? Should the Celtics even trade for the expiring contract of Horford?