This is Part 2 of my attempt to look back on the snap judgments passed on the Celtics’ moves executed during their rebuild and give them new grades based on what we know now. I gave the team a retroactive B- for season one of the rebuild. This is, in part, because the team was not always making moves from a position of strength. A franchise that is not attractive to free agents and does not have cap space has to take different types of risks and some of the moves they executed were more about clearing the decks than getting maximum value.

I also did not include the Nets trade, as this is for everything done firmly in the rebuilding phase, which would have obviously made things look even better. Still, a B- is above average and to have the aggregate of moves end up above average when the team has a below average starting position is a positive result.

Season two of the rebuild is where things really start to pick up. The franchise is in a stronger position to start with and probably had a clearer vision for where they wanted to go. On to the grades…

For this exercise I’m using my experience as a moderator at Celtics Reddit to estimate the fan reaction at the time of the move. I’ve tried to consider the investment made in a move and the process being followed in assigning new grades.

Celtics select Marcus Smart with the 6th pick in the draft

My Initial Grade (MIG): B

Fans’ Initial Grade (FIG): B

Current Grade (CG): A-

Smart was considered a good selection here by the consensus of scouts and analytics, so I was fine with it. I think the fan base saw it the same way; there are always individual fans with a strong opinion in either direction. There is no one picked from 7-22 who you would definitely want over Smart now. Some people may prefer Zach LaVine’s upside but that’s a stretch. Rodney Hood, selected all the way down at 23, might go before Marcus in a re-draft but taking him 6th at the time would have been very strange.

Celtics select James Young with the 17th pick in the draft

MIG: B

FIG: A

CG: D

Yikes… Bill Simmons’s nationally televised fist pump really got the fans excited. Young was coming off an impressive NCAA Tournament run and looked like exactly the type of high-upside player a team in Boston’s position should take. It hasn’t worked out yet (probably at all) and Young may not even have his fourth year option picked up. It’s very hard to get an F at a draft slot out of the lottery, and James may still follow the path of other very young wings like C.J. Miles and find moderate success down the line. This is the pick where missing on Rodney Hood or Clint Capela (or Jokic but that isn’t really fair) hurts a lot.

Celtics re-sign Avery Bradley to a 4-year contract for $32M

MIG: C+

FIG: B+

CG: A-

I’ve never been as high on Avery as most C’s fans but my problem with this move was much more about process than results. I thought the team may be able to wait out restricted free agency and get Avery for less, but in the end the extra million they may have been able to squeeze wouldn’t have helped with anything and the risk that he instead took the qualifying offer or got a large offer sheet elsewhere means my calculus ended up wrong. The re-signing has been better than I think the majority of fans expected.

Celtics decide not to try to re-sign Jerryd Bayless and Kris Humphries

MIG: A

FIG: Don’t care

CG: B+

Having been scarred by the Pitino-era re-signings of a procession of middling players, I was happy to see Ainge & Co. simply let veteran free agents walk away from a team in no spot to pay or utilize them. For most fans this was probably a given, but not every franchise was willing to simply cut bait like this in the years where available cap space wasn’t a given.

Celtics utilize a trade exception to acquire Tyler Zeller, Marcus Thornton, and a future 1st round pick

MIG: A

FIG: A

CG: A

Getting something for nothing is always nice. The TPE associated with Paul Pierce was about to expire and the Celtics managed to get contributing players and a draft pick for it. Even before we knew where this would lead, the trade was an easy A.

Celtics sign-and-trade Kris Humphries for a trade exception and a heavily protected pick that never conveyed

MIG: A

FIG: Don’t care

CG: Irrelevant

I was very happy to see the team play along with the Wizards and help them acquire Humphries. Again, this is just good process. The TPE that they made the trade for was used on Will Bynum, allowing the team to create the TPE from Joel Anthony that I mentioned above. That sequence of TPE flipping was not necessary to make the moves it was related to and ended up in nothing, but it was still the right thing to follow through on.

Celtics trade Keith Bogans’s Expiring Contract and two heavily protected future 2nd round picks for Dwight Powell, three players who were immediately waived, two future 2nd round picks, and a trade exception

MIG: B

FIG: B

CG: A-

At one point, Bogans’s “super expiring” contract looked like a really nice trade chip so to get so little for it was mildly disappointing. One of these picks became Abdel Nader; the other is yet to be made. Dwight Powell ended up being the best player involved in the trade. His contract helped work out the salaries in the Rajon Rondo trade, which delivered Jae Crowder.

Celtics sign Evan Turner to a 2-year contract for $6.7M

MIG: C

FIG: D+

CG: B+

The Villain became a hero in Boston but his signing wasn’t all that well received when it happened. He was coming off an ignominious end in Philly and a terrible spell with the Pacers so his stock was as low as could be. When the signing was first reported I think many fans assumed that it would be for the minimum; I probably did too. Evan wasn’t a perfect fit in Boston but he played an important role and certainly made the team more enjoyable. Not re-signing him for the ridiculous money Portland threw his way makes this move even better.

Celtics trade Rajon Rondo and Dwight Powell for Brandan Wright, Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder, a future protected 1st round pick, a future 2nd round pick, and a trade exception

MIG: B

FIG: C

CG: A+

No fan base is going to immediately love a trade where you give up a four-time All Star and NBA Champion for Bill Simmons’s famed “pu pu platter.” Still, many people recognized the situation and weren’t entirely against the swap. Had Crowder not broken out, this would be an incomplete pending the play of Guerschon Yabusele and Demetrius Jackson. The fact that it’s already an A+ trade before either player who came out of the draft picks, which were ostensibly the reason for making the move, has set foot on the floor is a testament to how well it’s worked out.

Celtics trade Brandan Wright for a future protected 1st round pick (became two 2nd’s)

MIG: C+

FIG: B+

CG: B-

Wright was a good player with real NBA skills before and after he came through Boston. He saw little opportunity here which resulted in the team selling low on him. Had the T-Wolves been one year further along in their development this could have been a 1st round pick return but instead it is two seconds, the first of which became part of this year’s trade-out of the 31st and 35th picks for a likely future late-1st. Wright’s injury this season makes the value look better than it is, but we don’t know how his health would have played out had he not been traded.

Celtics trade Jeff Green for Tayshaun Prince, Austin Rivers, and a future protected 1st round pick

MIG: A-

FIG: B-

CG: Incomplete, but at least a B

Even at the time he was traded, Green was a polarizing figure. On one side of the ledger for this trade is the future Memphis pick that could conceivably land in the lottery (with no chance of moving into the top-3 before 2021) a few years down the line. On the other side, Memphis was able to flip him on for a different 1st round pick so he didn’t entirely lose his value after leaving The Hub. That future Grizzlies pick is the prize here but Tayshaun Prince helped the team through a few difficult weeks of Coach Stevens’s second season and then became cult hero Gigi Datome and Jonas Jerebko, who is currently a better value than Green.

Celtics trade Jameer Nelson for Nate Robinson (waived)

MIG: B

FIG: B

CG: B

You don’t really win trades where you give up someone still contributing in the NBA for someone you immediately waive, but Nelson had to go to balance out the roster and the team made the right decision here.

Celtics trade Austin Rivers for Chris Douglas-Roberts (waived), Shavlik Randolph, and a future 2nd round pick

MIG: LOL

FIG: LOL

CG: D+

This trade looked like Danny Ainge sticking it to his old coach by holding his son’s career to ransom but it turns out that the younger Rivers actually is an NBA player. Randolph played a few minutes before being released; the 2nd round pick owed to the C’s will likely be in the wasteland lower than 50th. What Rivers gave the Clippers in last year’s playoffs alone was worth more than that. There were other reasons to make this trade for the Celtics, but the Clippers clearly got the better of the deal.

Celtics trade Marcus Thornton and a future protected 1st round pick for Isaiah Thomas

MIG: A

FIG: B+

CG: A+

Not much needs to be said about this move. At the time it looked like a clear win for the Celtics where they gave up very little (a pick tied to a LeBron James team) to get a player who fit a need. The only dissent came from fans advocating for blatant tanking, of which there were more than a few and who still sometimes point to Justise Winslow as the real price of picking up IT. I don’t think that’s a fair way to judge this obviously strong trade and Thomas’s break-out last year earns this move an A+.

Celtics trade Tayshaun Prince for Jonas Jerebko and Luigi Datome

MIG: A

FIG: B-

CG: A

My literal reaction when this trade went down was, “did the Celtics just execute a salary dump where they got the two best players?” It turns out that yes they did, though Datome now makes his money lighting up Europe. Jerebko was better than the mostly washed-up Prince on the day the trade went down and is still an important piece of the Celtics’ roster today.

Report Card

Year Course Credits MIG FIG Current Grade Freshman Weighted GPA 3.1 2.9 2.8 Sophomore Marcus Smart 6 4 B B A- James Young 17 3 B A D AB on the C's 4 C+ B+ A- Goodbye Free Agents 2 A- N/A B+ Pierce TPE for Good Stuff 3 A A A Humph S&T 1 A N/A N/A Bye-bye Bogans 2 B B A- Evan Turner Time 3 C+ D+ B+ Trading Rajon Rondo 4 B C A+ Wright was Wrong 2 C+ B+ B- Cashing in the Green 4 A- B- B+ Clearing Jameer 1 B B B Rivers to Rivers 1 N/A N/A D+ Free Isaiah Thomas 3 A B+ A+ European Invasion 2 A B- A Sophomore Weighted GPA 3.2 2.5 3.6

Part 3, coving the most recent season, will be up in the coming days.

You can follow me on twitter @dangercart.