Here we are, at the gates to the entrance of the final week of the NBA season. It’s the biggest week for the Celtics in two years.

As fun and unexpected as this Celtics’ playoff chase has been, whether they make it or not the team still needs plenty, most importantly a legit big man who can excel on the defensive end. The top unrestricted free agents who fit that mold this summer include LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol and DeAndre Jordan and while it’s probably pushing it to think any of those guys will be coming to Boston, why not dare to dream (and while we’re here, Grantland’s Zach Lowe thinks the Celts will “look at’’ bringing in Jordan as per Bill Simmons’ “Bill Don’t Lie’’ podcast)?


There are plenty of assets in the Celtics’ toy chest, with draft picks and trade exceptions comprising the bulk of the haul. But don’t forget, the C’s also are only committed to just over $41 million in guaranteed salary for 2015-2016. In other words, they possess immense flexibility in terms of what they might want to do to add to the foundation.

So why don’t we make a little wish list of things that would not only make the most sense for the Celtics moving forward – both in the immediate present and the not-so-distant future – as well as be the most awesome.

WISH #1: Offer Kawhi Leonard a max deal this summer

Let’s start with a whopper, shall we? The Spurs swingman is a restricted free agent this summer and he also a legit, bona fide superstar. It feels like a major stretch to assume that San Antonio wouldn’t match any offer to Leonard, who exploded into the national consciousness with his MVP performance in the Finals last season. As good as the Spurs still are (and don’t look now but they’ve taken off on their regular move up the ladder out West), Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili are near, if not at, the end and Tony Parker is – unbelievably — going to be 33 next month. Kawhi, 23, went on record saying “I don’t think I’m going anywhere,’’ and “I’m pretty sure I’ll be in a Spurs jersey for life,’’ in the fall and he’s probably right. But the Celtics, who need a dynamic, potentially transformative young player as much as any team in the league, would be foolish to not at least attempt to go after him. Everything around here would change instantly if they could somehow grab him and that’s reason enough to try.


WISH #2: Trade up in the draft and take Willie Cauley-Stein or Justise Winslow

Winslow may have priced himself right into the top three in June’s draft after his performance during Duke’s national title run. Even with all the trimmings to be found on the Celtics’ mountain of assets, that range is probably a little too pricey. But if the Celts can get themselves up to say the 6-8 range and the scent of Winslow’s great tournament wears off between now and late-June then boom, grab him. Winslow is Kawhi-lite, a nasty defender who is quick and explosive enough to get to the rim. He needs to get more consistent with his jumper but Winslow, who has also drawn comparisons to Chicago’s Jimmy Butler, is so athletic and so versatile that an inconsistent perimeter shot hardly matters right now.

But again, Winslow flew up the board thanks to his play in the tournament and that may render the Celtics obsolete in his world. So, enter Cauley-Stein, the 7-footer who is far different and therefore much more appealing than the current big men dotting the Celtics’ roster. Not to diminish the season Tyler Zeller has had but Cauley-Stein offers the Celts a dimension they dearly need and that Zeller can’t adequately provide.

This a legit NBA center who can not only patrol and protect the paint but venture out toward the 3-point line and still more than hold his own. Players both this big and this athletic rarely come along and again, the Celtics need interior defense and consistent rebounding more than anything. Cauley-Stein is so good in these respects already that the fact that he does little more on offense than than dunk at this stage of the game is beside the point. Cauley-Stein and Winslow should be 1 and 1A on the Celtics’ draft board. On his eighth and latest Big Board at ESPN.com, NBA Draft Insider Chad Ford has Winslow and Cauley-Stein at No. 6 and No. 7 respectively. We’ll see if the Celtics agree and whether all that they have in their asset collection is enough to nab either of them.


WISH #3: Move on from Jared Sullinger

On Tuesday morning’s “Toucher & Rich’’ program on 98.5 The Sports Hub, Rich Shertenlieb theorized that Sullinger, who came back from a foot injury that was supposed to have ended his season out of nowhere last weekend, has “no long-term future’’ with the team and that his return was a nothing more than a showcase to try to drum up some interest in the perpetually overweight and out of shape power forward. His co-host Fred Toucher pointed to Danny Ainge’s comments regarding Sullinger from when the former Ohio State star first got hurt, and said he felt those comments were code for Ainge not wanting anything to do with Sullinger anymore. Even longtime Celtics broadcaster Mike Gorman of Comcast Sports Net isn’t so sure Sullinger is long for Boston.

Kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? Shertenlieb went on to point out that he feels Sullinger represents the last vestige of the morose, unreliable, mopefest of a locker room characterized by both Jeff Green and Rajon Rondo in aftermath of the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett and Doc Rivers exit from the summer of 2013. That group (dubbed “the holy trinity of sucking the life out of a locker room,’’ by Shertenlieb) led by those three players (less so Rondo given his stop and start 2013-2014 campaign) produced last year’s suckfest and it wasn’t until all three were gone — Rondo and Green via trade and Sullinger via injury – that this year’s squad took off on its improbable run toward the playoffs.

Whether or not Sullinger is only back to be showcased, he’s nothing more than a stopgap on the team as presently constituted. If the Celtics need of a few rebounds or someone to set some high picks here and there or are in foul trouble up front, roll him out there.

If not, keep him at the end of the bench until there’s more time to figure out what to do with him this summer. You never know when he’ll unexpectedly have the ball thrust into his hands at a critical moment and decide to put it on the floor and drive into the paint.

Stevens may not have any timeouts left to stop him.