5 Players Boston Celtics Are Most Likely to Target in a Potential Trade

While most NBA teams, the Boston Celtics included, are still sorting through their rosters and trying to figure out minute allotment and an identity, it is never too early to look ahead and start sizing up potential trade targets.

The Celtics have been playing pretty well through the season's first couple of weeks, breeding some ideas as to what they could become down the line.

To get where it ultimately wants to go, this franchise is going to have to make a move or two. The Celtics will come to a crossroads after this season, when Rajon Rondo's contract expires. Acquiring another piece or two would go a long way to convincing him to stay in the face of free agency.

Boston could very easily go the other way. It has some pieces it could sell off if the season starts spiraling in the direction of the 2013 campaign.

Jeff Green has some value as a player, and Rondo remains one of the league's most sought-after talents. The Celtics also hold expiring contracts like Marcus Thornton and Brandon Bass.

It is much more productive to be positive and proactive in cases like this. Disregarding the excessive alliteration there, here are some players the Celtics will likely be targeting, should they choose to make a run in 2014-15.

JaVale McGee

Sam Forencich/Getty Images

A 1-6 start to the 2014-15 season has raised quite a few questions about the Denver Nuggets. One of them involves their frustrating young center, JaVale McGee.

McGee is making $11.25 million this year and set to earn $12 million next season, which is quite a handsome salary for a player who is seeing only 12.1 minutes per night through six games. He is currently the fourth big man in Denver's rotation and holding up a great deal of what could be forward progress with his bloated salary.

In the second year of Brad Stevens' tenure as Celtics head coach, we've seen his chosen style emerge. Within this style, there is room for an athletic center who can run the floor.

Boston is currently utilizing two of those bigs in Kelly Olynyk and Tyler Zeller to some modicum of success. However, what both of those players lack is the ability that will attract the Celtics to McGee.

On top of being the type of center capable of running coast-to-coast with Rondo, Green and Avery Bradley, McGee provides the level of rim protection that Olynyk and Zeller cannot.

At 7'0" and 270 pounds, the 2008 first-round pick has the physical size and strength to play a more brutish type of center. His killer wingspan and gifted athleticism also make him one of the league's top shot-blockers, if he can stay on the floor.

Despite playing such limited minutes, McGee is among the league leaders in blocks per game. He is turning away an astounding 6.78 shots per 48 minutes. While he makes his way back from the stress fracture in his leg that ended his 2013-14 season, those minutes will inflate a bit. However, if the Nuggets continue to struggle, they may be open to making a move.

If that is the case, few teams have as many attractive future assets as the Celtics do.

Kevin Martin

Jordan Johnson/Getty Images

Boston could also use upgrade its outside shooting.

The Celtics are putting up the third most three-pointers of any NBA team this season, launching 26.1 per game, yet they rank dead last in percentage. The team is shooting a mere 30.1 percent from beyond the arc.

Kevin Martin has bounced around during his 10-plus seasons in the league, particularly over the last four years. However, he has always had a quality three-point shot. A career 38.6 percent long-range shooter, Martin is hitting at a clip of 42.9 percent on 5.8 attempts per game in 2014-15. 

The Minnesota Timberwolves are using his 18.3 points per game right now, but they are also in the midst of a heavy-duty rebuild. They employ a glut of wing players who need minutes to grow. At 31 years old, Martin is an old man on this roster, and the Timberwolves will have to decide if he is a part of their future.

Martin is making a reasonable $6.79 million this year, but that will bump over $7 million next season, and he holds a player option for $7.38 million in 2016-17. If the Celtics came in with the right offer, they could swipe him away later in the year.

He would be an instant upgrade over Marcus Thornton. The concern is where his minutes would come from. Presuming Marcus Smart returns from his ankle sprain in a reasonable amount of time, Boston's top three guards are pretty set in stone with the rookie, Rondo and Bradley.

Martin did come off the bench three years ago and had success with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he was still playing 27.7 minutes per game. Right now, Thornton is playing 13.8, and even Evan Turner is only seeing 21.1. Boston would have to figure out a way to dump one or both of those players in the trade.

Greg Monroe

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

The man Boston should have been targeting over the summer may still be available, as Greg Monroe has chosen to play out the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The Detroit Pistons are off to an uninspiring 2-6 start this season, and Stan Van Gundy is getting a real taste of what he has to work with in rebuilding this roster. The issue of Monroe and Andre Drummond sharing a frontcourt still seems to exist, though it appears Monroe is the one thriving right now.

The 24-year-old big is leading Detroit with 17.3 points and 11 rebounds per game, while Drummond is shooting 41.7 percent from the floor and been unable to average the double-double he did last year. Still, all previous signs pointed to Drummond being a big part of the Pistons' future. If that is the case, it is unclear if Monroe fits in the long term.

The Pistons also have a bunch of money still tied to Josh Smith—$40.5 million through 2016-17, to be exact. Smith has more interior skills and should be playing more power forward at this stage of his career. The simple solution is to deal Monroe.

However, it will be anything but simple if Boston is to pry him loose. Monroe is putting up big numbers right now and is incredibly low-risk. He has missed just three games in his four-plus years in the league. However, if Boston could entice Detroit with its smorgasbord of future draft picks and perhaps Green, it could potentially get a sign-and-trade going with Monroe.

While he wouldn't necessarily bring the Celtics the rim protection they desperately want, he would be a cornerstone big. He is capable of playing center in a more typical NBA style—something they can continue to build around.

Roy Hibbert

Jeff Haynes/Getty Images

It never feels good to make oneself out to be a vulture, but in a competitive field like the NBA, sometimes it is the only way to get ahead.

The Indiana Pacers are in trouble this season after losing Lance Stephenson to free agency and Paul George to injury for likely the full season. That has left much of their roster in flux as they decide what the future holds for guys like Roy Hibbert, David West and George Hill. Of that bundle, Hibbert is the one who should have the Celtics' attention.

After falling apart during the second half of last season, Hibbert lost a lot of the cachet he gained during his time in Indiana. With the team off to a 3-6 start, hopes are fading that the Pacers can be relevant while George is sidelined. This could make Hibbert available pretty soon, as they look to acquire more future assets to retool their roster.

Hibbert is pulling in $14.9 million this season and holds a player option for $15.5 million in 2015-16. It would take quite a bit to get him, but the Celtics have plenty of upcoming picks and young talent. Having him would also make it a lot easier to potentially re-sign Rondo next summer.

What Hibbert brings is the kind of dominant defense that Boston greatly lacks.

Even with George and Stephenson missing, the Pacers are performing at an elite level defensively. Teams are shooting just 43.7 percent against them, as opposed to 47.5 percent against the Celtics. Some of that has to do with pace of play, but much of it is also a result of the way Hibbert defends the paint and protects the rim.

If the Pacers continue on a downward path and the Celtics surprise a bit, they should keep a very close eye on Hibbert's situation.

Larry Sanders

Gary Dineen/Getty Images

Among the current cream of rim-protecting crop is the Milwaukee Bucks' Larry Sanders.

His name was mentioned a bit over the offseason, but given the situation he was in and the money he was owed, not many teams actually considered making a move on him. That is a shame, because he was likely much more attainable then than now.

After playing just 23 games a year ago, Sanders wasn't a popular man in Milwaukee. He had just inked a monster extension for four years and $44 million and wound up missing most of the season with a pair of injuries. The first came during an altercation at a nightclub.

Sanders is in the first year of that four-year extension, which means he will make $11 million annually through 2017-18. That is a monster number and certainly a risk for the Bucks or whoever makes a play for him.

He has started all eight of Milwaukee's games this year, though, and the team is 4-4. Sanders is shooting the ball horribly but has been a big part of the defensive push. The Bucks are holding opponents to 41.7 percent shooting thus far, while Sanders is blocking a pair of shots in 23.5 minutes per game.

Numbers like 5.9 points and 8.1 rebounds aren't eye-popping, but his two blocks and 1.6 steals a night are appealing. Given how much playing time he is receiving, he shows some promise. That promise could be what makes it harder to get him from Milwaukee, though. 

What to remember is that his salary is a real burden, even when he is playing at this current level. If he has one more slip-up, things could get ugly again with that franchise, and he could be back on the market. That is something Boston should keep an eye on.

All statistics accurate as of Nov. 13, 2014.