NBA Rumors: The Boston Celtics need to stay clear of Kawhi Leonard

NBA Rumors: The Boston Celtics don’t need Kawhi Leonard, and shouldn’t make the mistake of pursuing him this summer

The past two seasons have not ended the way the Boston Celtics wanted it to. Everybody that follows NBA hoops knows that the Boston Celtics have been bounced from the playoffs by Cleveland Cavaliers the past couple seasons.

After Boston was eliminated by Cleveland in 2017, Danny Ainge tweaked the roster by pulling off one of the best moves in his tenure. He acquired Kyrie Irving from Cleveland. Ainge also signed Gordon Hayward to help bolster the Celtics chances of getting to the NBA Finals.

With Irving and Hayward sidelined due to injury, the Celtics lost in the conference finals again.

Now, we are in the summer of 2018.

The question surrounding the Boston Celtics as of this moment is whether or not they try trading for Kawhi Leonard.

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Do not try and trade for Kawhi Leonard. I know some people will say you have to, but I do not.

Leonard is All-Star player and is arguably a top five player in the NBA. However, look at what Boston currently has.

With a line up of Irving, Hayward, Brown, Tatum, and Horford the Celtics will challenge for the Eastern Conference, easily. Boston would also have Terry Rozier, Aaron Baynes, Marcus Morris, Marcus Smart (if re-signed), Daniel Thies, and Semi Ojeleye coming off the bench.

That is a pretty solid team right there, so why mess with success?

Head coach Brad Stevens and his staff has not seen what this team can do when fully loaded. Boston owes it to themselves to see what the team can do when they are healthy.

Here is the other aspect of this that people are forgetting about a little bit. Kawhi is coming off an injury that kept him out for most of the season. Do the Celtics want to trade for a guy coming off of injury?

Not me. Sorry, I’ll take a hard pass.

This past season for Boston was amazing. With Hayward going down seven minutes into the entire season, Al Horford being hurt, and Kyrie going down right before the playoffs started it is incredible what the Celtics accomplished.

Once again, why does Boston have to make a move like this?

They don’t.

Kawhi Leonard seemed like the natural heir apparent to be the next leader of the Spurs, but that seems a bit muddled at the moment.

Kawhi is not a vocal guy by any stretch of the imagination. A leader needs to show that he is in the fight with his team. The leader of a team needs to be able to get on guys when they are not playing well. A leader needs to show the team that he can take criticism from the head coach.

A leader needs to be THE guy.

Could it be that Kawhi Leonard is not a leader? Is it to much pressure for him to take on that responsibility of leading an NBA team?

Does he need another player along side of him that’ll take the leadership reigns?

It might very well be just that.

Another reason that Boston should stay clear of him is that by all accounts he wants to be in Los Angeles. If he comes to the Celtics, the team better make sure they have assurances that he is going to stay long term.

Boston doesn’t need to rip apart their roster and give away good draft picks for a guy that is only going to stay one year.

The roster moves that would need to be made to accomplish getting a talent like Leonard would be asking to much. There are not many Celtic fans that would part with Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, or Al Horford to get Kawhi Leonard.

I have even heard trading Kyrie Irving straight up for Leonard.

Once again, I’ll pass.

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Between the injury, the amount of assets it would take to get him, and his deep feeling of wanting to be in Los Angeles I would not trade for Kawhi Leonard.

The Boston Celtics need to steer clear of this guy and roll with the talented guys they already have on their roster.