The Deal
Celtics get: Clippers' protected 2019 first-round pick
Grizzlies get: No. 31 pick Deyonta Davis and No. 35 pick Rade Zagorac
Boston Celtics: C
Having so many second-round picks (five to start, along with their three first-round picks) put the Celtics in the position of almost needing to trade some of them. This is an interesting gamble.
Boston gets the 2019 lottery-protected first-round pick Memphis got from the Clippers in exchange for Jeff Green at the trade deadline. In this case, the lottery protection is key. Because the Clippers already owe a lottery-protected first-round pick to the Toronto Raptors (via Milwaukee), they can't send this pick until two years after that pick conveys because of the Ted Stepien Rule.
Most likely, the Clippers will make the 2017 playoffs and send next year's pick to the Raptors. But even in that scenario, they have to make the playoffs in either 2019 or 2020 or this pick vanishes and the Celtics get only a 2022 second-round pick from L.A.
The lottery protection limits the upside here, and there is a chance Boston never gets a first-round pick. Given all the picks the Celtics have already -- remarkably, this is the second first-round pick they own that was traded for Green -- pushing this off to 2019 or 2020 makes some sense from a diversification standpoint. So it's a reasonable move to make.
Memphis Grizzlies: B+
At the same time, I really like the Grizzlies making this move now to ensure they get value for the pick -- particularly with the quality of talent that dropped to the second round.
With the top pick of the first round, Memphis took Michigan State forward Deyonta Davis, a projected top-20 pick who ranked 20th in my consensus projections. The Grizzlies also grabbed Serbian forward Rade Zagorac at No. 35, most likely to stash overseas.