With the Boston Celtics seeming to be poised to make big moves ahead of the 2022 NBA trade deadline by most accounts, there are few reporters out there with a better line on what the storied franchise might be up to than longtime beat writer and NBA insider Steve Bulpett.

Bulpett recently sat down to podcast with his fellow Heavy.com alumnus Sean Deveney on the subject of what the Celtics might be up to before 3 pm ET on Feb. 10, the last possible moment Boston and the league’s other 29 ball clubs can exchange players in the 2021-22 season.

In a wide-ranging conversation getting us up to speed on what Bulpett has been hearing, he and Deveney discussed the contours of what he himself suggested would be an “active” deadline.

“Active” in scare quotes because, as the duo make clear, one of the more obvious goals for the team is getting under the luxury tax threshold — not exactly the sort of activity most fans are hoping for ahead of the annual moratorium of exchanging players.

“The word I was getting was that the Celtics were really active, and realize that … (the status quo) doesn’t work,” explained Bulpett.

“They were exploring and listening to everything,” he continued, painting a picture of the presumably frenetic pace the front office had been taking and making calls from other teams around the league.

“I do wonder if there’s a bit of (thinking that) ‘Hey, nothing is going to change much right now anyway, let’s see what happens and perhaps look to the summer,” added the Heavy.com reporter.

That doesn’t mean that Bulpett believes that the team is ill-disposed to making moves, but perhaps is viewing them with a little less urgency.

Even still, he did have some thoughts about players who might be likely to be on the move, chief among them Dennis Schroder, who “can play basketball very well” when his mind is “pointed at what you want him to do,” according to the NBA insider.

“The Celtics clearly need to play with pace,” observed Bulpett, pointing to Schroder’s dog-walking tendencies as another issue beyond the contractual quirk preventing Boston from paying much above his current below-market deal.

With players like Payton Pritchard languishing on the bench and more adept at getting the ball up the court than his veteran teammate, the Heavy.com analyst suggests that coach Ime Udoka ought to be availing himself of Pritchard’s services to see if that could “goose the offense” and pick up the pace in place of the German point guard.

“I don’t think they’re going to want a whole lot in return for him,” added Bulpett.

“I think if you can get two second-round picks, one of them probably protected, then that’s probably a realistic return — especially if you can fold them into somebody’s traded player exception to where you don’t really have to take back a whole lot of salary”

Deveney and Bulpett also discussed Al Horford’s future with the team as another name mentioned as a potential player on the move at the deadline in some reports. “He’s a guy who could help a decent team for a run (into the postseason), suggested Bulpett.

“I do think al Horford is a guy that could be moved,” suggested Bulpett.

As for another Atlanta Hawks alumnus the team has been tied to in recent trade rumbles — John Collins — Bulpett was not especially bullish on the odds of him becoming a Celtic in the next month.

“I just wonder what they’d have to give up for him,” he suggested. “And I kind of doubt they’d be willing to give up as much as the Hawks would need.”

Bulpett also shared his belief that the team needs to make some moves to open playing time for the young players it has on its roster.

“I think there’s a lot of missed opportunity there,” he emphasized.

As for what sort of player the team might be looking to add for a major move down the line (or with some luck), Bulpett believed it would be floor generalship.

He also hinted that the Celtics might well already have the answer to that particular problem on their roster.

“If Marcus is the Marcus Smart that we’ve seen since he came back, if he’s the Marcus Smart you’re going to get all of the time for the rest of the way, then you might be able to answer that question,” he claimed.

“No other point guard you get is going to be as good of a point guard as Marcus Smart is.”

That wrinkle alone may push Boston’s movement at the deadline back to the very end of the window remaining to execute such trades this season, but if the answer to such a critical question is already on the roster it certainly bears investigating.

It could be a quieter trade deadline than perhaps some fans had hoped, but if it sets up the Celtics for the future with minor moves around the margins, what Bulpett has been hearing could be clues that a better future for fans is closer than some might assume.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

[mm-video type=video id=01fstn8tf05cdwpd5s71 playlist_id=01eqbzegwgnrje4tv2 player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fstn8tf05cdwpd5s71/01fstn8tf05cdwpd5s71-77f741ab78f665e0929a2983ef139149.jpg]

[lawrence-related id=70986,70980,70976,70833]

[listicle id=70984]

[vertical-gallery id=70992]

1

1