CelticsLife Awards 2017: Front Office Move of the Year

It's time for the eighth edition of the 2017 CelticsLife Awards, which, for you Boston Celtics stalwarts, is the CelticsLife writer's choices for the best of the best of the 2016-17 Boston Celtics season. We're taking the cream of the crop of the basketball we saw from the Celts, judging across categories like Front Office Move of the Year, (which this article covers), along with many other such awards, with earlier iterations in this series linked at the bottom of the article. We've expanded the award categories to account for the extended postseason run, splitting them into regular season and playoff categories (when relevant) to account for all of the of amazing basketball we've seen this season. So, housekeeping out of the way, let's jump into the eighth award's nominees:

 CANDIDATES: FRONT OFFICE MOVE OF THE YEAR

Signing Al Horford



Not making a bad trade at the deadline



Drafting Jaylen Brown



Justin Quinn: Hands down, drafting Jaylen Brown. As crazy as it might sounds, I think Jaylen might have a higher ceiling than presumptive Boston Celtic Markelle Fultz. His biggest red flags - shooting and motor - have turned out to be grossly exaggerated as problems, and his potential versatility 2-4 suggest he might already be Danny Ainge’s single best move that didn’t involve Kevin Garnett coming or going. Landing Al Horford was no small move, either, but I think Jaylen will leave a much bigger legacy behind with the club, if only because of his age when joining.
Mark Allison: It’s without a doubt Danny holding fast at the trade deadline. At the time, I was furious that Ainge didn’t make a deal for either a star (i.e. Jimmy Butler/Paul George/DeMarcus Cousins) or at the very least bolster the Celtics’ frontcourt. I was wrong on both counts. First of all, the C’s were clearly much further behind the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East than my green-tinted goggles could see at that point and an addition of an Andrew Bogut or Terrence Ross (the two guys I really wanted) certainly wasn’t changing that. Secondly, a deal for any of those aforementioned stars would have needed to include either of our upcoming Brooklyn picks and/or Jaylen Brown, and I’m as high on JB as Justin is.
Josh Coyne: Horford’s multifaceted skillset took the team to another level and Jaylen Brown could become a star in this league, but avoiding a panic trade at the deadline was a strong, bold move, considering all of the unwarranted scrutiny from fans. As I discussed with Justin on the CelticsLife Podcast, many considered DeMarcus Cousins the answer for Brad Stevens’ team, but Boston didn’t pull the trigger and Cousins didn’t end up helping the New Orleans Pelicans a great deal.
When the deadline came to pass, the Toronto Raptors obtained Serge Ibaka and PJ Tucker, who many believed would help them leapfrog the Celtics into contention. Boston went on to finish first in the Eastern Conference and face Cleveland in the Finals, the Raptors didn’t. Boston have the first pick in the upcoming draft and a seemingly never-ending treasure trove of trade assets to set themselves up to compete for a number of years, the Raptors don’t.
WINNER: Not making a bad trade at the deadline


PREVIOUSLY: Best Individual Performance, Regular Season ; Best Individual Performance, Playoffs ; Game of the Year, Regular Season ; Game of the Year, Playoffs ; Play of the Year, Regular Season ; Play of the Year, Playoffs ; Most Improved Celtic
For more stories about the 2016-17 season on CelticsLife, click here. For more by Justin, click here.

Photo via Pat Greenhouse/Globe
Follow Justin at @justinquinnn
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