The case for the Warriors to trade for Brandan Wright

Guess who leads the NBA in field goal percentage?

No it’s not Dwight Howard. It’s not LeBron or KD or even a center that dunks everything in the same stratosphere as the rim such as Tyson Chandler.

Almost a quarter of the way into the season, new Celtic Brandan Wright leads the NBA in field goal percentage.

Wright played the first 27 games of the season with the Mavericks before being shipped off to Boston along with a slew of other mediocre players (Jae Crowder and Jameer Nelson) and a first round pick. And while it is odd for a player get traded twice in one season, the Warriors should try to deal for Wright.

Here’s a fake trade as to how they could do it:

• The Warriors receive Brandan Wright from the Celtics and a second round pick from the Indiana Pacers.
• The Celtics receive a future first round pick either in 2015 or 2016 from the Warriors as well as Festus Ezeli and Leandro Barbosa.
• The Pacers receive Brandon Rush and Ognjen Kuzmic from the Warriors.

Why this deal makes sense:

The Warriors desperately need a backup center. With Andrew Bogut out indefinitely with a knee injury, their need for depth has been further exaggerated. Marresse Speights is a quality backup big, who like Wright, has had a monster start to the season, but his offensive game is vastly different than Bogut’s.

Wright, on the other hand, does a lot of the same things as Bogut. Both don’t seek too many post-up touches. Wright likes to hang by the rim and make a living on alley-opps and dump off passes after setting good screens. He only played 18.7 minutes per game backing up Tyson Chandler, and if and when Bogut returns, he would likely be relegated to a very similar role to the one he just left in Dallas. On defense, he is not a great defender, but because of his length, he blocks shots with ease.

More importantly, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Celtics to keep him. They have three young frontcourt players: Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk and Tyler Zeller. They also have Brandon Bass who is a quality big man himself.

Wright is an expiring contract which, with his hot start this season, might mean his $5 million salary will increase substantially. And if the Celtics can grab a first rounder for him, it truly only benefits them.

The Warriors have their first round pick this season as well as next year. While these picks won’t be high draft picks, the Celtics are not trying to win now and getting a pick for a role player that would drastically help the Warriors, but not move the Celtics needle, makes sense.

Admittedly, one flaw of this fake trade is that Ezeli is included. Ezeli has performed fairly well of late before going down with a minor injury. He has shown flashes of competency, but is also still replaceable and if Wright were to join the team, he would be even more expendable.

The aspect of the trade with the Pacers is merely so the finances work out, but it does allow the Warriors to upgrade at the Barbosa/Rush spot that has given them very little production this season. Barbosa and Rush have seldom played and moving them both allows the Warriors to try to target a new reserve shooting guard.