C's UP!
After a 48 win season, the Celtics are in the process of gearing up for another run at Banner 18. We are 3 years into a rebuild, in a league where rebuilds can often last longer than a decade. Yet, here we are with a young core, loads of draft picks, an All-NBA defender at SG, and 2 All-Stars who are in their prime. While we aren't competing with the likes of Golden State anytime soon, the future is still very bright in Boston. Let's take a look at what we have and where we are heading:
Depth Chart
Isaiah Thomas Terry Rozier OPEN
Avery Bradley Marcus Smart RJ Hunter
Jae Crowder Jalen Brown James Young
Amir Johnson Jonas Jerebko OPEN
Al Horford Kelly Olynyk Jordan Mickey
Restricted Free Agents
Tyler Zeller
Unrestricted Free Agents
Jared Sullinger (RFA rights renounced 7/10/16)
Prospects (NBDL/Europe)
Demetrius Jackson
Ante Zizic
Guershon Yabusele
Marcus Thornton
John Hollinger
Abdel Nader
Colton Iverson
Ben Bentil
Team Wants
Franchise-caliber Player
Outside Shooting
Interior Defense/Rebounding Depth
Ball Handling Depth
Team Surplus
Low cost, high upside players
High level defenders who can't shoot
Offseason
The Celtics had a remarkable offseason. Despite not landing Kevin Durant, they ended up with the second best free agent available, signing an all-star caliber player in his prime for the first time ever in Celtics history. This is a big deal, as Boston has long been labeled a place where players don't want to go. It's cold, there are better tax breaks in places like Florida or Texas, and aside from our recent run with Banner 17, we've really been a barren waste land for 20+ years. Al Horford single-handedly changed all of that by signing his name on a peice of paper with a Boston Celtics header this past week.
Alongside Al Horford, we added 6 draft picks to our prospect pool and traded 2 other picks for yet another first round pick in 2019. The way the NBA works, we can send the vast majority of our prospects to Europe to work on their games for a while, in the hopes that one of them improves enough to bring over down the road. Throughout the course of summer league, Guershon Yabusele, Ben Bentil, and Demetrius Jackson have all shown flashes of what they might bring to our team in a year or two.
Jalen Brown, the number 3 overall pick in the draft, had a rough introduction to Boston on draft night. Our fans booed, yelled, and broke things after listening to rumor after rumor of big, franchise-changing trades leading up to our selection of a 19 year old unproven kid, coming off a so-so freshman year.
Fan reaction aside, Jalen is extremely intriguing. What first pops off when you see him play is his unrelenting motor. He is a fierce defender, and approaches the game like a mentally-hardened veteran.
Make no mistake about it, Jalen can get to the rim. In college, Jalen was asked to do everything on a team with few shooters and loads of slow big men. This lead to Jalen having to iso up nearly every possession, forcing shots and bursting through double terms like a bull charging the rim. On defensive rebounds, he'd often charge end to end like a point guard, slashing, finishing, and getting back on D.
Brown needs to improve his shooting, alongside improving his shot selection. The Celtics should provide better spacing, especially with Al Horford, to make this possible. I expect big things from Jalen, but as with any prospect in any sport, time will tell.
Short Term Moves
Today, the Celtics renounced their Restricted Free Agent rights on Jared Sullinger. While this doesn't guarantee a Sullinger departure, it does make it highly likely at this point. With the addition of Al Horford, Jared would have had a significantly reduced role, and moving on is likely best for both parties at this point.
Tyler Zeller is still sitting out there, but I think we will likely move on, once he finds a multi-year offer from another team. The Celtics cannot tie up excess money next year, as they need to have enough to make a run at another max-level player. There will be quite a few superstars on the market next year, so we will have a much better chance than this year, where it was basically just Durant.
Most of the available free agents this offseason have already found homes. Look for the C's to target a player like Jason Terry on a one year deal. Terry has been a Celtic before and is a solid professional. He'd bring extra ball handling and shooting depth that would help ease the departure of Evan Turner. He'd also likely be OK with a one year deal, which is essential.
The C's also need more depth in the front court. Someone like Jordan Hill could fit the bill. However, in this instance I expect the C's to actually give the spot to one of their prospects. Yabusele has been wonderful during summer league, providing rebounding, shooting, and energy. While it may be preferable to keep him in Europe to work on his game some more before joining the club, there may be an active role ready for him right now.
Ben Bentil may be the better option, as he is a little more polished right now, and would allow you to push back the start of Yabusele's rookie contract by a year. Another option that I haven't seen discussed much, is bringing in Colton Iverson, our 2nd round pick from two years ago. He could bring a Kendrick Perkins-like toughness to our bench.
Long Term Moves
At this point we are only looking at players who may average 10-12 minutes a night to fill out our depth. I am sure Danny is working the phones trying to find a trade partner to get us that next big name, but I am also sure that most teams will want to take what they have into the season at this point.
The next chance we will have to make a big move will be closer to the trade deadline in February. At that point we will hear names like Russell Westbrook, Jimmy Butler, Gordon Hayward, Danilo Gallinari, among others. We will have to wait and see what teams are out of contention and what ones are still in the mix to see who will actually be available.
If nothing happens around the deadline, then next offseason has the potential to be even more juicy than this one. We will likely have another top 3 pick in a draft that will be much more top heavy. We will also have enough cap space to go out and get another max level player. Add these pieces to all of our other assets and you can't help but smile when thinking about the future of our team.
So let's get ready to kick off another season in the NBA and take another step forward in our march to Banner 18!
C's UP!