2019 Celtics Offseason Thread

They need Yabu to hang himself so they can justify eating the 3.1m.

You can't cut him, you need that contract. Along with Theis you can trade for a 10 million dollar player in December.

Isn’t it 12m? 175% i think is what they can take back... or does that change if you put both together?

A very simplistic view so don’t pick it apart on nuances. I hope Stevens has tighter rotations this year.


First unit:

Walker
Brown
Tatum
G Will
Kanter

Second unit:

Smart
Edwards
Hayward
R Will

Then you add one of Walker/Brown/Tatum or Semi depending on the matchups.


First unit has a lot of scoring - Grant wont get starter minutes but putting him with this lineup puts a guy in there that doesn’t need shots and who’s not just willing but able to do the little things.

Second unit has 2 play makers in Hayward and Smart, a guy who can create offense from nothing in Edwards, defense with Smart and R Will and it would allow Brown or Tatum to be the go to scorers.


For the Bigs:

Kanter will probably get about 25mins on average. R Will 15-20 (foul trouble will be an issue) then French and Theis will get the other minutes with one likely being a DNP.


Langford will have to earn his minutes when guys miss games. Spend time in Maine and work on his shot. Maybe it’s because he’s not playing right now, but I see the smallest role for our top pick.

I get what you mean, but we're boned anyway if Hayward isn't significantly better than he was last season. There are two gigantic questions going into the season, the obvious one with Hayward and the other one is can Tatum become less of an atrocious ISO player or can he stop going ISO at all. We need both of these answers to be yes to have any shot of being competitive. If both are negative then yeah whatever, start anyone at any position and give Grant and Romeo 30+ minutes at night.

I'm an optimistic guy and I believe both Hayward and Tatum will be alright. And sure you could start Grant, but the clutch line-up needs to be the one I mentioned.

All about what type of offense we run. Like Irving was an ISO guy and that rubbed off on the whole team. Numbers backed it up, they shot more jumpers with him and got to the line less. Tatum and Brown are at there best with good ball movement and guys driving and passing. It creates lanes for guys that are great slashers. Tatum was unstoppable for stretches playing in an offense like that in 2018. Like in time he'll be a great ISO guy, but he's crazy young.

It's why I'm so high on Williams, Stevens on draft night said you can run an offense through him. He's that type of passer and player. Seen some of that already in Summer League.

Hayward needs to be able to drive to be effective. Teams didn't respect his drives last year and for good reason he couldn't get by anyone and had zero lift. Also avoided contact all the time. That's how you'll tell if he's back and if he can do that it will greatly change everything. Yet I don't think we are boned if he's just not the same player, you just can't play him big minutes. All-Star Hayward likely makes you legit title contenders though.

For the record my lineups are starting lineups to set the tone and force certain matchups. Not end of games lineups, most teams go small for those and your lineups likely works then. Like in 2018 we always started Baynes, but he wouldn't finish many games.

Carsen Edwards is a ridiculous 3 point shooter of the pull up even with guys in his grill.

No Yabu or Time Lord tonight?

Respectfully disagree on Tatum and his ISO abilities, I think it is an area he is already good at and will just improve with age and strength. He needs some size development to get to the hole with force to finish and for posting up, right now he is getting over powered at the rim and in the paint. He doesn't get to the line enough because he can't yet score with contact, PP was the best at that and could teach him a thing or two.

Well his age is huge, like unless your talking about franchise guys like LeBron and Durant very few Superstar players dominate at Tatum's age. He's actually done better than most given his crazy young age. He's not a freak like LeBron with an NBA body at 18. He needs time to add muscle. He's a lot quicker and more athletic than Pierce ever was and he was one of the better ISO scorers of his generation. It also took him 3 years of College and a few years in the NBA to become that player. So I strongly disagree.

Steven's system is rather easy if you run it the way he wants. If Rozier can run it and have the success he did, now replace him with Walker and the offense shouldn't be the problem. Like Hayward was a negative most games last year, he likes having the ball and that only works if he's good. Yet we've seen what Tatum and Brown can do when made the top options on offense. I think Walker runs this offense better than Rozier and Frankly becomes what we thought Irving would be. Hayward is my biggest fear on this team, followed by PF. He dominates the ball a lot and he just can't create like he used too unless his athletic ability returns or if it's in his head he gets over it.

I can certainly count on Grant Williams SEC player of the year being a good role player next year. The guy is one of the most polished rookies in his class. Highly skilled and NBA ready. He's the opposite of Robert Williams and is more like Tatum, in that he's highly skilled already. He has a crazy high Basketball IQ and understands the game. He doesn't need to be great, just be solid as the 5th guy. I actually think he's going to surprise people and Stevens won't have much choice but to play him a good amount of minutes. Right now he's the best PF on the team! Certain matchups I'd start Semi like against Giannis and the Bucks. Like does anyone want to see Tatum or Hayward guarding Giannis?

I just want a starting lineup that isn't full of guys that need the ball and can match up with most teams on D while not getting killed. A lot of very good teams start defensive team first role players for just that reason. Think Spurs with Bruce Bowen starting and MG coming off the bench for most of his career. The Warriors did it at Center for the whole run outside last year with Cousins and are doing it with Looney and WCS this year. I just can't overlook how bad Kanter has been on D for his career and he's clearly the starter until Robert Williams is ready. If I'm wrong about Grant Williams, there is Semi. At the very least he's a very good defender that can help cover for Kanter and he can make three's. I also think he's got a little bit more to his game than we've seen. Just my two cents I worry more about our D, for me that's how we become true contenders. Don you seem to want to become an offensive first team and try and win that way. I want them to be a top defensive team! That might be harder given the personal, but we still have some great defensive players and it's much more a mindset. Like everyone says Smart Runs off on guys, well if he's not starting a want a guy that can bring that to the starters.

Yabu was just waived

To be fair, what I said wasn't a knock on Tatum. I really like his offensive game, I just don't like him going ISO. There are plenty of different ways he can score. If Hayward is healthy and his shot is back then he would pair really nicely with Walker. I don't think he's that ball dominant, he's a good passer and outside scorer. The bigger question isn't fit, but health. It would be really, really good if he's back to being that Jazz player. Using Hayward as a 6th man wouldn't be optimal in that case as he would be the 2nd best player in the team. It's a tough decision for Brad, but the more I think about the more I'm convinced he'll go with a PG, 3 wings and a big.

I don't want them to become an offensive team, I think that's how the roster is built. I also don't think they'll be atrocious, like you said there are some good defensive players. Kemba is a good-ish defender for a small guy, Brown and Smart are legit great defenders, Tatum and Hayward are solid, there are some okay options. The problem really is with the big men. I hope you're right about Grant and he's ready to contribute sooner than I believe he is, the same could be said for Robert as well. If Kanter is playing more than 25 minutes a night he's going to get exposed HARD out there.