2020 Celtics Offseason

Talking about Turner is useless unless someone can prove to me:

A) Indiana was willing to go 4/120 on Hayward or

B) Hayeard would've walked away from that for a smaller deal in Indiana.


We've seen a lot of rumors and reports. Not ONE has even hinted at either of those things. Even the "Hayward is focused on Indiana" report doesnt address those two points.

Summary: Jeff Teague bad, TT good. Tre Waters is better than Teague right now lol but its a minimum so whatever. Hayward walking bad, but would have been worse to give him that contract lol.

Waters is definitely not better than Teague. I wouldn’t call myself a big fan, but he’s good value at $2.5 million and a significant upgrade from Wannamaker. And at 6’3 and a pass-first point guard, he brings a lot of versatility off the bench from a lineups perspective.

I’m kind of confused by the Jeff Teague sucks talk. I understand he’s not what you want as your starting point guard. But as your backup? I too see him as an upgrade over Wanamaker, who is more like an undersized wing.

If even that trade exception could happen I'd be a lot happier.

While Hayward's health was routinely an issue, it improved last year along with his game returning to form and on a more consistent basis. The team looked it's best when the four best talents were healthy.

While several young players look like obvious candidates to improve with Timelord and Romeo being the most obvious, and I do think Tatum & Brown will also improve I don't see their respective ceiling being that much higher, how can it as they are pretty dam good already?
I'd like to see Walker's minutes being reduced the first quarter of the season even at the expense of a game or two for reasons beyond Walkers health come play-off time.
Smart should be our primary ball handler at the start of the season (Stevens needs to tell him to take less 2P shots) maybe have Walker come of the bench in limited minutes. This would open up some minutes for Romeo and/or Nesmith with the idea that these early minutes may speed up their development. The idea being that sacrificing a game or two early could pay dividends long term this season with the obvious eye being on the play-offs.

For two positions we have better depth, Ball-Handlers and Bigs. For ball handlers, the top end talent is the same although the health concerns of Walker will likely remain on our radar all season long. For the bigs the depth is slightly less this year however the overall talent is better with Thompson and Timelords' continued expected growth. Then again will adding Thompson mean less minutes for Timelord and delay development in his game?, likely it will at least at the season's start.
Our strength has been and will continue to be our wings. We have 2 of the best all-around players at wing, and the core of our team for at least the next several seasons, and whose games will continue to grow but I think they are rapidly approaching their ceilings.
I feel fairly confident that between Romeo and Nesmith we will add another well above average all-around wing and at least 4 above average wings. Playing time might be the only thing holding them back, that and the injury bug for at least Romeo.
Grant Williams because of his basketball IQ and skill set will have a long career although he is another player who I think is rapidly approaching his ceiling. One thing to note after his 0-25 start to his NBA career taking 3's from that point on he was a respectable 35% shooter from beyond the arc. His game makes me think that Semi's time is borrowed with the Celtics and a likely trade fodder for down the road.
Other trade candidates are between Teague OR Edwards. I'd love to see what Edwards could do given a full shot but unfortunately, I don't see him getting it with the Celts right now. Still prefer his upside over Teague.
I see our team's floor being higher than last years team but not the ceiling unless everything brakes just right.
I think the bench will be much better than last year.

So starting lineups should be-

Walker
Smart
Brown
Tatum
R Williams

With-
Teague
Langford
Nesmith
G Williams
Thompson

All as backups. I'm assuming Theis gets traded. Bogdonovic sounds great and pushes Smart back to the bench in that scenario and Langford is fighting for minutes and playing time (ideally).

My scenario is dead - Giles signed with Portland for 1 year

Damn - Bogdonovic will not be a Celtic. There aren’t many options left to upgrade the bench, unless Danny can get super creative.

Kanter is a matchup big because he cannot defend. If he was even a competent defender, he’d be a starter on most teams in this league. Thompson is not an elite defender but he’s in another stratosphere compared to Kanter, particularly when it comes to handling the pick and roll.

“Unplayable against Golden State” lol he’s far from alone in that regard. Those Warriors teams may have been the best ever in NBA history, so singling that matchup out for why Thompson’s contract is bad is silly.

Well the Warriors started it, almost every team plays small ball now. It's literally why Theis was so good at center.

Yeah match-up big, as in his best trait on D is being physical with low post scorers. Yet there aren't a ton of those guys. You traded offense for some better D. Yet I full expect the same 15-20 minutes a game based on the match-up. TT has never once had a positive defensive box score. He's only had a positive box score once, the championship team with LeBron. Which is crazy for a guy people call a defensive big. He has basically no offensive game, it's just put backs and dunks.

Wasn’t suggesting you did, just wanted to highlight that point. Small things are the difference between Vets leading teams to championships and young guys coming up short. We have 2 studs on the wings that play both ways. As long as those two are here, I’ll have hope and not feel like things are bad.