2020 Celtics Offseason

That report doesn't say they wanted to flip him. It doesn't say they tied three team deals or anything like that. They asked about his value is what it says.

Why would he do that? Maybe so he could show the Pacers they needed to add more? Proving Hayward had more value. There's a couple pieces from the Pacers side I didn't post because they too are just opinion based. Saying adding Aaron Holiday tipped the scale to the Celtics favor and Danny wanted no part of McDermott or Lamb. Which was the issue because they need to add more salary to make it work.

Let's recap reports they talked Turner for Hayward before draft. Report they wanted Turner plus one of three players. Report Danny wasn't going to make trade without getting a big deal that hurt Pacers.

Add in they didn't target a big till right after Hayward left and damn it seems crystal clear. Add in Turner does two things the Celtics need shot blocking and floor spacing. The only way you read the tea leafs that they didn't want Turner is if you thought that from day one or your spinning a story because Danny is getting murder by fans. Which is crazy, yet he sure did seem to overplay his hand which he does all the time.

Again Danny talks about a ton of trades, yet only does them if he thinks he wins. Which makes for some great trades. Yet also makes him not close a bunch of other ones.

It appears that most agree that with Nesmith, Pritchard and Teague, the second unit will be far better than last year with a downgrade for starter performance offset somewhat by Thompson.

I believe that Teague and Wanamaker are the same age and Teague had been an all-star when Wanamaker was unable to crack the NBA. Sure Teague at 32 isn't what he was at 26 but he is not being asked that. On paper the 'swap' looks to be an upgrade.

Lots of talk about Kemba's knee but apparently surgery was not warranted. Still he has been rehabbing it for months and speculation is that he will be brought slowly into the season. Sounds iffy. So what exactly is wrong with the knee? ... cartilage, ligament damage, arthritis? Is there a basis to think (hope) that the knee will hold up?..sine qua non.

Apparently the criticism of Ainge re Hayward, is that he 'fiddled and diddled' allowing Charlotte to strike...trying to add luster to the resplendent nickname, "Trader Danny"..i.e. he should have taken what Indy originally offered. If so, maybe with hindsight, but do we know what the Indy offer was? And who could have imagined a 120 million deal? No other team offered close to that given age and injuries. But my question is do we still have a chance to get something back from Charlotte?

The overlooked part of the Danny messed up sage is that the Celtics were also trying to sign him and Hayward had interest in a possible return too. I’ve seen reports that Boston’s offer was as much or more than the Indy offer. People are just assuming Danny messed up, but Jordan literally called Hayward on Friday night aka the might free agency started. If Hayward had 4/120 on the table he was probably trying to get Indy or Boston to match - neither did. Putting it on Danny is complete speculation.

The changes are basically Kanter for TT, Wanamaker for Teague, Nesmith for Hayward and VP for Pritchard.

Kanter for TT is a wash talent wise. Your just trading scoring for defense. You can like the fit better, yet the are very similar players value wise.

Wanamaker for Teague is darn close to a wash, just trading D for scoring yet you might not even get that. Teague is a better passer, yet could be this years Kanter where his D is so bad he's almost unplayable. The scary part is they likely signed him to start a bunch of games Walker misses.

Nesmith for Hayward is a massive downgrade on paper. I'd love for Nesmith to win ROY and prove this wrong. Yet that's unlikely.

VP for Pritchard is likely the biggest upgrade because VP did literally nothing last year. Yet you can't play our PGs together like Irving and Rozier because they are all undersized and bad on D. If Pritchard is good it likely mean hardly any Teague and vice versus. Yet could be big if Walker misses a bunch of time.

So I don't see a better roster. If we are better, if the second team is better it's much more organic growth. It's Robert Williams, Grant Williams, Langford, Edwards, Green that get better along with of course Brown and Tatum. Add if Theis can become even a league average three point shooter on decent volume he could be the most underrated player in the league. Smart takes the next step and becomes more consistent with his shooting.

We could be a better team through organic growth, not because Danny upgraded the roster. No one thinks the roster is better. ESPN gave us the worst grade of the off-season and says no team did worse as a contender than us.

Maybe Danny can work some magic with a sign and trade. Heck even a large exception would greatly raise my off-season grade for him. Yet the roster is clearly worse than last year. Even if you think TT and Teague are upgrades, no way that off sets the downgrade from Hayward. Unless you think Nesmith is equal to Hayward and that's asking a ton out of a rookie.

I honestly saw Lou Merloni and didn’t proceed.

I’m at a weird spot with this team. I’m oddly comfortable with where they are and that they aren’t likely to win a Title this year but that they will compete for a finals appearance. Basically, headed into last year I was uneasy about where Tatum and Brown may get to as players based on the previous season. Now, I’m pretty confident it’s a matter of a season or two until Tatum is a perennial MVP contender and Brown is an All-star in the mold of Paul George. I’m that high and confident in them.

I also firmly believe they aren’t winning a Title until Tatum can carry them there and no 22/23 year olds do that in the NBA. Kobe won but he had Shaq. Butler was a man in the playoffs, Tatum and Brown were boys. Tatum is better than Butler. The difference was man legs. Strength down the stretch versus being tired. You’d think youth would be better there but there’s a difference between youth - veterans and being old. Tatum and Brown are headed towards veteran status but aren’t there yet.

Hayward being gone, gives a clear path to Langford and Nesmith to play. Isn’t that what people want?

I may be irrationally high on Tatum and Brown but I think they are similar to Kawhi and Paul George and we get them for the next 4 years minimum, likely longer. They w

Ok...it seems that arthritis is Kemba's enemy... a reaction to long term inflammation. But that stuff does not go away no matter how much rehab/strengthening is done or meds employed. IMO he will likely be a restricted 20-25 minute guy until the playoffs when we will be forced to do an IT usage.

Still nothing official on the Hayward signing, so maybe Rozier is coming back.

For those more statistically savvy than I am, would you please comment about the validity of the PIPM and PER stats? A player like Rozier is extremely poor in PIPM but respectable in PER. Is this just a reflection of a good player on a bad team or a bad player on a bad team?

It’s a mess, especially defensively. To me, you have to play two of reddish, Dunn, Okongwu or Capela at all times. Otherwise you are going to get run off the floor defensively. That leaves three spots to fill with Trae, Bogdan, Gallinari, and John Collins. Forget Hunter and Huerter at this point.