Celtics 2021 Offseason

Just horrible. You traded a good valued first and did you get better?

What was the rush?

With all the picks the Thunder have, you couldn't get at minimum a high second rounder back this year? That's the big issue with this trade, you traded the 16th pick in what looks like a good draft to basically save 9 million.

Oh course they are going to trade Thompson it's all about money. Brad better have a plan and a series of moves that impresses me, because this start scares the hell out of me.

Beautiful trade: save money, bring back a vet who doesnt need touches, take a flyer on a young skilled big, and I love kemba but his knee is a huge issue going forward. Giving up the 16th pick is fine, the last thing this team needs is another jag rookie who will need 2-3 years to be a big time contributer.

I will admit I missed at first that the Thunder gave Brown a new contract a few months ago. Three years veteran minimum, last year team option. I was thinking he was still on his two way contract. If he gives you close to the production he did on that crap team per 36 that certainly helps.

Isn't a huge part of the trade getting Hortord to play center because he can score, pass and space the floor?

I like it a little more after reading this. I'm also looking forward to the D with Horford, Williams, Tatum, Brown and Smart on the floor. 


www.masslive.com/celtics/2021/06/kemba-walker-trade-four-ways-celtics-benefit-from-deal-for-al-horford-moses-brown.html

I see a good value third center which is important because Robert Williams and Horford will miss games. That being said guys like Whiteside basically do the same thing and he got the veteran minimum. Heck old school true centers is the one thing this free agent class actually has. If he keeps improving, adds weight/strength, keeps improving his FT shooting and develops some low post scoring it could look really good. We'll see what happens. I guess the good news is check off center besides just more depth.

You basically have to keep Fournier now, unless you get really creative. You need to get a PG, a guy like Graham at minimum. I'd love an athletic PF like Clarke, yet I don't see any available as free agents. Then add a some depth, I wouldn't mind a Porter Jr., Winslow type guy. Yet if you can't get Graham what do you do? The two biggest needs on this team are the two biggest weak spots on the free agent market. Unless you convince a guy like Lowry to walk away from a ton of money to sign a tax paying mid-level deal, haha I can't believe I just typed that. 

I really wanted to use that pick to go after a PG like Ball or Rozier. Now we get to see how creative Brad can be. You can't go into next year with only Smart and Pritchard at PG. Perfect world that works out just fine, yet it's way too risky.

I'm praying this move means resigning Fournier, that they will spend the mid-level and that our many exceptions are still in play. That it was about reducing the tax bill, not avoiding it.

Sign and trade only.

Not a Celtics fan so don't really hover here much but as a huge generalist basketball fan and a UCLA alum I've followed Moses quite a bit and just felt like pouring some cold water on those expecting a lot of out him.

The first thing is the obvious, which is the defense. He's actually surprisingly fast running the floor and can be somewhat light on his feet getting off the floor, but he has very limited lateral mobility and no strength, so he isn't anywhere close to being a guy who can play in the playoffs right now, as teams would just pick on him every time. That and the rotations are bad, so he's a considerable net negative defensively. The rotations can smooth themselves out with experience, but he's still going to be limited on that end by his frame and you don't really want him to bulk up all that much. He's a slightly above average rim protector in terms of block rate, but not as good as you'd maybe like to see given his size.

Offensively he doesn't really offer much of a skillset at this point, either. He's big and can get up a bit but he doesn't have great touch around the rim and offers absolutely nothing outside of the paint (57% TS% last year, 38th percentile among bigs and that's without taking shots away from the rim). Also a complete nothing as a passer so as of now he really doesn't fit in much outside of setting screens and sitting in the dunker spot.

There are still positives, though. His free throw improvement is a nice development, I am glad to see he even cracked the 60% barrier, and hope he can stay in that range. Even though he is a limited athlete laterally he does have pretty good balance and core strength which allows him to be pliable which is an underrated skill for bigs when it comes to finishing and rebounding in a crowd. And touching on that last one, he was an awesome rebounder last year. His defensive rebounding was actually just okay but he was a top tier offensive rebounder and that is definitely a worthwhile guy to have on your roster.

However, flipping back to the negative, rebounding is probably one of the least valuable skills in basketball, so while he's really good at it you're not going to be a star on rebounding alone. He's still young, he's got a lot of development left in him so he can certainly improve, but as of now it's a replaceable skillset and ultimately the disappointing thing for some Boston fans might be the realization that he might kick Taco off the roster, because no point in having them both.

I’m still trying to process this trade. I hate giving up first round picks. I almost feel like this means they won’t resign Fournier or extend Smart and they will try to open max space for a free agent next year. But I honestly have no clue right now.

How valuable is the Horford expiring contract that’s only partially guaranteed next year? Can they use it for salary matching and have the receiving team cut him in a big cost savings move?

Sources: Boston Celtics seek second interviews with Nets' Ime Udoka, Bucks' Darvin Ham and Clippers' Chauncey Billups

Woj ($) doesn't say it but I have to imagine Carlisle is in the "...but aren't necessarily the full complement of the Celtics' remaining list" set.

www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31661126/boston-celtics-seek-2nd-interviews-nets-ime-udoka-bucks-darvin-ham-clippers-chauncey-billups

Also: "Billups is a prominent candidate in the Blazers' search, sources said."

ADD: 

Murphy says no on Carlisle.

If nothing else, the trade likely shows one benefit of the Danny retirement and Brad promotion.

I've said (probably too many times for everyone's taste) that Danny's biggest problem was trying to play two timelines. He probably would've been better served picking 1 (ie using the picks to trade for another star to build with Kyrie, Al, Hayward - where an injury to Hayward wouldn't have completely changed the dynamic) or build for the future (not a tanking process but . . . ).

Since then, I felt Danny kept chasing. Always trying to replace the present day stars (or, above avg players probably) with new ones when it was clear they were leaving. This change in mgmt allows for a change in that mentality. This move would suggest a commitment to build around Tatum and, likely, Brown and open up that window where MVP level Tatum is leading a group of good to great players on a few championship runs.

Of course, it could all go south in a hurry but we'll have to wait and see what's next.

It doesn't have to be tough but it becomes so bc we tend to look at everything having to be summed up only 1 time. It's like the Nets fans who say they won the PP/KG trade bc of where they are now. Nope. You lost the trade. But you are CLEARLY in a better position now.

It's okay to have multiple evaluations of 1 transaction. What you did with the value of the assets you had and what happened next are different things and that's okay.