Celtics 2023 Offseason Thread

Didn't watch or listen to tonight's game - just watched the Gamecast on ESPN. Happy to see Hauser have a good game - Pritchard again, White, Holiday and much of the bench. Preseason looking good so far.

Read the warrant is unserved from January which would mean the Hornets either knew about it and signed him or didn’t find it.

When is Hauser extension eligible? Do they need to pick up his option for next year first? It’s a $2m option so that’s a no brainer. He’s under contract for this year and next at 1.9 and 2.1m respectively then he’s unrestricted. Are they limited on what they can offer him. Just saying, it’s be great if they were able to give him a Pritchard extension that kicks in starting 2025-26. I assume that’s not possible tho…

Bridges is more trouble this is separate from that unserved warrant:

theathletic.com/4957021/2023/10/12/miles-bridges-criminal-summons-warrant/


Authorities in North Carolina issued a criminal summons Wednesday for Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges, alleging violation of a domestic violence protective order, misdemeanor child abuse and injury to personal property, according to a copy of the summons obtained by The Athletic.

The summons alleged Bridges threatened the mother of his children, who is his ex-girlfriend, during a custody exchange, threw pool table balls at her car — which smashed the windshield and dented her car — and threatened to withhold child support if she told the police. The children were in the car at the time of the incident, which occurred earlier this month, according to the summons.

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Bridges is due in court on Nov. 13 for a hearing, according to the summons.

Additionally, authorities have an unserved arrest warrant for Bridges, which was first issued on Jan. 2, for violating the domestic violence protective order, a Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office (N.C.) spokesperson confirmed.

In November, Bridges, 25, pleaded no contest to a felony domestic violence charge in Los Angeles. He received three years of probation and no jail time as part of a deal with prosecutors. During his probation, Bridges is required to complete 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling, 52 weeks of parenting classes, complete 100 hours of community service and undergo weekly narcotics testing with marijuana allowed only if there is a valid doctor’s prescription.

Bridges was arrested on June 29, 2022, and later charged with one felony count of injuring a child’s parent and two felony counts of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death. The felony charges also included an allegation of causing great bodily injury on the domestic violence victim, which was also dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

According to the criminal complaint, Bridges allegedly assaulted his then-girlfriend in front of their two children on June 27, 2022.

The NBA conducted its own investigation into the June 2022 domestic violence incident and suspended Bridges in April for 30 games without pay as a result. The league considers 20 games of the suspension already served from the 2022-23 season, which Bridges did not play in. He will begin the 2023-24 season by serving the remaining 10-game suspension with the Hornets.

go-deeper
GO DEEPER
Aldridge: Why the NBA got the Miles Bridges suspension for domestic violence wrong
The league is “in contact with the Hornets and gathering information,” per a statement NBA spokesman Mike Bass gave to The Athletic.
Bridges was a restricted free agent when the June 2022 incident took place and no team signed him for the 2022-23 season. This summer, the Hornets brought Bridges back on a $7.9 million qualifying offer for the 2023-24 season, clearing the way for him to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.

He has played four seasons for the Hornets. Bridges, a first-round pick in 2018 out of Michigan State, averaged 20.2 points and seven rebounds per game in 2021-22.

(Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today)

He’s 6’8/6’9 and can knock down off platform catch and shoots, always gonna be a spot in the league for that. 42% from 3 is awesome, and it’s not just him standing in the corner either


His defense isn’t as bad as people think it is either

You get full bird rights after 3 years, you get partial bird rights after two years. So right now you can offer him an extension starting at 175% of his salary year one. So it's not really an issue, starting at 175%, at four years with raises gets you into that 15 to 20 million range, which given what Pritchard got is his value.

If he's willing to sign a deal like that, yeah you probably need to do it. His agent likely waits to after the year and tries to get something bigger with full bird rights. Again you probably have to do it given our restrictions. Just to have a contract to trade and for depth.

Per advanced stats, he was your worst defender in playoffs, worse than Brogdon and was your worst player in playoffs overall. He's young, he could improve some, he's never going to be a good defender though. It really doesn't matter though, he's good on offense and that helps more in regular season. You have to keep the little depth you have and he's very skilled. I wouldn't be surprised to see his offense improve, he also plays team basketball, which I love to see.

Seems like front office, “senior consultant” doesn’t seem like a coaching role

Sounds like the only reason Griffin isn’t a Celtic is because he’s not sure he wants to keep playing:

"I'm not blowing smoke; it was as good as it gets," president of basketball operations Brad Stevens told the Boston Globe's Gary Washburn about Griffin (h/t Luke Scotchie of Boston.com) while also allowing for the possibility of retirement. "He was unbelievable when he played and even better when he didn't. ... If he decides to keep playing, he wants to come back out East, he knows we're a phone call away."

Mazzula says JVG has already been super valuable and he plans to seek his advice on coaching questions throughout the season


I just realized that the Holiday-White tandem is going to be a nightmare for opposing guards

Speaking of D White, it seems he has a fan in the league:

Coach announcing Horford to bench and picking the only starting 5 that makes sense is a good start.

Oh OK, he only choked her and didn’t hit her with a closed fist. That totally changes the story. /s