SOURCE: CELTICS OFFSEASON FOCUS IS AN ALL-STAR FRONTCOURT ADDITION

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/source-celtics-offseason-focus-all-star-frontcourt-addition




SOURCE: CELTICS OFFSEASON FOCUS IS AN ALL-STAR FRONTCOURT ADDITION



By A. Sherrod Blakely May 26, 2017 3:15 PM



WALTHAM, Mass. – No matter how an NBA team’s season ends, change is inevitable.

And while there’s no doubt that the Celtics are on the right track in terms of their ascension in the NBA, it's too soon to tell how many players on the Celtics’ 15-man roster that Danny Ainge, the president of basketball operations, will bring back next season.


“One thing I do know. He’ll make the best decisions for the team and if players don’t end up being back here, I wish the best for them,” said Avery Bradley.  “Those are my brothers. We all had a special year. I appreciate everything, all the time I had with them. I’d love for all those guys to be back. We’ll see.”

And with Boston coming off its first trip to the Eastern Conference finals since 2012, adding just any player won’t cut it.

The Celtics’ mindset now isn’t just to improve, but get good enough to where they can better compete with the likes of Cleveland, which just ended the Celtics’ season with a Game 5 thumping.

The most significant move made by the Celtics last offseason was the signing of Al Horford to a four-year, $113 million contract.

Like most of his Boston teammates this season, Horford is eager to see what changes are in store this summer.

“We just have to wait and see,” Horford said. “We had such a good year. A lot of positive things. It’ll be interesting to see what Danny, the organization feels is going to be the next step.”

Multiple league sources have told CSNNE.com in recent weeks that the Celtics are focused on landing an All-Star caliber talent in the frontcourt.

That makes sense when you consider how guard-dominant the Celtics were this season and how that had a negative impact on the team’s rebounding and, to a lesser degree, their defense as a whole.

Gordon Hayward has emerged as a target, but all indications – for now at least – point toward him returning to Utah.

The Celtics may pursue Los Angeles Clippers big man Blake Griffin. Although like Hayward, he too is expected to re-sign with his current team for a max contract (for Griffin that would be five years, $175 million).

While trades are certainly in the cards for Boston, at this point the Celtics seem more inclined to improve their overall talent base via the draft and free agency.

“It’s always a good thing when you have the opportunity to add value to your team and don’t have to change your team too much,” said Celtics’ reserve Gerald Green, who will be a free agent this summer. “I’m going to be very interested to see what they do as far as building a team. We’re in a good place right now as far as being where we want to be organization-wise. I feel like we’re one or two steps away from actually being at the Finals. I think Danny has some things to think about, but I’m sure he’s going to do the job. I’ve seen Danny go to work in these situations. He always makes the team better. I’m pretty sure he’s got something planned that, at the end of the day, is going to make this organization better.”

Indeed, the Celtics could very well strengthen their position for next season by simply locking up some of their core players who may hit the free agent market soon.

Boston may look to work out an extension with Isaiah Thomas before the start of this season. Because if he hits free agency in the summer of 2018, he will be poised to command a salary that in year one would be worth more than the entire four-year, $27 million deal he signed with Phoenix in 2014.

“Boston’s changed my career, changed my life,” Thomas said. “I would love to be here long-term and win championships here. But as you guys know, it’s a business and anything can happen. I know that and understand that. But I would love to be here. This has been everything to me. This city, this organization … it’s been good.”


bob
MY NOTE:  Replacing Amir with an All-Star, and doing nothing else, would be a solid improvement.  Add the #1 pick and replacing Zeller with Zizic and we would be much stronger than this year and that is without trading anybody.

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It wil be very difficult to add an All star level front court player.  It is very unlikely that Blake would leave LA for Boston.  Another potential target would be Serge Ibaka.

I just do not see it happening this off season.  The Celtics hope may very well lie with the stashes from last year, a little luck in round 2 and a minor veteran short term signing like McGee.

Next year the draft has multiple bigs available but that is a longer term cycle to draft and then develop.

dboss

I'll be happy if Boston adds Fultz (or Tatum or Jackson..but it'll be Fultz) and looks for a 2nd tier/non-all-star veteran big FA.  Someone like Ibaka would be ideal.

Then, with next year's Nets pick, which is still bound to be high, go for a big in a draft projected to be filled with them.  We may also be able to draft a potential keeper at 36 this year.

Finally, take a good look at Johnson, Zeller and Zizic, and see if any of them are worth hanging onto.

It's still going to be a couple of seasons to put the finishing touches on this team, so we've got some time to look carefully or develop a player.  We're in a good place and don't need to compromise.

NYCelt wrote:I'll be happy if Boston adds Fultz (or Tatum or Jackson..but it'll be Fultz) and looks for a 2nd tier/non-all-star veteran big FA.  Someone like Ibaka would be ideal.

Then, with next year's Nets pick, which is still bound to be high, go for a big in a draft projected to be filled with them.  We may also be able to draft a potential keeper at 36 this year.

Finally, take a good look at Johnson, Zeller and Zizic, and see if any of them are worth hanging onto.

It's still going to be a couple of seasons to put the finishing touches on this team, so we've got some time to look carefully or develop a player.  We're in a good place and don't need to compromise.

I agree.

I think the finished product is after we find out who the Celts get with the 2018 Nets pick.

I think we know what we have with Amir and Zeller already. I doubt either one is back as we already have players poised to take thier roster spots at a savings of about $17M. ( Zizic and Yabusle).

Notice I did not say replace their minutes, but their roster spots.

NYCelt wrote:I'll be happy if Boston adds Fultz (or Tatum or Jackson..but it'll be Fultz) and looks for a 2nd tier/non-all-star veteran big FA.  Someone like Ibaka would be ideal.

Then, with next year's Nets pick, which is still bound to be high, go for a big in a draft projected to be filled with them.  We may also be able to draft a potential keeper at 36 this year.

Finally, take a good look at Johnson, Zeller and Zizic, and see if any of them are worth hanging onto.

It's still going to be a couple of seasons to put the finishing touches on this team, so we've got some time to look carefully or develop a player.  We're in a good place and don't need to compromise.

NYCelt

We are on the same page.

Dboss

Hi,
The target, AFAIU, is to win #18, #19, etc. For that Celtics have to get on the level of Cavs and GWS. To achieve that Danny has 2 strategic choices to make.
A) Go all in now. Get an All-Star or, maybe two, and hope it'd be enough to fight the above mentioned teams. This entails a lot of restructuring of the current roster.
B) (my personal choice) Use the upcoming season as one more stepping stone to get on that level. I don't think that the FA class of '18 is going to be much worse than the class of '17. Also, DA will have the opportunity to evaluate Y and Z: are they really good to be the future of the team or, they're good to be used in trades. Also, to see growth and development of Jalen Brown; so far there're only positive signs. And, finally, to see (even for just one season) if Fultz (all indicators point at him as DA's selection on June 22) is that good and can be a major building block of a championship team.
I understand that there are arguments about $$$. But my thought is that Wyk and Co. will give DA cart blanch (limited only by CBA) as long as he can bring more banners.
Just me $.02

AK

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
The target, AFAIU, is to win #18, #19, etc. For that Celtics have to get on the level of Cavs and GWS. To achieve that Danny has 2 strategic choices to make.
A) Go all in now. Get an All-Star or, maybe two, and hope it'd be enough to fight the above mentioned teams. This entails a lot of restructuring of the current roster.
B) (my personal choice) Use the upcoming season as one more stepping stone to get on that level. I don't think that the FA class of '18 is going to be much worse than the class of '17. Also, DA will have the opportunity to evaluate Y and Z: are they really good to be the future of the team or, they're good to be used in trades. Also, to see growth and development of Jalen Brown; so far there're only positive signs. And, finally, to see (even for just one season) if Fultz (all indicators point at him as DA's selection on June 22) is that good and can be a major building block of a championship team.
I understand that there are arguments about $$$. But my thought is that Wyk and Co. will give DA cart blanch (limited only by CBA) as long as he can bring more banners.
Just me $.02

AK

I would say that Jaylen's play as a rookie and actually getting the top pick in this years draft will push Danny more to option B.

Both Jaylen and FUltz could become special NBA players in a couple years. AND if Danny doesn't overpay for lesser players now on loing term deals, we can have both here for almost a decade.

Sounds like Mr. Blakely is surprised that the Cs need assistance in the front court.

Here is where I throw in my two cents for a big effort to trade for Porzingis from the Knicks as he would be a great addition to our front court and will only play at 23 years of age next season.

I know that many people may not think that Jackson would trade his young star, but if Jackson is anywhere near serious about rebuilding his team he has to realize that the bridge between his team and this particular player is no longer in service having crumbled to the river's bottom when the kid went home instead of attending a year end meeting.  It will only be a couple of years before this kid walks away from the mess that is the Knicks and for no return.

He may take the chance to take Fultz, another draft pick and a player (?) for Porzingis while he can get at least some decent value for his team. Such a move would give him two top ten picks in this draft and another number one in the near future.

wideclyde wrote:Sounds like Mr. Blakely is surprised that the Cs need assistance in the front court.

Here is where I throw in my two cents for a big effort to trade for Porzingis from the Knicks as he would be a great addition to our front court and will only play at 23 years of age next season.

I know that many people may not think that Jackson would trade his young star, but if Jackson is anywhere near serious about rebuilding his team he has to realize that the bridge between his team and this particular player is no longer in service having crumbled to the river's bottom when the kid went home instead of attending a year end meeting.  It will only be a couple of years before this kid walks away from the mess that is the Knicks and for no return.

He may take the chance to take Fultz, another draft pick and a player (?) for Porzingis while he can get at least some decent value for his team. Such a move would give him two top ten picks in this draft and another number one in the near future.

Clyde,

I'd love to get Zinger, I've said so many times, but I think the only way Phil trades Porzingis, especially to Boston, is if we take Melo off his hands too.  Melo has two years left on his contract (next year and then a player option, which he'll pick up because it's for $27.9M and he'll be 34 then.  His birthday is 2 days from now, 5/29, and he'll be turning 33. Only a complete idiot would think he would get more than $28M @ 34 going on 35).  I'm not a Melo fan, so I'd rather just say no, but Melo would be an upgrade over Crowder (short-term and for a lot more money) but Zinger would be an even bigger upgrade over Amir and that would be long-term.  

Is Porzingis worth the #1 pick in the draft?  Would he be the #1 pick this draft?  Maybe, probably, especially since the only competition from another big is Markannen and their really is no competition there.  If Markannen is going top 7, and Zizic would be top 10 if he went this year, then Porzingis would be no lower than #2 (he would pass Ball, since there already is a PG better than him).


bob


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why in the world would the Knicks trade Prozingis?

he CANNOT just walk away for nothing in a couple years. NY WILL control him as RFA. That means they can match any offer he gets. NO way they wouldn't, I don't are how much he hates Jackson.

I just can't see it , sorry.

kdp59 wrote:why in the world would the Knicks trade Prozingis?

he CANNOT just walk away for nothing in a couple years. NY WILL control him as  RFA. That means they can match any offer he gets. NO way they wouldn't, I don't are how much he hates Jackson.

I just can't see it , sorry.

kdp,

Quite correct IMO.

There is no such thing as an un-tradeable player, but for NY, Porzingis is pretty close. The Knicks aren't going to give him up.

Regards