Celtics expected to move on from Kelly Olynyk

Celtics expected to move on from Kelly Olynyk

WEEI

Ty Anderson - June 27, 2017 - 8:07 pm

In order for the Celtics’ all-in summer plans -- signing one of Gordon Hayward or Blake Griffin to a max deal and trading for Paul George with a contract extension in place -- to truly work, significant cuts to the cap in order to maximize their savings and ability to make those aforementioned personnel changes would have to be made to the C’s roster.

It’s possible that those plans claimed their first victim on Tuesday, as it appears that Celtics big man Kelly Olynyk will become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

One of the most polarizing figures of the entire Brad Stevens era, Olynyk averaged 9.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in 75 games for the Celtics last season, but also shot at a career-best 51.2 percent from the field. And it was in Game 7 of the club’s second-round series with the Wizards that Olynyk became the most popular athlete in town for a night, as he went 10-for-14, scoring 26 points off the bench in a 115-105 win.

The writing appeared on the wall for Olynyk when he was first denied a contract extension when the deadline came and went during the regular season (Olynyk himself admitted that the Celtics had some big plans and that they needed the salary cap flexibility), and the 26-year-old currently sits as a restricted free agent, with a qualifying offer just north of $4 million (something he obviously would not accept). But, Olynyk does count for a $7.7 million cap hold against the Celtics until they renounce his rights.

They’ll need that $7.7 million if they’re going to sign somebody to a max contract, too.

As the Vertical reported, it’s believed that Olynyk will certainly have a market if he is indeed out of the C’s plans, with any and every team seeking a versatile big man, be it as a starter on a bad team, or as an off the bench roleplayer like he was for the 53-win Celtics this past season.

Olynyk can also be a team’s enforcer, too, and rip a player’s arm out Chewbacca style or goad somebody into a suspension if you need that.

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I love the last sentence!

best of luck to Kelly. Hopefully he gets 15m+ a year

Good luck to Kelly.

I understand it, but wowie-kazowie will we be thin on bigs then!

Al Horford and Ante Zizic.  That's it for bigs.  I don't care how much the game is moving to the perimeter and Small-Ball Rules! and all that.  You gotta have at least 3-4 bigs.  We'll have 2, if Kelly is gone (Mickey, if we keep him, is a swing, not a big).  If we sign Blake Griffin instead of either PG or GH then we'll have 3 and that will still leave us 1 short, especially with Griffin's questionable injury track record.  I realize some of his games lost to injury was because he punched a trainer in the head (Hey Cowens!  If we sign Griffin, could you give him a free lesson or two on how to aim for softer targets like throats and noses?) and that's not likely to happen again, but still, gotta have more bigs.


bob


.

Figuring out the big problem is for the day after we get George and Hayward.

Cowens will be VERY happy!!!


oh....and we still have Zeller...at least right now....LOL

bob maybe....???

this is sports personality only gets you so far, you can be a jerk in sports, if you can play/produce teams will always need you. Kelly was nice kid, but he couldn't really play the 4 or 5 to the level needed. If he can get 12 mill from another franchise, more power to him.

KyleCleric wrote:Figuring out the big problem is for the day after we get George and Hayward.

Exactly - Worry about the less expensive secondary pieces - after you have locked up the super stars.

Danny will have the mid-level exception

Kelly Olynyk has been a very confusing conundrum for all four of his years as a Celtic.

He has shown yearly improvement in some areas of his game, he has had some great games and he has had some terrible games. He has been consistently inconsistent since the beginning of his first season and has continued to be that way right to the end of his fourth season.

When he was on his rookie salary the yearly improvements and a few really nice games gave us all hope while costing the team very little money.

Now that he is a free agent the concept of paying him a lot of money for his lack of consistency is a big gamble. Who knows....his fifth year could see him turn into that 16 PPG and 9 RPG player who is getting 26-28 minutes per night. Any team that pays him for next year and beyond are taking a risk, however that he is not still going to be a 9 PPG, 4 RPG and six MPG player.

I would like to have him back, but there appears to be no way that the Cs would/could/should pay him more than $8M per year to take the chance that next year is going to be his 'break out' year.