Taking Stock of The Celtics Post Trade deadline

The Celtics did not do everything that they wanted to do but they did accomplish several things

They upgraded their wing depth with Fournier who should fit nicely into the slot vacated by GH

They opened up minutes for RW who has been playing great basketball because they now have a 2 headed center so minutes can be split more evenly.    Kornet will be a deep bench guy.  Tristian has been bitching about minutes.  Theis was on an expiring deal but TT is locked in for another year.  I like Theis better than Tristian but Theis is still an undersized center and both Williams and Thompson are better rebounders.  It was easier to move Theis.  Best of luck to him for a job well done.

The Celtics keep Marcus Smart as well as all of their draftees over the past two years and they did not use any first round picks.

The Celtics also avoided hitting the tax line for this year.  Yes they could have made a bigger deal but they did not want to become a tax payer this year.  

I think the Celtics will make the playoffs because they added an above average scorer/shooter and addressed a positional need in the process.

I think we are going to see a change in our starting lineup.  Brad has always preferred a 3 wing lineup so the logical change will be for Fournier to move into the lineup.  He is not a bench guy.  He is an experienced veteran starter.  Everyone has been calling for RW to be our starting center.  He is a better overall player than TT at this point.  TT can go to the bench to sure up the 2nd unit as Rob is a more dynamic player who should fit in well with our top guys.

Marcus Smart will be heading back to the bench except when KW misses all those B2B games.  He will still play starter minutes or you may also see PP get a few starts. Why not?

PP got squeezed a bit when both Kemba and Smart returned.  Now with Teague gone he should get consistent backup minutes at the point.  

The bench is still not up to par but it will be better.  Wagner adds more size and GW and Semi have actually played better this year.  Not great but better.

The addition of Fournier will allow Brad to keep 2 high quality wing scorers on the floor at all times.

So there you have it.  No this is not the profile of a title contender but now you can put 4 dynamic scorers on the floor together with  one of the most athletic big men in the league who is showing exponential improvement.

There are a lot of questions to be answered up the road but right now this is the team moving forward.  There is a possibility that the Celtics could pursue one of the buyout candidates.

Now if only Nesmith and Romeo can earn minutes and give us something, we will have plenty of depth and can go at teams hard for 48 minutes.

I am pleasantly surprised and glad we got a 6’7” wing with Fournier’s production and length. I have the perfect nickname that I’ll be using on the board for him- Frenchy. We just got more popular in France, and that, well Paris was Sam’s favorite city in the world...!!!

worcester wrote:Prediction, we make the playoffs and in the next month Nesmith and Romeo get at least 7 minutes per game on the floor. I really hope Romeo becomes an NBA player of value. We have waited so long and seen so little of him so far.

Ditto, he showed enough flashes that you could see there’s a real player/asset there, no question his game can help us....his defense actually reminded me a lot of Smarts on the ball D.

We are going to be short handed in the frontcourt until TT returns.    Semi is going to be out tonight along with TT.

RWIII will be our main guy at center.  Maybe Tacko gets a few minutes and I expect that Brad will be forced to play some small ball center.  The new kid on the block Wagner should also be available.

Time is running short for Boston to nail down a playoff position.

Our guys need to be reading from the same page so I look for our veterans to step up and right the ship and help the new guys acclimate to the team.    

Defense is usually the most difficult thing for new guys to pick up with all the switching that Boston likes to do.  Brad may just want to play a bit more zones to smooth out the transition.

Fournier should fit right in the offense like a glove.

kdp59 wrote:Dboss ,

spot on as usual with your assessment, IMO.

the only thing i would change is how the starters/ rotational players should be.

I see Thompson and Smart starting with Tatum, Brown and Kemba

Fournier, while a starter will become the 6th man (he is on a real playoff team now)

Rob gets consistent minutes game in, game out (22-28) depending on Thompsons play.

Pritchard is Smarts BU as ball handler now.

Kemba should be playing more off-ball IMO anyway.

thats 8 deep and we know Brad will somehow find minutes for Grant and Semi too.

Nesmith, Romeo will have to bring it to get in the rotation,. IMO.

kdp59

We missed you last night!

You may be quite right about the lineup changes. But RW will be starting tonight, lol.

When GH arrived, Brad Stevens had him in the starting lineup with the J's because Brad loves a 3 wing lineup. Then he went down but last year he was back in the starting lineup with the J's. The new 3 wing lineup may not happen right away but I do think that is what Brad prefers. Brad cannot get the offensive efficiency with Marcus because Marcus is a below average shooter and scorer. This is not a knock on Marcus but 39% from the field and 32.4% from deep is not really good enough. If the issue is having a defensive minded guy in there to help Kemba then yes, Marcus would be the better choice. I guess it is an off/def tradeoff. What is more important? I would go full blown offense.

Anyways, all this is speculative and Brad will just have to decide what lineups and rotations work best.

TT and RW will split minutes at center and if Wagner works out you may see him also in their with one of the centers in a big boy lineup (i.e. RW on the freak and Wagner on the Android.)

Rosalie

Teague has made around $97,000,000 million over 11 years. He is 32 years young same age as KJ.

I guess he should be okay even if he does not land with another NBA Team. He still can help someone but this seems to happen a lot. A guy gets kicked to the curb and it is time to begin a new chapter in their lives.

atcross wrote:Smart is actually a slightly worse shooter than Rondo last year at LA. And he's no where near the passer/playmaker. He's a valuable player because of his ability to defend about anybody, his ability to make clutch plays, the intangibles he brings with his energy, grit, and spirit. But he tries to make too many hero shots and passes. There needs to be someone who will give him the stink eye when he gets carried away. Play him at the 2 next to Kemba, or bring him in as the 6th, and then at the end of games. Kemba and PP are our PGs. With 2 Js, KW, EF, and PP, we don't need him to be a shooter. Sure he needs to take the wide open three to keep the defense honest. But that shot has to be applied judiciously, not early in the clock because he's feeling it.

Smart remains an integral part of the team. As soon as I think he cannot score, he scores and as soon as I think he can score, he cannot score.

That is way I think of him as our ultimate enigma.

The more perfect Marcus Smart is a playmaker and intense defender, and a disciplined low volume shooter. Sometimes he comes out and and does exactly what the team needs most. Other times he comes out and shoots too many bricks and kills our momentum. We have dropped several games this year because of some bad decisions to take shots.