Brad Stevens has navigated crucial Celtics offseason with savvy moves, signaling strong start to his front office tenure

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The Athletic's John Hollinger is a fan of the Boston Celtics' offseason so far

         

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August 13, 2021 12:55 pm ource=facebook



It’s amazing what a little patience combined with some luck can do to shift perceptions, or at least that seems to be the case after the Boston Celtics waited out the market only to fall into a bargain deal with point guard Dennis Schroder.

But despite some vocal grumbles from the fanbase that have since calmed or even turned to praise, that is not the only thing that the Celtics managed this offseason, freeing up their books for major moves in the future without sacrificing too much competitiveness in the present. That’s no easy task, and has won the praise of a number of notable analysts, including The Athletic’s John Hollinger — and mostly for what came before the German Rondo signing.

“Everyone is focused on the Dennis Schröder contract (a bargain at one year for $5.9 million), and that was indeed a nice windfall for the Celtics,” writes Hollinger.


“I think Boston’s offseason was a win even before that,” he added. “Turning Kemba Walker into Al Horford had a cost”.

“But the Celtics both executed a needed reconfiguration of their roster to add another quality big and cut millions from what loomed as a luxury-tax bill this year and next. Instead, the Celtics can actually operate as a cap room team in 2022-23.”

The addition of Al Horford gave Boston a very useful player with the ability to stay supple cap-wise, which might ultimately prove the most important move made in and of itself in the pursuit of a true contending roster.



Other, smaller but also important moves stood out to the Athletic analyst as well, even if they have not gotten as much interest, or were even critiqued in a vacuum.

“From there, Boston made the grown-up decision to trade for Josh Richardson rather than get into a bidding war to retain Evan Fournier and somehow received a draft pick while dumping Tristan Thompson’s salary. (Seriously, can somebody explain to me how the Celtics got a second, and the Kings, who surrendered Delon Wright and only got back Thompson, ended up with nothing?).”

Hollinger has also been a fan of the Pacific Northwest-inflected changes to the team’s coaching staff.



Hollinger isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, noting that the dynamic between new team president Brad Stevens and the hire to replace him as head coach in Ime Udoka does have disaster potential in it if Stevens becomes a helicopter executive.

But he is — as we are — cautiously impressed by what the team has done this offseason. “Big picture, however, the Celtics’ roster makes a lot more sense than it did a year ago, and its cap situation is much cleaner.”



Bob


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prakash wrote:Thanks to the repeated discussion about Bruno Fernando and after actually watching all the Celts summer league games, I ask myself, "What is the difference between TT and Bruno?"  The answer I get is approx: -14lbs, +.276 College FT%, -.006 NBA FT% and -1 Rebound/25mins.

The salary difference is nearly $8M and Brad also got a 2nd round pick.  So Brad traded TT for (wishful thinking) TT, saved $8M and collected a 2nd rounder!  Then Moses Brown was dumped for Josh Richardson!  Really nifty.

Really wish we were not coming up short again this season.  The Nets have, and will continue to have a fantastic team.

Prak

You are missing a lot then. All the gloom and doom is in our rear view mirror.

I do not recall TT racing up the court to block a shot at the rim.  I think Bruno has a better offensive game and has shown some niffy low posts moves.  We do know that TT was a really bad fit on this team.  The Celtics probably do not start Bruno  What that means is that Boston has some pretty good center depth.  In the case of TT, we gained by subtracting him from the roster.

I may have gone in a different direction than Brad did in terms of trading for JR.  We cannot discount the one years signings even if maybe one other player could have also been a good one year fit.

This is built to be a year where the Celtics find their defensive DNA and become a team that enjoys  passing the ball.  Banner 18 likely does not get raised in the Fall of 2022.  However,  the Celtics may very well be in a position to make another run to the ECF and not because they are one of the 2 most talented teams.  

The Celtics are no longer looking to go find a star to build around.  They have two allstars that are still very young and at least 3 up and coming guys that should only get better this year (PG, Wing and a Center)  This year's team includes several solid veterans that can still play.  

There were a lot of things that happened last year that are not likely to happen for the Celtics this year.  Our defense should be much improved.  Kemba and EF are gone,  DS and Josh Richardson are both better defenders.  AH is a better defender than TT.   Kanter and Fernando are very physical big men.  Marcus Smart is still with us and JB and JT can both get after it on defense.  AN has the ability to also be a defensive stopper for us.  RL can also play defense.   RWIII is a true rim protector.  

This may be the best defensive team that we have seen in years.  

If you believe as I do that great defense leads to better offense then there are legit reasons for optimism.  

I think we may get blown away by how good this team is defensively.

prakash wrote:Thanks to the repeated discussion about Bruno Fernando and after actually watching all the Celts summer league games, I ask myself, "What is the difference between TT and Bruno?"  The answer I get is approx: -14lbs, +.276 College FT%, -.006 NBA FT% and -1 Rebound/25mins.

The salary difference is nearly $8M and Brad also got a 2nd round pick.  So Brad traded TT for (wishful thinking) TT, saved $8M and collected a 2nd rounder!  Then Moses Brown was dumped for Josh Richardson!  Really nifty.

Really wish we were not coming up short again this season.  The Nets have, and will continue to have a fantastic team.

Prakash,

You've done a good job of looking at the individual players, and their historical capabilities, but I say let's look at this a bit more broadly.

Tristan Thompson + Kemba Walker = Al Horford + Josh Richardson + Bruno Fernando + Kris Dunn (2nd round picks were a net wash).  When you look at the end result, and not just at each piece in each trade, doesn't this look better?  

And then there's the additions of Kanter and Schroder.  Those weren't trade-related, and I don't know how the net salary reductions from the above trades may or may not have enabled Brad to sign those players (e.g. if Kemba was still on the roster, if that trade hadn't happened, would we have had the space under the cap to do the signings?  The Thompson trade also reduced payroll.  GYSO?) but those two players are solid, veteran additions.  Some people don't like the Schroder signing because they see him as a locker room cancer.  I see him as a Marcus Smart player, the one I hate playing against but would love to have on my team.  Time will tell whether I'm right or just Little Mary Sunshine.  Either way, maybe Schroder's Teutonic testiness will be enlightened by Saint Enes' spiritual glow (a little humor here).

At season's end we had issues with our front court.  RWill was often injured, Thompson wasn't the consistent double-double machine he once was (and a liability at the line) and Luke Kornet was/is a marginal NBA player who is at this late date still looking for a job somewhere.  Look at us now.  You did the straight "piece-for-piece, trade-for-trade" analysis well, but how about the roster as it is currently constructed?  You compared Bruno to Thompson, generally unfavorably except for salary (which is a critical component but...).  I compare Thompson to Kanter.  Thompson is better on defense (not that hard) but Kanter is stronger offensively, was a more consistent double-double machine (even in reduced minutes, he was just efficient) and he's a much better frito shooter so fewer empty possessions.  It's hard to compare Bruno to Kornet offensively, Kornet's game was mostly outside and not that good even then, while Bruno is around the rim, but If we need rim protection then Bruno's better.  Bottom line, who would you rather have on the floor, Bruno or Luke, because that's the choice.  It isn't starter (or first big off the bench) Tristan Thompson vs 3rd string (unless Ime plays Grant before Bruno, then he's 4th string) Bruno Fernando.  Al Horford, another offensive player we didn't have last year who can also protect the rim and defend.  I say our front court is better now and it costs less.

Our back court had issues last year too, mostly revolving around Kemba's knee and that Pritchard and Nesmith were rookies and Romeo was also snake-bit.  Now we have Schroder instead of Kemba for scoring.  Maybe a bit less, but better defense (except for taking charges, I give Kemba a lot of credit for that).  PP and AN are now more seasoned.  Romeo is healthy (we'll see how long that lasts!).  Richardson is a pitbull on defense.  Is that not, along with a returning Marcus Smart, a better back court than last year?  And, with Schroder signing a one-year deal for $5.9M and Richardson in the last year of his contract it is a cheap back court providing complete salary flexibility moving forward.  Schroder and Richardson are expiring contracts, Brad doesn't even need to wait until next season to move them if he gets the right offers.  We would have had 2 more years of Kemba and his increasingly dubious knee.  Next year, if Brad wants, he can unload Horford's $14M contract one way or another (I don't think he will, I think Brad loves everything about Al Horford, tangible and intangible, but he could).  That is "an out" he didn't have with Kemba's contract.


Bob


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gyso wrote:Bob,

Tristan Thompson + Kemba Walker vs. Al Horford + Josh Richardson + Bruno Fernando + Kris Dunn (2nd round picks were a net wash).  When you look at the end result, and not just at each piece in each trade, doesn't this look better?

That is for trades.  This is for free agents:

Evan Fournier + Semi Ojeleye + Luke Kornet vs. Enes Kanter + Dennis Schroder

Then we have 2-Ways:

Tacko Fall + Tremont Waters vs. Sam Hauser + [TBD}


Kanter was signed with the Vet Min Exception.  Schroder was signed with the Mini-MLE (Taxpayer's).  Neither of these two signings were affected by the above trades.

gyso,

Thanks.

It gets a bit messy when consider the Richardson trade was a preemptive move by Brad in anticipation of the Fournier free agency loss.  So separating trades from free agency isn't quite so clean.  Overall?



Evan Fournier + Semi Ojeleye + Luke Kornet + Tristan Thompson + Kemba vs. Enes Kanter + Dennis Schroder + Kris Dunn + Bruno Fernando + Al Horford + Josh Richardson


Brad has been a very busy little bee, indeed.


Bob


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prakash wrote:Good points all around.  I guess I am getting impatient with so many near misses in the last four seasons.  Getting a little tired of coming up just short.  Hence the angst that we will still come up a little short when measured against the Nets.

BTW, I hope that my post was not read as sarcasm.  It was not.  I was really appreciating the TT move as very special.

We got better this year for sure.

Also, who can predict next year.  Only two things are a given: Schroder will be gone and Al will either be gone or will be another year older.

Our best bet is that we have another player make a Jaylen Brown like ascension.  Don't want to keep coming up just short over and over.

I find it quite revealing that the long term money is on all Celtics home-grown draft picks.  

The added veterans will give way to guys like PP and AN.

The process at times feels like an excruciatingly long journey.  

A short break at a rest stop helps to flatten things out a bit.
I really believe that this team is on the correct path to a title run or 2 or 3.  That path is longer than a year.