Going Post-Al

Al Horford is 36 years old and is in the final year of his contract.  IF he signs a new contract it will no doubt be a short one with the understanding that his minutes will be reduced.  If he figures 37 is too old to play professional basketball then this is it.

We are already thin as Hell up front.  We have a chronically injured starting center and an aging power forward.  Blake isn't a long term solution at center and Luke is, well, Luke.  His nickname should probably be "Lack" instead of Luke, as in lack of skills.  

We are unlikely to be in a position to draft a high quality center this year, short of trading some valuable pieces to a team who is likely to have a high draft pick.  No GM is going to give away a high draft pick if there's a chance, however remote, of them getting Wembanyama unless they are getting significant assets in return.  That means no spare parts like Justin Jackson or even Sam Hauser.  Pritchard is supernumerary with Brogdon healthy but he's not enough to move the needle for a big.

And even if Brad can con a GM into giving us that high draft pick that will get us a quality big how many years will it take for their learning curve to flatten out?  How many years has it taken for RWill and he has had access to Al's mentoring?  So, even if Al sticks around as a big man coach it will still take years.

This is another reason why I'm not happy with Brad's decision to roll with Luke.  He's never going to be a starter.  At 27 years old he's probably never going to be even a 20+mpg solid rotation player.



Bob


.

I can see AH signing a 1-2 year deal.

Even if Robert Williams did not have injury related issues, we would still need to find another center given Al's age and declining productivity.

Our team is built around a guard/wing dominated configuration. Brad must address his front line situation. If you draft a guy he is probably a few years away from being helpful but I do think that you must add a young center to develop.

Here is a quick glance at the Celtics future draft picks. I think we have enough to make a trade.

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/celtics-future-draft-picks-where-cs-stand-beyond-2022

We own our first round picks in 2023, 24, 25, 26, 27. We have a shot at Houston's second round pick in 2023. It could be a high second rounder. With Brad not going for Durant, the Celtics have not leveraged their future draft picks.

If the Celtics want to add a "quality big" now, it will cost them something good to get something good. Like Bob said, waiting on a future draft pick doesn't help now.

Time will tell us how the team management and owners feel about this. Who they think is redundant, who they think has enough value to include in a trade where the addition of that "quality big" isn't a net negative after the trade, to both team success and team continuity.

It seems like Brad's team building strategy isn't at all like Danny's was. Danny was willing to use all his draft picks in the hopes that they would turn into something positive for the future. Brad, on the other hand, trades those draft picks with other assets for a player that will help now.

The fact that we are still having to discuss depth at the center position is both alarming and frustrating when our team is supposedly ready to go after banner #18.

I am going to be very disappointed if this issue somehow keeps us from being VERY competitive this season going on the assumption that the injury bug does not rise up to take down Brown or Tatum.

Not having a better option than Luke is a very risky issue.  I have never been in the position  of an NBA talent scout, but to my  naked eyes Luke is never going to be able to play center, as a high minutes guy forEVER.  He appears to be a 13-15th guy on the roster of any good team, and at 27 he is not likely to be able to make very many changes to his game.

He may be a 'good' guy, and I am sure that he is, but he does not have the talent to be a major contributor.

I am dumbfounded that the only move Stevens did to help our bigs situation is Kabengele, I saw some good things from Kabengele in SL. Kornet is a waste of height. He is very close defensively to Olynck, Olynck has much better offense. It’s still early, hopefully Kabengele can earn some minutes, if Kabengele gives us nothing, we are in big trouble. I would have been happy with a Robin Lopez type journeyman, at least a guy like that can hold his own in the paint, Kornet can’t do that at all from my eye test.

gyso

I am in complete agreement with this

If the Celtics want to add a "quality big" now, it will cost them something good to get something good. Like Bob said, waiting on a future draft pick doesn't help now.

However, if Brad was going to do something he should have made a move already, IMO. Once I learned that Rob would be out for an very extended period of time, my concern started. After watching the first 4 games I realize that our defensive weakness in the middle is pretty significant.

I would like to see the Celtics package picks and a player or two and go find a starting level center. We should be able to do that and still have enough draft picks moving forward.

Would add that there are a lot of guys under contract that cannot be traded until sometime in December.