Trade Deadline News (Celtics get Tillman, Jaden Springer)

[W8ting2McHale]

All good comments, but what I was trying to get at was who improved their team more, the Celtics or the PHI, not would you rather of traded for Hield?  I know the picks aren't exact, but they are close enough that I think you can limit the comparison to the players.

The Celtics gave up two players that were not contributing except for garbage time and got Tillman and Springer.

PHI gave up two players that were both contributing and got back a solid player in Hield, who should help them.  But it is a net gain as they gave up in particular Morris who is still a decent player and was in the regular rotation (Korkmaz not so much).

It's only a net gain if Embiid comes back this season and Embiid/Maxey/Hield can make something happen.

I think even though Buddy is the best player involved that the Celtics did well.

The ‘76ers lost 2 contributors and only got 1 back, and his usefulness will depend on Embiid being able to play.

The Celtics lost 2 deep bench players and replaced them with 2 slightly better deep bench players, and they both have time to carve out a role before the playoffs. Hield will have a defined role but he’s not going to replace 2 spots because he’s not versatile enough.

The role Hield will play is more important than the 2 players that went out, and more important than what the Celtics brought in as well, however, to put him in Celtics green probably would have meant sending out Hauser and Pritchard plus the picks, or something comparable, and while Buddy could replace either of them he can’t replace both, so I think we’d have a bigger hole than Philadelphia. We’d still have to bring in someone else and pay more than we did.

I think for now Brad’s picked the best value for the current roster with the moves he made.

[Who]

Does Philly have any backup PG now?

Beverley was their primary backup. Springer their 3rd stringer. Who do they have left?

Will they be using D Melton as a PG?

[Roy H.]

Does Philly have any backup PG now?

Beverley was their primary backup. Springer their 3rd stringer. Who do they have left?

Will they be using D Melton as a PG?

Pretty much everybody is predicting Kyle Lowry.  Presumably Payne is the backup for now?

[Who]

Does Philly have any backup PG now?

Beverley was their primary backup. Springer their 3rd stringer. Who do they have left?

Will they be using D Melton as a PG?

Pretty much everybody is predicting Kyle Lowry.  Presumably Payne is the backup for now?

Oh yeah, I forgot they got Cam Payne back for Beverley. Okay so they are not too badly off.

Lowry would be a great replacement for Beverley.

[Vermont Green]

Does Philly have any backup PG now?

Beverley was their primary backup. Springer their 3rd stringer. Who do they have left?

Will they be using D Melton as a PG?

Pretty much everybody is predicting Kyle Lowry.  Presumably Payne is the backup for now?

I suppose PHI's plan is to get as much in place as they can so that if Embiid can actually play through the playoffs, they could make a run.  I don't see there being much point to this.  In the case of Lowry, he probably won't stay healthy either.  I guess if all they need to commit is a min contract, why not, but they should be setting themselves up for next season.

It is probably not directly related, but could be, but they move Springer to make roster and cap space so they can sign Lowry?  Makes no sense to me.

[celticinorlando]

Tillman wears 26
Springer 44

[Roy H.]

Tillman wears 26
Springer 44

It's past time to retire #44.  Or at least put the name "Danny" up in the rafters.

[Roy H.]

Does Philly have any backup PG now?

Beverley was their primary backup. Springer their 3rd stringer. Who do they have left?

Will they be using D Melton as a PG?

Pretty much everybody is predicting Kyle Lowry.  Presumably Payne is the backup for now?

I suppose PHI's plan is to get as much in place as they can so that if Embiid can actually play through the playoffs, they could make a run.  I don't see there being much point to this.  In the case of Lowry, he probably won't stay healthy either.  I guess if all they need to commit is a min contract, why not, but they should be setting themselves up for next season.

It is probably not directly related, but could be, but they move Springer to make roster and cap space so they can sign Lowry?  Makes no sense to me.

It also frees up $4 million for them in free agency next year.

[Roy H.]

Xavier Tillman brings grit and defensive intensity to the Boston Celtics, which should make him popular among fans.

Just ask his former teammate, who exhibited those traits in spades in Boston.

Tillman comes to Boston from the Memphis Grizzlies, where he spent half a season with ex-Celtics guard Marcus Smart. Tillman admitted he and Smart haven't spoken since his trade to Boston became official Wednesday, but Smart apparently gave the 25-year-old some prescient advice earlier in the season that Tillman plans to take to heart in his new NBA home.

"He was just telling me about his experience here," Tillman told reporters Friday at his first Celtics shootaround. "...The main thing he told me is, (Boston) is very similar to Memphis in terms of the grit and the grind and how hard you have to work for the fans' appreciation. And once you do show that you're willing to hustle, they're gonna love you after that."

[Vermont Green]

OK, time to update the roster slotting a little (I thought we were done):

White              Holiday            Springer
Brown             Pritchard          Mykhailiuk
Tatum             Hauser             Walsh
Horford           Tillman             Brissett
Porzingis         Kornet              OPEN (Queta)

(Queta is a 2-way)

Even if we are able to pick up a buyout, I doubt that the roster ends up looking all that much different from this.  When I made this depth chart, I wasn't really giving it a whole lot of thought other than I still expected Holiday to start but was thinking we would see more 2-big line ups now that we had Tillman.

I have thought of this more, and recognizing that I will be in the minority, I think I like Holiday off the bench.  He has been solid but not spectacular.  I have felt from the start that there is some overlap between Holiday and White when they are on the floor together, although it has certainly been working fine.  I think Holiday has been sacrificing some of his game in order not upset things.  And I think the main reason that they had to split Horford and Porzingis was the lack of depth.  If Horford and Porzingis were playing more together, that meant more time playing with neither of them.  So you really had to split them up so that you could have one of them on the floor most of the time.

Now with Tillman, and assuming that he plays as well as the guy that started 6 playoff games last season for MEM, (2-4 vs. LAL), it seems like there is less need to split up Horford and Porzingis.  We are still going to play plenty with one big and an extra guard, I get that, but I am going to officially advocate for going back to playing 2-bigs (like in 2021-22 when our Horford-RWill line up dominated) and have Holiday be the 6th man. 

[Vermont Green]

Does Philly have any backup PG now?

Beverley was their primary backup. Springer their 3rd stringer. Who do they have left?

Will they be using D Melton as a PG?

Pretty much everybody is predicting Kyle Lowry.  Presumably Payne is the backup for now?

I suppose PHI's plan is to get as much in place as they can so that if Embiid can actually play through the playoffs, they could make a run.  I don't see there being much point to this.  In the case of Lowry, he probably won't stay healthy either.  I guess if all they need to commit is a min contract, why not, but they should be setting themselves up for next season.

It is probably not directly related, but could be, but they move Springer to make roster and cap space so they can sign Lowry?  Makes no sense to me.

It also frees up $4 million for them in free agency next year.

Yeah, I get that, but who are you going to get with $4M that is better than Springer?  They must feel they can get someone better, or more complementary to Embiid, but I have my doubts.  It could work out.  If they do get Lowry and he comes in and helps the team more than Springer would have, good for them.  But if next season, they end up with nothing much to replace Springer, then this becomes a failed maneuver.

I think of Nesmith as a comp for Springer.  With Nesmith, you could see the athleticism, the grit.  But he just could never put it together in the context of a contending team.  Now he is.  Seems like Springer is that same type of player who will follow that same type of timeline, at least I hope so.  We traded Nesmith but got Brogdon.  PHI traded Springer to save money.  Now we have to figure out how to develop him, which can be difficult while contending.  PHI probably feels that they have a much smaller window of time with Embiid, meaning they can't afford to wait for Springer to mature and develop.

[celticinorlando]

It would be nice if these two guys would actually he available to play

[liam]

It would be nice if these two guys would actually he available to play

Yeah, I would've liked both for that Miami war we just went through. I'm betting we'll see them after the ASB. I hope they can both play some minutes into the stretch run to help our 6 starters get some rest. Both guys can play up and down defensively so they make nice bench pieces. We might not really see their worth until next season.

[Celtics2021]

It would be nice if these two guys would actually he available to play

Yeah, I would've liked both for that Miami war we just went through. I'm betting we'll see them after the ASB. I hope they can both play some minutes into the stretch run to help our 6 starters get some rest. Both guys can play up and down defensively so they make nice bench pieces. We might not really see their worth until next season.

We won’t see much of Springer.  The rotation will be nine guys most every night.  The top 8 are set, and Tillman will hopefully become guy number 9.  Springer will only play in garbage time or if a guard ahead of him is out.  He’s a next year and beyond piece depending what happens with Jrue going forward.

[W8ting2McHale]

It would be nice if these two guys would actually he available to play

Yeah, I would've liked both for that Miami war we just went through. I'm betting we'll see them after the ASB. I hope they can both play some minutes into the stretch run to help our 6 starters get some rest. Both guys can play up and down defensively so they make nice bench pieces. We might not really see their worth until next season.

We won’t see much of Springer.  The rotation will be nine guys most every night.  The top 8 are set, and Tillman will hopefully become guy number 9.  Springer will only play in garbage time or if a guard ahead of him is out.  He’s a next year and beyond piece depending what happens with Jrue going forward.

For the most part I agree, but Jrue isn’t getting any younger and could probably have his minutes managed a bit after the break so that he’s fresh for the playoffs. Pritchard is a solid bench piece, but Springer could step in when needed if Pritchard’s getting targeted and his defense isn’t holding up.

I’m not expecting him to get 15-20 minutes a night, but I do think he’ll get situational minutes and not just garbage time.