Trying to replace Grant Williams at PF

[wdleehi]

If the Celtics do not resign Grant, how do they replace him? 


My first thought was putting Gallo and Pritchard together in a trade.

For example:

Those two to New Orleans for Larry Nance Jr.   

[Surferdad]

If the Celtics do not resign Grant, how do they replace him? 


My first thought was putting Gallo and Pritchard together in a trade.

For example:

Those two to New Orleans for Larry Nance Jr.

I've always liked Nance for the C's.

If it doesn't happen then Gallo replaces Grant's minutes which will mean better shooting (their 3-PT% are similar but Gallo's sample size is much bigger) and worse defense. Grant and Gallo have comparable rebounding per 36 minutes.

[Roy H.]

Ideally I'd like to keep Gallo, because Joe's system could use a reliable shooter.

I'd be okay with Nance if we could get him for Pritchard + expirings + cash.

[Who]

Nance strikes me as a guy who gets injured a lot.

For the last five seasons he has played in 67 games, 56 games, 35 games, 46 games and 65 games this past year. So an average of 54 games per season. About 2/3rds of the season played 1/3 injured.

[Who]

Grant is annoyingly difficult to replace. Two way forwards who can matchup against physical behemoths like Giannis are exceedingly rare.

[Celtics4ever]

Naz Reed , bigger, better defender and has some grit and could spell AL and Rob,. not as good at threes at Grant but better in a lot of other regards.

[Birdman]

Naz Reed , bigger, better defender and has some grit and could spell AL and Rob,. not as good at threes at Grant but better in a lot of other regards.

Always been a fan of his

[Who]

Our own guy Gallinari is likely as good as any PF replacement we could hope to get to replace G Will. Hard to do better.

[Vermont Green]

The thing with Grant Williams is that there is not any particular skill that is going to be hard to replace.  But it will be hard to replace his versatility, at least with one player.  I hope we are able to keep Grant.  Having that versatility on the bench is valuable, but I also feel that his production/contribution can be easily replaced.  Gallinari will pick up most of it.  Others can fill in around. 

He has averaged about 8 pts and 4 rebs over the last 2 seasons.  About 40% 3P%, which is great, but he is still pretty limited in that he can hit the corner 3 but not much else.

We are not going to replace Grant 1 for 1, we don't need to.

[boscel33]

That's funny, in no way do I consider GWill a PF.  He averages a career 3.4RPG and I feel a PF should be more than that.  Yes, I know that we're in a different NBA, but the dude had a 26 standing vertical at the combine.  Tacko had a 22!

[RodyTur10]

We already have two replacements in the house: Sam Hauser and Mike Muscala.

[kraidstar]

We already have two replacements in the house: Sam Hauser and Mike Muscala.

Also Gallo

[kraidstar]

The big positive to keeping Grant is that his age aligns with the Jays.

Gallo, Muscala etc might be able to hold down the fort for now, but they would need to be replaced down the road.

Are we willing to overpay Grant to keep that long-term depth? That depth means it'll be easier for us to keep our draft picks down the road to draft or trade for other role players, or even make a bigger trade involving Grant's salary.

If he plays at a reasonable level that contract is an asset. And we need all the assets we can acquire. Even if you don't believe in Grant, IMO his contract is easily moveable and gives us flexibility. Those mid-sized contracts are gold when it comes to trades.

The only reason to let him walk is if we can somehow get under the tax so we can use the full MLE for someone better. But even then, we might not get full bird rights and might lose our MLE guy after a couple years.

[BitterJim]

Nance strikes me as a guy who gets injured a lot.

For the last five seasons he has played in 67 games, 56 games, 35 games, 46 games and 65 games this past year. So an average of 54 games per season. About 2/3rds of the season played 1/3 injured.

More like 57.5 games/season, since 2 of those seasons were shortened (65 for the Cavs in '19-20, then 72 in '20-21. Also 83 games in '21-22, due to the trade). Not much better, but still.

It looks like a lot of his problem is small injuries that cause him to miss a week or two, and a big months-long injury or two thrown in there. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than a couple of major injuries, but I would be worried that those 1-2 week injuries would be bad enough to make him miss playoff games.

[theswitch]

The thing with Grant Williams is that there is not any particular skill that is going to be hard to replace.  But it will be hard to replace his versatility, at least with one player.  I hope we are able to keep Grant.  Having that versatility on the bench is valuable, but I also feel that his production/contribution can be easily replaced.  Gallinari will pick up most of it.  Others can fill in around. 

He has averaged about 8 pts and 4 rebs over the last 2 seasons.  About 40% 3P%, which is great, but he is still pretty limited in that he can hit the corner 3 but not much else.

We are not going to replace Grant 1 for 1, we don't need to.

It's the physicality. The only guy on the team who can muscle up against Jokic, Giannis, Embiid, Butler types. At least to make them work a little bit versus guys like Rob (for the bigs) or Tatum (for the wings). We need some girth and guts as a core competency for someone off the bench in those situations.