The last three roster spots will be determined in training camp

[Roy H.]

The Boston Celtics are preparing to hold an open competition for their final roster spots at training camp next month, league sources told The Athletic.

The Celtics’ roster currently has 12 players on guaranteed NBA contracts (including Al Horford, whose deal is mostly guaranteed), plus two more players (Mfiondu Kabengele and JD Davison) on two-way deals. That leaves the team with three available slots for the opening night roster. As of Tuesday, the Celtics mostly were expected to fill out the rest of the training camp roster with young veterans willing to vie for those spots. Recent additions Noah Vonleh and Bruno Caboclo will be in that group, while last year’s two-way player Brodric Thomas and former Kings draft pick Justin Jackson are viewed as strong candidates to join them, league sources told The Athletic.

Though veteran big men like Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins and Montrezl Harrell are still unsigned, the Celtics are said to prefer younger players who have room to grow and will be more likely to embrace a limited role. Kabengele, a first-round pick in 2019, fits that mold.

I'm not in love with this plan.  Essentially, Brad is once again planning to go with ten proven players and five scrubs and/or unproven players.  I just don't think that this is a wise way to manage the roster.  Is there any other contender that only has ten proven players?

[Who]

Especially unwise with the number of injury prone guys we got.

[Moranis]

I was saying this in all those threads about using the Fournier TPE and was getting killed for suggesting that Boston was wasting an asset, that it had the space and needed to use the TPE, that it wasn't acting like a contender, etc.  And yet now here we are with a rotation that is basically 10 deep, which just doesn't compare with other contenders and doesn't sound of a team that is trying to win a championship.  Letting the Fournier TPE expire without using was a mistake, a mistake they are compounding by not adding legit players to the roster.  I was willing to give it time to see if they filled out the roster with usable players (players like Dwight Howard for example), but if they don't, then the Brogdon trade and Gallo addition will be wasted on a team that ultimately isn't good enough to win a championship.

[Roy H.]

[If] they don't, then the Brogdon trade and Gallo addition will be wasted on a team that ultimately isn't good enough to win a championship.

I think that's silly talk.  This team is plenty good enough to win a championship.

But, it's stupid to only fill out 2/3 of the roster.

[Goldstar88]

Hope there is a strong buyout market this season…

[Roy H.]

Hope there is a strong buyout market this season…

Yeah.  Is some fairy tale dream season, we've got the #1 record in February, and Derrick Favors and Josh Richardson are looking for a ring.

[Smartacus]

I try to never get excited about training camp invites but I'm holding out hope that Vonleh sticks. I was high on him the year he was drafted and believe he is a real player and at the very least will provide Theis like value and possibly more. He fits the age curve of the roster and should be entering his prime. It's entirely possible that a big rotation of Timelord, Horford, Kabengelle and Vonleh is enough to roll into the playoffs with if the 2 new players prove to have untapped potential.

Maybe Bruno Caboclo is a player. He's clearly a massive person and with Giannis and Durant in the conference it might not hurt to have someone at that size to throw at them for stretches. Purely anecdotal, but he looked more serious in summer league than he did when he was when he was younger. Less big smiles, more concentration. I don't like how 1 clever phrase or segment on a show can define a player. The "2 years away from being 2 years away" moniker was a great line at the time but I think it can sometimes stop some from looking at the player in front of them. Javale McGee used to be the laughing stock of the league and now is one of the most dependable big men out there.

Broderick Thomas or Justin Jackson can fight for the final spot. Jackson has more upside but Thomas has possibly earned a contract with the team.

At the very least I could see Stevens wanting to see how some of these guys shake out and address the potential holes at the trade deadline.

[cons]

i think i'd rather this than bring in a potential cancerous personality like cousins or howard

i think someone like that - although their playing ability is higher than the guys we're bringing in - has potential to far outweigh that by doing damage to the chemistry / morale etc.

the risk of them i think is higher than the small potential reward

and yeah, its a long season. im ok waiting to see what else shakes out and make other moves later if needed.

[Celtics2021]

I personally think someone else is signed.  As I keep saying, signings are a two-way street.  They don’t want to sign Dwight Howard, as an example, because they’re concerned he wouldn’t be happy with the role.  My guess is that they’ve actually talked and had that conversation.  But it’s not like Howard, Whiteside, and the like have signed elsewhere, and as September rolls around and they’re still teamless, they might find they can accept the role more.  And if they can’t, then it’s okay they aren’t signed by the Celtics.  (Also, there will be some players that shake loose in training camp from other teams).

I would also point out there is no requirement for the Celtics to wait until the trade deadline/buyout market to add a guy.  But here’s the thing — the budget, as it stands, probably only allows them to add one such player.  Right now they know the top 10, when healthy.  So if you add a guy, it should be to fill a hole if there’s a long-term injury.  But who’s getting injured?  It’s unclear.  So rather than making a trade now for a guy who won’t get any minutes because they might not need him, and may grouse on the bench, they can use their trade exceptions to find a player when an injury occurs, and not in advance of that.  Lose a wing in November for three months?  Talk to Atlanta about Justin Holiday or Utah about Rudy Gay.  Lose a PG?  Cameron Payne and Cory Joseph are certainly on the block.  Need a center?  Boban is out there.

[Goldstar88]

i think i'd rather this than bring in a potential cancerous personality like cousins or howard

i think someone like that - although their playing ability is higher than the guys we're bringing in - has potential to far outweigh that by doing damage to the chemistry / morale etc.

the risk of them i think is higher than the small potential reward

and yeah, its a long season. im ok waiting to see what else shakes out and make other moves later if needed.

Agreed and apparently Brad feels the same way as these same guys are brought up every off-season and they never get signed. Think Brad learned his lesson after Kyrie.

[Celtics2021]

The Boston Celtics are preparing to hold an open competition for their final roster spots at training camp next month, league sources told The Athletic.

The Celtics’ roster currently has 12 players on guaranteed NBA contracts (including Al Horford, whose deal is mostly guaranteed), plus two more players (Mfiondu Kabengele and JD Davison) on two-way deals. That leaves the team with three available slots for the opening night roster. As of Tuesday, the Celtics mostly were expected to fill out the rest of the training camp roster with young veterans willing to vie for those spots. Recent additions Noah Vonleh and Bruno Caboclo will be in that group, while last year’s two-way player Brodric Thomas and former Kings draft pick Justin Jackson are viewed as strong candidates to join them, league sources told The Athletic.

Though veteran big men like Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins and Montrezl Harrell are still unsigned, the Celtics are said to prefer younger players who have room to grow and will be more likely to embrace a limited role. Kabengele, a first-round pick in 2019, fits that mold.

I'm not in love with this plan.  Essentially, Brad is once again planning to go with ten proven players and five scrubs and/or unproven players.  I just don't think that this is a wise way to manage the roster.  Is there any other contender that only has ten proven players?

It depends how you want to consider Moody, Kuminga, and Wiseman on Golden State.  They've got 11 "proven players" if you include all three, who have roughly 2500 combined NBA minutes.

Also, Miami has 10.  So that's three of four conference finals participants (including the Celtics) in a relatively similar boat when it comes to depth.  The better your top 10, the harder it is to find vets for 11 through 15.

[Moranis]

[If] they don't, then the Brogdon trade and Gallo addition will be wasted on a team that ultimately isn't good enough to win a championship.

I think that's silly talk.  This team is plenty good enough to win a championship.

But, it's stupid to only fill out 2/3 of the roster.

I just disagree that it is plenty good enough.  Sure some injuries like last year and they could, but I just don't think they are good enough at the top to go into a season with 5 unusable players on the roster.  The team needed to use the TPE and get some actual quality depth and if they didn't do that, they need to sign a bunch of vet minimum guys that are actually decent.

[slamtheking]

I think the end result is one of Vonleh/Caboclo gets a spot and one of Thomas/Jackson gets a spot with one slot left open just in case someone needs to be signed to fill a hole created by injury or a surprisingly good (relatively) player gets bought out that could add insurance to the roster.

[slamtheking]

[If] they don't, then the Brogdon trade and Gallo addition will be wasted on a team that ultimately isn't good enough to win a championship.

I think that's silly talk.  This team is plenty good enough to win a championship.

But, it's stupid to only fill out 2/3 of the roster.

I just disagree that it is plenty good enough.  Sure some injuries like last year and they could, but I just don't think they are good enough at the top to go into a season with 5 unusable players on the roster.  The team needed to use the TPE and get some actual quality depth and if they didn't do that, they need to sign a bunch of vet minimum guys that are actually decent.

I agree that not using the TPE was a wasted opportunity to add a good player.   better to have the luxury of an extra good player deserving of more minutes than not enough players on the bench that can contribute when they get minutes. 

[Vermont Green]

I know we all see the slots differently but are these the "useable" players?

PG:   Smart      White         Pritchard
SG:   Brown     Brogdon     
SF:   Tatum
PF:   Horford    Gallinari       GWill
C:     RWill       

Then we have Kornet, Hauser, and 3 open spots.  I guess Vonleh is kind of signed also.

Vonleh might be fine as the insurance big.  Or at least he can hold down the spot to see if a better option comes along.  Everyone assumes that we could just sign Whiteside or Howard if we wanted to but does anyone know that?  Maybe they are both waiting to see if LAL or MIA call?  I expect that every effort will be made to add a vet back up big.  Then one of Vonleh or Kornet will just be cut (min guaranteed money on their contracts).

I think we also need a vet forward-wing (SF).  That seems to be a place we are thin.  Hauser can be 3rd string.  I like Brodric Thomas also.  He could be a placeholder/3rd string option for SG.  It is interesting that we don't have any "pure" point guards.  We have 3 combo guards (actual 4 if you include Brogdon but he will probably play as a 2/3).  Gotta love the combo guards.

I don't think it was necessary to use the TPE just to use it, especially after we got Brogdon and Gallinari.  We just have a couple of reserve slots to fill and this roster will be fine, maybe the best and deepest in the league.  We still have a $7.9M and a $5.9M TPE to use.  Who is going to spend more than that on the 11th man?  The Fourier TPE was for a core rotation player but we got Brogdon and Gallinari without using it.  Oh well, no harm, no foul.  That is how I see it.