has Amir Johnson made a difference?

[mmmmm]

My biggest issue with Amir is that he is only playing 22 minutes a game. That is the 7th most minutes per game on the team.

If he's going to have this small of a role, then paying him $12 MM a year doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

He's absolutely made a difference, but not as much of a difference as I was hoping.

Fair concern, but keep in mind that the $12M price tag is not just paying for his production.  It is paying for the financial flexibility that Danny wanted that makes Amir's contract a potential trade tool the moment the season ends.

Probably a more reasonable price for Amir's actual basketball production would have been around 8M per for two years.  But that would have had to been 16M fully guaranteed.   Danny is paying the premium in order to get the second year non-guaranteed.   There is a real risk for Amir of not getting the 2nd year.

I try not to worry too much about whether a player is currently earning his current salary.  Salaries in the NBA don't work that way.

[The One]

He has made a huge difference, easily the most underrated player on this team. He is the reason why are defense is what it is today. He took this team from like 11th in defensive rating last year, to what it is today.

I would also credit Crowder and Smart.

[The One]

so with the overwhelming positive response, pick up the team option for next season?

Almost by default because the market is slim and there is a ton of cash to spend by teams.

The one issue I have with him is that he can't sustain a lot of minutes.  We need depth behind a player like that, so we will need to retain Zeller as well.  While Amir may be "cheap" at $12 mil, Zeller will certainly get a hefty raise so in effect we are paying more for Amir.

You could also a) see Jordan Mickey pick up more minutes, b) pick someone like Poeltl in the draft in the 4-6 range, and/or c) sign a free agent 3/4 hybrid player, such that you're going small ball more often when Amir is off the court.  I do agree it'd be better if he was more of a 28-30/minute per game player rather than 22-24, but there are alternatives to Tyler Zeller, and some of them may already be on the roster/in the draft pick pile.

Really not sure about Poeltl, very unpolished offensively.

Other than Bender I cannot think of a big in the coming draft who would both make a difference and has the right offensive skills to fit with the team. (And Bender might choose to stay with Maccabi for a couple more years).

He was last year, but now?  He's made huge strides and is at 18 ppg right now.  He's got really good hands, too

I agree poeltl isn't an elite post scorer but he passes the ball well, has gray hands and seems to finish quick around the hoop. I really don't think Amir has poeltl beat by much in terms of offensive polish

Yikes!!

[The Oracle]

He has made a huge difference, easily the most underrated player on this team. He is the reason why are defense is what it is today. He took this team from like 11th in defensive rating last year, to what it is today.

I would also credit Crowder and Smart.

The bench defense is the single biggest reason the Celtics have the defense they do.  Not crediting Turner, Jerebko, Smart and Olynyk is flat out wrong.  Sully, Amir and Crowder should also be given credit but saying Amir is carrying the defense isn't true.

  Players coming off the bench for the Celtics have a combined defensive rating of 97.8 ranking 3rd in the league.  The starters have a combined rating of 101.1 ranking 7th among starters.  If you were to remove David Lee's negative influence on the Celtic bench rating you would be very close to San Antonio's leading numbers.  The only two significant drags remaining in the rotation are probably Zeller and Thomas.

[LooseCannon]

20 minutes of Johnson and 10 minutes of Zeller provides better defense than 30 minutes of Whiteside within the Celtics system.

[Evantime34]

My biggest issue with Amir is that he is only playing 22 minutes a game. That is the 7th most minutes per game on the team.

If he's going to have this small of a role, then paying him $12 MM a year doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

He's absolutely made a difference, but not as much of a difference as I was hoping.

Fair concern, but keep in mind that the $12M price tag is not just paying for his production.  It is paying for the financial flexibility that Danny wanted that makes Amir's contract a potential trade tool the moment the season ends.

Probably a more reasonable price for Amir's actual basketball production would have been around 8M per for two years.  But that would have had to been 16M fully guaranteed.   Danny is paying the premium in order to get the second year non-guaranteed.   There is a real risk for Amir of not getting the 2nd year.

I try not to worry too much about whether a player is currently earning his current salary.  Salaries in the NBA don't work that way.

I'm not worried about whether he earns his current salary. I just was using his current salary as a way to describe how he has fallen short of my expectations.

When he came to Boston I expected him to be starting and playing close to 28-30 minutes a game, while being our best big. I expected him to be good enough to be the big we close out games with (since we often close small). His salary reflected these expectations and he has not met them so far.

That being said, if they are just holding him back in terms of minutes because of his injury history then I'm all for it. The best indicator of this would be him taking a much bigger role in the playoffs. If he is big in the playoffs and plays more minutes then I will forgive him for not meeting my regular season expectations.