Offseason wishlist

[mef730]

A legit scorer off the bench that can hit shots.

I'm hearing a lot of Tyreke Evans in this thread.

Mike

[Vermont Green]

A legit scorer off the bench that can hit shots.

I think there is a strong possibility that our scorer/wing off the bench is going to be Hayward, especially to start the season. (Kyrie, Brown, and Tatum start).

My off season wish list is to pick up a legit PF to start alongside Horford.

Yes, I know, Hayward didn't sign here to play off the bench but that was before he wrecked his leg.  I think it may take Hayward half of next season to get back to full strength.  Working him in off the bench may need to be part of the plan.

[Eddie20]

Brook Lopez does everything we expected from Baynes? Now here's a good laugh.

Idk why y’all seem so high on Baynes. He does a lot of standing around and he just frustrates me at time with the unwillingness to play D on anyone who is not slow like him. At least Brookhaven the capability of dropping 20 in a game as he can stretch the floor more effectively.

Because Baynes does so many little things that most casual observes don't notice. He's a very good team defender, is very vocal on that end, plays excellent post D, sets massive screens, good rebounder, and in the playoff shot a blistering 47.8% from 3. Obviously that's not sustainable, but the fact that he's showing some consistency from 3's bodes well for him that have continued success next season.

I'm actually not sure what Lopez does better than Baynes except post offense (which we saw how well that went with Monroe). Lopez is an awful defender, especially in space, and is an anemic rebounder (4 RPG in 23.4 MPG). I would say Lopez is a better shooter from distance (34.5%), but considering Baynes improvement I'm not so sure that's anything other than a wash.

[CelticsElite]

A legit scorer off the bench that can hit shots.

I think there is a strong possibility that our scorer/wing off the bench is going to be Hayward, especially to start the season. (Kyrie, Brown, and Tatum start).

My off season wish list is to pick up a legit PF to start alongside Horford.

Yes, I know, Hayward didn't sign here to play off the bench but that was before he wrecked his leg.  I think it may take Hayward half of next season to get back to full strength.  Working him in off the bench may need to be part of the plan.

Something tells me we didn't pay Hayward $31 million a year to play coming off the bench

Where did this myth come from that Hayward can't start with brown and Tatum? We played that way the entire pre season and season opener

[celticinorlando]

Think at the trade deadline they needed to add a scorer off the bench.
They did not and at times in the playoffs it hurt them. I would love to get Reddick. He would be insane as a 6th man. Won't happen but I can dream

[Eddie20]

On my wishlist I would say...

STOP with the over reliance/wasting roster space on rookie/young guys that have limited upside when the goal is to win now. Let's limit the amount of Yabusele's, Nader's, Semi's, Bird's we have on this roster when Stevens can't play them when it matters most. Out of the final four teams (Houston, Cleveland, Golden State) all have veteran guys that you can rely on in clutch playoff moments. Stevens simply didn't have that luxury.

A shooter off-the-bench. We need someone to spread the floor off-the-bench. Just a consistent knockdown shooter type that we can depend on when the offense stalls. I recommended Joe Harris in another thread as I think he would be perfect for that role.

Smart & Rozier. I can't help, but think that someone has to go here. I don't think they mesh all that well. Rozier has a tendency to dribble too much and Smart's lack of ability to create spacing hurts him. I think Rozier would be best with a good shooter, with true SG size next to him, that's also comfortable playing off-the-bench. Conversely, Smart's also a guy that plays better when the ball is in his hands, particularly because he's so awful shooting the ball. So I think with better shooters next to him, Rozier is decent but way too streaky, would probably help him out a lot.

[mrceltics2013]

A legit scorer off the bench that can hit shots.

I think there is a strong possibility that our scorer/wing off the bench is going to be Hayward, especially to start the season. (Kyrie, Brown, and Tatum start).

My off season wish list is to pick up a legit PF to start alongside Horford.

Yes, I know, Hayward didn't sign here to play off the bench but that was before he wrecked his leg.  I think it may take Hayward half of next season to get back to full strength.  Working him in off the bench may need to be part of the plan.

These were my thoughts on the bench scoring wing. One of our guys is coming off the bench so why bring in another one?

[mrceltics2013]

Think at the trade deadline they needed to add a scorer off the bench.
They did not and at times in the playoffs it hurt them. I would love to get Reddick. He would be insane as a 6th man. Won't happen but I can dream

I mean with Hayward coming back why pick up another one? I really don't understand why y'all keep saying a wing off the bench. Are y'all forgetting Irving and Hayward are coming back?

[liam]

Keep the team together and to be healthy all next year.

[number_n9ne]

My Off Season Wish List consists of:

Trade Rozier, MEM 2019 1st, LAC 2019 1st, future 2nd to the Magic for the #6 pick (Michael Porter Jr.)

Draft Donte DiVincenzo with the #27 pick

Trade Marcus Morris and Abdel Nader to the Bulls for Cristiano Felício and a future 2nd.

Resign Smart to a 4 year $38mil deal.

Sign Bird to a 4 year minimum.

Resign Larkin to a 2 year veteran minimum.

Sign Joe Harris to the MLE.

Irving/Brown/Hayward/Tatum/Horford
Smart/Harris/Porter/Theis/Felício
Larkin/DiVincenzo/Bird/Ojeleye/Yabusele

[nickagneta]

My wish list is bringing the band back and staying healthy.

Irving
Brown
Hayward
Tatum
Horford

Those are our starters. And Stevens can always leave two in all the time mitigating the need to go out and find a shooting/scorer off the bench. Also, remember, if Rozier can improve his 3 point shooting just a little bit and get to a consistent 40%, then he is your shooting, scorer off the bench.

Then for the rest of the rotation:

Rozier
Smart
Morris
Theis
Baynes

That's your ten man playoff roster and its awesome.

Then you add
Yabusele
Ojeleye
Probably our 1st round pick
And two specialty vet mins. Another true big and another PG.

[celticinorlando]

My wish list is bringing thw band but and staying healthy.

Irving
Brown
Hayward
Tatum
Horford

Those are our starters. And Stevens can always leave two in all the time mitigating the need to go out ans find a shooting/scorer off the bench. Also, remember, if Rozier can improve his 3 point shooting just a little bit ans get to a consistent 40%, then he is your shooting, scorer off the bench.

Then for the rest of the rotation:

Rozier
Smart
Morris
Theis
Baynes

That's your ten man playoff roster and its awesome.

Then you add
Yabusele
Ojeleye
Probably our 1st round pick
And two specialty vet mins. Another true big and another PG.

Championship roster right there

[Vermont Green]

A legit scorer off the bench that can hit shots.

I think there is a strong possibility that our scorer/wing off the bench is going to be Hayward, especially to start the season. (Kyrie, Brown, and Tatum start).

My off season wish list is to pick up a legit PF to start alongside Horford.

Yes, I know, Hayward didn't sign here to play off the bench but that was before he wrecked his leg.  I think it may take Hayward half of next season to get back to full strength.  Working him in off the bench may need to be part of the plan.

Something tells me we didn't pay Hayward $31 million a year to play coming off the bench

Where did this myth come from that Hayward can't start with brown and Tatum? We played that way the entire pre season and season opener

I don't know if it is a myth or a Urban Legend but I don't think any of Brown, Tatum, or Hayward should play major minutes as a big, no matter what they did in the preseason in 2017.  Plus Morris who I thought was slated to be a starting big was injured through this period of the season.

There are 96 minutes available for the 2 and the 3 plus I don't mind adding a few more minutes of small ball where one of these guys plays as a big.  So to make the math easy, that is 105 minutes (I am OK with 9 min of small ball) available for these 3 to each play 35 minutes.

In 2016/17, Hayward roughly split his time between 2 and 3 (per 82games) and actually did slightly better at the 2.  He did not play at all as a big (PF or C).  I get that he probably wants to start and that Ainge signed him thinking he would start but things change.  No one saw Tatum and Brown coming on this quickly and no one imagined that Hayward would totally wreck his leg.

If it was me, I start the season with him on the bench, ramp us his minutes to starter minutes slowly, and then see what happens.  Maybe there is a big trade.  Maybe there is are injuries.  It is the old cliche that this is a nice problem to have and things have a way of working out.

[nickagneta]

A legit scorer off the bench that can hit shots.

I think there is a strong possibility that our scorer/wing off the bench is going to be Hayward, especially to start the season. (Kyrie, Brown, and Tatum start).

My off season wish list is to pick up a legit PF to start alongside Horford.

Yes, I know, Hayward didn't sign here to play off the bench but that was before he wrecked his leg.  I think it may take Hayward half of next season to get back to full strength.  Working him in off the bench may need to be part of the plan.

Something tells me we didn't pay Hayward $31 million a year to play coming off the bench

Where did this myth come from that Hayward can't start with brown and Tatum? We played that way the entire pre season and season opener

I don't know if it is a myth or a Urban Legend but I don't think any of Brown, Tatum, or Hayward should play major minutes as a big, no matter what they did in the preseason in 2017.  Plus Morris who I thought was slated to be a starting big was injured through this period of the season.

There are 96 minutes available for the 2 and the 3 plus I don't mind adding a few more minutes of small ball where one of these guys plays as a big.  So to make the math easy, that is 105 minutes (I am OK with 9 min of small ball) available for these 3 to each play 35 minutes.

In 2016/17, Hayward roughly split his time between 2 and 3 (per 82games) and actually did slightly better at the 2.  He did not play at all as a big (PF or C).  I get that he probably wants to start and that Ainge signed him thinking he would start but things change.  No one saw Tatum and Brown coming on this quickly and no one imagined that Hayward would totally wreck his leg.

If it was me, I start the season with him on the bench, ramp us his minutes to starter minutes slowly, and then see what happens.  Maybe there is a big trade.  Maybe there is are injuries.  It is the old cliche that this is a nice problem to have and things have a way of working out.

I don't get your assumption that Hayward will need to start off the year slowly and have his minutes ramped up. The team has said he will be ready to go next season and there wilk be an entire training camp and preseason to get him up to speed. But even if that is true, I don't get why he needs to come off the bench. Start him and just play him less minutes. The starters are going to be Irving/Brown/Hayward/Tatum/Horford. They were in game 1 last year and that was before Brown's and Tatum's break out seasons. This year its kinda a guarantee.

[Vermont Green]

I don't get your assumption that Hayward will need to start off the year slowly and have his minutes ramped up. The team has said he will be ready to go next season and there wilk be an entire training camp and preseason to get him up to speed. But even if that is true, I don't get why he needs to come off the bench. Start him and just play him less minutes. The starters are going to be Irving/Brown/Hayward/Tatum/Horford. They were in game 1 last year and that was before Brown's and Tatum's break out seasons. This year its kinda a guarantee.

Point 1, basing it largely on how Paul George recovered.  I have no medical knowledge of how it will be for Hayward but it does not feel to me that he will be ready for 35 min/gm right off the bat.

Point 2, you may be right but if that is the decision on the starting line up for the Celtics, I don't agree with it (and it would be really stunning to me if Stevens has already decided who will start next season even though you certainly have already decided for him).  It is not enough size.  Somebody has to play out of position.

I conceded that there would be some periods with this or a similar small line up and if you want to start the game with that, than OK but usually the small line ups are worked in later in the game based on match ups or to change the tempo of the game.  I like that line up for short, strategic stretches but not as the main rotation. 

I believe that it would be ideal for the team and to afford the coach the maximum flexibility, if Hayward became the 6th man and rotate the 3 wings so that there are always at least 2 of them on the floor.  Rozier is in the mix as back-up PG plus 3 other bigs (Theis, Baynes, and someone new I hope) in addition to Horford.  Then you have all the end of the bench players to include some wing insurance hopefully plus Semi, Yabusele, etc. 

I omit Smart because I suspect he will sign elsewhere.  I love Marcus and would keep him over Rozier all things equal but we don't have room for both at $14M so we shall see.