Who stays and who goes? Picking the final Celtics roster

[vjcsmoke]

The Celtics can only keep 15 players on the active roster.  The rest have to be cut loose or sent to the Red Claws.  Who should stay and who should go?  I'm going to focus on those last 5 spots, since the top 10 is probably locked in stone/obvious.

Here are the 20 roster players.

Kemba Walker
Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum
Jaylen Brown
Gordon Hayward
Enes Kanter
Romeo Langford
Grant Williams
Robert Williams
Semi Ojeleye
============
Daniel Theis
Brad Wanamaker
Vincent Poirier
Carsen Edwards
Yante Maten
Tacko Fall
Kaiser Gates
Javonte Green
Max Strus
Tremont Waters

I consider the first 10 players locks.
Now of the last 10 players pick the 5 remaining who will make the team.

[liam]

Waters and Strus are on G League contracts so I don't believe they count on the 15 man roster. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Ogaju]

why are Semi and Grant above the line and Carsen is below. FOUL!!

[nickagneta]

Four of the players have guaranteed contracts(Theis, Edwards, Wanamaker, Poirier) and can't be traded for months so that is a pretty easy 4 of the 5. Waters and Strus have 2-way contracts, so it's pretty easy to rule them out. Maybe and Gates are just bodies for practice during training camp and pre-season, so it's pretty easy to rule them out.

What your question should ask is who, between Tacko and Green will make the team. I want to see much more before I decide but after one game, it sure looks like Green is an NBA ready player while Tacko is extremely raw. But both were playing against absolute scrubs so not sure that helps.

Tacko's potential to be something very, very good in a couple few years is intriguing so probably have to go with him but, if Waters or Strus show they really have no NBA future, I would be okay with dropping them, signing Tacko to the 2-way contract and trying to get someone on the team that could be a possible rotation contributor. If Green shows he is that guy, great. If it's by signing or trading for someone else, that is great too. If it means leaving the roster spot open to add someone later, I am good with that too.

[gouki88]

Really hope Semi isn't a lock. He looks to yet again not have improved much, if at all. It was only one preseason game though, so I might be being premature in my judgement.

If Green pulls out another performance like he did against Charlotte it makes it very tricky. I really hope we keep Tacko, but a high-energy athlete like Green could be really awesome

[Valid]

Not sure why you think Semi is a lock but Theis isn't (I personally think they are both locks).

Theis is pretty much guaranteed a roster spot, in my opinion. He has proven he can be a decent big, and he is literally our only big with legitimate experience off the bench.

[Valid]

Really hope Semi isn't a lock. He looks to yet again not have improved much, if at all. It was only one preseason game though, so I might be being premature in my judgement.

If Green pulls out another performance like he did against Charlotte it makes it very tricky. I really hope we keep Tacko, but a high-energy athlete like Green could be really awesome

Semi has shown he can guard guys like Giannis without wetting himself (he actually does a really fine job), so he is probably a lock. It would take an absolutely amazing preseason performance by someone unexpected for him to be left off.

Remember: Ojeleye has at least proven he has a legitimate NBA skill in being a solid defender who can guard multiple positions. The rest of these guys are fighting for roster spots in preseason for a reason.

[gouki88]

Really hope Semi isn't a lock. He looks to yet again not have improved much, if at all. It was only one preseason game though, so I might be being premature in my judgement.

If Green pulls out another performance like he did against Charlotte it makes it very tricky. I really hope we keep Tacko, but a high-energy athlete like Green could be really awesome

Semi has shown he can guard guys like Giannis without wetting himself (he actually does a really fine job), so he is probably a lock. It would take an absolutely amazing preseason performance by someone unexpected for him to be left off.

Remember: Ojeleye has at least proven he has a legitimate NBA skill in being a solid defender who can guard multiple positions. The rest of these guys are fighting for roster spots in preseason for a reason.

He does, but I'm not sure how worthwhile his NBA skill is if he continues to be quite useless on offence. Even if he just hits the 3 at 35% I'd be perfectly happy with keeping him, because he is quite a good defender. I actually think his defence is hampered by routine poor calls against him (see him getting charged down by Giannis time and again).

I'd just be bummed out if we let Green go and he goes elsewhere and tears it up. We'll see.

[nickagneta]

Not sure why you think Semi is a lock but Theis isn't (I personally think they are both locks).

Theis is pretty much guaranteed a roster spot, in my opinion. He has proven he can be a decent big, and he is literally our only big with legitimate experience off the bench.

Theis is guaranteed a roster spot because he just signed a contract and can't be traded until January. Wanamaker, Kanter, Poirier, Edwards, Grant Williams and Langford are all in the same boat. They are all guaranteed to be here for months unless Danny decides to cut them and just waste millions of dollars that will stay on the salary cap numbers.

[gouki88]

Not sure why you think Semi is a lock but Theis isn't (I personally think they are both locks).

Theis is pretty much guaranteed a roster spot, in my opinion. He has proven he can be a decent big, and he is literally our only big with legitimate experience off the bench.

Theis is guaranteed a roster spot because he just signed a contract and can't be traded until January. Wanamaker, Kanter, Poirier, Edwards, Grant Williams and Langford are all in the same boat. They are all guaranteed to be here for months unless Danny decides to cut them and just waste millions of dollars that will stay on the salary cap numbers.

Yeah, I feel like Theis is 100% a lock. If anything, his contract is going to be used for trades when he can be moved

[TheSundanceKid]

All the guaranteed contracts will stay. I think the 15th spot will be left open at the start of the season, I don't see either Tacko and Green as useful pieces at this stage, they probably get offered affiliate deals.

A trade is probably coming later in the year, I expect us to need the roster flex to deal with that. That seems more valuable right now than either of those guys

[Neurotic Guy]

Green hasn't played against top competition, however, every time I see him play he stands out.  All you can do is play against the guys you play against.  He seems like one of those diamond in the rough players -- like when Bruce Bowen or Adrian Griffin started with the C's.  They stood out by making contributions each time they took the floor.  That's what Javonte does.   I think he is the keeper of the "bubble" group.

[Tr1boy]

My lineup looks like

C  - Robert Williams
PF - Tatum
SF - Hayward
SG - Smart
PG - Walker

Bench

C  - Kanter/Poirier/Tacko
PF - Grant Williams/Theis
SF - Brown/Langford
SG - Edwards/Strus
PG - Wannamaker

Trade Semi

Send down Green and Waters to the D league.  The others left, to D league

[BitterJim]

All the guaranteed contracts will stay. I think the 15th spot will be left open at the start of the season, I don't see either Tacko and Green as useful pieces at this stage, they probably get offered affiliate deals.

A trade is probably coming later in the year, I expect us to need the roster flex to deal with that. That seems more valuable right now than either of those guys

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, especially when another team would easily make the bird you have a better offer (a two-way deal is infinitely better than a normal g-league deal), and you could easily drop the bird in your hand should you manage to catch the two in the bush

If a minimum contract player being in the roster prevents a deal from happening, it either 1. wasn't happening anyway, 2. was such a quality-for-quantity deal that it wasn't worth making, or 3. you'd rather keep the minimum player because he's worth more than the assets you get in the deal, in which case you're still coming out ahead

[BitterJim]

Not sure why you think Semi is a lock but Theis isn't (I personally think they are both locks).

Theis is pretty much guaranteed a roster spot, in my opinion. He has proven he can be a decent big, and he is literally our only big with legitimate experience off the bench.

Theis is guaranteed a roster spot because he just signed a contract and can't be traded until January. Wanamaker, Kanter, Poirier, Edwards, Grant Williams and Langford are all in the same boat. They are all guaranteed to be here for months unless Danny decides to cut them and just waste millions of dollars that will stay on the salary cap numbers.

That's not actually true for the 1st round picks: they have been eligible to be traded since 30 days after their contract expired. The other guys can either be traded starting December 15th or January 15th