C’s Off-Season FA Acquisitions

[Goldstar88]

The Celtics bench needs almost a complete overhaul.  They should add Vets that can come in and contribute right away to take some pressure off the starters. Can’t go through another season with all of these G-League/project players.

Assuming that Semi, Kornet, Waters, Tacko, Edwards, and hopefully Grant Williams are not on the team next year, Who would like to see the Celtics sign on the cheap in the off-season?

I’m hoping for:

Plan A

TJ McConnel: Pass first point guard who can actually run an offense. Had multiple games with 17 assists this year, which was a career high. Solid defender despite only being 6’1, had nearly 2 steals a game.  Averaged 8.6pts, 6.6 ast and 3.7 reb playing 26 mins per game. Salary for this season: $3.5M

Mike Muscala: Stretch 4, shot 37% from 3pt this season, which is right around his career average. 90% from the FT line. Has good size at 6’10”, 240lbs. Averaged 9.7pts and 3.8reb playing 18 mins per game. Salary for this season $2.3M.

Willy Hernangomez: insurance policy for Timelord. Averaged 8pts and 7reb in 18 mins per game. Has good size at 6’11” and 250. Runs the floor well.  Salary for this season $1.7M

Plan B

Bobby Portis
Otto Porter JR
Rudy Gay
Trey Lyles
Sterling Brown
JaVale McGee

Plan C

James Ennis
Kent Bazemore
Brad Wanamaker
Dewayne Dedmon
Austin Rivers

[Walker Wiggle]

The goal in the offseason should be to hunt for a mega-star to pair with Brown and Tatum that can vault you into contention. The players on the OP's list are nice, but these guys are effectively rounding errors, that is the difference between a 5th seed and a 3rd seed next year.

A few years back, a guy named Kyrie Irving suddenly asked out of Cleveland just a few weeks before the season started. The Celtics traded IT -- that is, an undersized PG with major injury questions -- plus a lottery pick and acquired one of the premier talents in the league.

That didn't work out the way we hoped, mostly because of Kyrie's mania. But you get the point. The goal going forward should be to wait for the INEVITABLE next time a superstar wants out from his current team, and then pounce with some combination of Kemba, Rob, whichever other young players eg. Nesmith/Langford/Pritchard, and a boatload of future draft picks.

After that we can round out the roster with veteran role players.

[Goldstar88]

The goal in the offseason should be to hunt for a mega-star to pair with Brown and Tatum that can vault you into contention. The players on the OP's list are nice, but these guys are effectively rounding errors, that is the difference between a 5th seed and a 3rd seed next year.

A few years back, a guy named Kyrie Irving suddenly asked out of Cleveland just a few weeks before the season started. The Celtics traded IT -- that is, an undersized PG with major injury questions -- plus a lottery pick and acquired one of the premier talents in the league.

That didn't work out the way we hoped, mostly because of Kyrie's mania. But you get the point. The goal going forward should be to wait for the INEVITABLE next time a superstar wants out from his current team, and then pounce with some combination of Kemba, Rob, whichever other young players eg. Nesmith/Langford/Pritchard, and a boatload of future draft picks.

After that we can round out the roster with veteran role players.

Sure. But you still need to have a bench and the C’s is probably the worst in the NBA. Believe it or not, role players do matter. That’s what the thread is about. C’s have 5+ players that need to be replaced, so who would you like to see them bring in.

[Who]

I want Semi to stay. He is good at what he does. End of bench PF/SF. Borderline rotation player. He is content to be a 9th/10th man who plays most nights but also a 12th man who doesn't play regularly. There is value in that. There is value in having a good physical man-to-man combo forward defender who can occasionally hit some 3s.

He is a good player for his role. He is not a good player for a larger role. He is not well-rounded enough. But he is a good player for an end of rotation to 3rd string player. He is a keeper in that role.

[Who]

The goal in the offseason should be to hunt for a mega-star to pair with Brown and Tatum that can vault you into contention. The players on the OP's list are nice, but these guys are effectively rounding errors, that is the difference between a 5th seed and a 3rd seed next year.

A few years back, a guy named Kyrie Irving suddenly asked out of Cleveland just a few weeks before the season started. The Celtics traded IT -- that is, an undersized PG with major injury questions -- plus a lottery pick and acquired one of the premier talents in the league.

That didn't work out the way we hoped, mostly because of Kyrie's mania. But you get the point. The goal going forward should be to wait for the INEVITABLE next time a superstar wants out from his current team, and then pounce with some combination of Kemba, Rob, whichever other young players eg. Nesmith/Langford/Pritchard, and a boatload of future draft picks.

After that we can round out the roster with veteran role players.

I don't see us getting a superstar. We don't have the trade assets (outside of Jaylen & Tatum). Our young talent hasn't shown enough to be primary pieces in a major trade and our draft picks are not valuable enough either to be a primary piece in a major trade.

I believe we are more likely looking at a reclamation project / gamble sort of star. An up and coming guy (John Collins). Or a borderline star (what Monta Ellis was back in the day). Or someone who has failed to make the leap (Wiggins). Or an older player on the downturn (CP3 in recent years, maybe Draymond next).

I just ... do not see us having the assets to get a major star back in a trade package.

Maybe in a year's time things will be different. Maybe one of the young guys breaks out -- like Big Al did as a 16-10 guy and 20-10 guy for 2nd half of the season which put us in the mix for KG -- but without something like that happening (a massive massive breakthrough from one of our good but unspectacular youths -- which is possible but unlikely), I just do not see how your group of youth & picks are valuable enough to net a superstar.

In which case we'll just be rolling it back for next season. Pressing the repeat button. And waiting ... hoping for something to change.

We just don't have the horses / the trade assets to do anything bigger right now and that is not surprising. We lost 3 major stars via free agency in Kyrie, Hayward and Horford. That was a huge loss to our trade coffers. There just isn't much of value left there. No high end value assets. Some good midlevel value assets. But no high end trade assets (outside of Jaylen & Tatum).

[Roy H.]

Get on the phone now with Atlanta in hopes that at the Dec 15 / Jan 15 deadline for signed free agents, we can attempt to trade for John Collins after they retain him.

[tstorey_97]

As far as Ainge goes, I doubt you get a bench cleanout.

Semi is paid $1.3M and can start a playoff game at PF.

They seem to like Grant and Kornet, but, they don't play that much anyways.

Would have been cool to have a legit veteran backup PG like hmmmm...let me think on this one...oh yea! Jeff Teague to come off the bench and run the floor.

[Goldstar88]

I want Semi to stay. He is good at what he does. End of bench PF/SF. Borderline rotation player. He is content to be a 9th/10th man who plays most nights but also a 12th man who doesn't play regularly. There is value in that. There is value in having a good physical man-to-man combo forward defender who can occasionally hit some 3s.

He is a good player for his role. He is not a good player for a larger role. He is not well-rounded enough. But he is a good player for an end of rotation to 3rd string player. He is a keeper in that role.

I’d be fine with that, But the other guys definitely need to go. I honestly thought Semi would be consistently part of the rotation at this point, since like you said, he’s decent defensively and also shot the 3 ball at nearly 37%.

[Moranis]

The only major move I think Boston makes is trading Smart.

[BruceBanner18]

Get on the phone with Indy and see what it would take to score Sabonis.

[jambr380]

The only major move I think Boston makes is trading Smart.

Definitely a possibility. Would the Cs rather re-sign Fournier and get something for Smart, or let Fournier go for nothing and hope to re-sign an expiring Smart? The luxury tax crunch will likely come into play.

[Goldstar88]

The only major move I think Boston makes is trading Smart.

Definitely a possibility. Would the Cs rather re-sign Fournier and get something for Smart, or let Fournier go for nothing and hope to re-sign an expiring Smart? The luxury tax crunch will likely come into play.

Smarts the closest thing to a point guard that this C’s team has. His inability to shoot the 3 ball at a high percentage is the only reason that he’s not making $20+ Million a year.

If the team adds some veterans that can score the ball and don’t look lost out there like most of the bench does, maybe he would be more apt to pass the ball more instead of jacking up and missing 3’s.

[johnnygreen]

One thing the team needs to get away from is giving max contracts to players who don't belong in that category. Don't overpay with a max contract to get B+ level players (Horford, Hayward, Walker). It's one thing to pay max contracts to superstar players, because they can raise the level of play of everyone around them. B+ level players can't do that.

I would love to trade Kemba for a combination of guys like Jae Crowder, Norman Powell or Tim Hardaway Jr. Professional basketball players who don't back down from anyone.

[BruceBanner18]

The only major move I think Boston makes is trading Smart.

Definitely a possibility. Would the Cs rather re-sign Fournier and get something for Smart, or let Fournier go for nothing and hope to re-sign an expiring Smart? The luxury tax crunch will likely come into play.

Another possibility is moving forward with Kemba at the 1, Smart/Fournier at the 2, Tatum at the 3 while Brown gets moved for an all star level big or forward

[Goldstar88]

One thing the team needs to get away from is giving max contracts to players who don't belong in that category. Don't overpay with a max contract to get B+ level players (Horford, Hayward, Walker). It's one thing to pay max contracts to superstar players, because they can raise the level of play of everyone around them. B+ level players can't do that.

I would love to trade Kemba for a combination of guys like Jae Crowder, Norman Powell or Tim Hardaway Jr. Professional basketball players who don't back down from anyone.

Hindsight is 20/20. Kemba was worth a shot after Kyrie bolted and it just didn’t work out. Bottom line, you don’t give a max deal to any 6’ guard (or under), that is not named Chris Paul.

There is a reason MJ didn’t want to pay Kemba. Hopefully Danny learns from this and doesn’t make that mistake again.