5 Open Roster Spots - Who do you sign?

[Roy H.]

Jay King @ByJayKing
about 12 minutes ago
Ime Udoka on the acquisitions of Malik Fitts and Kelan Martin: “We’re looking for a specific skill set and body type and some of the things that match well with our team and we think those two fit into that role.”

Pigeon-holing, or building a culture?

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Jay King @ByJayKing
about 12 minutes ago
Ime Udoka on the acquisitions of Malik Fitts and Kelan Martin: “We’re looking for a specific skill set and body type and some of the things that match well with our team and we think those two fit into that role.”

Pigeon-holing, or building a culture?

Criticizing, or having a conversation?

Just kidding Roy.

[Phantom255x]

I'm still hoping they can add someone impactful from the buyout market (like a Robin Lopez, or Gary Harris IF he becomes available, etc.). So far things are going well running an 8-man rotation since fortunately everyone's healthy but obviously if 1 guy gets hurt or something, we're thin after that.

Even today, they used 8 guys which is nice, but idk if that's necessarily sustainable if you're asking guys to play heavy minutes every night until the playoffs. Tatum played nearly 40 minutes today. I know Theis wasn't playing today but still.

[celticsclay]

John Clark: Source tells me Sixers will be signing free agent 7 foot center Willie Cauley Stein on 10 day contract He played 18 games with the Mavericks this season and was waived January 15 – via Twitter

Makes sense, he's got the talent to provide most of what Drummond was giving them.

I would disagree with this. Drummond is the best back up big in the nba and a capable low end starter. He is the best rebounder in the entire league, a better passer than he used to be and a good body for a team playing against a big nba center. WCS is not an nba caliber player and definitely not a rotation player for a good team.

[Silas]

I'm still hoping they can add someone impactful from the buyout market (like a Robin Lopez, or Gary Harris IF he becomes available, etc.). So far things are going well running an 8-man rotation since fortunately everyone's healthy but obviously if 1 guy gets hurt or something, we're thin after that.

Even today, they used 8 guys which is nice, but idk if that's necessarily sustainable if you're asking guys to play heavy minutes every night until the playoffs. Tatum played nearly 40 minutes today. I know Theis wasn't playing today but still.

I'm old school and other than maybe 23-year old Tatum I don't think the top 7 players are playing heavy minutes. 
Year to date averages:
Tatum - 36 min
Brown - 34 min
Smart - 33 min
Rob - 30 min
White - 28 min
Al - 28 min
Grant - 23 min

[DefenseWinsChamps]

John Clark: Source tells me Sixers will be signing free agent 7 foot center Willie Cauley Stein on 10 day contract He played 18 games with the Mavericks this season and was waived January 15 – via Twitter

Makes sense, he's got the talent to provide most of what Drummond was giving them.

I would disagree with this. Drummond is the best back up big in the nba and a capable low end starter. He is the best rebounder in the entire league, a better passer than he used to be and a good body for a team playing against a big nba center. WCS is not an nba caliber player and definitely not a rotation player for a good team.

Meh. Drummond has good counting stats, but why has he bounced around so much the last few years?

He doesn't contribute to winning basketball.

[celticsclay]

John Clark: Source tells me Sixers will be signing free agent 7 foot center Willie Cauley Stein on 10 day contract He played 18 games with the Mavericks this season and was waived January 15 – via Twitter

Makes sense, he's got the talent to provide most of what Drummond was giving them.

I would disagree with this. Drummond is the best back up big in the nba and a capable low end starter. He is the best rebounder in the entire league, a better passer than he used to be and a good body for a team playing against a big nba center. WCS is not an nba caliber player and definitely not a rotation player for a good team.

Meh. Drummond has good counting stats, but why has he bounced around so much the last few years?

He doesn't contribute to winning basketball.

He was definitely contributing to winning basketball in Philly this year. The majority of his career has been in Detroit. Nobody has contributed to winning Detroit in about a decade.

[Phantom255x]

I'm still hoping they can add someone impactful from the buyout market (like a Robin Lopez, or Gary Harris IF he becomes available, etc.). So far things are going well running an 8-man rotation since fortunately everyone's healthy but obviously if 1 guy gets hurt or something, we're thin after that.

Even today, they used 8 guys which is nice, but idk if that's necessarily sustainable if you're asking guys to play heavy minutes every night until the playoffs. Tatum played nearly 40 minutes today. I know Theis wasn't playing today but still.

I'm old school and other than maybe 23-year old Tatum I don't think the top 7 players are playing heavy minutes. 
Year to date averages:
Tatum - 36 min
Brown - 34 min
Smart - 33 min
Rob - 30 min
White - 28 min
Al - 28 min
Grant - 23 min

Yeah in terms of the season you're right, but how about just the past 2 months? Feels like a handful of our guys are having to log heavy minutes. Smart was out for some time with injury too so others had to chip in.

[nickagneta]

I'm still hoping they can add someone impactful from the buyout market (like a Robin Lopez, or Gary Harris IF he becomes available, etc.). So far things are going well running an 8-man rotation since fortunately everyone's healthy but obviously if 1 guy gets hurt or something, we're thin after that.

Even today, they used 8 guys which is nice, but idk if that's necessarily sustainable if you're asking guys to play heavy minutes every night until the playoffs. Tatum played nearly 40 minutes today. I know Theis wasn't playing today but still.

I'm old school and other than maybe 23-year old Tatum I don't think the top 7 players are playing heavy minutes. 
Year to date averages:
Tatum - 36 min
Brown - 34 min
Smart - 33 min
Rob - 30 min
White - 28 min
Al - 28 min
Grant - 23 min

Yeah in terms of the season you're right, but how about just the past 2 months? Feels like a handful of our guys are having to log heavy minutes. Smart was out for some time with injury too so others had to chip in.

All the starters are less than 34 MPG in February with everyone but Timelord having their lowest MPG in a month in February...or extremely close to it.

So Ime is keeping the minutes down.

[gouki88]

John Clark: Source tells me Sixers will be signing free agent 7 foot center Willie Cauley Stein on 10 day contract He played 18 games with the Mavericks this season and was waived January 15 – via Twitter

Makes sense, he's got the talent to provide most of what Drummond was giving them.

I would disagree with this. Drummond is the best back up big in the nba and a capable low end starter. He is the best rebounder in the entire league, a better passer than he used to be and a good body for a team playing against a big nba center. WCS is not an nba caliber player and definitely not a rotation player for a good team.

Meh. Drummond has good counting stats, but why has he bounced around so much the last few years?

He doesn't contribute to winning basketball.

He was definitely contributing to winning basketball in Philly this year. The majority of his career has been in Detroit. Nobody has contributed to winning Detroit in about a decade.

Drummond had pulled his head in on defence this season, but he is total garbage on offence. Not nearly as efficient as he should be, turnover prone and can't hit free throws to save life.

Also, Kevin Love is by far the best backup big in the league this season.

[jambr380]

I'm still hoping they can add someone impactful from the buyout market (like a Robin Lopez, or Gary Harris IF he becomes available, etc.). So far things are going well running an 8-man rotation since fortunately everyone's healthy but obviously if 1 guy gets hurt or something, we're thin after that.

Even today, they used 8 guys which is nice, but idk if that's necessarily sustainable if you're asking guys to play heavy minutes every night until the playoffs. Tatum played nearly 40 minutes today. I know Theis wasn't playing today but still.

I'm old school and other than maybe 23-year old Tatum I don't think the top 7 players are playing heavy minutes. 
Year to date averages:
Tatum - 36 min
Brown - 34 min
Smart - 33 min
Rob - 30 min
White - 28 min
Al - 28 min
Grant - 23 min

Yeah in terms of the season you're right, but how about just the past 2 months? Feels like a handful of our guys are having to log heavy minutes. Smart was out for some time with injury too so others had to chip in.

All the starters are less than 34 MPG in February with everyone but Timelord having their lowest MPG in a month in February...or extremely close to it.

So Ime is keeping the minutes down.

That's mostly because we are blowing teams out, though...which is great. But, if we stop blowing teams out, then those minutes push into 40 territory. Since Theis is apparently not in the regular rotation, it looks like we traded two quality bench players for one. We better hope to see more Pritchard games like yesterday or our short 8-man rotation could fall to 7.

[Celtics2021]

I'm still hoping they can add someone impactful from the buyout market (like a Robin Lopez, or Gary Harris IF he becomes available, etc.). So far things are going well running an 8-man rotation since fortunately everyone's healthy but obviously if 1 guy gets hurt or something, we're thin after that.

Even today, they used 8 guys which is nice, but idk if that's necessarily sustainable if you're asking guys to play heavy minutes every night until the playoffs. Tatum played nearly 40 minutes today. I know Theis wasn't playing today but still.

I'm old school and other than maybe 23-year old Tatum I don't think the top 7 players are playing heavy minutes. 
Year to date averages:
Tatum - 36 min
Brown - 34 min
Smart - 33 min
Rob - 30 min
White - 28 min
Al - 28 min
Grant - 23 min

Yeah in terms of the season you're right, but how about just the past 2 months? Feels like a handful of our guys are having to log heavy minutes. Smart was out for some time with injury too so others had to chip in.

All the starters are less than 34 MPG in February with everyone but Timelord having their lowest MPG in a month in February...or extremely close to it.

So Ime is keeping the minutes down.

That's mostly because we are blowing teams out, though...which is great. But, if we stop blowing teams out, then those minutes push into 40 territory. Since Theis is apparently not in the regular rotation, it looks like we traded two quality bench players for one. We better hope to see more Pritchard games like yesterday or our short 8-man rotation could fall to 7.

Schröder was not a quality bench player.  He was addition by subtraction.

[jambr380]

I'm still hoping they can add someone impactful from the buyout market (like a Robin Lopez, or Gary Harris IF he becomes available, etc.). So far things are going well running an 8-man rotation since fortunately everyone's healthy but obviously if 1 guy gets hurt or something, we're thin after that.

Even today, they used 8 guys which is nice, but idk if that's necessarily sustainable if you're asking guys to play heavy minutes every night until the playoffs. Tatum played nearly 40 minutes today. I know Theis wasn't playing today but still.

I'm old school and other than maybe 23-year old Tatum I don't think the top 7 players are playing heavy minutes. 
Year to date averages:
Tatum - 36 min
Brown - 34 min
Smart - 33 min
Rob - 30 min
White - 28 min
Al - 28 min
Grant - 23 min

Yeah in terms of the season you're right, but how about just the past 2 months? Feels like a handful of our guys are having to log heavy minutes. Smart was out for some time with injury too so others had to chip in.

All the starters are less than 34 MPG in February with everyone but Timelord having their lowest MPG in a month in February...or extremely close to it.

So Ime is keeping the minutes down.

That's mostly because we are blowing teams out, though...which is great. But, if we stop blowing teams out, then those minutes push into 40 territory. Since Theis is apparently not in the regular rotation, it looks like we traded two quality bench players for one. We better hope to see more Pritchard games like yesterday or our short 8-man rotation could fall to 7.

Schröder was not a quality bench player.  He was addition by subtraction.

That's just your opinion, though. Statistically, he was obviously a very good player for the Cs. When Smart was out, he played an important part on this team. Other teams were reportedly willing to send us 2nd round picks for him even though he likely can't be re-signed. I understand that Schroder wasn't for everybody and I'm not heartbroken that he's gone, but I am not going to pretend that we didn't lose our 3rd best scorer for somebody we aren't even playing. Sometimes you just need a non-Jay to go and get a bucket and Schroder could do that.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I'm still hoping they can add someone impactful from the buyout market (like a Robin Lopez, or Gary Harris IF he becomes available, etc.). So far things are going well running an 8-man rotation since fortunately everyone's healthy but obviously if 1 guy gets hurt or something, we're thin after that.

Even today, they used 8 guys which is nice, but idk if that's necessarily sustainable if you're asking guys to play heavy minutes every night until the playoffs. Tatum played nearly 40 minutes today. I know Theis wasn't playing today but still.

I'm old school and other than maybe 23-year old Tatum I don't think the top 7 players are playing heavy minutes. 
Year to date averages:
Tatum - 36 min
Brown - 34 min
Smart - 33 min
Rob - 30 min
White - 28 min
Al - 28 min
Grant - 23 min

Yeah in terms of the season you're right, but how about just the past 2 months? Feels like a handful of our guys are having to log heavy minutes. Smart was out for some time with injury too so others had to chip in.

All the starters are less than 34 MPG in February with everyone but Timelord having their lowest MPG in a month in February...or extremely close to it.

So Ime is keeping the minutes down.

That's mostly because we are blowing teams out, though...which is great. But, if we stop blowing teams out, then those minutes push into 40 territory. Since Theis is apparently not in the regular rotation, it looks like we traded two quality bench players for one. We better hope to see more Pritchard games like yesterday or our short 8-man rotation could fall to 7.

Schröder was not a quality bench player.  He was addition by subtraction.

That's just your opinion, though. Statistically, he was obviously a very good player for the Cs. When Smart was out, he played an important part on this team. Other teams were reportedly willing to send us 2nd round picks for him even though he likely can't be re-signed. I understand that Schroder wasn't for everybody and I'm not heartbroken that he's gone, but I am not going to pretend that we didn't lose our 3rd best scorer for somebody we aren't even playing. Sometimes you just need a non-Jay to go and get a bucket and Schroder could do that.

You could talk me into either side of this conversation, but I do think its telling that Schroder played starter minutes to begin the year, but his minutes were much lower at the end of his tenure with the Cs. He averaged 18.7 mpg over his last 10 games with us, which also happened to coincide with the Cs playing some of the best basketball we've played in years.

I wish we had a guy like him on our bench if he was a good team guy, but from most accounts, he's a bit prickly.

[GreenlyGreeny]

How often do slots 11-14 ever really matter (that COVID mayhem earlier this year being the historical outlier for a few weeks, and even then…)?

All that really matters is having balanced top 10 depth, which we have already (although it would be nice to see Nesmith and Pritchard take it to the next level like Grant has):

Smart/White/Pritchard
Brown/White/Pritchard
Tatum/G. Williams/Nesmith
Horford/G. Williams
Timelord/Theis

What’s more: Unless we stupidly do not pay Horford and risk messing up this entire winning chemistry in the process (it’s a horrid look to not pay a guy who’s done so much for Boston over the years, starting with being our first marquee free agent signing in forever), all of these guys are coming back next year and we’ve got a MLE slot for further depth (plus, we can still fantasize about Begarin and whoever our 2022 2nd round pick ends up being…slots 13-14 can go to some ring-chasing vets at the minimum).