Should we / could we have developed more depth?

[Roy H.]

One of the arguments during the season was that we should have relied upon a larger rotation in the regular season to 1) avoid injury; and 2) have somebody ready to step in if there was an injury.

Brad did a pretty good job addressing team needs.  Theis was a smart depth acquisition, and White fits our defensive scheme a lot better than Schroder ever would have.

But, as we saw last night, our team only has nine reliable players.  With NBA teams allowed to carry as many as 17 guys, having eight useless bodies on the bench doesn't necessarily serve our needs.

How could we have been better prepared?  Here are some options:

1.  Develop Nesmith by force-feeding him minutes.  The question is, is he capable of being developed?  And if so, at what cost?  Would it have been worth the trade off of additional losses?

2.  Pay the luxury tax and use the TPE.  Instead of using Josh Richardson and Romeo Langford for salary matching purposes in the White trade, the team could have potentially acquired him by using the TPE.  That means we'd have two extra players capable of stepping into the rotation.  It also means that Wyc and Pags would be several millions poorer.

3.  Signed better free agents / bought out players.  We had five roster spots open.  We used them on five guys who don't play.  Were there better options?  Could we have done more in the off-season to address wing depth?

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

One of the arguments during the season was that we should have relied upon a larger rotation in the regular season to 1) avoid injury; and 2) have somebody ready to step in if there was an injury.

Brad did a pretty good job addressing team needs.  Theis was a smart depth acquisition, and White fits our defensive scheme a lot better than Schroder ever would have.

But, as we saw last night, our team only has nine reliable players.  With NBA teams allowed to carry as many as 17 guys, having eight useless bodies on the bench doesn't necessarily serve our needs.

How could we have been better prepared?  Here are some options:

1.  Develop Nesmith by force-feeding him minutes.  The question is, is he capable of being developed?  And if so, at what cost?  Would it have been worth the trade off of additional losses?

2.  Pay the luxury tax and use the TPE.  Instead of using Josh Richardson and Romeo Langford for salary matching purposes in the White trade, the team could have potentially acquired him by using the TPE.  That means we'd have two extra players capable of stepping into the rotation.  It also means that Wyc and Pags would be several millions poorer.

3.  Signed better free agents / bought out players.  We had five roster spots open.  We used them on five guys who don't play.  Were there better options?  Could we have done more in the off-season to address wing depth?

In Ime's first year, I think he was less concerned about load management and more concerned about winning the maximum amount of games. Now that we beat Giannis in the playoffs, I don't think that he will be as concerned about winning every regular season game. Therefore, sitting players will be more of an option.

I completely agree about the luxury tax. I think the Celtics handled this well. If the players show that we can contend, then we can start in on the luxury tax that will escalate for the next 5+ years. Doing so with a dud (looking at you Atlanta, Lakers) doesn't make sense.

Re: free agents, I looked at the list, and nothing stood out (besides Beal). Doesn't mean they can't make an exciting signing, but I wasn't really too excited by the options. Again, this doesn't mean that much at all.

I think the Celtics will look different once Horford and Smart return.

[wdleehi]

1)  After the trade, I think he had the same opportunity the Pritchard did.   He is just not hitting shots. 

2)   While I think Richardson played well for the Celtics, I think he was moved because he was still a ball stopper.   It is one thing if the player is a star, but not a role player.  Plus if Richardson is still here, does Pritchard get his chance?   Langford is in the same boat as Nesmith.

3)  That is what they need to do in the offseason.   



At the same time, how many teams to be able to handle two starters being out?   At the playoff level of competition.   How many teams go deeper then 9 in the playoffs?   


I do think next year it would be helpful adding a vet SF that could play a little small PF to complete the depth.   

[td450]

The answer for next year is clearly Nesmith. He had a chopped up college experience, and his early time with the C's has been during the covid era, which really limits how much someone could play 5 on 5 for the past two years.

He fits the team's identity, and fills a desperate depth area, one that was overstocked until the trade deadline. He's going to be way more valuable than Pritchard.

[jambr380]

I remember being pretty excited about having 5 open roster spots after the deadline. It's actually pretty amazing that we managed to sign 5 total zeros rather than bringing in somebody...anybody that could help for any amount of time.

Kornet, Hauser, Fitts, Morgan, and Stauskas were our signings - and we already had control of Hauser. I did like the Stauskas signing, but these were pretty epic fails in terms of depth pieces. A couple of over the hill vets probably would have given us a little more versatility; instead we opted for practice team bodies.

I'm not saying it would make a huge difference, but it couldn't hurt to have a Jabari Parker or Brad Wanamaker in a break glass in case of emergency situation.

[jambr380]

The answer for next year is clearly Nesmith. He had a chopped up college experience, and his early time with the C's has been during the covid era, which really limits how much someone could play 5 on 5 for the past two years.

He fits the team's identity, and fills a desperate depth area, one that was overstocked until the trade deadline. He's going to be way more valuable than Pritchard.

I guess that's the thing, Nesmith had a golden opportunity post-deadline to carve out some minutes and Ime didn't even glance his way. I don't know how his career is going to turn out one way or the other, but I think this is what Roy is saying. Wasn't there a way to play Nesmith 12 minutes/game, while still trying to win? It's not Ime's fault that Al and Smart were unavailable for game 1, but it definitely left us in a rough spot. Nesmith having more seasoning and confidence might have helped.

[seancally]

I think the team needed to prove it could win games with its top talent. That was in serious doubt after the first 40-ish games. So we proved it. I’d like to see more player development in-season next year.

Still we developed Grant and Pritchard. Langford got his chance. Nesmith needs to be able to hit shots off the bench in limited minutes or else his days are numbered.

[Moranis]

I was definitely a critic of the 8.5 man rotation the last 2 months of the season.  It is fine if those 8.5 guys are healthy, but when they aren't it is a real problem.  The team was built on the fly, but they needed to play more guys even at the expense of a win here or there.  You have to have a deep enough team that guys can step in and step up when needed.

[Bobshot]

Ridiculous to have two starters out for the first game of this series. OK , Smart gets hurt.
But Horford? Covid? Seems like this has happened to Al before this year.
It's inexcusable for these guys to get Covid at this crucial time.
There are masks and shots to avoid it.
Horford has been a key player in the playoffs so far.
You can't win a championship when stuff like this happens.
You have to be lucky.

[Roy H.]

Ridiculous to have two starters out for the first game of this series. OK , Smart gets hurt.
But Horford? Covid? Seems like this has happened to Al before this year.
It's inexcusable for these guys to get Covid at this crucial time.
There are masks and shots to avoid it.
Horford has been a key player in the playoffs so far.
You can't win a championship when stuff like this happens.
You have to be lucky.

In fairness to Horford, we have no idea what his routine is.  Not everybody exposed to Covid is careless or at fault.  I mean, hell, it's an airborne virus and he plays in an arena with around 20,000 fans, none of whom are screened and very few of whom are masked.

[boscel33]

Ridiculous to have two starters out for the first game of this series. OK , Smart gets hurt.
But Horford? Covid? Seems like this has happened to Al before this year.
It's inexcusable for these guys to get Covid at this crucial time.
There are masks and shots to avoid it.
Horford has been a key player in the playoffs so far.
You can't win a championship when stuff like this happens.
You have to be lucky.

In fairness to Horford, we have no idea what his routine is.  Not everybody exposed to Covid is careless or at fault.  I mean, hell, it's an airborne virus and he plays in an arena with around 20,000 fans, none of whom are screened and very few of whom are masked.

I'm not sure, there are things you can do, the big question is Vax status.  This is the third time this season he's been in health and safety protocols, plus "missing" the last trip to Toronto.

[liam]

This was my biggest gripe with Ime all year. You just never know when you're going to need some deep bench guys and if they haven't gotten any time all year they won't be ready. I even pointed to Miami as a team that played a lot of guys all year. I still think we'll beat the Heat but we might need some of those deep bench guys to step up.

[Roy H.]

Ridiculous to have two starters out for the first game of this series. OK , Smart gets hurt.
But Horford? Covid? Seems like this has happened to Al before this year.
It's inexcusable for these guys to get Covid at this crucial time.
There are masks and shots to avoid it.
Horford has been a key player in the playoffs so far.
You can't win a championship when stuff like this happens.
You have to be lucky.

In fairness to Horford, we have no idea what his routine is.  Not everybody exposed to Covid is careless or at fault.  I mean, hell, it's an airborne virus and he plays in an arena with around 20,000 fans, none of whom are screened and very few of whom are masked.

I'm not sure, there are things you can do, the big question is Vax status.  This is the third time this season he's been in health and safety protocols, plus "missing" the last trip to Toronto.

The Globe reported that he told them that he's fully vaccinated.  We have no idea if that vaccination occured prior to the season or during it, but I trust the reporting since their source is Horford himself.

[Roy H.]

This was my biggest gripe with Ime all year. You just never know when you're going to need some deep bench guys and if they haven't gotten any time all year they won't be ready. I even pointed to Miami as a team that played a lot of guys all year. I still think we'll beat the Heat but we might need some of those deep bench guys to step up.

Miami is definitely the coaching / scouting / player development gold standard.

[slamtheking]

I think Brad should have done a much better job filling in those last 5 roster spots.  the buyout market didn't look great and free agency was meh. 

the thing is he cleared out the bench depth to basically only add 2 guys in White and Theis.  The White lovers can point to all his intangibles that they love and say make it a worthwhile deal but the fact of the matter is we overpaid to get him (costing us unnecessary assets that could have been used in another deal to get another player) and he doesn't provide nearly the scoring of the 3 players he's essentially replacing in Richardson, Schroder and Romeo.  He can play D but he's just one player and cannot cover the 3 positions that could have been covered by the 3 moved to make room for him.  Theis is more mobile than the bigs Brad moved but we all know Theis has real limits and is a foul magnet from his first tour with us.

at full strength, C's should beat Miami but that's the key - being at full strength because we really lack reliable play off the bench.  no real scorer off the bench.  No real rebounder/defender off the bench.   

Brad needs to be really busy this offseason adding playable bodies if we're going to take another run at a title.  we're just too thin on talent and yet again he coughed up a first rounder that could have been used for cheap, cost-controlled talent that could be developed into a rotation player (or perhaps taking an upper classman with less potential but more likely to contribute right away).