Celtics News

[Donoghus]

Michael Scotto
@MikeAScotto
The Boston Celtics and Dalano Banton have agreed to a two-year deal, league sources told
@hoopshype
. Banton has averaged 6.7 points in 14.3 minutes per game in five NBA seasons with the Raptors, Trail Blazers, Clippers, and Celtics. Deal negotiated by Aaron Turner of
@VerusTeam
.

Sounds like the Celtics stay $11K under the luxury tax line per Keith Smith.

[radiohead]

Michael Scotto
@MikeAScotto
The Boston Celtics and Dalano Banton have agreed to a two-year deal, league sources told
@hoopshype
. Banton has averaged 6.7 points in 14.3 minutes per game in five NBA seasons with the Raptors, Trail Blazers, Clippers, and Celtics. Deal negotiated by Aaron Turner of
@VerusTeam
.

Sounds like the Celtics stay $11K under the luxury tax line per Keith Smith.

I?m glad Brad went with Banton as the 15th man. When Bassey signed with Golden State, I wondered why Boston let him go. But with 3 playable center and Amari, it made more sense to go for a guard/wing. He probably wont see any actuon in the playoffs but he?s a nice young vet to have. He did get a ring when we won it all last time right?

[otherdave]

Well he was on the opening day roster in Oct 2023 - does that get him a ring?

Sometime during the season he was gone and Jaden Springer was here for remainder of season.

[Celtics2021]

Well he was on the opening day roster in Oct 2023 - does that get him a ring?

Sometime during the season he was gone and Jaden Springer was here for remainder of season.

You get a ring unless you are a total jerk and the team could not wait to get rid of you (and even then you still might).  Seeing as how he has been brought back, he clearly was not banished.

[Goldstar88]

ESPN: The Celtics dominate the Sixers and take Game 1 by 32 in Boston . It's their largest playoff-opening win in franchise history.
Twitter

[ozgod]

Neemi missed out on the finalists for MIP - they were Nickeil Alexander Walker, Jalen Duren and Deni Avidjia. I guess they wanted people scoring 20ppg, rather than ones who improved from not playing to being starting caliber players otherwise Neemi deserved to be there 

Also Jaylen missed out on being an MVP finalist as well - the finalists were SGA (boring), Jokic and Wemby. The NBA definitely wants Wemby in there though I feel Jaylen was more instrumental to our success than Wemby was to the Spurs, and he had to work with a more unheralded cast too. But they want to crown Wemby the heir to LeBum's throne I guess.

At least Joe made it to the top 3 finalists for Coach of the Year, along with JB Bickerstaff and Mitch Johnson. I feel like Joe deserves this one purely on the basis of who he had to work with but they will give it to JB.

[Vermont Green]

At least Joe made it to the top 3 finalists for Coach of the Year, along with JB Bickerstaff and Mitch Johnson. I feel like Joe deserves this one purely on the basis of who he had to work with but they will give it to JB.

I am not surprised at all that Queta and Brown are not finalists for Most Improved and MVP.  Both are plenty worthy but that is not how it tends to work.

As to Coach of the Year, to me, Mazzulla fits exactly how this is usually awarded.  It goes to the coach whose team won way more games than anyone thought they would.  That is this team.  It was supposed to be 0.500 or worse and maybe not even make the playoffs.  They far exceeded this.  Mazzulla got more out if individual players such as Queta, Walsh, Scheierman, than anyone expected.

It is funny how people remain dug in with the opinion that Mazzulla is a bad coach.  When he won a title, it was in spite of him.  If he doesn't win a title this year, it will be "too many 3s", "bad rotations", etc., etc.

I see that the offense has evolved.  Last season BOS had 3,955 3PA (most in league), this season 3,456 3PA (4th in league).  Plus I see more off ball movement, more off ball screening.  I like the trend.  I still cringe when they come down and jack up a quick 3 all too often, but is that on the coach?

[Who]

At least Joe made it to the top 3 finalists for Coach of the Year, along with JB Bickerstaff and Mitch Johnson. I feel like Joe deserves this one purely on the basis of who he had to work with but they will give it to JB.

Hmmm ... the Phoenix Suns coach didn't make it. That is a surprise. Those 3 guys are all well deserving but so was he. Phoenix had a great season finishing in a playoff spot. I thought they would be one of the worst teams in the league.

[Roy H.]

At least Joe made it to the top 3 finalists for Coach of the Year, along with JB Bickerstaff and Mitch Johnson. I feel like Joe deserves this one purely on the basis of who he had to work with but they will give it to JB.

I would vote Joe as well.  Losing Tatum, Jrue, KP, Horford and Kornet seemed insurmountable.  Instead, the team barely missed a beat.

That said, JB did great things in Detroit, too.  Improving by 16 wins, keeping the team together despite Cade's injury, etc., took great coaching.

[Vermont Green]

At least Joe made it to the top 3 finalists for Coach of the Year, along with JB Bickerstaff and Mitch Johnson. I feel like Joe deserves this one purely on the basis of who he had to work with but they will give it to JB.

I would vote Joe as well.  Losing Tatum, Jrue, KP, Horford and Kornet seemed insurmountable.  Instead, the team barely missed a beat.

That said, JB did great things in Detroit, too.  Improving by 16 wins, keeping the team together despite Cade's injury, etc., took great coaching.

It is a hard award to quantify.  Very subjective.  You could make the argument for a number of coaches, depending on how you look at it.

Here are the betting odds that I found. Not sure the are the most recent/up to date:

JB Bickerstaff        Detroit Pistons           -260
Joe Mazzulla          Boston Celtics           +220
Mitch Johnson       San Antonio Spurs    +2500
Charles Lee           Charlotte Hornets   +25000
Quin Snyder          Atlanta Hawks        +50000

Even though I feel that Mazzulla deserves it the most, I would not be surprised in the least if Bickerstaff got it.  He is plenty deserving as well.

[Donoghus]

Feel like Bickerstaff will get it.  Tough to pass on a dude turning around a "down on their luck" franchise into the top overall seed in the East.  It's a helluva narrative.