15th Roster Spot

[Vermont Green]

I would wait till buyout time around March..might get a pretty good player..never know what kind of injuries can occur by then

Don't believe we can participate in the buyout market if we are over the 2nd apron if the player's salary was over the MLE.

Over the non-taxpayer MLE, which is about $12.8M.  That is an important distinction.  The taxpayer MLE is $5.2M.  This may prevent us from signing some players who are waived, but there will be many that are under this threshold.

[Vermont Green]

I have been trying to find a way to look at our depth chart in a way that actually reflects expected rotations and, the actual depth at various positions.  I came up with a couple of ways to look at it.  The first is to base it on the positions that our starters represent:

Guard 1             Holiday         Pritchard           
Guard 2             White           Springer         Scheierman      
Guard 3             Brown          Hauser      
Forward 1          Tatum           Tillman          Walsh   
Center               Porzingis       Horford          Kornet         Queta

This is based on having 3 guards, 1 forward, and one Big on the floor.  You could also look at it another way, if you assume that Brown is a forward, or is playing as a forward when with this line up:

Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Horford        Tillman
Center               Porzingis      Kornet          Queta

This does not try to distinguish between types of guards or types of forwards.  The two forwards (for example) could be a wing forward, and a power forward.  Or it could be two that are both more wing/swing forwards.  This team is likely to play all combinations at various times.  Same with the guards.  You could play with 2 combo guards or with one of the two guards being more of a wing guard (like Brown or Hauser).

If you take out Porzingis, and consider the 2 forward structure (which I think is the most representative), it looks like this:

Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

(Injured:  Porzingis)

I tried to look at this as positionally agnostically as I could.  There is always going to be question about whether Brown is a guard or a forward or whether Horford is a (power) forward or a center.  But I think this is about as representative as you can get it.  I prefer to look at it as the core line up is 2 guards, 2 forwards, 1 center, even though we may play at times leaning more towards the 3 guards.

My conclusion, based on the 2 forward structure is that we have a need for a forward, a 3/4, a swing, whatever you want to call it, but someone who is better than Walsh.  Ideally someone who is better than Brissett too.  I say need recognizing that this is a need in the sense of a 1st world problem.  If you go with the 3 guard structure, suddenly Springer is further up the chart than he probably should be (although Springer is likely further along developmentally than Walsh).

[liam]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta
[/quote]



Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I would wait till buyout time around March..might get a pretty good player..never know what kind of injuries can occur by then

Don't believe we can participate in the buyout market if we are over the 2nd apron if the player's salary was over the MLE.

Over the non-taxpayer MLE, which is about $12.8M.  That is an important distinction.  The taxpayer MLE is $5.2M.  This may prevent us from signing some players who are waived, but there will be many that are under this threshold.

Not sure there are many I'd be interested in. I'd rather invest in another young prospect.

Here are guys less than 12.8m on the last year of their contract: Graham, Adams, Bagley, Zubac, Tucker, Mann, Nance, Paul, Boucher, Caruso, Payton, Tre Jones, Looney, Green, Lyles, Tate, Jackson, (bad) McDaniels, NAW, Westbrook, Coffee. After that, you get into all the vet min guys that signed with teams to ring chase.

Of those, only Nance and Paul seem like even remote possibilities to be bought out. Nance would be a great get, but I think it's vastly more likely he has enough value to be traded to a contender. I'm not really interested in Paul.

I'd rather invest in a young player and hope to develop them into another Austin Reaves or Sam Hauser.

[Vermont Green]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

I checked the regular season line ups. Hauser was mostly on the floor with Tatum and one of the bigs when Brown was out. I see him as similar positionally to Brown, a pretty classic 2/3. I thought he played more like a guard than a forward as the season went on. I could see Hauser as forward 1, back up to Brown, but I do not recall ever seeing Hauser play as a power forward.

[liam]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

I checked the regular season line ups. Hauser was mostly on the floor with Tatum and one of the bigs when Brown was out. I see him as similar positionally to Brown, a pretty classic 2/3. I thought he played more like a guard than a forward as the season went on. I could see Hauser as forward 1, back up to Brown, but I do not recall ever seeing Hauser play as a power forward.

Hauser doesn't have guard skills. He's purely a forward.

[green_bballers13]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

I checked the regular season line ups. Hauser was mostly on the floor with Tatum and one of the bigs when Brown was out. I see him as similar positionally to Brown, a pretty classic 2/3. I thought he played more like a guard than a forward as the season went on. I could see Hauser as forward 1, back up to Brown, but I do not recall ever seeing Hauser play as a power forward.

Hauser doesn't have guard skills. He's purely a forward.

Eh, we won a championship with Ray Allen at guard, who didn't handle the ball all that well.

Old Klay Thompson is prob a decent comp for Hauser, though I think Hauser's defense might be a little better than Klay's currently.

[Roy H.]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

I checked the regular season line ups. Hauser was mostly on the floor with Tatum and one of the bigs when Brown was out. I see him as similar positionally to Brown, a pretty classic 2/3. I thought he played more like a guard than a forward as the season went on. I could see Hauser as forward 1, back up to Brown, but I do not recall ever seeing Hauser play as a power forward.

Hauser doesn't have guard skills. He's purely a forward.

For whatever it's worth, according to BBR:  54% SF, 33% PF, 12% SG

[liam]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

I checked the regular season line ups. Hauser was mostly on the floor with Tatum and one of the bigs when Brown was out. I see him as similar positionally to Brown, a pretty classic 2/3. I thought he played more like a guard than a forward as the season went on. I could see Hauser as forward 1, back up to Brown, but I do not recall ever seeing Hauser play as a power forward.

Hauser doesn't have guard skills. He's purely a forward.

For whatever it's worth, according to BBR:  54% SF, 33% PF, 12% SG

That's about right. Depending on lineups and time of game, etc...

[ozgod]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

I checked the regular season line ups. Hauser was mostly on the floor with Tatum and one of the bigs when Brown was out. I see him as similar positionally to Brown, a pretty classic 2/3. I thought he played more like a guard than a forward as the season went on. I could see Hauser as forward 1, back up to Brown, but I do not recall ever seeing Hauser play as a power forward.

Hauser doesn't have guard skills. He's purely a forward.

For whatever it's worth, according to BBR:  54% SF, 33% PF, 12% SG

That's about right. Depending on lineups and time of game, etc...

In other words, a wing 

[Vermont Green]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

I checked the regular season line ups. Hauser was mostly on the floor with Tatum and one of the bigs when Brown was out. I see him as similar positionally to Brown, a pretty classic 2/3. I thought he played more like a guard than a forward as the season went on. I could see Hauser as forward 1, back up to Brown, but I do not recall ever seeing Hauser play as a power forward.

Hauser doesn't have guard skills. He's purely a forward.

For whatever it's worth, according to BBR:  54% SF, 33% PF, 12% SG

That's about right. Depending on lineups and time of game, etc...

In other words, a wing 

I went digging into line up stats to see if I could find some line ups where Hauser was a PF.  Not sure that ever happened.  There were some very limited (in terms of minutes) line ups, that appeared to be garbage time line ups, where Hauser may have been the second tallest on the court, but that does not mean he is a PF.  I did find this on Basketball Reference:

What position does Sam Hauser play?
Small Forward.

I understand the argument that Hauser is a forward, a 3 if you will.  But as with most players these days, he can play at more than one position, not just his natural position.  His secondary position is not PF.  That to me seems as silly as saying that John Havlicek was a 3/4.  I don't see how there can be any debate that if anything, Hauser is a 2/3.

I accept that most will not agree with me on this but based on last season, I see Hauser as more of a big guard than a small forward.  I would not have said that earlier in his career, but I believe he is settling in more as a guard that can also play forward rather than a forward who can also play guard.  I see Brown as the same but I see Brown as having more ability at forward than Hauser.  I see Hauser more like Havlicek, Brown more like Pierce.  This opinion is subjective and based largely on how I interpret what I see on the court.

The Celtics play small, often with what I would consider 3 guards.  This makes it hard to put line ups into the traditional PG/SG/SF/PF/C boxes.  I think this throws off the robo stat aggregators that are somehow concluding that Hauser plays 33% of the time as a PF.

[No Nickname]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

I checked the regular season line ups. Hauser was mostly on the floor with Tatum and one of the bigs when Brown was out. I see him as similar positionally to Brown, a pretty classic 2/3. I thought he played more like a guard than a forward as the season went on. I could see Hauser as forward 1, back up to Brown, but I do not recall ever seeing Hauser play as a power forward.

Hauser doesn't have guard skills. He's purely a forward.

For whatever it's worth, according to BBR:  54% SF, 33% PF, 12% SG

That's about right. Depending on lineups and time of game, etc...

In other words, a wing 

I went digging into line up stats to see if I could find some line ups where Hauser was a PF.  Not sure that ever happened.  There were some very limited (in terms of minutes) line ups, that appeared to be garbage time line ups, where Hauser may have been the second tallest on the court, but that does not mean he is a PF.  I did find this on Basketball Reference:

What position does Sam Hauser play?
Small Forward.

I understand the argument that Hauser is a forward, a 3 if you will.  But as with most players these days, he can play at more than one position, not just his natural position.  His secondary position is not PF.  That to me seems as silly as saying that John Havlicek was a 3/4.  I don't see how there can be any debate that if anything, Hauser is a 2/3.

I accept that most will not agree with me on this but based on last season, I see Hauser as more of a big guard than a small forward.  I would not have said that earlier in his career, but I believe he is settling in more as a guard that can also play forward rather than a forward who can also play guard.  I see Brown as the same but I see Brown as having more ability at forward than Hauser.  I see Hauser more like Havlicek, Brown more like Pierce.  This opinion is subjective and based largely on how I interpret what I see on the court.

The Celtics play small, often with what I would consider 3 guards.  This makes it hard to put line ups into the traditional PG/SG/SF/PF/C boxes.  I think this throws off the robo stat aggregators that are somehow concluding that Hauser plays 33% of the time as a PF.

I agree.  If Sam was ever the PF it was in garbage time, or the end of a quarter, or a quick sub for Tatum, or because there was an injury that forced an odd lineup for a few mins. 

During the regular season, we saw these lineups:

Over 12 games, for 34 total minutes: - Subbing for Tatum?  Or garbage time with Pritchard and Kornet in there?

J. Brown - D. White - L. Kornet - P. Pritchard - S. Hauser


Over 3 games, for 29 minutes: - Definitely garbage time

L. Kornet - S. Mykhailiuk - P. Pritchard - J. Springer - S. Hauser


Over 7 games for 28 minutes: - Subbing for Tatum

J. Holiday - K. Porzingis - J. Brown - D. White - S. Hauser


So of the 1,741 total minutes played by Hauser, 91 minutes were as a "PF" which was 5.2% of the time he was on the court.

[Vermont Green]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

I checked the regular season line ups. Hauser was mostly on the floor with Tatum and one of the bigs when Brown was out. I see him as similar positionally to Brown, a pretty classic 2/3. I thought he played more like a guard than a forward as the season went on. I could see Hauser as forward 1, back up to Brown, but I do not recall ever seeing Hauser play as a power forward.

Hauser doesn't have guard skills. He's purely a forward.

For whatever it's worth, according to BBR:  54% SF, 33% PF, 12% SG

That's about right. Depending on lineups and time of game, etc...

In other words, a wing 

I went digging into line up stats to see if I could find some line ups where Hauser was a PF.  Not sure that ever happened.  There were some very limited (in terms of minutes) line ups, that appeared to be garbage time line ups, where Hauser may have been the second tallest on the court, but that does not mean he is a PF.  I did find this on Basketball Reference:

What position does Sam Hauser play?
Small Forward.

I understand the argument that Hauser is a forward, a 3 if you will.  But as with most players these days, he can play at more than one position, not just his natural position.  His secondary position is not PF.  That to me seems as silly as saying that John Havlicek was a 3/4.  I don't see how there can be any debate that if anything, Hauser is a 2/3.

I accept that most will not agree with me on this but based on last season, I see Hauser as more of a big guard than a small forward.  I would not have said that earlier in his career, but I believe he is settling in more as a guard that can also play forward rather than a forward who can also play guard.  I see Brown as the same but I see Brown as having more ability at forward than Hauser.  I see Hauser more like Havlicek, Brown more like Pierce.  This opinion is subjective and based largely on how I interpret what I see on the court.

The Celtics play small, often with what I would consider 3 guards.  This makes it hard to put line ups into the traditional PG/SG/SF/PF/C boxes.  I think this throws off the robo stat aggregators that are somehow concluding that Hauser plays 33% of the time as a PF.

I agree.  If Sam was ever the PF it was in garbage time, or the end of a quarter, or a quick sub for Tatum, or because there was an injury that forced an odd lineup for a few mins. 

During the regular season, we saw these lineups:

Over 12 games, for 34 total minutes: - Subbing for Tatum?  Or garbage time with Pritchard and Kornet in there?

J. Brown - D. White - L. Kornet - P. Pritchard - S. Hauser


Over 3 games, for 29 minutes: - Definitely garbage time

L. Kornet - S. Mykhailiuk - P. Pritchard - J. Springer - S. Hauser


Over 7 games for 28 minutes: - Subbing for Tatum

J. Holiday - K. Porzingis - J. Brown - D. White - S. Hauser


So of the 1,741 total minutes played by Hauser, 91 minutes were as a "PF" which was 5.2% of the time he was on the court.

Nice research. And for 62 of those 91 minutes, Brown was on the court. Why would Hauser be more PF than Brown?  Neither is a PF but Brown is closer to that than Hauser.

[ozgod]

[quote author=Vermont Green
Guard 1             Holiday        Pritchard       Springer
Guard 2             White           Hauser         Scheierman
Forward 1          Brown          Walsh   
Forward 2          Tatum          Tillman
Center               Horford        Kornet          Queta

Hauser isn't a guard he's a 3/4...

I checked the regular season line ups. Hauser was mostly on the floor with Tatum and one of the bigs when Brown was out. I see him as similar positionally to Brown, a pretty classic 2/3. I thought he played more like a guard than a forward as the season went on. I could see Hauser as forward 1, back up to Brown, but I do not recall ever seeing Hauser play as a power forward.

Hauser doesn't have guard skills. He's purely a forward.

For whatever it's worth, according to BBR:  54% SF, 33% PF, 12% SG

That's about right. Depending on lineups and time of game, etc...

In other words, a wing 

I went digging into line up stats to see if I could find some line ups where Hauser was a PF.  Not sure that ever happened.  There were some very limited (in terms of minutes) line ups, that appeared to be garbage time line ups, where Hauser may have been the second tallest on the court, but that does not mean he is a PF.  I did find this on Basketball Reference:

What position does Sam Hauser play?
Small Forward.

I understand the argument that Hauser is a forward, a 3 if you will.  But as with most players these days, he can play at more than one position, not just his natural position.  His secondary position is not PF.  That to me seems as silly as saying that John Havlicek was a 3/4.  I don't see how there can be any debate that if anything, Hauser is a 2/3.

I accept that most will not agree with me on this but based on last season, I see Hauser as more of a big guard than a small forward.  I would not have said that earlier in his career, but I believe he is settling in more as a guard that can also play forward rather than a forward who can also play guard.  I see Brown as the same but I see Brown as having more ability at forward than Hauser.  I see Hauser more like Havlicek, Brown more like Pierce.  This opinion is subjective and based largely on how I interpret what I see on the court.

The Celtics play small, often with what I would consider 3 guards.  This makes it hard to put line ups into the traditional PG/SG/SF/PF/C boxes.  I think this throws off the robo stat aggregators that are somehow concluding that Hauser plays 33% of the time as a PF.

That's why Brad, and probably Joe and most of the league, don't really put players into those boxes anymore. It's hard to pigeonhole them. Is he a small forward? Or a shooting guard? But he can't dribble the ball so he can't be a guard. He's too small to be a big...etc. They just see them in the buckets that Brad articulated back in 2017:



Less to do with their size and more with what they actually do on the court...and so some of the "positions" a player plays may change during a game. Tatum might be the sole ball handler in a lineup, in another he might be the big. In any lineup you may have two ball handlers (White and Jrue), two wings (the Jays) and a big (KP), you may have two ball handlers, (White, Jrue) a wing (Tatum) and two bigs (Al and KP), the same lineup but where Al plays more like a wing and defends wings so it would be one ball handler, two wings and a big, or one with no big at all.

Ever since I heard that from Brad back in 2017 I tried to look at the players and positions through his lens...that's why I just see Hauser as a wing. He plays on the wing, off the ball, comes off screens, defends other wings. It's hard though because most of us are all old and grew up on the PG/SG/SF/PF/C designations 

[goCeltics]

I would not mind Zinger's Latvian teammate Bertans, who has size and can shoot. Lonnie Walker is a good alternative, I can not see Hayward fitting in. I could see why they would want to save $$$, but I think there are really some good vets available for the minimum, that can decrease the workload/pressure of the Jays some.