Time for a change?

[Who]

I think the playoffs are different than the regular season. I do not think Simons would have gotten a ton of play in these playoffs honestly because you have to choose him or Pritchard. It?s tough to have two guys people can attack and Pritchard has a bit more strength to resist at times than Simons. Same for Brunson since he is pretty strong so he is not as easy to pick on as Simons in my opinion. I would take Simons back if we trade Pritchard otherwise not really worth what we would likely have to pay for him.

Well I'm just some schmo on the internet.  So let's allow his coach tell us how Simons' defense is completely different now:

https://www.tiktok.com/@nbcsboston/video/7595799206477024567

And here's video evidence of the transformation he made from the first two months of the season to the last two:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy6N9ogl8C0

That's better evidence than what my personal opinion is on a keyboard.

Simons finished the season hurt after reaggrevating an injury from the Celtics training camp, so I am not sure he would have gotten any playing time.  I also am not convinced that some nice things were not said about him just to try to improve his trade value.

That said, I liked him and would be happy to have him back next year.  Defense aside, we could have used his offensive energy during the Philly series if he were available.

We do not have enough scorers.

We are going to have to live with somebody who is subpar defensively. Whether that is a guard like A Simons or a big man like Vucevic. We need some more offense. We cannot just have 4 guys who can get baskets and then a bunch of garbage men (Queta, J Walsh, Hugo, Baylor, Garza).

It would be great to get a two-way player with shot creation skills but those guys cost a ton of money / trade assets. We do not have much of either of those. We have the MLE.

Exactly. TP.

I think the issue is if Pritchard isn't capable of doing what Simons is doing, what is he here for? He's supposed to be our bench guard scorer. Now we apparently need two of them, both of whom aren't great on defense. I know they're not exactly the same player, but we have other needs on the roster as well.

This wouldn't be as big of a concern if White actually was shooting up to his potential and Pritchard didn't get overwhelmed by the tougher defenses in the playoffs. Shooting is supposed to be one of their specialties, and now we're saying we also need a third guard for whom shooting is his primary skill.

I do like Simons and if you can get him for a bargain, go for it. It would have to be cheap enough so it could be moved if necessary, however, because I think if we're trying to go where we need to go, we eventually do need more heft at the position.

I guess what I'm saying is more shooting is nice, but I thought the big picture goal after the disappointing playoff result was 1) more rim pressure on offense so we're not so 3 reliant and 2) upping our overall size, athleticism, and physicality on the team. Even if there's no clearcut alternative two-way guy out there, is there an opportunity cost to signing Simons and playing him the minutes he expects over some other player (Ron Harper Jr.!). Or, maybe a drafted player since this is a guard-heavy draft. It would be nice to get a long-term guard for the future to eventually replace White or Pritchard in the next few years (or even now if White is on the trade block).

The goal would be to keep Pritchard in the starting lineup thus creating a need for a bench guard.

I'd like to have another ball-handler and ball mover in that starting lineup to help the Jays. I like having two ball-handling guards next to them to help facilitate the offense. Rather than a wing player (SG/SF) as the 5th starter who doesn't handle the ball or pass the ball well and puts more pressure on the Jays.

I also like having a dynamic shooter / shot maker alongside them to provide true spacing ... versus a spot up shooter like Hauser / Baylor or non shooters like J Walsh / Hugo. Pritchard can not only shoot spot ups but also off the dribble. He opens up the offense.

If Pritchard is in the starting lineup, I don?t think that is a championship caliber team. Imagine him trying to cover SGA/Williams or Fox/Castle. He would get eaten alive. Pritchard should be coming off the bench.

If we can get somebody better than Pritchard to start, I am all for it.

I just do not know who that player is.

[Who]

Keon Ellis could be a good FA target. He is coming off a bad season where his playing time was limited so he shouldn't cost too much. Not sure what he would need. $7-8mil per year? Not sure.

Keon Ellis could start for us at SG. He is a small SG (6-4 180lbs) but a very good athlete and a very good defender. He would be great for defending quick SGs / combo guards like Edgecombe + be able to switch onto defending quick PGs with D White defending SGs. K Ellis is not a good offensive player but he shoots the 3 well. He is low usage. Doesn't make many mistakes.

[Vermont Green]

Based on the assumption that (4) of the starting (5) next season will be Tatum, Brown, White, and Queta (as things stand now), the question then is who is the 5th starter.  Last season those (4) + Hauser played 153 minutes over 13 games and had a NRtg of +6.1.  Those (4) + Pritchard played 50 minutes over 11 games with a NRtg of +46.4.  There are no minutes with Simons and this core group of (4) starters.

Vucevic-Tatum-Brown-White-Pritchard had a NRtg of +44.7, but in only 12 regular season minutes.  Vucevic-Tatum-Brown-White-Hauser had a NRtg of -75.0 but in literally only 1 minute of court time.  Vucevic and Tatum only had a few games in the regular season where both were playing.  In the playoffs, Starters+Vucevic+Pritchard was +19.6 NRtg (34 min) and with Hauser it was -19.9 in 27 minutes.

This seems to support premise that a ball handling 5th starter is better than a purely shooting 5th starter whether Queta or Vucevic as the big.  This is a small'ish sample size but enough to mean something.  I tend to agree that the team is better served by having Pritchard off the bench.  In my mind, that applies to Hauser also.

[Jiri Welsch]

Based on the assumption that (4) of the starting (5) next season will be Tatum, Brown, White, and Queta (as things stand now), the question then is who is the 5th starter.  Last season those (4) + Hauser played 153 minutes over 13 games and had a NRtg of +6.1.  Those (4) + Pritchard played 50 minutes over 11 games with a NRtg of +46.4.  There are no minutes with Simons and this core group of (4) starters.

Vucevic-Tatum-Brown-White-Pritchard had a NRtg of +44.7, but in only 12 regular season minutes.  Vucevic-Tatum-Brown-White-Hauser had a NRtg of -75.0 but in literally only 1 minute of court time.  Vucevic and Tatum only had a few games in the regular season where both were playing.  In the playoffs, Starters+Vucevic+Pritchard was +19.6 NRtg (34 min) and with Hauser it was -19.9 in 27 minutes.

This seems to support premise that a ball handling 5th starter is better than a purely shooting 5th starter whether Queta or Vucevic as the big.  This is a small'ish sample size but enough to mean something.  I tend to agree that the team is better served by having Pritchard off the bench.  In my mind, that applies to Hauser also.

I agree with your larger point about adding a ball-handler to the group.

Separately, I'm not sure why we would assume Queta stays in the starting lineup. I think Queta revealed himself to be an extremely solid backup this year.

The Celtics need to find two starters if they want to compete. Whether that means keeping Tatum/Brown/White is a different discussion.

But after one championship and multiple years of flame-outs in the playoffs, it seems apparent that the Celtics need a couple guys outside of those three who can get you a clutch bucket. Especially to stop runs, because the three of them often flounder in those difficult moments.

Queta is too limited a player to fill that role. And the days of a specialist 3-point shooter as a starter seem to be in the past.