Worst Celtics offseason?

[perks-a-beast]

Is this up there for you? What was the worst for you?

I was thinking this was the worst one since I have been a fan, but then I remembered 2019 happened.

Departures - Kyrie, Horford, Baynes, Morris, Rozier

Arrivals - Kemba, Kanter, Langford, Grant Williams, Tremont Waters.

Awful. But hey, at least we made the conference finals the following year - something I cant see happening this year barring more moves.

93 & 86 are also up there for obvious reasons.

[perks-a-beast]

At least the rookies look good and the Mitchell signing and Queta signing seem decent.

To cope with how bad the JB trade was, Im just going to pretend he left in free agency from now on.

[jambr380]

I feel like last offseason was worse. Tatum just went down with a career threatening injury and our championship team was torn down with the losses of Jrue, KP, Al, and Kornet.

It sucks losing Jaylen, but I don't even know if our team will be worse this season because of it (of course the deal was still underwhelming). We now know Tatum should more or less be Tatum again and our center rotation is solidified. We also have a couple of picks to keep our eye on in hopes that they become something.

The FO took a different direction this offseason and we just need to see where it takes us.

[Celtics2021]

2020 with the Hayward saga was one of my least favorite.  Paying multiple 2nds for a TPE, and our only major signing was Tristan Thompson, coming off an ECF appearance in the bubble.  That offseason felt rudderless, and the season did too.  This summer at least there seems to be a plan.  I do not know if it will be a good plan, but at least you can tell they are thinking about things.

[perks-a-beast]

I feel like last offseason was worse. Tatum just went down with a career threatening injury and our championship team was torn down with the losses of Jrue, KP, Al, and Kornet.

It sucks losing Jaylen, but I don't even know if our team will be worse this season because of it (of course the deal was still underwhelming). We now know Tatum should more or less be Tatum again and our center rotation is solidified. We also have a couple of picks to keep our eye on in hopes that they become something.

The FO took a different direction this offseason and we just need to see where it takes us.

Very fair point. TP.

[Silas]

My worst Celtics offseason was June 1986, with the death of Len Bias.  I was a huge Maryland fan and Celtics fan back in the day.  The next worst offseason was July 1993, with the death of Reggie Lewis.  Both of these losses overshadow issues with trades and retirements of Celtic players.

[perks-a-beast]

2020 with the Hayward saga was one of my least favorite.  Paying multiple 2nds for a TPE, and our only major signing was Tristan Thompson, coming off an ECF appearance in the bubble.  That offseason felt rudderless, and the season did too.  This summer at least there seems to be a plan.  I do not know if it will be a good plan, but at least you can tell they are thinking about things.

Yeah, Danny really lost his fast ball towards the end there. That draft was also really bad. Taking Nesmith with Maxey still on the board when we needed a PG, then taking Bane with #30 and trading him. Obviously things may have been different had teams actually been able to conduct in-person workouts.

But hey, at least Yam Madar still might be something! He and Juhann Begarin can help right the ship as soon as they come over. lol.

[Celtics2021]

2020 with the Hayward saga was one of my least favorite.  Paying multiple 2nds for a TPE, and our only major signing was Tristan Thompson, coming off an ECF appearance in the bubble.  That offseason felt rudderless, and the season did too.  This summer at least there seems to be a plan.  I do not know if it will be a good plan, but at least you can tell they are thinking about things.

Yeah, Danny really lost his fast ball towards the end there. That draft was also really bad. Taking Nesmith with Maxey still on the board when we needed a PG, then taking Bane with #30 and trading him. Obviously things may have been different had teams actually been able to conduct in-person workouts.

But hey, at least Yam Madar still might be something! He and Juhann Begarin can help right the ship as soon as they come over. lol.

Yeah, I forgot how we messed up that draft, too.

[Who]

The Antoine trade was rough.

That was a bad summer. Going from a 2nd tier team to a rebuilding team overnight. Lousy return. Beloved player gone.

[Roy H.]

Putting tragedies aside, last year was the worst.  It was understandable, but we cut ties with a lot of great players. 

But, trading a Celtics legend for a broken down drug user on a league-worst contract is up there.

[Who]

It is amazing - this question has brought home just how few bad summers we have had here for the last two decades.

I am not that bothered by the Jaylen trade. I would have preferred it did not happen but I don't think it is that harmful in the long run. I expect the team to be very good in the regular season but less good in the playoffs next year. Then bounce back with a new path forward / replacement for Jaylen the following season. So I am not too upset. I can see the path forward + the immediate team will still be very good to watch next year. More of a 2nd tier team than a contender but still very good.

So this summer isn't particular bad in my view. A little bad but not horrid. I am that upset by it. I am actually looking forward to the team next season & to the future beyond this. So I am still in a fairly happy place.

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Also the OP talks about Kyrie leaving. That was great. I was delighted to see the back of him. That was a good summer.

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The last bad summer I can remember is Pierce & KG getting traded. I didn't think that trade would net quality picks (how wrong I was!) and for that reason I was against the deal. I thought that Russian billionaire would keep bankrolling the team. Instead he lost a bunch of money, checked out, stopped paying huge money for the Nets salaries and they went from a .500 team to a full rebuild. Those picks became gold.

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The worst summer before that?

That would be before KG arrived.

Even then most of those summers had interesting young players coming to the team. The 2007 draft when we traded a lotto pick for very little return. Got a year less on LaFrentz' deal for Theo Ratliff. I had forgotten about that until recently when PG13's contract started to remind me of Theo Ratliff's contract - a trade chip to get a star. That was a bad summer.

The previous worst summer was trading Antoine for LaFrentz. That one hurt. Hurt badly. No quality return. No better future in sight. A major step backwards from a 2nd tier team to a rebuilding one. Not like this Jaylen trade where we still have a very good team and happy days ahead of us. The Toine one had none of that. That was miserable.

Does that take us all the way back to the year 2000?

Only 3 bad summers in 26 years? That is amazing. And one of those 3 turned (PP & KG trade) out to be great in the long run. And the other one helped lead to KG. Not so bad although it hurt a the time. The 3rd one still stings.

We have been very fortunate. This has been one of the best run teams in the league for a long time now. Other fans are not this lucky. We are blessed.

[Who]

Even the late 90s were pretty good.

I was delighted to get Toine in the draft in 1996. Missing out on Duncan in 1997 was disappointing but getting Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer was awesome. Bringing in Rick Pitino was exciting. I thought things were looking up. In 1999, getting Pierce, that was fantastic. Those were good summers despite us having a bad team. There was hope. Progress was being made. Good young players added to the team.

The 1993, 1994, 1995 off-seasons sucked. No hope. No dreams of better days. The Bird era was over. Reggie Lewis dies. McHale retires. Then Parish leaves. Everything was gone.

The whole Bird era was awesome. Felt that team could win the title every new season. Len Bias dying in 1986 excepted every summer was full optimism. That goes back to the late 70s. So another 20 year span and only 4 bad off-seasons for me.

So 1980-2026 there have been only 7 painful off-seasons in 46 years. A remarkable run.

[ozgod]

Len Bias?s death was by far the worst offseason I remember, I was only young and so it hit me pretty hard. Honestly, this one was a shock when I first heard of it, but I think I have a pretty good handle on their reasons for doing it which helps a lot in processing it.

Let?s be honest, a large segment of the fan base, including here, wanted Jaylen traded right after the first round exit, and then after his comments immediately after. It?s just that people are mad that we didn?t get someone like Giannis in return because despite having a love ? hate relationship with him we value Jaylen that highly. It?s like we traded him for a packet of peanuts (we should call PG13 Mr Optionality?)

But there?s first impressions of a trade, and there?s looking back at it once the full effect of it can be seen, and I think in two or three years Brad?s decision will not seem so shocking when people see what our payroll is like two years from now and what additional decisions he will be able to make as a result of this one. Of course, none of us know that, but I?m sure he has a five and a 10 year plan and he knows exactly when the spending windows are gonna be, even if he doesn?t know which players he?s going to spend the money on.

Unfortunately, fans like us tend to live here and now, we don?t know what?s gonna happen to the team this season alone years from now so nobody wants to think about it? but it would be interesting to revisit this thread two or three years from now and see if people still have the same opinion they had with the move being so fresh 

[Birdman]

I had a thread on this subject couple weeks ago. Bias & Lewis was the worst with not getting Duncan right behind it

[Vermont Green]

I see a difference between things you cannot control (such as Len Bias), and things you can control (such as trades).  If you narrow it to things that were on purpose, I see last off season as worse than this one.  In spite of losing Holiday, Horford, Porzingis, and Kornet, the team played remarkably well (except against the good teams).

This was not a good off season for sure.  Had the trade of Brown for Giannis worked out, things would feel a whole lot different.  The books still have BOS as the 4th best team, or at least the 4th best odds to win the title even after what most view as a really bad trade and overall bad off season.