Final fifteen

[Celtics18]

Here's my guess:

Top twelve are clear:

Isaiah
Crowder
Bradley
Horford
Amir
Marcus
Olynyk
Jerebko
Brown
Zeller
Rozier
Gerald

I think Hunter and Mickey make the cut.

That leaves James Young, Demetrius Jackson, and Ben Bentil fighting for the last spot.

I'm going with Ben Bentil as the fifteenth man.

[walker834]

james young and hunter or jackson for the final 2 spots.  bentil ends up overseas or in the d-league.  He is the only player on this roster or stashed i really don't mind just waiving completely.  jackson and hunter are really borderline. 

Mickey is a sure thing imo.  We need depth behind KO and Zeller and defense and he is really coming on.

Also think james young is way too talented to  listen to the internet consensus too much.

[positivitize]

Here's my guess:

Top thirteen are clear:

Isaiah
Crowder
Bradley
Horford
Amir
Marcus
Olynyk
Jerebko
Brown
Zeller
Rozier
Gerald
Mickey

I think Young and Jackson make the cut.

Hunter and Bentil are left on the outside looking in.

[SHAQATTACK]

Here's my guess:

Top thirteen are clear:

Isaiah
Crowder
Bradley
Horford
Amir
Marcus
Olynyk
Jerebko
Brown
Zeller
Rozier
Gerald
Mickey

I think Young and Jackson make the cut.

Hunter and Bentil are left on the outside looking in.

That's th way I see it shaking down too.
 

[alldaboston]

Top 14:

Isaiah
Crowder
Bradley
Horford
Amir
Marcus
Olynyk
Jerebko
Brown
Zeller
Rozier
Gerald
Jackson
Mickey

That leaves Young, Hunter, and Bentil

I think Hunter makes it, Bentil and Young are out.

[Big333223]

Bentil is definitely out. He's been an afterthought in preseason. Young and Hunter are too similar in what they (potentially) bring to the court, so one of them is definitely out. If Bentil and one of YOung/Hunter are gone, that means Jackson, Mickey, and Green (the only guys who aren't rock solid locks) have safe spots to land.

If that's all true, the only drama left is to find out whether its Young or Hunter. And that comes down to wether or not one of them can hit 3's consistently for the rest of the preseason.

[trickybilly]

Lol at this roster crunch. It has to be Ben and RJ though. Good luck with the Crabs kid!

[rollie mass]

i think rj won his spot yesterday with his passing and two steals and that step back three-
rj's skill levell is so much higher
 but green obsoletes both of them
jackson is an elite athlete,strong and can shoot
i think both young and hunter don't figure in long range plans,so its who gets the most return
bentil not a prayer with zizic and yabusele coming next year

[jambr380]

I want to like Young and think he looked pretty good in the first two games, but RJ showed yesterday that he can impact winning even if he is not hitting his shots. His passing is excellent, he is a smart/long defender, and he actually is a good shooter, even if he hasn't yet totally proven it.

People are worried about Gerald Green taking time from Brown, and he just might if he can make the kind of impact he made yesterday, but I see him as a mature, finished product version of James Young.

Hunter, Jackson, and Mickey should get the final three spots, but Young will find a spot on an NBA roster if Danny doesn't make a trade first.

[Surferdad]

I want to like Young and think he looked pretty good in the first two games, but RJ showed yesterday that he can impact winning even if he is not hitting his shots. His passing is excellent, he is a smart/long defender, and he actually is a good shooter, even if he hasn't yet totally proven it.

People are worried about Gerald Green taking time from Brown, and he just might if he can make the kind of impact he made yesterday, but I see him as a mature, finished product version of James Young.

Hunter, Jackson, and Mickey should get the final three spots, but Young will find a spot on an NBA roster if Danny doesn't make a trade first.

It's a shame since Young is still younger than all three of those guys, but he's had his chances.

[jambr380]

I want to like Young and think he looked pretty good in the first two games, but RJ showed yesterday that he can impact winning even if he is not hitting his shots. His passing is excellent, he is a smart/long defender, and he actually is a good shooter, even if he hasn't yet totally proven it.

People are worried about Gerald Green taking time from Brown, and he just might if he can make the kind of impact he made yesterday, but I see him as a mature, finished product version of James Young.

Hunter, Jackson, and Mickey should get the final three spots, but Young will find a spot on an NBA roster if Danny doesn't make a trade first.

It's a shame since Young is still younger than all three of those guys, but he's had his chances.

I actually wouldn't have an issue with Young getting a spot over any of the three, but Jackson was literally just signed a couple of months ago and Mickey is the only young big the Cs have right now.

It really does seem to come down to Young and Hunter and Hunter was a more recent selection and received more minutes in his rookie year than Young did in year 2. Age does factor in to experience/preparation level, but Brad just seems to be more comfortable with Hunter than Young. I could see Danny and Brad actually disagreeing on this.

Also, the extra year on Hunter's contract probably isn't the determining factor, but it certainly doesn't hurt his case. Going one year beyond the end of the contracts of Bradley, IT, and Smart can only boost Hunter's chances (Young is up with those other guys).

[TrueFan]

I don't see RJ making many contributions to this team. he just hasn't shot the ball like I thought he could. He's just too slow to play if his shots not falling.

[hwangjini_1]

I want to like Young and think he looked pretty good in the first two games, but RJ showed yesterday that he can impact winning even if he is not hitting his shots. His passing is excellent, he is a smart/long defender, and he actually is a good shooter, even if he hasn't yet totally proven it.

People are worried about Gerald Green taking time from Brown, and he just might if he can make the kind of impact he made yesterday, but I see him as a mature, finished product version of James Young.

Hunter, Jackson, and Mickey should get the final three spots, but Young will find a spot on an NBA roster if Danny doesn't make a trade first.

It's a shame since Young is still younger than all three of those guys, but he's had his chances.

I actually wouldn't have an issue with Young getting a spot over any of the three, but Jackson was literally just signed a couple of months ago and Mickey is the only young big the Cs have right now.

It really does seem to come down to Young and Hunter and Hunter was a more recent selection and received more minutes in his rookie year than Young did in year 2. Age does factor in to experience/preparation level, but Brad just seems to be more comfortable with Hunter than Young. I could see Danny and Brad actually disagreeing on this.

Also, the extra year on Hunter's contract probably isn't the determining factor, but it certainly doesn't hurt his case. Going one year beyond the end of the contracts of Bradley, IT, and Smart can only boost Hunter's chances (Young is up with those other guys).

i expect ainge will peddle one or more of this group for second round picks. i dont think the league values them all that much.

of the three (hunter, young, jackson) young has the most upside, but has the farthest to go to get there. jackson has a lower ceiling, but he will quickly be a nice 10th man off the bench.

hunter? he does many things well, but i do see him having a high ceiling. he will, at best, be a nice 9th to 10th man off the bench. does a little of everything, nice not great.

young, if if if if if he finally shoots the way we all hope he will, he will be a valuable off the bench player. similar to house, vinny johnson, g green and others who can off the bench an put up a lot of points in a hurry. i find that a valuable player. if if if if he can do that. oh, and his defense has gotten better, so he can learn, albeit slowly.

[SHAQATTACK]

I'd let Hunter and Young go and concentrate on Nader.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Assuming no trades, these are guaranteed:

Al Horford
Amir Johnson
Avery Bradley
Tyler Zeller
Isaiah Thomas
Jae Crowder
Jonas Jerebko
Jaylen Brown
Marcus Smart
Kelly Olynyk
Terry Rozier
Jordan Mickey

Semi-guaranteed:
Gerald Green

Battling final 2 spots:

James Young
Demetrius Jackson
R.J. Hunter
Ben Bentil

These final spots all have similar contracts, but not the same.

For example, Ainge would have to make a decision on the team option of Hunter and/or Young in in October 31st, and decision I don't think Ainge would want to make when he's also playing the cap space game next season.

Considering an assumption that there's low confidence on those two, I very much doubt Ainge would pick their options, unless he visualizes an easy exit strategy. That in turn means these two players would become unrestricted free-agents next Summer. So little value.

So, with Young and Hunter he either needs to trade them off or let them go for nothing. Of course, if they somehow become studs then we have them for cheap still (don't think anyone is betting on this).

On the other hand, Bentil and Jackson have long contracts full of non-guarantees. So much easier to manage. This also gives us contracts to trade through the Draft and Free-Agency. They also bring depth to our ball-handlers and some toughness for our big depth.

I don't know where to go. I think Jackson is a fairly easy choice just because we really could use some more ball-handling depth.

James Young is still, well, very young... I wouldn't be opposed to keeping rolling the dice with him.

Hunter has shown flashes of decent basketball IQ, but I don't think he's going to make it, plus he's older. The X-Factor here is the Stevens connection, I think that might play some in this.

Between Hunter and Young, I'd keep Young easily even as he looks quite trashy so far.

I wouldn't be opposed to Bentil over both just because of reasons mentioned above.

I put Green in semi-guaranteed simply because the other players are simply more valuable assets wise. But I think we have too many of that as it is, so we'll end up taking the most prepared player regardless (which is him).