We’re running a weekly mailbag during the Celtics season. If you have questions about the Celtics or NBA, email brobb@masslive.com or tweet @briantrobb
There’s a lot of talk about this team landing a 3rd star player like Beal, Dame, etc. What if that’s not actually the strategy for this front office? Could the strategy instead look more like the LAC with 2 stars and a lot of solid depth as a supporting cast? This market doesn’t attract superstars so why try and wait for that when it would be difficult to pull off. - Matt, Somerville
I think there’s certainly a strong case to be made on that front Matt given how things have gone for the Celtics in the past few years. They’ve put a lot of chips in the three or even four star basket and whether it was Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker or Gordon Hayward, those aggressive plays did not necessary work out for a myriad of reasons. When you look at the potential stars available this offseason (Bradley Beal, Damian Lillard, etc.) some of the same red flags are there particularly with Lillard as an aging small point guard with injury woes in recent years. The Beal/Tatum connection will always carry some extra weight when considering a pursuit of him but the Celtics could easily be better off with two stars and three above-average starters. A core of Beal/Brown/Tatum and very little leftover with their supporting cast after a hypothetical sign-and-trade with Washington wouldn’t necessarily be a direct path to contention.
Boston’s front office will need to be aggressive in upgrading all parts of the roster beginning in the next few weeks. The team has important building blocks but the current depth built has not resulted in reliable success, particularly with the majority of the team’s recent draft picks not panning out. Building a strong supporting cast around the Jays instead of a third star could be a worthwhile path but there is a lot of work to do on that front.
If Brad Stevens wants to add talent he may need to get creative. Do you think the Celtics could take a shot on someone like TJ Warren who has talent but has a lot of injury questions. Maybe we could acquire him with an eye towards rehabbing his injury and having him back for next season. He may not get much money on his next contract. What would it take to acquire him at this point? Also, do you think the Celtics should target Anfernee Simons in a sign and trade this offseason. A lineup of Simons-Brown-Tatum-GWilliams-RWilliams could be very good. Portland has 4 6-3 guards and it does not seem like right now Damian Lillard is going to ask out and it would be hard to trade McCollum. — Kenneth
Getting the Bird Rights for a buy-low player such as Warren isn’t a bad idea. With Boston over the salary cap, those Bird Rights will mean more than ever this summer in a free agency climate with just four teams expected to have meaningful room under the salary cap. Bringing aboard any player now means the Celtics could re-sign them without having to dip into their mid-level exception, creating an avenue to add more talent to the roster this offseason. Normally, expiring contracts like Warren are fairly useless when injured but the Celtics should investigate finding guys that might be upgrades for the future at discount prices.
The Celtics are a year late on attempting to trade for Simons. He’s had a fantastic breakout season in year four filling in for CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard, to the point where I don’t think the Blazers entertain offers for him for anything Boston is willing to move right now in its supporting cast. The Celtics were surely hoping one of their four recent first-round draft picks would show the type of breakout Simons has with some development after being drafted No. 24 overall in 2018. That hasn’t been the case so far.
Was Al Horford a good move? — Devonte
It’s too early to give an official verdict on this. The early returns were a strong yes but Horford’s offensive production has declined in recent weeks and his 3-point shooting has been slow to improve in the midst of a career-worst campaign. That combined with some horrific fourth quarter splits makes you wonder whether the Celtics would have been better off just riding it out with Kemba Walker for one more year and adding another good young player with the No. 17 overall pick in the draft.
What the Celtics are able to do with Horford going forward will tell the story here. If they can dump his partially guaranteed contract for next season, that will be a big edge over buying out Kemba Walker since dead money on the cap would have limited the team’s flexibility and moving Walker’s contract in any deal would have been very incredibly challenging given its size. At 35 years old, Horford can still help a lot of teams out there but for now, it looks like this Celtics team isn’t good enough for him to make a meaningful difference here. The Celtics will need to do something with him to make this move look better from a long-term perspective.
What do you make of this teams lack of energy? The broadcast, my friends who were at the game, and the writers on Twitter all mentioned how quiet and low energy the place was. That’s on the players. This team is bottom 5 in pace. Schroder and Jaylen are to blame. When you watch them it’s like they’re walking and going through the motions out there. It can’t just be seeing this right? What do you make of this teams continued lack of energy halfway though the year, even though that’s what they continue to preach after losses: “we need to play with more energy.” Schroder continues to walk on defense, hold the ball, and let it roll up the floor. Jaylen continues to move like he’s going through the motions and loses his dribble on that spin. As you can tell I’m frustrated, nothing changes. — Erik P
It’s a big reason why watching this group for the past two seasons has been painful at times. Schroder can play uptempo when he wants to but this group on a whole doesn’t seem to want to run nearly enough. Given the coaching change, not sure how the team solves this problem without shifting personnel.
What do you think about a Smart for Conley trade? --David C
I don’t see the Jazz going for it. Conley’s a crucial cog to their offense and while Smart makes sense for them as a defensive upgrade, the offensive downgrade for him is far bigger, particularly with his 3-point shooting this year. The Jazz could certainly want Smart but they aren’t going to give up Conley for him in a straight up swap.
Please send any questions about the Celtics or NBA for a future mailbag to brobb@masslive.com or tweet @briantrobb
Ad Choices