SmartWentCrazy's Grade:
Boston Celtics transactions
Front Office
Replaced Danny Ainge with Brad Stevens, replaced Stevens as coach with Ime Udoka.
I have been wanting the team to move on from Stevens for quite some time— his offensive system has been downright terrible for a few years now, where people are parked in the corners and the wings/PG are tasked with running a high PnR and ultimately taking way too many mid range Jumpers with little ball movement or cutting.
Ainge, too, has been quite bad over the last several years and it was pretty clear that it was time for the team to move on. He did a ton to elevate the Celtics from tanking to playoff contender quickly but he squandered so many resources the past few years needlessly because he was afraid to ever overpay.
However, while I think it was wise for the team to move on from both, the process of replacing Ainge with Stevens felt needlessly rushed and that they never really interviewed anyone else which seems quite unwise to me.
Draft
Drafted Juhann Begarin at #45.
He’s a project that has interesting physical tools. Not much to be happy or sad about when youre picking this late.
Trades
- traded Kemba Walker, 2021 1st (#16) and 2025 2nd for Al Horford, Moses Brown and 2023 2nd.
- traded Tristan Thompson for Kris Dunn, Bruno Fernando and 2023 2nd in three-team deal.
- traded Moses Brown for Josh Richardson (using TPE).
I was quite happy with the Kemba trade— the cost of the 16th pick is definitely steep— but, given that the Thunder bought out Kemba so quickly I’m guessing this was the only real trade out there and the Celtics absolutely needed to move on.
I liked the Richardson trade, though extending him was curious. The team just needs actual NBA talent on its bench and this will only help.
The Tristan deal was meh to me. I wish they just kept Delon Wright instead of flipping him to Atlanta, but they needed to move on from Tristan after trading Kemba for Horford.
Free Agency
- signed Enes Kanter, 1/min.
- extended Marcus Smart, 4/$77M
- signed Dennis Schroeder 1/$5.9M
- extended Josh Richardson, 1/$12M
-extended Robert Williams, 4/$54M
Signing Shroeder was a great move and the Celtics got lucky there. Signing Smart was fine, its not really team or player friendly but I’m happy the team locked him up long term. The Richardson deal confuses me but its not really a hurtful contract either— guessing the team backchannel promised him this as an enticement to opt in. Kanter at the minimum is fine.
I personally loved the Robert Williams extension. Its really 4/48 and the remaining 6M will only kick in if he plays 69+ games. Its a gamble, sure, but I think its a smart one for the team to engage in. He’s 6’9 with a 7’6 wingspan and nuclear athleticism. He has sneaky passing vision, flashed the ability to switch and can be really disruptive defensively. It may not work out, but, if he’s able to stay heathy this deal could end up looking really well in two years.
Offseason Thoughts
Overall, I thought it was a fine offseason— nothing special but nothing terrible either. Some will dislike letting Fournier walk, but he just didn't have a clue defensively last year and its clear that the team is trying to make defense their identity.
Grade
C+ to B-.
2022 Prediction
I think the team has a sneaky chance to get a ton of fraud wins next year with defense and effort. They absolutely will not be contenders, but they’ll be fun, try hard and rack up wins during the middle of winter and other teams stop caring as much. Fournier’s loss will be overstated record wise— he played a little more than a dozen regular season games last year and all were after he got COVID and needed an inhaler.
The Celtica were far and away the team most impacted by COVID last year, which feels like it probably wont happen again. With better injury luck [Kemba, Smart, RWIII and Brown all missed extended time at various stretches last year, Tatum and RWIII got COVID], they should go over their projected 46 win over/under. I’d guess 48 to 51 wins.
Offseason in gif form

K_Chile22's Grade:
Boston Celtics transactions
Front Office
Replaced Danny Ainge with Brad Stevens, replaced Stevens as coach with Ime Udoka.
Draft
Drafted Juhann Begarin at #45.
Trades
- traded Kemba Walker, 2021 1st (#16) and 2025 2nd for Al Horford, Moses Brown and 2023 2nd.
- traded Tristan Thompson for Kris Dunn, Bruno Fernando and 2023 2nd in three-team deal.
- traded Moses Brown for Josh Richardson (using TPE).
Free Agency
- signed Enes Kanter, 1/min.
- extended Marcus Smart, 4/$77M
- extended Josh Richardson, 1/$12M
-extended Robert Williams, 4/$54M
Offseason Thoughts:
Direction seems clear: Try to trade for a star in a few years. All three extensions keep salary spots alive past this season. Like the Williams (after seeing incentives) and Smart deals well enough, JRich just seems like keeping salary filler around, which is fine.
I think the Horford trade is fine, think he's got gas left in the tank and the kemba thing seemed to have ran it's course, giving up the 16th pick is rough for that swap but they need to start focusing on the present finally.
I don't get how the kings traded Wright for Thompson, but the Celtics ended up with a bunch of salary flotsam instead of wright who could help them. Not a huge deal but seems like a weird decision.
Grade:
C+
2022 Prediction:
Fighting to avoid the play-in game, 6th-9th seed
Offseason in gif form:

Bondom34's Grade:
Boston Celtics transactions
Front Office
Replaced Danny Ainge with Brad Stevens, replaced Stevens as coach with Ime Udoka.
Draft
Drafted Juhann Begarin at #45.
Trades
- traded Kemba Walker, 2021 1st (#15) and 2025 2nd for Al Horford, Moses Brown and 2023 2nd.
- traded Tristan Thompson for Kris Dunn, Bruno Fernando and 2023 2nd in three-team deal.
- traded Moses Brown for Josh Richardson (using TPE).
Free Agency
- signed Enes Kanter, 1/min.
- extended Marcus Smart, 4/$77M
- Signed Dennis Schroeder 1/$5.9M
- extended Josh Richardson, 1/$12M
-extended Robert Williams, 4/$54M
Offseason Thoughts
Well now what am I going to do with all of the Ainge jokes?
OK, it was Brad Stevens's first offseason as general manager and by and it felt like a bunch of moves I may not love but don't hate and absolutely see the idea of, so I came out feeling at least OK on, even if at times it felt like they were going all in on some nostalgia for the Celtics of a few years ago.
Starting out early by hiring Ime Udoka...honestly I can't even really grade this as I don't know enough about him other than seeing the name in coaching rumors in the past. Trading Walker and 16 for Horford, which helped both financially and in terms of health on court could be good even if Kemba was a really helpful offensive player. I think I'm probably higher on Walker than consensus but the problem wasn't production when on court it was that he often couldn't get on court to begin with. Felt like a pretty fair deal on both sides. Dumping Thompson for some depth was fine as well and nothing I really feel too strong on.
On to some of the "bigger" moves swapping in Richardson for the remainder of the Hayward TPE and extending him feels to me more like a potential future trade chip/salary matching than anything but seems approximately fair value so works. Locking in Smart on a decent contract also made a bunch of sense just in terms of building some trust and keeping a major contributor around and Kanter for the min is whatever. Their last free agency move seemed like the most controversial but seeing Williams only having $48M on that deal other than unlikely bonuses from reporting looks to my eyes like a contract for a center that at worst isn't crippling and at best is a very valuable contract for a player who might be a quality starter if healthy (in a year if they move on from Horford he may be needed as well). Finally adding Schroeder at that price can't really be called much other than team friendly.
Overall an offseason that wasn't groundbreaking but after last year's issues with COVID and injuries I tend to be higher on Boston bouncing back and not shaking up too much made some sense. I'm less sure they really improved due to this offseason but they kept flexibility in the future. Nothing great, nothing bad.
Grade
B- (Full disclosure I had this as a straight B but bumped it down a touch after seeing others

2022 Prediction
4th in the east
Offseason in gif form
