Celtics General Offseason Thread Pt. 10: Free Agency is in Free Flow

[ParticleMan]

hayward is necessary to make our offense run. he's replacing horford's role. the rest of the guys would just revert to selfish stuff otherwise. hayward is far and away the best passer and ball mover we have.

the problem is kanter is a poor fit defensively. but at least he makes up for hayward's rebounding. theis is not a starter. neither is williams though he may be by the end of the year, but i'd like see him against actual nba athletes before anointing him with anything.

ainge needs to build up some of these guys' trade value and find a defensive rebounding big.

[cloverleaf]

Hayward is likely to be the C's second best player this season -- and he has a skillset that is needed with the starters.

[KGboss]

I'm watching Toronto and if they struggle I could see them trading guys like Ibaka and Gasol....having both of them would solidify our team.

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[zoyathedestroya]

I'm watching Toronto and if they struggle I could see them trading guys like Ibaka and Gasol....having both of them would solidify our team.

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We would have to give up either Hayward or Smart + fillers. We just don't have enough medium-size salaries to cobble together. And at that point, is it still worth it?

Signing or trading for a player in the $8M-10M range was all I was hoping for once free agency opened. For the simple fact it makes us more flexible at the trade deadline. I guess it wasn't that important to us or executing it was too complicated.

[Smog]

Everyone is in such a panic that the Celtics aren’t perfect on paper in July. They’re going to be fine. Especially if Hayward takes a step forward, they’ve got more than enough talent to win games.

Just a hunch, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Poirer is the starter. The Stevens system works best with a rim runner on offense and a mobile banger on defense. The offense needs someone who sets good, hard picks (a strength of Al’s). Poirer did these things in Europe. Also it sounds like he wouldn’t have signed without a real chance at starting. I’m sure they’d love Williams to win the job, but he needs to handle rotation minutes first.

[sam_I_am]

Everyone is in such a panic that the Celtics aren’t perfect on paper in July. They’re going to be fine. Especially if Hayward takes a step forward, they’ve got more than enough talent to win games.

Just a hunch, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Poirer is the starter. The Stevens system works best with a rim runner on offense and a mobile banger on defense. That’s what Poirer was in Europe. I’m sure they’d love Williams to win the job, but he needs to handle rotation minutes first.

If only we could find a center like Zubac and we could be favorites to win it all.

[zoyathedestroya]

Theis not signed yet? We can give him $19.3M/2 years, 2nd year non-guaranteed. $9.28M is a better trade ballast midseason. We at least have to have the option of trading up in late January.

Ojeleye + Yabu can get us Crowder, expiring ($7.82M).

Add Kanter and you can get into the Adams/Drummond/Gasol trade range.

Lose 3 rotational players for a starting center. At this point, is it still worth it?

[Smog]

Everyone is in such a panic that the Celtics aren’t perfect on paper in July. They’re going to be fine. Especially if Hayward takes a step forward, they’ve got more than enough talent to win games.

Just a hunch, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Poirer is the starter. The Stevens system works best with a rim runner on offense and a mobile banger on defense. That’s what Poirer was in Europe. I’m sure they’d love Williams to win the job, but he needs to handle rotation minutes first.

If only we could find a center like Zubac and we could be favorites to win it all.

That’s a good point. I get that Hayward-Brown-Tatum isn’t Kawhi and Paul George, but no one’s sweating the lack of traditional size on that team.

[cloverleaf]

Theis not signed yet? We can give him $19.3M/2 years, 2nd year non-guaranteed. $9.28M is a better trade ballast midseason. We at least have to have the option of trading up in late January.

Ojeleye + Yabu can get us Crowder, expiring ($7.82M).

Add Kanter and you can get into the Adams/Drummond/Gasol trade range.

Lose 3 rotational players for a starting center. At this point, is it still worth it?

Crowder? Why do the C's need Crowder?

[Andrew McCeltic]

Theis not signed yet? We can give him $19.3M/2 years, 2nd year non-guaranteed. $9.28M is a better trade ballast midseason. We at least have to have the option of trading up in late January.

Ojeleye + Yabu can get us Crowder, expiring ($7.82M).

Add Kanter and you can get into the Adams/Drummond/Gasol trade range.

Lose 3 rotational players for a starting center. At this point, is it still worth it?

Theis/Crowder/Kanter for Steven Adams? Absolutely.. the Crowder deal alone would be great, saves Memphis money, and opens another roster spot for us. Think we’d get a trade exception for about 3 million, too.

[sam_I_am]

Theis not signed yet? We can give him $19.3M/2 years, 2nd year non-guaranteed. $9.28M is a better trade ballast midseason. We at least have to have the option of trading up in late January.

Ojeleye + Yabu can get us Crowder, expiring ($7.82M).

Add Kanter and you can get into the Adams/Drummond/Gasol trade range.

Lose 3 rotational players for a starting center. At this point, is it still worth it?

I’ve been saying that all along.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Don’t think Theis gets that much money just to maybe be part of a trade.. but Crowder/Kanter, at 12.3 million, would that match for Capela in December?

[zoyathedestroya]

Theis not signed yet? We can give him $19.3M/2 years, 2nd year non-guaranteed. $9.28M is a better trade ballast midseason. We at least have to have the option of trading up in late January.

Ojeleye + Yabu can get us Crowder, expiring ($7.82M).

Add Kanter and you can get into the Adams/Drummond/Gasol trade range.

Lose 3 rotational players for a starting center. At this point, is it still worth it?

Crowder? Why do the C's need Crowder?

Not specifically Crowder. His expiring contract. Anyone in that salary range would do (not a lot of them are within that range). Just for the flexibility for a trade down the line.

Currently, we're locked into our roster. We shouldn't expect a midseason trade unless it's for a major star like KAT, which is a pipe dream. How far we go would be dependent on our biggish-4 -- Kemba, Hayward, Tatum, and Brown then instead of having one elite big, it's a cadre of bigs with varying skill sets taking turns to fill in that 5th spot. Our bench could be an IT-and-D of sorts with Edwards surrounded by Smart, Ojeleye, Grant, and [insert not Kanter big here] OR one of the wings if we wish to go small.

[zoyathedestroya]

Don’t think Theis gets that much money just to maybe be part of a trade.. but Crowder/Kanter, at 12.3 million, would that match for Capela in December?

I stopped looking at Capela as a target. It just doesn't make sense for Houston to let him go without getting an all-star in return. That was supposed to be Butler.

But mathematically, you only need $9.9M in salaries to match for Capela.

[zoyathedestroya]

Everyone is in such a panic that the Celtics aren’t perfect on paper in July. They’re going to be fine. Especially if Hayward takes a step forward, they’ve got more than enough talent to win games.

Just a hunch, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Poirer is the starter. The Stevens system works best with a rim runner on offense and a mobile banger on defense. That’s what Poirer was in Europe. I’m sure they’d love Williams to win the job, but he needs to handle rotation minutes first.

If only we could find a center like Zubac and we could be favorites to win it all.

That’s a good point. I get that Hayward-Brown-Tatum isn’t Kawhi and Paul George, but no one’s sweating the lack of traditional size on that team.

We match up well with the Clippers. Like we did the Warriors.

We have to go through at least two of the Bucks (Lopez Bros./Giannis), Sixers (Embiid/Horford/Simmons), Indy (Turner/Sabonis), and Raptors (Ibaka/Gasol) first. Though I'm really not concerned about those last two teams.

Interior defense has been a weakness of the team for a few years now. We addressed the rebounding but not the paint protection part. Kyrie-to-Kemba on the point-of-attack defense isn't an upgrade either. I think the major upgrade we will get could be the togetherness and oncourt chemistry we lost last season. So there would be less defensive breakdowns if these guys are in sync and communicating on the floor.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Don’t think Theis gets that much money just to maybe be part of a trade.. but Crowder/Kanter, at 12.3 million, would that match for Capela in December?

I stopped looking at Capela as a target. It just doesn't make sense for Houston to let him go without getting an all-star in return. That was supposed to be Butler.

But mathematically, you only need $9.9M in salaries to match for Capela.

Ok, but check again in December or January.. if Houston decides to rebuild, or strip the team for fresh assets/cap to put around Harden and Chris Paul, they could be more malleable.

There are now two aging, overpaid point guards near the trade market, though - Miami was supposedly open to dealing for Chris Paul but I’m sure they like Westbrook more..

[cloverleaf]

Theis not signed yet? We can give him $19.3M/2 years, 2nd year non-guaranteed. $9.28M is a better trade ballast midseason. We at least have to have the option of trading up in late January.

Ojeleye + Yabu can get us Crowder, expiring ($7.82M).

Add Kanter and you can get into the Adams/Drummond/Gasol trade range.

Lose 3 rotational players for a starting center. At this point, is it still worth it?

Crowder? Why do the C's need Crowder?

Not specifically Crowder. His expiring contract. Anyone in that salary range would do (not a lot of them are within that range). Just for the flexibility for a trade down the line.

Currently, we're locked into our roster. We shouldn't expect a midseason trade unless it's for a major star like KAT, which is a pipe dream. How far we go would be dependent on our biggish-4 -- Kemba, Hayward, Tatum, and Brown then instead of having one elite big, it's a cadre of bigs with varying skill sets taking turns to fill in that 5th spot. Our bench could be an IT-and-D of sorts with Edwards surrounded by Smart, Ojeleye, Grant, and [insert not Kanter big here] OR one of the wings if we wish to go small.

Gasol's already an expiring, if it comes to that, for the Raptors and I don't see the Thunder trading Adams after the last few days. Drummond possibly, but I don't see him as a late-addition difference maker. Adams and Gasol are already expiring and Drummond just one more year of a player option. Better to continue with continuity at that point if the C's are doing well enough to make contention a real possibility next year. I'd basically just pay someone, cash and/or a 2nd to take Yabu off our hands. If they want to consolidate one more spot to be able to put both Waters and Fall on the roster immediately some sort of modest 2-for-1 deal might make sense. But Semi is a genuine minor asset, being so cheap over the next two years. Agreed about the bench being a real D specialist group. Which could argue for keeping Smart with the starters and adding Jaylen for some 6th man O, but he's already temperamental, a year further into his career and really coming into a contract year this season.

[winsomme2]

Everyone is in such a panic that the Celtics aren’t perfect on paper in July. They’re going to be fine. Especially if Hayward takes a step forward, they’ve got more than enough talent to win games.

Just a hunch, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Poirer is the starter. The Stevens system works best with a rim runner on offense and a mobile banger on defense. That’s what Poirer was in Europe. I’m sure they’d love Williams to win the job, but he needs to handle rotation minutes first.

If only we could find a center like Zubac and we could be favorites to win it all.

That’s a good point. I get that Hayward-Brown-Tatum isn’t Kawhi and Paul George, but no one’s sweating the lack of traditional size on that team.

Paul George and Kawhi might be one of the best defensive duos this league has ever seen. Add in Beverley and Montrez Harrell and you probably have the best team defense in the league. There is no comparison.

Listen, this isn't about our roster not being perfect. It has holes so big you could drive a bus through it. Which is exactly what teams will do.

You can fill holes during a season, but not the size we got.

I keep going back the the Red Sox telling us we would be fine without a closer. Our lack of rebounding and interior defense is the same thing. We all know better. We all watched Giannis completely annihilate us last year. We all know what's going to happen if Tatum is our PF and second string center is RWill.

Additionally, we are already hearing the "Hayward hasn't earned his minutes" angle. How long before that leads to the "Stevens is babying him" claim? Do we really want another season of that? Cuz it's not going anywhere. You can't even post a starting line up with Hayward in it without people complaining. Just wait till the articles start coming about Brown being upset....

Danny needs to save us all from another season of that insanity.

[Triple7]

I'm starting to think that Ainge and Brad will talk with Hayward to start from the bench again.. They'll tell him he needs a little bit more time so that he can slowly comeback into rythm till the all star break.

I think the starting lineup will be something like this in the beginning.

Kemba, Brown, Tatum, Theis, Kanter

You need a big like Theis next to Kanter. Theis has the abbility to protect the rim. He's a good shotblocker and can guard multiple positions. Kanter on the other hand will solve the rebounding issues, he can boxout his opponents and will give us interior offense. I think that this could be a very good frontcourt duo.

Theis didnt play his A game anymore since he came back from his injury. People forget over here that he was playing really really good before his injury. He was a solid contributor on the offensive and defensive end. His injury hurt our teams chemistry for a few months. This guy could suddenly breakout next season and be a MIP candidate. You never know.

Also what do you guys think about a potential Kanter + Adams frontcourt? Or Theis + Adams and let Kanter lead our secondary together with Smart.

The biggest issue is still we got too many wings. If the staff isnt confident in Haywards comeback they should shop him to OKC for Adams + Grant

Are you kidding me? Theis is 6’8 how do you suppose he can rim protect against the likes of embiid and Giannis. While he can possibly guard multiple positions, guarding against bigger centers ain’t one of them. Starting Theis over hayward ain’t gonna work. Now Adams with Kanter could work, since Adams can stand his own against any bigs.

[Floody100]

Thoughts on Yabusele for Michael Jordan guys ?