Holy Offseason I Can’t Believe it’s July FA/Trade/Waiver Thread

[fallguy]

Trade DWhite to OKC for Dort and ten first round draft picks. You'll win 20 games, get a top 4 pick and have a war chest of picks.

I'd hold out for 11 picks.

[jfs1000d]

What did Brad miss out on? Why would he pass on a superior return, especially one that could "easily" have been made. Remember, it is not just Brad making the decisions. Those involved in the trade discussions have many years of basketball experience. How could they have all missed the mark?

Well because Larry Russell isn't in the Celtics front office duh.

I promise you there was better offers

Larry what better offer than Jru out the door for Simons? Everything else isn't as good and would bring back long term contracts.

That is an insanely good trade. They got back a nice able contract for Jrue, who happens to be a 20 ppg scorer on an expiring.


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[Half-Full]

What did Brad miss out on? Why would he pass on a superior return, especially one that could "easily" have been made. Remember, it is not just Brad making the decisions. Those involved in the trade discussions have many years of basketball experience. How could they have all missed the mark?

Well because Larry Russell isn't in the Celtics front office duh.

I promise you there was better offers

Pure speculation on your part. If there were better offers made, why didn't Brad jump on them? Could Brad be that stupid? Easier to believe you are wrong, eh?

[SuperDeluxe]

Well because Larry Russell isn't in the Celtics front office duh.

I promise you there was better offers

Pure speculation on your part. If there were better offers made, why didn't Brad jump on them? Could Brad be that stupid? Easier to believe you are wrong, eh?

We're witnessing one of the board's all-time lows in terms of not understanding what's going on. It's been explained to them multiple times, but they keep coming back. It's tragicomical.

[Hal14]

Interesting the Windy report today that we're actively exploring trading Simons.

While I have advocated for Simons on here, I get it. On one hand, if we're not going for a title this season, mine as well move Simons to duck under the tax completely..why pay tax on a team you know isn't going to contend?

On the other hand, Simons is only 26 years old. As D-White ages, it's certainly fair to question whether he can be a reliable 3rd scoring option for a championship team, post-Tatum injury. And it's also fair to question whether Pritchard could handle such a large role.

So the case to keep Simons is, you need enough scoring weapons to win a title. Without Simons, we might not have that. With Simons, we probably do.

But then on the flip side, the benefit to keeping Simons I just outlined, might be outweighed by the cost to keep him this season + the cost to keep him long term, along with his defensive limitations. Maybe they feel like the dollar amount his extension would cost would be too pricey, given the amount we're already paying tatum/brown/white, not to mention Pritchard being a similar player on a much cheaper contract.

Plus they might feel like it'd be too hard to win a title with 2 guards (Pritchard, Simons) playing rotation mins who are suspect defenders. Not to mention Hauser (if he stays) has defensive limitations as well, and who knows if we will be able to get a C who can defend..

So I get it. Plus, part of OKC's blueprint for winning the title this year was having a deep squad of like 9 or 10 guys who could *all* defend.

It doesn't necessarily mean Simons will be traded. But it sounds like Brad is at least doing some due diligence to see what the trade market would look like for Simons, and if there is a deal out there where we could get sufficient value for him.

He's just doing his job. I mean for crying out loud, he was taking calls this summer for potential JB/White trades. It's no secret that during Brad's tenure, the only one who hasn't been a trade candidate is Tatum.

Other thing I would add - if we do simply just dump Simons and don't even get much value back for him, that pretty much tells me that we are basically tanking this season and are trying to get a lottery pick.

It just happened last season with the Mavs. Kyrie tore his ACL, mavs tanked, got no. 1 pick and got Cooper Flagg. There's 3-5 guys at the top of the 2026 draft with star upside..

I think you're on it with respect to the bolded stuff. White is going to get worse as a defender, maybe only incrementally, but worse. And PP will never be a stopper (on top of being small). Adding a poor defender like Simons doesn't make sense especially because he's not going to have the ball in his hands to generate offense a lot once JB/JT are both back and cooking.

Yeah I can see both sides of it, with regards to trading/keeping Simons.

In Brad We Trust.

[Celts17Pride]

Anfernee Simons and the 2027 1st round pick should be used to go get a player you want around for the next 3-4 years. Nothing else really makes any sense. Celtics are not going to resign Simons because of his lack of defense and Stevens should be combing the NBA looking for a player that will be around and ready when Tatum returns. Anfernee Simons is not going to be that guy and everyone knows it. I still expect that Simons will never play a regular season game for the Boston Celtics.

[redslastlaugh]

I'd be happy to trade Georges Niang ($8.2) and Xavier Tillman ($2.5) for John Konchar and our 2026 2nd round pick rights back. This moves us off Tillman and puts us under the tax and at 14 roster count, though we have Konchar's money going forward.

I also like it because it opens minutes for Minott, Hugo, Jordan Walsh, Scheierman because I think Joe will have a hard time not playing Niang and I want a clear runway for development minutes across the 3-4-5 spots.

My prediction?

This is pretty much what the roster will look like on opening night.

Except we're gonna get under 2nd apron. We're just barely over, so all we gotta do is trade/waive either Tillman/Walsh/JD. If it's Tillman, then we'd have to get another big. So then we'd still have to end up dumping either Walsh/JD to get back under 2nd apron and get back down to 14 players on the standard roster.

I assume you meant puts us fully under the 2nd apron, but not the tax in the 2nd paragraph. But, yep, I'd do that. Leaves us a little room and roster spot to add a Lillard or different vet min as well. Is MEM targeting next summer cap or something?

Yea, I meant under the 2nd apron not tax.

The main reason Memphis was trying to dump Konchar was to clear enough space to extend JJJ and Aldama, and they've done that. But they may still have interest tho, if swapping 2yrs of Konchar for $12 million for 1 yr of Niang at $8 gives them flexibility ... if they need expirings for a trade or space to sign a FA this summmer.

If they are interested, I'd take back Konchar's 2nd yr if we can get a little sweetener for it and drop under 2nd apron this yr.

[fallguy]

Anfernee Simons and the 2027 1st round pick should be used to go get a player you want around for the next 3-4 years. Nothing else really makes any sense. Celtics are not going to resign Simons because of his lack of defense and Stevens should be combing the NBA looking for a player that will be around and ready when Tatum returns. Anfernee Simons is not going to be that guy and everyone knows it. I still expect that Simons will never play a regular season game for the Boston Celtics.

Agreed. You may have the exact pick right too.

[cl2117]

Hauser is on a more expensive contract, though. Roughly $11 mil a year. Niang is like $8mil this year. And since he's 32, maybe we're able to extend him for a couple more years at only like $4mil a year. So that's significant cost savings, for arguably a better player. And those cost. savings are crucial, given our financial situation.

Sure, Sam is younger and locked in for more years on his deal. Which means we could get more value for him in a trade.

Niang isn't exactly the most athletic guy though, I'd be worried about significantly diminishing returns to scale as he gets deeper into his 30's (same will 100% be true for Hauser). Sure his game may age well because he doesn't rely on athleticism, but it could also age like milk if he loses a step and is a pure liability on the defensive end (and Niang has no steps to spare on that end of the court).

Sam is right in his prime and while he doesn't have a high ceiling, his floor is rock solid, so barring injury I feel like he's an incredibly safe option in terms of value. I'd move Niang now for the cost savings and then if we are still squeezed in the future I think you'd be able to swap Hauser for the likes of Niang without an issue (maybe even literally Niang depending on where he ends up).

If it's an either/or proposition for this season I'm firmly in the Hauser camp unless he's an unavoidable cap casualty as we try to duck the tax.

Exactly. Niang is not a guy who has ever relied on athleticism. He's been effective due to his smarts, savvy, feel, skill, craft, shooting, toughness and strength. Exactly the type of guy whose game will age well.

I wouldn't necessarily say Hauser's floor is rock solid. His floor is a guy who's unplayable in the playoffs. Hauser has had 3 postseasons now where he's gotten rotation mins. 22-23 he was in and out of the rotation, eventually losing his rotation spot to Grant, even though Grant was playing with a hand injury so severe he got surgery right after the season. 23-24 he had his moments where he was good but also had moments where he was pretty much unpayable. He was hit or miss. And in the 24-25 playoffs, he was ok at times but overall was bad - partly of course due to the back injury - which for all we know will continue to linger and cause problems for the rest of his career.

Niang on the other hand has logged 100+ mins in 5 different postseasons and to my knowledge has been more consistently playable than Hauser during those 5 playoff runs.

Bottom line, overall as players they are pretty comparable. We could sit here all day and debate which one is better. At the end of the day, they're both like a 7th/8th man in your rotation. They're not gonna make or break your title chances. If they are that far down in the rotation and they are so comparable to each other that it's basically like splitting hairs, give me the cheaper guy. Hauser is locked in long term at like $11mil a year. Niang is $8 mil this year and after that we could probably resign him for like 2 years at $4mil a year or so. That's a significant cost savings, which means we have more $ available so that the rest of the roster can be better.

Or maybe after this season, we don't even bring Niang back, because who knows, maybe we find out this season that we are getting enough value from guys like Walsh/Hugo/Scheirman/Minott that we don't really need either Hauser or Niang. Again, it's just the 7th/8th man spot in the rotation..as long as you've got someone halfway decent in that slot, you're ok. For a spot that deep in the rotation, you don't need to be paying a guy over $10mil a year, especially when he's mainly just a shooter and you're already paying 2 other guys on your roster supermax money.

Just because Niang doesn't rely on his athleticism doesn't mean his game is going to age well. If he loses a step he becomes unplayable defensively and his offense isn't nearly enough to sustain him. We see it all the time with non-athletic shooters, despite not being "elite" athletes everyone in the NBA has to have a certain level of it otherwise you get run off the court. Not saying that's gonna be the case with Niang but it's absolutely a risk as he enters his twilight NBA years.

Hauser's floor is absolutely rock solid. He's an adequate defender with a guaranteed 40% stroke from 3. Since he elevated his defensive game that's been his floor and I'd expect him to keep that going for at least 3-4 years (obviously barring injuries etc.). His ceiling is the issue, which is why he goes from a guy who can be a fringe starter for a championship team to a questionable playoff roll of the dice. His floor is pretty much guaranteed as a rotation level guy, whether he can be a difference maker (or even just consistently passable) in the playoffs is the question and that's all about his ceiling.

And I'm just not reading these playoffs stats the same way you seem to be. His numbers look identical to Sam's averaged for their careers and Niang has some putrid performances to go along with a couple good ones. I don't see much difference in them to be honest and Sam's got a ring.

I can get on board with it just being down to personal preference in choosing between the two, but from my perspective, unless it's the difference between ducking the tax and/apron or not, I've got Sam as the clear choice. A bit more expensive but not unreasonable for what he gives you plus he's younger, still has potential to grow more (although I would say he's at his ceiling realistically), locked in and seemingly very tradeable as an archetype that every team can incorporate. He'd be a solid piece to throw in for aggregating salaries if we made a big swing to trade for another star when Tatum is healthy. Alternatively he's a great fitting puzzle piece to keep around if we trade a bunch of other guys instead and need to backfill holes on our roster.

Just as an asset I think Sam is clearly more valuable. I feel like it'll be a lot easier to find an older vet like Niang in the future for the cheap than it would be to get a team to give you a proven 3&D guy locked in for his prime years.

[redslastlaugh]

I'd be happy to trade Georges Niang ($8.2) and Xavier Tillman ($2.5) for John Konchar his 2 yrs ($6.1 and $6.1 in 2027)

Love this idea, Also fine if it’s just Niang. That gets us under the 2nd Apron with some room.

Yea, I think we should get a little asset if we trade 1 yr Niang ($8.2) for 2 yrs Konchar ($12.2), taking back that extra yr, we need a little value. But I'd be happy to just get our 2026 2nd pick back unencumbered. Don't know if Memphis wants to do that or even if Brad thinks he can do a different deal that doesn't take on yrs or money in the aggregate.

[Celts17Pride]

Anfernee Simons and the 2027 1st round pick should be used to go get a player you want around for the next 3-4 years. Nothing else really makes any sense. Celtics are not going to resign Simons because of his lack of defense and Stevens should be combing the NBA looking for a player that will be around and ready when Tatum returns. Anfernee Simons is not going to be that guy and everyone knows it. I still expect that Simons will never play a regular season game for the Boston Celtics.

Agreed. You may have the exact pick right too.

Now I just don't know who that player is that they should go out and get. I hope Brad Stevens does.

[cl2117]

Anfernee Simons and the 2027 1st round pick should be used to go get a player you want around for the next 3-4 years. Nothing else really makes any sense. Celtics are not going to resign Simons because of his lack of defense and Stevens should be combing the NBA looking for a player that will be around and ready when Tatum returns. Anfernee Simons is not going to be that guy and everyone knows it. I still expect that Simons will never play a regular season game for the Boston Celtics.

Agreed. You may have the exact pick right too.

Now I just don't know who that player is that they should go out and get. I hope Brad Stevens does.

'27 first just doesn't feel like it's got enough juice to get us someone worth investing in.

I would love for some dumb GM (Joe Dumars please) to over value our 2026 first enough to trade one of their burgeoning guys (Trey Murphy or Herb Jones please) for it plus Simons. That player then helps us stay afloat enough to have a fun season and make the playoffs and then is ready to be the next KP/Jrue-esque addition to our next championship run. Like when we had that pick from Sacramento and they just went on that freakish and infuriating run that knocked that thing back from a guaranteed top 5 pick to late lottery, except this time the Pelicans get left holding the bag.

I say the Pelicans because a) I would kill for Trey Murphy but also b) because they constantly do stupid **** and c) because they just got torched for trading their 2026 pick so maybe they walk that back by getting ours isntead? (it doesn't really make sense for them but that's exactly why Dumars will love it ).

[Hal14]

Anfernee Simons and the 2027 1st round pick should be used to go get a player you want around for the next 3-4 years. Nothing else really makes any sense. Celtics are not going to resign Simons because of his lack of defense and Stevens should be combing the NBA looking for a player that will be around and ready when Tatum returns. Anfernee Simons is not going to be that guy and everyone knows it. I still expect that Simons will never play a regular season game for the Boston Celtics.

Agreed. You may have the exact pick right too.

Now I just don't know who that player is that they should go out and get. I hope Brad Stevens does.

You have no clue who we could trade Simons for. You "hope" Brad knows.

Yet you "expect that Simons will never play a regular season game for the Boston Celtics."

Seems a bit contradictory.

How can you be so sure he'll be traded if you can't even come up with 1 possible guy we could trade him for?

[BleedGreen1989]

If they dump off Simons then this team will be one sprained ankle from Jaylen or Derrick from a nice soft tank. This draft is supposed to be stacked.

I’m good with it.

[fallguy]

This Simons stuff has never been complicated. He's not a Celtics-style defensive player. He's headed for a new contract we're not going to pay. From the moment the trade was announced, local beat guys said they might move him. Windy, who is as plugged in as anyone, says multiple teams tell him the C's are shopping him. You really have to go into contortions to think the Celtics are into him.

[redslastlaugh]

Spurs reddit says former Spurs center Charles Bassey has been spotted in the Celtics practice facility in photos released on Celtics insta

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBASpurs/comments/1lvono8/mamu_bassey_blake_and_malaki_all_gone_within_the/

[magee]

Maybe Chicago? I don't think they'd want to lose Kevin Huerter, but combining both him and Jevon Carter for Simons works. That way, Boston might have an easier time trading either player since their contracts are smaller.

[darrendaye]

Spurs reddit says former Spurs center Charles Bassey has been spotted in the Celtics practice facility in photos released on Celtics insta

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBASpurs/comments/1lvono8/mamu_bassey_blake_and_malaki_all_gone_within_the/

I've had some interest since draft year....

[Hal14]

This Simons stuff has never been complicated. He's not a Celtics-style defensive player. He's headed for a new contract we're not going to pay. From the moment the trade was announced, local beat guys said they might move him. Windy, who is as plugged in as anyone, says multiple teams tell him the C's are shopping him. You really have to go into contortions to think the Celtics are into him.

Do you really?

He's a shooter and we shoot more 3's than any team in NBA history.

Clearly, looking at the moves we've made this offseason we're getting younger. Simons is young and fits the Jays timeline.

Windy has said plenty of stuff that never came to fruition. He throws stuff at the wall to see if it will stick, knowing that he spreads enough rumors, he's bound to be right every now and then. I wouldn't say he's as plugged in as Shams. And I haven't seen anything from Shams indicated we're looking to trade Simons.

As for Simons being a "Celtics style defensive player" I'm not really sure what that means. Brogdon was a cone when he was here, yet we still kept him for a year and he won 6MOY here. And if Brogdon was younger and had less injuries, who knows he might still be a Celtic right now. Hauser has defensive limitations. So does Pritchard. So does Niang. JB has had moments during his career when he's been a very poor off ball defender.

Simons hasn't been good defensively in his career but he also hasn't played on a real NBA team yet with real coaching, real defensive principles, a real defensive system. He's very quick, he's got good athleticism and has a 6'9" wingspan so he definitely has the tools to be a good defender. It certainly wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen if he improved on D after coming to a team like Boston. Blazers fans have come in here and commented that a big reason why he wasn't as good defensively there is because he was the no. 1 option so therefore he put most of his energy/effort into the offensive end. Here in Boston he'd be like the 3rd/4th option, would have less usage, less of a role so it would make sense that he would be able to ave more energy for the defensive end here.

[SuperDeluxe]

This Simons stuff has never been complicated. He's not a Celtics-style defensive player. He's headed for a new contract we're not going to pay. From the moment the trade was announced, local beat guys said they might move him. Windy, who is as plugged in as anyone, says multiple teams tell him the C's are shopping him. You really have to go into contortions to think the Celtics are into him.

A press conference hasn't even been announced yet, no? That's probably all we need to know.