Who will we keep?

[Celts17Pride]

If the Celtics don't make it out of the first round then just about everything will be on the table as far as moves like it should be. We just have to wait and see.

[LewisnotMiller]

Otherwise that 'spot' is open to Hauser (now and next year) and/or Begarin (maybe next year) or any random dude.

So...you're saying I have a chance, then?

[LewisnotMiller]

I'd like us to take a look at a couple of NBL guys who'll go undrafted, as development/2-way types.

Luke Travers is a versatile guy, 20YO, can play right across the perimeter spots at 6'7"
Good defensively, but his shot has kinda deserted him. Thing is, he was at least component at shooting in juniors, and putting him to work with NBA coaches might just unlock it. Would fit our system. A taller, raw as heck Derrick White type.

Watch on YouTube

Second one, take your pick. Both Duop Reath and Jo Lual-Acuil are big guys who have played at strong levels in the NBL and internationally. They're not as young (25-27 range) but perfect summer league tryout types who would offer alternative to someone like Kornet at end of bench.

To be clear, these are undrafted flyers, not splashy superstar options...lol

[31to6]

Otherwise that 'spot' is open to Hauser (now and next year) and/or Begarin (maybe next year) or any random dude.

So...you're saying I have a chance, then?

Yes, yes I am. Follow your dreams

[Gomes3PC]

Honestly don't see much likelihood we move any of:

Tatum
Brown
Smart
White
Timelord
Pritchard
Grant

Even Horford I find unlikely, unless we can use his salary + picks to find a younger big man to pair with Timelord for the long haul (ie, someone like Myles Turner).

Nesmith is also reasonably protected as the cost to keep him for one more year is pretty low to see if he finally makes a breakthrough.

After that, every other spot is up for grabs.

[LewisnotMiller]

Otherwise that 'spot' is open to Hauser (now and next year) and/or Begarin (maybe next year) or any random dude.

So...you're saying I have a chance, then?

Yes, yes I am. Follow your dreams

Awesome. Gonna be a hell of a story for ESPN. 47 year old rookies are rare.

[hugepatsfan]

What type of tax is ownership willing to pay?

I could see a scenario where we mostly run it back but duck the tax again. Waive Horford on his partial guarantee but re-sign him for an amount equal to tax payer's MLE that saves about $5.4M vs his full salary on the books now. Salary dump Nesmith to save another $3.8M. Fill out with rookie/vet minimums and I think we can duck the tax.

My hope is ownership let's Brad spend into the tax using the TPE after making the moves above. The guy I have my eye on is Kevin Huerter in ATL. He's a shooter on the outside which we need, but also a guy who can be a ball mover. I think ATL will swing some deals and while it isn't likely they'd be looking to move him into a TPE, I could see a scenario where they deal him to a team that might. Example would be I can see ATL trading Huerter for Josh Hart, and then POR flipping Huerter to our TPE for a pick. Dillon Brooks works in that scenario too, but I see him less likely to be moved.

[Dannyboy36]

Honestly don't see much likelihood we move any of:

Tatum
Brown
Smart
White
Timelord
Pritchard
Grant

Even Horford I find unlikely, unless we can use his salary + picks to find a younger big man to pair with Timelord for the long haul (ie, someone like Myles Turner).

Nesmith is also reasonably protected as the cost to keep him for one more year is pretty low to see if he finally makes a breakthrough.

After that, every other spot is up for grabs.

I feel like I’d almost add Theis to this list too. He’s just a great backup fit .

[Dannyboy36]

Brad seems to favor a roster design stuffed with guys who are Really Good Fits to the system, at both ends of the court.

That suggests relatively low turnover, simply because there's a smaller pool of candidates to pull from.

Furthermore, pretty much the whole rotation has good reasons for being kept:

Tatum, Brown, Timelord, Smart -- obvious
Horford -- obvious, for as long as he can keep it going
White -- obvious, and indeed they paid a lot to get him
Theis -- excellent fit, and they intentionally got him
Grant -- highly switchable 3-and-D guy who's fitting ever better into the offensive flow
Pritchard -- sharpshooter who's adequate at everything else

Theis (or Grant) could be upgraded with somebody who has more size and/or athleticism.

Pritchard could be upgraded with a sharpshooter who has more size, athleticism, or guard skills.

But those upgrade guys would be rare, highly sought after, and correspondingly expensive.

This is exactly how I feel about the roster right now. Do we have d the mid level to offer ? Sorry I should know this.

[Gomes3PC]

Honestly don't see much likelihood we move any of:

Tatum
Brown
Smart
White
Timelord
Pritchard
Grant

Even Horford I find unlikely, unless we can use his salary + picks to find a younger big man to pair with Timelord for the long haul (ie, someone like Myles Turner).

Nesmith is also reasonably protected as the cost to keep him for one more year is pretty low to see if he finally makes a breakthrough.

After that, every other spot is up for grabs.

I feel like I’d almost add Theis to this list too. He’s just a great backup fit .

I could see his salary being used as trade fodder if we were looking for an upgrade elsewhere. You could combine him and Nesmith plus 1-2 other back-end roster guys to get to a ~$14-15M salary and consider bringing in someone like, say, Christian Wood. Love Theis but Wood is a different level athlete/contributor and if we can package some ancillary pieces to add him as our 3rd big that could be a huge improvement. Richaun Holmes would also be a good target, though know he has off-court issues he's dealing with.

[Brett43]

With no changes, the Celtics could win 60 games next season. So, Brad should be careful about who he replaces.

Kornet and Houser seem like good pieces to keep from the bench.

[celticfan42487]

I mean, the dleague guys don't matter at all.

But we should be looking to add a big who is a legit Center in size as Horford will be one of the oldest players in the NBA and will need to be replaced if not next year than the year after for sure in the rotation.

And we should find a bench guard/wing kind of like Josh Richardson.

Between Theis and Grant we have every version of a backup PF for small ball, a legit C would add diversity there. Also it's likely with Embiid and Giannis we'll need at least one big player to have as an option to absorb fouls and keep Rob off ball for help defense.

And with White we have... well a guard if we want him to play PG but mainly for defensive. The thing we don't have is when Ime won't play Pritchard because he's afraid of his size ruining our defense is someone at G/F who can come off the bench and provide scoring.

So basically a wing/forward like 2015 Evan Turner. They can come in and put up points and make some plays without killing our defense due to being undersized. They'd specifically help when Tatum isn't on the floor and need someone to do playmaking for our guys who we still have a ton of 3 an D more than create plays on their own players in general.


But yeah the G leaguers... keep whomever you want that can lift a pom pom in the most pleasing manner. But what they team needs is even if Horford is back 100% add a backup big like Baynes in his heyday here for the Embiid/Giannis playoff matchup. And a 6th man G/F who is being enough Ime feels comfortable playing him but also can do some scoring/playmaking to help our offense when Tatum doesn't have the ball or isn't in the game.

[Parliament10]

So, just looking at our roster now that the regular season is over, and playoffs are here. I was just wondering who we will keep next year. Unless there is a major trade this summer, I really feel that Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford and Timelord has the starting spots locked up. (I think they will guarantee Horford for the season) I also feel that White, PP, Grant and Theis has the top 4 bench spots locked up and are going nowhere.

That leaves:
Nesmith 6'6
Hauser 6'8
Fitts 6'8
Kornet 7'1
Morgan 6'7
Ryan 6'7
Stauskas 6'6
Thomas 6'5
Nadar 6'3
Begarin 6'5
2021 2nd round pick

8 guys 6'5 to 6'8. Obliviously they are trying to find someone to fill the backup wing spots.
Grant is not a SF. White can play SG, but is a more natural fit at backup point, with PP being the third point. Looks like Nesmith has got some work to do. With all the TPE's we have looks like to me that Brad Stevens is not sold on him yet.

Rotation, To Open 2022-23:
Starters: Smart - - - Brown - Tatum - Horford - R. Williams
Rotation: Pritchard - White - Nesmith - Grant - Theis
Reserves: Thomas - Stauskas - Hauser - Fitts - Kornet
Two-Ways: Rookie - - - - - - Ryan?

Horford = I think Brad Stevens finds a way to keep him. -- (Waive at $14.5M, and Re-Sign w/years added.)
Kornet = Needs to be Re-Signed. -- He's proven to be a decent 5th Big.

I think that we let Morgan go; pickup Stauskas - Hauser - Fitts; and Sign Brodric Thomas to a 3rd PG Role.

In rethinking this, not so sure where Nesmith lands.
He's the only one, not in our 9-Man Playoff Rotation.

[Hal14]

it's pretty clear that there's 9 guys on our current roster Udoka has confidence in. That's the 9 guys who played in last night's win over the nets.

literally everyone else is replaceable. Everyone else - Fitts, Hauser, Nesmith, Kornet. All of them are essentially just end of the bench guys right now. None of them are guaranteed to be here next season. Between summer league and training camp, guys like Nesmith, Hauser and all of these other end of the bench guys will be fighting for a roster spot and fighting for mins at the end of the rotation.

Our end of the bench guys will not only be competing with each other next year but they'll also be competing with:

-Whoever we take with our 2nd round pick this year
-Any UDF guys or other free agents we sign
-Madar
-Begarin

The competition will be fierce for those last 6 or so roster spots + the 2 2-way contract slots.

Nesmith, Hauser, Stauskus, Ryan, Morgan, Fittz, etc. Brad keeps bringing all of these guys in but none of them are sticking in the rotation. This tells me there's a window of opportunity either

a) for someone (probably either nesmith or hauser) to really emerge from that group as a legit rotation piece who can be counted on

or

b) someone else, like our 2nd round pick this year to leap frog all of these end of the bench guys. Honestly wouldn't surprise me if a guy like Julian Champagnie, Kevin McCullar, Isaiah Mobley, Jake Laravia, Alondes williams, jalen williams, Ron Harper Jr, Gabe Brown, Jabari Walker, Kris Murray or Fabian White gets picked by us in the 2nd round, comes in and leap frogs most (or all) of these guys we currently have at the end of our bench

[Hal14]

I'd like us to take a look at a couple of NBL guys who'll go undrafted, as development/2-way types.

Luke Travers is a versatile guy, 20YO, can play right across the perimeter spots at 6'7"
Good defensively, but his shot has kinda deserted him. Thing is, he was at least component at shooting in juniors, and putting him to work with NBA coaches might just unlock it. Would fit our system. A taller, raw as heck Derrick White type.

Watch on YouTube

Second one, take your pick. Both Duop Reath and Jo Lual-Acuil are big guys who have played at strong levels in the NBL and internationally. They're not as young (25-27 range) but perfect summer league tryout types who would offer alternative to someone like Kornet at end of bench.

To be clear, these are undrafted flyers, not splashy superstar options...lol

I like Travers but shooting is a swing skill for him. He shot 25% from 3 this season. If he was a better shooter, I would absolutely be pushing him as one of the guys we should consider taking with our 2nd round pick this year (he declared for the 2022 draft).

Reath and Lual-Acuil I am big fans of. Definitely in favor of bringing both (or at least 1 of them) in for a tryout this offseason. Watching them play this season in the NBL - it's pretty clear that they're NBA caliber players.

[LewisnotMiller]

I'd like us to take a look at a couple of NBL guys who'll go undrafted, as development/2-way types.

Luke Travers is a versatile guy, 20YO, can play right across the perimeter spots at 6'7"
Good defensively, but his shot has kinda deserted him. Thing is, he was at least component at shooting in juniors, and putting him to work with NBA coaches might just unlock it. Would fit our system. A taller, raw as heck Derrick White type.

Watch on YouTube

Second one, take your pick. Both Duop Reath and Jo Lual-Acuil are big guys who have played at strong levels in the NBL and internationally. They're not as young (25-27 range) but perfect summer league tryout types who would offer alternative to someone like Kornet at end of bench.

To be clear, these are undrafted flyers, not splashy superstar options...lol

I like Travers but shooting is a swing skill for him. He shot 25% from 3 this season. If he was a better shooter, I would absolutely be pushing him as one of the guys we should consider taking with our 2nd round pick this year (he declared for the 2022 draft).

Reath and Lual-Acuil I am big fans of. Definitely in favor of bringing both (or at least 1 of them) in for a tryout this offseason. Watching them play this season in the NBL - it's pretty clear that they're NBA caliber players.

Yep...to be clear, I wouldn't even use the second rounder on Travers. He's just a guy who's fit our defence (if he stuck long enough), but as you say, massive chance the shooting doesn't come around.

Undrafted flyer, though, he makes sense.

[bucknersrevenge]

it's pretty clear that there's 9 guys on our current roster Udoka has confidence in. That's the 9 guys who played in last night's win over the nets.

literally everyone else is replaceable. Everyone else - Fitts, Hauser, Nesmith, Kornet. All of them are essentially just end of the bench guys right now. None of them are guaranteed to be here next season. Between summer league and training camp, guys like Nesmith, Hauser and all of these other end of the bench guys will be fighting for a roster spot and fighting for mins at the end of the rotation.

Our end of the bench guys will not only be competing with each other next year but they'll also be competing with:

-Whoever we take with our 2nd round pick this year
-Any UDF guys or other free agents we sign
-Madar
-Begarin

The competition will be fierce for those last 6 or so roster spots + the 2 2-way contract slots.

Nesmith, Hauser, Stauskus, Ryan, Morgan, Fittz, etc. Brad keeps bringing all of these guys in but none of them are sticking in the rotation. This tells me there's a window of opportunity either

a) for someone (probably either nesmith or hauser) to really emerge from that group as a legit rotation piece who can be counted on

or

b) someone else, like our 2nd round pick this year to leap frog all of these end of the bench guys. Honestly wouldn't surprise me if a guy like Julian Champagnie, Kevin McCullar, Isaiah Mobley, Jake Laravia, Alondes williams, jalen williams, Ron Harper Jr, Gabe Brown, Jabari Walker, Kris Murray or Fabian White gets picked by us in the 2nd round, comes in and leap frogs most (or all) of these guys we currently have at the end of our bench

Big fan of this kid. Would love to have him here.

[brackdan70]

Those top 9 rotation guys are all under contract and stay imo. Nesmith on rookie deal stays as well. The rest doesn’t matter much. Fill with guys that can play in the system if needed.Hauser seems like a candidate to keep

[neno]

Nesmith needs guaranteed minutes/set role next year last chance also see semi oj is a free agent vet Min 15th man is ok with me

[24istheLAW]

Nesmith needs guaranteed minutes/set role next year last chance also see semi oj is a free agent vet Min 15th man is ok with me

Ojeleye is a good call.

-Brad has shown a propensity to bring back players he's familiar with, or players Ime has experience with. Horford, Theis, Derrick White, Ime knew Josh Richardson too I believe.

-Semi theoretically fits the switch-everything scheme. He's the opposite of long but he's strong and moves his feet great.