Trade/Free Agency Thread 2023-24, part 10 and Counting . . .

[165bows]

Per league sources, the Celtics are doing their due diligence by hosting a number of different workouts ahead of training camp before settling on potential roster options. Brad Stevens signaled last month that adding help on the wing would be a priority before next season.

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Seems like the workouts for this kind of role are big for these guys. Wasn’t there a story last year with Blake Griffin that basically said Brad made an offer to his agent for a vet min halfway through his big open workout?

[Hal14]

I Wonder why Boston is considered NOT good at developing young players??

I don't think that's true. Tatum, Brown, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, Robert Williams, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Rozier. All guys we either drafted or signed on as UDFA right after the draft and all became solid rotation players for us.

7 of our top 10 players during the 2023 playoffs were dudes we either drafted or signed as an UDFA. That's nuts! I'm pretty sure that's more than any other playoff team last year (Warriors had 6, Hawks had 5..)

Bringing in Warren and/or Stevens will only serve to negate Progress in Hauser for a steady role for the first time and Jordan Walsh. If Warren and/or Stevens gets brought in Joe will F*ck it up with indecisiveness. It's not enough that Walsh has to battle it out with Hauser/Banton/Brisset/Scrubb, but adding 1 or 2 more wing types will definitely delay everything I believe Walsh can turn in to.

J Walsh should clean up on all the 10th man minutes for this team. If he plays well, he can move up. And you don't have to be in rebuilding mode to play young players. Juart give them a STEADY and consistent role.

You don't just hand minutes over to anybody - especially not to a 19 yr old kid who's played 0 NBA games and was a 2nd round pick.

Look at a guy like Jordan Poole. Spent his whole 1st season in the g league, the Warriors didn't just throw him into the rotation as a rookie. They brought him along slowly and eventually he got a HUGE contract and was their 6th man when they won the 2022 NBA title.

Middleton started off in the g league and didn't play as a rookie. Rudy Gobert barely played at all as a rookie, same with Fred VanVleet and many others. Duncan Robinson didn't get mins as a rookie, but then his 2nd season he was starting for Miami in the NBA finals. Hauser played g league his rookie year, to develop more, work on improving defensively, get adjusted to the NBA game and then was in the rotation for pretty much all of his 2nd season.

That's the way it works most of the time. Very rare for a rookie to contribute to a playoff team. Guys like Keegan Murray and Christian Braun are the exception - not the norm. And both Murray and Walsh were 22 yrs old in the 2023 playoffs. Walsh is only 19. Those other guys were also drafted higher than Walsh. Murray was a top 5 pick and Braun won THREE high school state titles and an NCAA national title at Kansas before joining the Nuggets.

There's nothing wrong with bringing Walsh along slowly. There's no rush. He's only 19. He'll get his chance. I'm fine with adding a more proven wing to increase our odds of winning the title this season.

Walsh will get the minutes that he earns.

If Boston needs to Fill out their roster, get a 4 or 5 man. There is certainly a greater potential need there.

Warren and Stevens can both play the 4..

[GoCeltics123]

Per league sources, the Celtics are doing their due diligence by hosting a number of different workouts ahead of training camp before settling on potential roster options. Brad Stevens signaled last month that adding help on the wing would be a priority before next season.

Read on Twitter

Seems like the workouts for this kind of role are big for these guys. Wasn’t there a story last year with Blake Griffin that basically said Brad made an offer to his agent for a vet min halfway through his big open workout?

It was something like that yeah

Gonna be tough in particular for TJ Warren in this setting since his feet are not in great shape

[ConstableGeneva]

Sup, everybody? Did the Celtics win a title yet?

[Parliament10]

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[cl2117]

I think if it was likely that Stevens was to become a better shooter he wouldn't be walking around right now looking for the minimum. And in fairness the same can be said about Warren too.

It's obviously not impossible that he does, but at 26 it's fair to say unlikely. Maybe he did change his mechanics and he's a different shooter but I'd also think a team would see that and jump on him. During that hot 40 game stretch you reference, he was still only 75% from the free throw line. I think that usually gives you a good indication if a guy's fixed his shot or not.

I mean, you could say that about any of these guys. If they were that good, they wouldn't be walking around right now looking for the minimum.

You could say that about Oubre, PJ Washington, Blake Griffin, Garuba, Tyty Washington, Edmond Sumner, Stevens, Warren, Diallo, Javonte, Christian Wood, JaVale Mcgee, Rivers, Terence Davis, Svi, Danny Green, Terrence Ross, Will Barton, etc.

That doesn't make them a bad player, just because they're still a FA who might have to take a minimum contract. Some of them are good, solid players who can help a contender win games. It's just that their role players, they're not stars. And it's later in the offseason when teams don't have a lot of roster spots left. Players are waiting to sign with a team till they see what happens with Lillard, Harden trades, some guys are weighing options in terms of possibly signing for more $ and more playing time overseas, etc.

The other main reason why there's lots of decent players who are still sitting there in free agency is because right now there is a TON of basketball talent in the world. Possibly more talented pro basketball players right now than ever before. And only so many NBA roster spots, only so many minutes to go around, only so many contracts teams can give a guy that are more $ than the minimum, especially with the ramifications of the new CBA.

And as for Lamar's shot...75% is not bad at all from the FT line. League average last season was 78%. So 75% is slightly below that. I'd be more concerned if he was under 70% from the FT line. From my understanding and from the research I've come across, the correlation of 3pt shooting / FT shooting is mainly:

-To be an ELITE 3 pt shooter, you typically want to see the guy hitting at least 80% from the FT line
-If the guy is consistently under 70% FT, he probably will struggle to be a league average 3 PT shooter

That's it.

We don't need Lamar to be an elite 3 pt shooter. So I'm not concerned if he's under 80% FT. The good news is he's well over 70%, so there is a chance he can be a league average 3 pt shooter, which is really all we need from him - especially given the value he brings in other areas.

I'm not saying they're bad players, that's a bit of a strawman.

I'm just saying it's unlikely for almost all of the guys you've listed to fix their deficiencies at this point in their careers. That's not to say that it's impossible or that there won't be guys here and there that make that jump, but it's the exception not the rule. I completely agree that they can still be good, solid players that win games for contenders. but you're not expecting these guys to break out. You're expecting them to be what they have been so far in their careers and anything north of that is bonus.

Stevens was 75% from the line during his hottest stretch of the year, but he was 70% for the whole season and was 70% the prior season, so right on the Mendoza line of FT to 3pt correlation. He doesn't need to be even a league average 3 point shooter to warrant minutes but if he struggles to stay in the mid 30's percentage wise then I think he struggles to find a place in Joe's rotations.

Same goes for Warren, if he's shooting low 30's from three he's not getting in any rotations either. I'm just more confident Warren could get his shooting form back as compared to Stevens making the jump in terms of his. I wouldn't class either as "likely" to work out, but they're worthy lottery tickets given the price and upside.

[Hal14]

To just add some color to the point I made earlier about Warren being a ball stopper and Stevens being a more unselfish ball mover:



What this tells us:
-Stevens is a lower usage guy
-Warren takes way more shots
-Stevens holds onto the ball for less than 2 seconds on a much higher % of his touches so he's a quicker ball mover (to help the offense flow better and stay in rhythm whereas the ball sticks to Warren more)
-Stevens takes less than 2 dribbles on a higher % of his touches, whereas Warren will dribble more and take the air out of the ball more, disrupting the team's rhythm on offense
-38% of Warren's shot attempts are pull-up jumpers, which is more than double the % of Stevens' shot attempts that are pull-up jumpers. Pull-up jumpers are not an efficient play type. The more efficient play types are shots at the rim or catch and shoot jumpers - which are the vast majority of Stevens' shot attempts.

I don't really think we need more scoring so much. We've got 3 high usage guys who can all drop 25+ points on any given night (Tatum, Brown, KP), we've got Brogdon who can get you 20+ on any given night, White can score 15-20+ on any given night and will have the ball in his hands a lot. Hauser and Pritchard can shoot.

What we need is a guy who doesn't need the ball in his hands - who doesn't need to score to be effective. We need a low usage guy. Some who can really get after it on D. We've seen Stevens lock up Doncic, we've seen Stevens lock up Jalen Brunson and other guys out on the perimeter - plus he can play the 4 if need be. We could use a defensive minded guy coming in off the bench, since we have a bunch of guys on our bench who all had some struggles at times defensively last season (Brogdon, Pritchard, Hauser, Kornet).

With that being said, Warren is a bucket. He could give us some offensive punch and is decent defensively from what I saw on film from last season. I wouldn't hate it if we signed Warren - he could help us. But I'd prefer Stevens.

Bottom line, with the loss of Smart and Grant, I think we could use another defensive minded role player who brings toughness and leadership - that's Stevens. And with JB and Brogdon still on this team (who were both ball stoppers quite a bit last season) and with still no player on the team who had an assist % anywhere near 30%, I'll pass on the guy who is more of a ball stopper, higher usage type of guy - that's Warren.

*all stats in the screen shot are from last season except some of them that I factored in previous seasons to some extent to draw from a larger sample size

[Hal14]

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[playa-hater]

I Wonder why Boston is considered NOT good at developing young players??

I don't think that's true. Tatum, Brown, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, Robert Williams, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Rozier. All guys we either drafted or signed on as UDFA right after the draft and all became solid rotation players for us.

7 of our top 10 players during the 2023 playoffs were dudes we either drafted or signed as an UDFA. That's nuts! I'm pretty sure that's more than any other playoff team last year (Warriors had 6, Hawks had 5..)

Bringing in Warren and/or Stevens will only serve to negate Progress in Hauser for a steady role for the first time and Jordan Walsh. If Warren and/or Stevens gets brought in Joe will F*ck it up with indecisiveness. It's not enough that Walsh has to battle it out with Hauser/Banton/Brisset/Scrubb, but adding 1 or 2 more wing types will definitely delay everything I believe Walsh can turn in to.

J Walsh should clean up on all the 10th man minutes for this team. If he plays well, he can move up. And you don't have to be in rebuilding mode to play young players. Juart give them a STEADY and consistent role.

You don't just hand minutes over to anybody - especially not to a 19 yr old kid who's played 0 NBA games and was a 2nd round pick.

Look at a guy like Jordan Poole. Spent his whole 1st season in the g league, the Warriors didn't just throw him into the rotation as a rookie. They brought him along slowly and eventually he got a HUGE contract and was their 6th man when they won the 2022 NBA title.

Middleton started off in the g league and didn't play as a rookie. Rudy Gobert barely played at all as a rookie, same with Fred VanVleet and many others. Duncan Robinson didn't get mins as a rookie, but then his 2nd season he was starting for Miami in the NBA finals. Hauser played g league his rookie year, to develop more, work on improving defensively, get adjusted to the NBA game and then was in the rotation for pretty much all of his 2nd season.

That's the way it works most of the time. Very rare for a rookie to contribute to a playoff team. Guys like Keegan Murray and Christian Braun are the exception - not the norm. And both Murray and Walsh were 22 yrs old in the 2023 playoffs. Walsh is only 19. Those other guys were also drafted higher than Walsh. Murray was a top 5 pick and Braun won THREE high school state titles and an NCAA national title at Kansas before joining the Nuggets.

There's nothing wrong with bringing Walsh along slowly. There's no rush. He's only 19. He'll get his chance. I'm fine with adding a more proven wing to increase our odds of winning the title this season.

Walsh will get the minutes that he earns.

If Boston needs to Fill out their roster, get a 4 or 5 man. There is certainly a greater potential need there.

Warren and Stevens can both play the 4..

My short response is I am in Chill mode. Too much I disagree with... But hate back and Forths in the summer months.

[snowman]

To just add some color to the point I made earlier about Warren being a ball stopper and Stevens being a more unselfish ball mover:



What this tells us:
-Stevens is a lower usage guy
-Warren takes way more shots
-Stevens holds onto the ball for less than 2 seconds on a much higher % of his touches so he's a quicker ball mover (to help the offense flow better and stay in rhythm whereas the ball sticks to Warren more)
-Stevens takes less than 2 dribbles on a higher % of his touches, whereas Warren will dribble more and take the air out of the ball more, disrupting the team's rhythm on offense
-38% of Warren's shot attempts are pull-up jumpers, which is more than double the % of Stevens' shot attempts that are pull-up jumpers. Pull-up jumpers are not an efficient play type. The more efficient play types are shots at the rim or catch and shoot jumpers - which are the vast majority of Stevens' shot attempts.

I don't really think we need more scoring so much. We've got 3 high usage guys who can all drop 25+ points on any given night (Tatum, Brown, KP), we've got Brogdon who can get you 20+ on any given night, White can score 15-20+ on any given night and will have the ball in his hands a lot. Hauser and Pritchard can shoot.

What we need is a guy who doesn't need the ball in his hands - who doesn't need to score to be effective. We need a low usage guy. Some who can really get after it on D. We've seen Stevens lock up Doncic, we've seen Stevens lock up Jalen Brunson and other guys out on the perimeter - plus he can play the 4 if need be. We could use a defensive minded guy coming in off the bench, since we have a bunch of guys on our bench who all had some struggles at times defensively last season (Brogdon, Pritchard, Hauser, Kornet).

With that being said, Warren is a bucket. He could give us some offensive punch and is decent defensively from what I saw on film from last season. I wouldn't hate it if we signed Warren - he could help us. But I'd prefer Stevens.

Bottom line, with the loss of Smart and Grant, I think we could use another defensive minded role player who brings toughness and leadership - that's Stevens. And with JB and Brogdon still on this team (who were both ball stoppers quite a bit last season) and with still no player on the team who had an assist % anywhere near 30%, I'll pass on the guy who is more of a ball stopper, higher usage type of guy - that's Warren.

*all stats in the screen shot are from last season except some of them that I factored in previous seasons to some extent to draw from a larger sample size

I agree with your description of each player, but what I don't agree with is how they will be used, if at all by Joe. I feel like the main reason Brad is wanting more wing players besides the fact the NBA is trending that way is to give Tatum and Brown some rest. If Tatum and/or Brown are not on the floor, Boston has a hard time scoring. If only one of the two are on the floor, the double teams come from everywhere. I know that Porzingis will help on much of that, but if we have Warren on the floor with either Tatum or Brown then we have a second "scoring wing" out there also. As you said, He is a bucket. Stevens is not as much. In addition, if Joe feels like player can't score when Tatum or Brown are out, he won't play them. Warren would give Joe the confidence enough to at least get on the court in the rotation as a scorer and not get embarrassed on the defensive side. As far as toughness goes, we have Brissett and Walsh as wings for that.

[Curmudgeon]

So what's with Garuba? Has he cleared waivers or was he claimed?

[MeanGeraldGreen]

To just add some color to the point I made earlier about Warren being a ball stopper and Stevens being a more unselfish ball mover:



What this tells us:
-Stevens is a lower usage guy
-Warren takes way more shots
-Stevens holds onto the ball for less than 2 seconds on a much higher % of his touches so he's a quicker ball mover (to help the offense flow better and stay in rhythm whereas the ball sticks to Warren more)
-Stevens takes less than 2 dribbles on a higher % of his touches, whereas Warren will dribble more and take the air out of the ball more, disrupting the team's rhythm on offense
-38% of Warren's shot attempts are pull-up jumpers, which is more than double the % of Stevens' shot attempts that are pull-up jumpers. Pull-up jumpers are not an efficient play type. The more efficient play types are shots at the rim or catch and shoot jumpers - which are the vast majority of Stevens' shot attempts.

I don't really think we need more scoring so much. We've got 3 high usage guys who can all drop 25+ points on any given night (Tatum, Brown, KP), we've got Brogdon who can get you 20+ on any given night, White can score 15-20+ on any given night and will have the ball in his hands a lot. Hauser and Pritchard can shoot.

What we need is a guy who doesn't need the ball in his hands - who doesn't need to score to be effective. We need a low usage guy. Some who can really get after it on D. We've seen Stevens lock up Doncic, we've seen Stevens lock up Jalen Brunson and other guys out on the perimeter - plus he can play the 4 if need be. We could use a defensive minded guy coming in off the bench, since we have a bunch of guys on our bench who all had some struggles at times defensively last season (Brogdon, Pritchard, Hauser, Kornet).

With that being said, Warren is a bucket. He could give us some offensive punch and is decent defensively from what I saw on film from last season. I wouldn't hate it if we signed Warren - he could help us. But I'd prefer Stevens.

Bottom line, with the loss of Smart and Grant, I think we could use another defensive minded role player who brings toughness and leadership - that's Stevens. And with JB and Brogdon still on this team (who were both ball stoppers quite a bit last season) and with still no player on the team who had an assist % anywhere near 30%, I'll pass on the guy who is more of a ball stopper, higher usage type of guy - that's Warren.

*all stats in the screen shot are from last season except some of them that I factored in previous seasons to some extent to draw from a larger sample size

I agree with your description of each player, but what I don't agree with is how they will be used, if at all by Joe. I feel like the main reason Brad is wanting more wing players besides the fact the NBA is trending that way is to give Tatum and Brown some rest. If Tatum and/or Brown are not on the floor, Boston has a hard time scoring. If only one of the two are on the floor, the double teams come from everywhere. I know that Porzingis will help on much of that, but if we have Warren on the floor with either Tatum or Brown then we have a second "scoring wing" out there also. As you said, He is a bucket. Stevens is not as much. In addition, if Joe feels like player can't score when Tatum or Brown are out, he won't play them. Warren would give Joe the confidence enough to at least get on the court in the rotation as a scorer and not get embarrassed on the defensive side. As far as toughness goes, we have Brissett and Walsh as wings for that.

Celtics have a tough time scoring anytime Tatum sits, which is a huge reason they brought in KP. Tatum can carry meh lineups to elite offensive numbers, Jaylen isn’t really that kind of player. So KP should really help Jaylen carry non Tatum lineups, just need players who stay within themselves out there with them.

Warren is a scorer who can’t efficiently score anymore. He’d have very little value to this team, IMO.

[CelticFaninLBC]

I Wonder why Boston is considered NOT good at developing young players??

I don't think that's true. Tatum, Brown, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, Robert Williams, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Rozier. All guys we either drafted or signed on as UDFA right after the draft and all became solid rotation players for us.

7 of our top 10 players during the 2023 playoffs were dudes we either drafted or signed as an UDFA. That's nuts! I'm pretty sure that's more than any other playoff team last year (Warriors had 6, Hawks had 5..)

Bringing in Warren and/or Stevens will only serve to negate Progress in Hauser for a steady role for the first time and Jordan Walsh. If Warren and/or Stevens gets brought in Joe will F*ck it up with indecisiveness. It's not enough that Walsh has to battle it out with Hauser/Banton/Brisset/Scrubb, but adding 1 or 2 more wing types will definitely delay everything I believe Walsh can turn in to.

J Walsh should clean up on all the 10th man minutes for this team. If he plays well, he can move up. And you don't have to be in rebuilding mode to play young players. Juart give them a STEADY and consistent role.

You don't just hand minutes over to anybody - especially not to a 19 yr old kid who's played 0 NBA games and was a 2nd round pick.

Look at a guy like Jordan Poole. Spent his whole 1st season in the g league, the Warriors didn't just throw him into the rotation as a rookie. They brought him along slowly and eventually he got a HUGE contract and was their 6th man when they won the 2022 NBA title.

Middleton started off in the g league and didn't play as a rookie. Rudy Gobert barely played at all as a rookie, same with Fred VanVleet and many others. Duncan Robinson didn't get mins as a rookie, but then his 2nd season he was starting for Miami in the NBA finals. Hauser played g league his rookie year, to develop more, work on improving defensively, get adjusted to the NBA game and then was in the rotation for pretty much all of his 2nd season.

That's the way it works most of the time. Very rare for a rookie to contribute to a playoff team. Guys like Keegan Murray and Christian Braun are the exception - not the norm. And both Murray and Walsh were 22 yrs old in the 2023 playoffs. Walsh is only 19. Those other guys were also drafted higher than Walsh. Murray was a top 5 pick and Braun won THREE high school state titles and an NCAA national title at Kansas before joining the Nuggets.

There's nothing wrong with bringing Walsh along slowly. There's no rush. He's only 19. He'll get his chance. I'm fine with adding a more proven wing to increase our odds of winning the title this season.

Walsh will get the minutes that he earns.

If Boston needs to Fill out their roster, get a 4 or 5 man. There is certainly a greater potential need there.

Warren and Stevens can both play the 4..

My short response is I am in Chill mode. Too much I disagree with... But hate back and Forths in the summer months.

Best to chill after getting destroyed.

LOL that Boston isn't good at developing young players. So absurd.

[Hal14]

So what's with Garuba? Has he cleared waivers or was he claimed?

Read on Twitter

This was posted at 8:52 pm EST. Perhaps tomorrow we'll hear about a team signing him..

[Hal14]

If Tatum and/or Brown are not on the floor, Boston has a hard time scoring.

I mean, we had a top 3 offense in the league last season. I'm not worried about our offense, especially considering we just added a 7'3" guy who can hit 3's, score in the post, and averaged over 20 PPG on high efficiency.

But defensive consistency was an issue for us - especially in the playoffs. And that was before we lost the 2022 DPOY (Smart) and a guy who (throughout most of his tenure in Boston) was a good, versatile defender (Grant) so I think a case could certainly be made for signing the guy here who is the better defender (Stevens).

if we have Warren on the floor with either Tatum or Brown then we have a second "scoring wing" out there also

I don't think we need 2 "scoring wings" on the floor at the same time. That's redundant. Especially if those 2 wings are Warren and JB out there on the floor together - yikes, it'll be iso basketball every time with them playing my turn, your turn. Posters on here will be complaining about the lack of ball movement.

Denver just won the title and they didn't have any "scoring wings". Bucks won the title with just 1 "scoring wing" Middleton. Warriors won the 2022 title and they usually only had *maybe* 1 scoring wing out there at a time..

1 Scoring wing on the floor at a time is fine. IMO, we should focus more on ball movement and guys cutting to the basket (while keeping at least 3 shooters on the floor at all times) and put less emphasis on iso scoring. Stevens is a good cutter, btw.

In addition, if Joe feels like player can't score when Tatum or Brown are out, he won't play them.

Did Joe say this? I don't recall him saying this, but I could be wrong.

Even if he said this, keep in mind that he was just a 1st year head coach, who found out he got the job like 2 days before training camp. He'll certainly be taking this offseason to look critically at how last season went what worked, what didn't work and make adjustments as necessary. Especially considering he has a brand new group of assistant coaches coming in who will have their own unique ideas and philosophies so there's a good chance he won't coach the team the exact same way as last season.

Joe does seem to prefer guys who can shoot the 3 with good volume - so if we choose to not sign Stevens, that'll probably be the reason why. And it's also why it made sense the rumors earlier this summer about the C's showing interest in Svi, Terence Davis and Austin Rivers (all are guys who shoot over 6 threes per 100 possessions). And while Stevens has steadily improved his 3 pt %, his volume is still fairly low.

With that being said, Stevens for his career is 3.5 3PA per 100 possessions (4.3 last season) while Warren is 3.6 3PA per 100 possessions for his career (4.8 last season) so they're pretty much even in terms of 3 pt shooting volume. And they both shot 32% from 3 last season. It's debatable which one is better, which is why there's been spirited debates on here about this. And it's why the team is bringing both of them in for a workout. No doubt, the team will be looking closely at how both of them are shooting in the workout..

Last season, former Suns coach Monty Williams had no problem giving more minutes (especially come playoff time) to Josh Okogie (the young, hustle, energy, defensive wing with scoring limitations) over Warren. And Stevens is a better offensive player than Okogie.

And I posted this earlier, but here's what Cavs coach JB Bickerstaff had to say about Stevens, at the :44 mark:

Watch on YouTube

Warren would give Joe the confidence enough to at least get on the court in the rotation as a scorer and not get embarrassed on the defensive side.

Sure, this is certainly possible. And it's why I've mentioned that I wouldn't hate it if we signed Warren. He's clearly one of the better FA wings left on the market.

As far as toughness goes, we have Brissett and Walsh as wings for that.

Perhaps.

But the main things that Stevens brings are defense (especially out on the perimeter with the ability to lock up guys like Doncic and Brunson) toughness, physicality, hustle and energy.

While Brissett and Walsh do bring a lot of those things to the table, when diving deeper into each player I would say that:

Brissett - from the film I've seen, his defense is usually pretty good. But he can sometimes be slow footed when defending guys out on the perimeter, and sometimes will be a little slow to react to the move being made by the offensive player or just not read the move they're making quite right and be left in the dust. In other words, he seems ok on D, but I don't think he is on Stevens' level as a defender.

I also haven't seen Brissett make the type of winning plays and big plays in clutch moments like I have seen quite a few times now from Stevens.

I like Brissett's physicality and energy. He can rebound and he can sometimes put guys on a poster to get the crowd going, get his teammates hype. And I think he could end up being a solid 9th-11th man for us. BUT I think there's also a chance that he just doesn't really contribute much. Afterall, as I just explained, his defense is probably average at best. And shooting-wise, he has shown potential as a shooter (as I explained at length in the Brissett thread) but he also shot just 30.8% on catch and shoot 3's last year. If he is only average on D and is not hitting those catch and shoot 3's, it might be tough for him to get mins. He's ok (not terrible but not great either) at creating his own shot. He's not a complete black hole (like Warren) and Brissett is an ok passer, but his passing/playmaking/vision is definitely nothing to write home about. His rebounding is good, his energy is good. But again, he might struggle to get minutes. Let's be real - any guy on a minimum contract could struggle to get minutes for a title contender. And he's currently rehabbing a knee injury - and he's reportedly had knee issues since he was a teenager..

Brissett is a solid player who *could* contribute for us, but he also was out of the rotation for a good chunk of the season last year on a lottery team. Stevens meanwhile, got more minutes and more consistent playing time for the 4 seed in the East.

Walsh - could potentially bring everything to the table that Stevens can bring. But as I explained in detail a few posts back when replying to playa-hater, you don't really want to be relying on a 19 yr old kid with 0 games of NBA experience who was a 2nd round pick to come through and deliver for you when you're a title contender that is trying to win your first title in 16 years. Ideally, you bring Walsh along slowly, you have enough good veterans on the roster so that you don't *need* Walsh to contribute - anything he does contribute is a bonus, the icing on the cake.

Also, while the potential is there down the road for Walsh to be a guy who can lock up guys like Doncic and Brunson out on the perimeter, we have not seen it yet. We saw some nice flashes of perimeter D in summer league but a) that's just Summer league, much different than doing it vs elite NBA players and b) there were some times here and there during SL where Walsh actually did struggle a little bit to stay in front of his man defensively.

[ConstableGeneva]

So what's with Garuba? Has he cleared waivers or was he claimed?

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[Larry_Russell]

I perceive the roster gap at 2/3. Javonte Green has been my desired 14th guy.
The fact that they're looking at two guys who are more of 3/4 maybe indicates some confidence in Banton.

DW/JB/JT/RW/KP
MB/PP?/SH/OB/AH
DB/JW/Stevens?/Luke

Stevens sounds/looks redundant with Brissett, but I like guys like that so I'm all for it. I've always been a big Warren fan but I don't see the fit here so much right now.

Walsh with a jumper works as a SG just fine, imo.

PG: White/Pritchard/Banton----Davidson 2wp
SG: Brown/Brogdon/Walsh----Scrubb 2wp
SF: Tatum/Hauser
PF: Porzingas/...../Brissett
C: Timelord/Horford/Kornet

Need for a backup 4/3 is HUGE right now.
And ideally a vet backup behind Brown as there is certainly a chance that Walsh cannot fill the role of 9th or 10th man (although I dont think there is any reason he cannot be that guy)

I think that is where team will be looking.

Lamar stevens absolutely fits the bill regarding that 3/4 backup
Svi was a potential backup SG


That is where we need to look to see what is out there that could be had, potentially.

Stevens
Gabriel


Diallo
Davis
Green

All should be minimum guys,

Also have the TPE should a more impact guy be gettable for that backup 3/4 slot.

[snowman]

I perceive the roster gap at 2/3. Javonte Green has been my desired 14th guy.
The fact that they're looking at two guys who are more of 3/4 maybe indicates some confidence in Banton.

DW/JB/JT/RW/KP
MB/PP?/SH/OB/AH
DB/JW/Stevens?/Luke

Stevens sounds/looks redundant with Brissett, but I like guys like that so I'm all for it. I've always been a big Warren fan but I don't see the fit here so much right now.

Walsh with a jumper works as a SG just fine, imo.

PG: White/Pritchard/Banton----Davidson 2wp
SG: Brown/Walsh/..../----Scrubb 2wp
SF: Tatum/Hauser
PF: Porzingas/...../Brissett
C: Timelord/Horford/Kornet

Need for a backup 4/3 is HUGE right now.
And ideally a vet backup behind Brown as there is certainly a chance that Walsh cannot fill the role of 9th or 10th man (although I dont think there is any reason he cannot be that guy)

I think that is where team will be looking.

Lamar stevens absolutely fits the bill regarding that 3/4 backup
Svi was a potential backup SG


That is where we need to look to see what is out there that could be had, potentially.

Stevens
Gabriel


Diallo
Davis
Green

All should be minimum guys,

Also have the TPE should a more impact guy be gettable for that backup 3/4 slot.

You forgot Brogdon on your list.

[Celts17Pride]

Ian Begley @IanBegley
2 minutes ago

The Celtics recently had free agent Glen Robinson III in for a workout as they look to add to their roster, per league sources. Boston will also work out Louis King (per HoopsHype) & TJ Warren & Lamar Stevens (per The Athletic) this week. Boston has at least 2 open roster spots.

[Larry_Russell]

I perceive the roster gap at 2/3. Javonte Green has been my desired 14th guy.
The fact that they're looking at two guys who are more of 3/4 maybe indicates some confidence in Banton.

DW/JB/JT/RW/KP
MB/PP?/SH/OB/AH
DB/JW/Stevens?/Luke

Stevens sounds/looks redundant with Brissett, but I like guys like that so I'm all for it. I've always been a big Warren fan but I don't see the fit here so much right now.

Walsh with a jumper works as a SG just fine, imo.

PG: White/Pritchard/Banton----Davidson 2wp
SG: Brown/Walsh/..../----Scrubb 2wp
SF: Tatum/Hauser
PF: Porzingas/...../Brissett
C: Timelord/Horford/Kornet

Need for a backup 4/3 is HUGE right now.
And ideally a vet backup behind Brown as there is certainly a chance that Walsh cannot fill the role of 9th or 10th man (although I dont think there is any reason he cannot be that guy)

I think that is where team will be looking.

Lamar stevens absolutely fits the bill regarding that 3/4 backup
Svi was a potential backup SG


That is where we need to look to see what is out there that could be had, potentially.

Stevens
Gabriel


Diallo
Davis
Green

All should be minimum guys,

Also have the TPE should a more impact guy be gettable for that backup 3/4 slot.

You forgot Brogdon on your list.

you are right. How did I do that....

There is the backup SG