Shams: Celtics sign Lamar Stevens

[bisme37]

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(Sounds like the deal is partially guaranteed for the minimum per initial reports.)

Not that this is Earth shattering but the C's board is pretty excited about it haha. He's a very solid defender and has had some nice scoring games as well. And I know Mitchell and some other Cavs have raved about his leadership.

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If any Cavs fans etc who know more about him than I do want to chime in, please do.

[Zeno]

very good signing at this stage. how many more roster spots do the Celtics even have?

[jbk1234]

He's a hustle player who is good to have on the roster over the course of an 82 game season. He's a very solid defender against SF types who like to play bully ball. He's top heavy against smaller, quicker guards though and it shows on switches.

He has a decent midrange game that both he and the fanbase get way too excited about. When it starts getting good to him, he can burn valuable possessions looking for bailout calls that aren't coming. He'll occasionally hit a three, but not nearly enough to keep defenses honest in terms of spacing.

The two areas where he disappointed for me were rebounding and a reluctance to play any type of enforcer role. If you're built like him and play on a team where Allen and Mobley get shoved around a lot, or opposing defenses are just tomahawking Garland's arms, I expect you to help the officials find their whistles when you check in, or at least take advantage of your size and the fact that they're not calling anything. That might just be me being old school though.

With respect to rebounding, he just doesn't have the quick twitch muscles, read on the ball, or positioning to be a good rebounder and he underwhelms in that area. The latter he can work on, but the former two are likely baked into the cake.

[bisme37]

very good signing at this stage. how many more roster spots do the Celtics even have?

That was the final roster spot. But there are a few guys who are partially guaranteed and could be waived if they need a spot for someone else.

[Karate Diop]

A good signing. There are significant toughness and mental fortitude questions on the Celtics. Lamar might not be a heavy minute player but he'll help set the right tone for a team that needs just that.

[cupcakesnake]

Lamar Stevens could be a better fit on the Celtics than he was on the Cavs (oh yeah give the Cavs another non-shooter undersized combo forward to play with their dual big lineups, Isaac Okoro totally doesn't have this covered for them :S )

After losing the multipositionality of Marcus Smart and Grant Williams, the Celtics are A) Shorter on depth than usual! and B) Lacking the strong switchy types they've built a lot of their defense on.

Last year the Celtics felt so deep. 7-8 starting level players, and almost all of them were high-quality starters. 3 guards, 2 all-NBA wings, 2 really good centers, multiple DPOY candidates, and guys who filled in gaps. This year they'll have a way deeper big man rotation (if the boys can stay healthy), and they still the Jay-Wings. But the depth is a bigger question.

Lamar Stevens can join a bunch of solid player who have a real shot at rotation minutes: Sam Hauser, Oshae Brisset, Dalano Banton, and Payton Pritchard. I was a big fan of Jordan Walsh in the draft, so I'd love to see him see the court this year.

[jbk1234]

Lamar Stevens could be a better fit on the Celtics than he was on the Cavs (oh yeah give the Cavs another non-shooter undersized combo forward to play with their dual big lineups, Isaac Okoro totally doesn't have this covered for them :S )

After losing the multipositionality of Marcus Smart and Grant Williams, the Celtics are A) Shorter on depth than usual! and B) Lacking the strong switchy types they've built a lot of their defense on.

Last year the Celtics felt so deep. 7-8 starting level players, and almost all of them were high-quality starters. 3 guards, 2 all-NBA wings, 2 really good centers, multiple DPOY candidates, and guys who filled in gaps. This year they'll have a way deeper big man rotation (if the boys can stay healthy), and they still the Jay-Wings. But the depth is a bigger question.

Lamar Stevens can join a bunch of solid player who have a real shot at rotation minutes: Sam Hauser, Oshae Brisset, Dalano Banton, and Payton Pritchard. I was a big fan of Jordan Walsh in the draft, so I'd love to see him see the court this year.

The joke on the Cavs forum is the front office traded him instead of other filler so they could pull a Billy Bean on JBB by removing non-shooters as bench options for his rotations.

[whatisacenter]

good signing, pretty good fit for both sides.

[JujitsuFlip]

For the minimum, especially if not guaranteed, nothing to really complain about, there's no risk, he's a team first guy.

As far as his archetype, he's an undersized big who gets some wing minutes. Given his stature they probably wanna use him like they did Grant Williams but Stevens can't hit the broadside of a barn, when left wide open from 3. He has improved his volume and % every season but teams still sag all way off him out there, which kills spacing.

[Triple M]

If Walsh can guard smaller wings and some guards while hopefully Brissett can guard bigger wings and some bigs maybe Stevens can fill in the gaps. It will be tough for coach Muzzula to keep the back end of his bench engaged so he can benefit from their defensive contributions. It will be interesting to watch from a Cs perspective.

[azcatz11]

They should never have let Kadeem Allen go. He was a better player than Stevens imo

[bisme37]

They should never have let Kadeem Allen go. He was a better player than Stevens imo

I have no memory of Kadeem Allen's Celtics career at all haha. But looking him up, he's 4 years older than Lamar Stevens, 5 inches shorter, and recently got waived by the Calgary Surge.

[whatisacenter]

They should never have let Kadeem Allen go. He was a better player than Stevens imo

I have no memory of Kadeem Allen's Celtics career at all haha. But looking him up, he's 4 years older than Lamar Stevens, 5 inches shorter, and recently got waived by the Calgary Surge.

[liquidswords]

The Celtics have crazy depth but like why get excited? Lol its kinda the same problem the Lakers have. There are so many playable players that guys like Stevens won't sniff meaningful mins unless the C's are hammered by injuries

[Dogen]

The Celtics have crazy depth but like why get excited? Lol its kinda the same problem the Lakers have. There are so many playable players that guys like Stevens won't sniff meaningful mins unless the C's are hammered by injuries

It's not so much the depth, but the chess match that happens when things really start to count. Last season in the ECF, for example, Spoelstra exposed weaknesses with switches and mismatches.

In some cases, it was like watching Jimmy Butler lick his chops and just get to wherever he wanted on the court. He's a great player, but part of it was that the Celtics didn't have the bench to counter.

Now with a guy like Stevens, it's more like if Joe Mazzulla is looking for somebody who can put a body on Butler for a few possessions, he has a bench player to go to. Grant Williams tried, but he was not... Him.

These late signings are all there to fill in the vulnerabilities. More shooting with Svi Mykhailiuk, more size with Queta, and now more wing defense against bully ballers like Butler. All Stevens has to do is come in and play his role for a few minutes and they'll be meaningful enough when the games start to really count.

[toooskies]

Happy for Stevens landing on his feet. He's the kind of player who's decent as long as you don't ask him to do too much. His best assignment is big ballhandlers who like to muscle their way to spots-- he had a good game or two on D against Giannis.

But he also couldn't really fill Okoro's role handling quick guards, and he's more of a loose-ball rebounder than a real 4.

He's a great bench guy who isn't afraid to call somebody out on his own team, though. Great pickup for the end of the bench.

[uraverage]

Is this Marcus Smart lite? Meh. Guess it could be worse for the Cs.