Off-season Roster Update, 2024-25 – (Walker, last Ex-10 Player Waived)

[ConstableGeneva]

15 of the 17 being back is kinda wild. Hoping for a ton of internal improvement and for a couple of the young guys to pop.

[cl2117]

So, roughly figuring out how minutes may go, here's where I am. 3 minutes floating around, lol. I lean to Tatum taking them at SF and playing either Tillman or Kornet a tick more. The 3 minutes at SF is a bit silly, but, the main idea is where the big men shake out pre-Porzingis.

PG: White (26/32)/Pritchard (22)
SG: Holiday (32)/White (6/32)/Hauser (10/22)
SF: Brown (33)/ Hauser (12/22) (3?)
PF: Tatum (35)/Tillman (13)
C: Horford (26)/Queta (14)/Kornet (8)

I've never seen this color coding method for showing minutes distribution before and I love it. I know it's super simple, but it's always bothered me having the split minutes for the likes of White across multiple positions, such a good solution.

The big rotation pre-KP's return is such a tough call. On the face of it, I struggle with Queta getting more minutes than both Tillman and Kornet, especially given how well Luke handled regular season minutes last year. That's certainly how I'd play it, since developing a guy like Queta into a rotation level big-man on a minimum contract has so much long-term value for us (and same for Tillman).

Horford sitting on back to backs probably serves as a great opportunity to help balance out the overall distribution, but I still can't put my finger on how that works. Will Luke sit more on regular nights and slot into Horford's minutes when he sits? Will Tillman ramp up massively when he sits? Could a guy like Watson come in and steal a handful of minutes and the rest only increase a bit across all 3?

I'm glad Luke's back, but based on the contracts they signed, I'm all for feeding Queta/Tillman (even Watson if he snags a roster/two-way). If either of those guys makes a jump, we're in such a good position for when all these mega extensions kick in.

[darrendaye]

So, roughly figuring out how minutes may go, here's where I am. 3 minutes floating around, lol. I lean to Tatum taking them at SF and playing either Tillman or Kornet a tick more. The 3 minutes at SF is a bit silly, but, the main idea is where the big men shake out pre-Porzingis.

PG: White (26/32)/Pritchard (22)
SG: Holiday (32)/White (6/32)/Hauser (10/22)
SF: Brown (33)/ Hauser (12/22) (3?)
PF: Tatum (35)/Tillman (13)
C: Horford (26)/Queta (14)/Kornet (8)

I've never seen this color coding method for showing minutes distribution before and I love it. I know it's super simple, but it's always bothered me having the split minutes for the likes of White across multiple positions, such a good solution.

The big rotation pre-KP's return is such a tough call. On the face of it, I struggle with Queta getting more minutes than both Tillman and Kornet, especially given how well Luke handled regular season minutes last year. That's certainly how I'd play it, since developing a guy like Queta into a rotation level big-man on a minimum contract has so much long-term value for us (and same for Tillman).

Horford sitting on back to backs probably serves as a great opportunity to help balance out the overall distribution, but I still can't put my finger on how that works. Will Luke sit more on regular nights and slot into Horford's minutes when he sits? Will Tillman ramp up massively when he sits? Could a guy like Watson come in and steal a handful of minutes and the rest only increase a bit across all 3?

I'm glad Luke's back, but based on the contracts they signed, I'm all for feeding Queta/Tillman (even Watson if he snags a roster/two-way). If either of those guys makes a jump, we're in such a good position for when all these mega extensions kick in.

Good chance I'm a little too generous with minutes for Queta, but I consider he's probably the greater scoring threat of the reserve bigs. And yeah, the Horford sit games are tricky, we'll see how many back to backs there are into Christmas. Could be Watson. Could be Scheierman playing some and at the 4. Or probably more likely they just play Pritchard and Hauser more minutes and Brown serves as Tatum's backup 4.

[cloverleaf]

So, roughly figuring out how minutes may go, here's where I am. 3 minutes floating around, lol. I lean to Tatum taking them at SF and playing either Tillman or Kornet a tick more. The 3 minutes at SF is a bit silly, but, the main idea is where the big men shake out pre-Porzingis.

PG: White (26/32)/Pritchard (22)
SG: Holiday (32)/White (6/32)/Hauser (10/22)
SF: Brown (33)/ Hauser (12/22) (3?)
PF: Tatum (35)/Tillman (13)
C: Horford (26)/Queta (14)/Kornet (8)

I like it, the C's could even up their competition and maybe get a little less bored midseason if they spotted their opponent a one-man advantage for at least three minutes a game. Works in hockey, right?

[ConstableGeneva]

Brad and the 2024 Championship Team...



Bring back Brissett and Svi (add a new roster designation -- three-way: big team, G-League, home).

[Curmudgeon]

Is Jay Scrubb still rehabbing his ACL? Kid could score, and I'd like to see him back in Maine.

[cloverleaf]

Brad and the 2024 Championship Team...



Bring back Brissett and Svi (add a new roster designation -- three-way: big team, G-League, home).

Brad said as much after they flamed out in 2023, until Wyc intervened!

[Hal14]

Is Jay Scrubb still rehabbing his ACL? Kid could score, and I'd like to see him back in Maine.

He tore his ACL October 8, last year. It's often times a 12-ish month recovery time for that. So he probably still has a few more months to go.

Best thing for him might be take his time with the rehab and maybe there's a team overseas somewhere (or some G league squad) he can sign with and start playing for them in like November or December..try crushing it this season in G league or overseas with the goal of making an NBA roster in 25-26.

It's typically pretty important for these fringe guys to play (and play well) for some team's SL squad which gets them a training camp invite..

The timing of that injury was really rough for him..

[ConstableGeneva]

Brad and the 2024 Championship Team...



Bring back Brissett and Svi (add a new roster designation -- three-way: big team, G-League, home).

Brad said as much after they flamed out in 2023, until Wyc intervened!

He did? Quote?

[ConstableGeneva]

White | Holiday | Brown | Tatum | Porzingis (✚)
Pritchard | Hauser | Scheierman | Horford | Kornet
Springer | Walsh | Watson* | Tillman | Queta
Davison | Harper Jr. | Enaruna | Peterson | ??
??

*not yet officially signed

What if Scheierman and Watson are Svi and Brissett's "replacements" and we just sign another project big for the 3rd two-way?

[cloverleaf]

Brad and the 2024 Championship Team...



Bring back Brissett and Svi (add a new roster designation -- three-way: big team, G-League, home).

Brad said as much after they flamed out in 2023, until Wyc intervened!

He did? Quote?

His presser right after their final playoffs loss:

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=CLNSMediaBostonSportsNetwork.

[ConstableGeneva]

[cl2117]

Small sample size theatre, but after one summer league game:

Stock up:
- Springer: should push for early season entry into the back end of the rotation
- Watson: too early to tell, but looks like he could be a glue guy
- Ron Harper Jr.: looks like what I thought Watson was going to look like, beefier multi-tool utility guy

Stock down:
- Walsh: discombobulated, seemingly a little immature when things were going poorly, still very raw
- Scheierman: offensively impressive, but a liability defensively. He can't be that bad and push for rotation minutes

Neutral:
- Queta: outplayed by Ware but still shows potential. Questionable if he can snag some of Kornet's minutes
- Davison: was a good performance for him, but doesn't feel like anything substantial has changed in his game
- Peterson: some nice things but 0/4 from 3, he needs to be a 40% shooter from 3 if he wants any chance at NBA minutes
- Ramsey: SL scorer, played well but most of it was one on one basketball and there was no defense from him, 4A guy

With KP out and Joe presumably conscious of the wear and tear from a long playoff run and then the Olympics, plus Al's age, I'm expecting there to be a lot more minutes to go around than last year but not a ton of these guys looked ready to take them.

Springer, Scheierman and Queta looked like the guys who could potentially feature in the rotation. Everyone else looks like they're Maine bound and going to stay there, but maybe Walsh/Watson have an outside shot at getting some run.

[Hal14]

Ok, so I think at this point if we read between the lines, it should be obvious that Watson has a chance at grabbing that 15th roster spot.

-If they completely had their minds set on him being on a 2-way, he would have signed he 2-way by now - especially considering both JD and Peterson already signed their 2-way contracts

-We also signed Enaruna and Harper Jr to training camp contracts..like, why would we sign both of those guys already but not Watson? Clearly, it's because the front office is not yet sure which type of contract Watson is going to get.

Watson will obviously sign a contract. You don't draft a guy and then just cut him unless he is just awful in practice/SL..but in the 1st SL game he was solid and played a decent amount of mins and had possibly the play of the game for us with that block on Jaquez.

So he's clearly going to get a contract. But the team clearly isn't 100% sure yet whether it'll be the 15th roster spot or a 2-way.

Seems like (for now) they like having the flexibility of being able to put him on either type of contract, depending on how things go.

If someone pops up and they reach an agreement with some young player or vet minimum guy for that 15th spot (or Brissett?) they'll put Watson on a 2-way. If not, Watson will likely get that spot..or perhaps they'll leave it open and have Watson on a 2-way, with the chance to possibly convert him later in the season.

The other factor is, how well he plays in SL, in practice, training camp. By waiting and getting a larger sample size of practice/SL data, they can have a better idea of which contract to sign him to..

I think they will want to make a decision soon though..otherwise you're kind of messing with him by leaving it up in the air like this nd have it be a mystery. I'm sure he's going to want to know which type of contract he'll be on.

So I figure that within a day or 2 after our last SL game, a decision will be made by then - if not sooner.

[cl2117]

Ok, so I think at this point if we read between the lines, it should be obvious that Watson has a chance at grabbing that 15th roster spot.

-If they completely had their minds set on him being on a 2-way, he would have signed he 2-way by now - especially considering both JD and Peterson already signed their 2-way contracts

-We also signed Enaruna and Harper Jr to training camp contracts..like, why would we sign both of those guys already but not Watson? Clearly, it's because the front office is not yet sure which type of contract Watson is going to get.

Watson will obviously sign a contract. You don't draft a guy and then just cut him unless he is just awful in practice/SL..but in the 1st SL game he was solid and played a decent amount of mins and had possibly the play of the game for us with that block on Jaquez.

So he's clearly going to get a contract. But the team clearly isn't 100% sure yet whether it'll be the 15th roster spot or a 2-way.

Seems like (for now) they like having the flexibility of being able to put him on either type of contract, depending on how things go.

If someone pops up and they reach an agreement with some young player or vet minimum guy for that 15th spot (or Brissett?) they'll put Watson on a 2-way. If not, Watson will likely get that spot..or perhaps they'll leave it open and have Watson on a 2-way, with the chance to possibly convert him later in the season.

The other factor is, how well he plays in SL, in practice, training camp. By waiting and getting a larger sample size of practice/SL data, they can have a better idea of which contract to sign him to..

I think they will want to make a decision soon though..otherwise you're kind of messing with him by leaving it up in the air like this nd have it be a mystery. I'm sure he's going to want to know which type of contract he'll be on.

So I figure that within a day or 2 after our last SL game, a decision will be made by then - if not sooner.

If they 100% know that Watson is getting a two way or the 15th roster spot why not just sign him to the final two-way and then convert him as and when you think he fits for the 15th man?

Is there a benefit from not having him signed to any contract? I don't see what flexibility we're gaining by keeping him unsigned as opposed to just getting him on a two-way straight away (I'm assuming I'm missing something).

[Hal14]

Ok, so I think at this point if we read between the lines, it should be obvious that Watson has a chance at grabbing that 15th roster spot.

-If they completely had their minds set on him being on a 2-way, he would have signed he 2-way by now - especially considering both JD and Peterson already signed their 2-way contracts

-We also signed Enaruna and Harper Jr to training camp contracts..like, why would we sign both of those guys already but not Watson? Clearly, it's because the front office is not yet sure which type of contract Watson is going to get.

Watson will obviously sign a contract. You don't draft a guy and then just cut him unless he is just awful in practice/SL..but in the 1st SL game he was solid and played a decent amount of mins and had possibly the play of the game for us with that block on Jaquez.

So he's clearly going to get a contract. But the team clearly isn't 100% sure yet whether it'll be the 15th roster spot or a 2-way.

Seems like (for now) they like having the flexibility of being able to put him on either type of contract, depending on how things go.

If someone pops up and they reach an agreement with some young player or vet minimum guy for that 15th spot (or Brissett?) they'll put Watson on a 2-way. If not, Watson will likely get that spot..or perhaps they'll leave it open and have Watson on a 2-way, with the chance to possibly convert him later in the season.

The other factor is, how well he plays in SL, in practice, training camp. By waiting and getting a larger sample size of practice/SL data, they can have a better idea of which contract to sign him to..

I think they will want to make a decision soon though..otherwise you're kind of messing with him by leaving it up in the air like this nd have it be a mystery. I'm sure he's going to want to know which type of contract he'll be on.

So I figure that within a day or 2 after our last SL game, a decision will be made by then - if not sooner.

If they 100% know that Watson is getting a two way or the 15th roster spot why not just sign him to the final two-way and then convert him as and when you think he fits for the 15th man?

Is there a benefit from not having him signed to any contract? I don't see what flexibility we're gaining by keeping him unsigned as opposed to just getting him on a two-way straight away (I'm assuming I'm missing something).

Well, if we had just signed Watson straight away to a 2-way, you lose flexibility for a couple reasons:

1) You're pretty much locking Watson in to that type of contract until at least mid season. You very rarely see a guy on a 2-way get converted until at least January. That's just not typically how teams operate to do it sooner than that (when we converted Hauser and Queta from their 2-way it was like right before end of reg season). Why spend all of that time negotiating a contract, drawing up a contract, having all these different people review the contract, sign it and stuff only to do all of that work again like 3 weeks later if you decide to convert him ahead of training camp. It would be kind of silly, pointless and inefficient use of people's time to do it that way. Ideally, you negotiate a contract, get it signed and keep that player on that contract for awhile..it's just not worth it to keep making changes or put a guy on a different type of contract - especially all that extra work for some end of bench guy, fringe player or 2-way guy..

2) If you did end up wanting to sign another 2-way guy, you would either have to do all that extra work to convert Watson from his 2-way to a standard contract (only like a week after you did all that work to negotiate the contract, get it approved and signed by everyone) or you'd keep Watson on his 2-way but waive JD or Peterson from their 2-way contract which is also something that teams simply do not typically do..like teams aren't gonna sign a guy to a 2-way and then waive him like 2 weeks later, it would be bad optics around the league, and it would just be a bad way to manage people who work for you to negotiate a contract, get it signed have that player think they're gonna have a job with you, give them certain expectations for the upcoming season (especially a player who as with the team during a championship season and in JD's case was with the team for 2 yrs and was drafted by the team) only to waive them right after signing them..and it also wouldn't really make sense, since both played pretty well in the first SL game.

Maybe I'm off on this..but I'm just trying to connect the dots and think about why they would sign JD, Peterson, Enaruna (who didn't even get any run in the first SL game), Harper Jr and Scheierman before signing Watson. My thinking is that Scheierman was a no-brainer to make the standard roster as a 1st round pick, JD and Peterson were no brainers that they wouldn't make the standard roster..and both were on a 2-way last year so why not bring them back (which still leaves us with 1 open 2-way slot) and Enaruna and Harper Jr are just fringe guys who are training camp invites but Watson is a guy with there's some gray area, some ambiguity where it could go either way..a lot of guys picked late 2nd round end up on a 2-way..however last couple years (TJD, Bronny, etc.) we're seeing quite a few late 2nd round picks get a multi-year rookie contract - especially after they made that new 2nd round pick exception rule. So it seems like they're not quite sure yet which contract Watson will get to start out..and it seems like they want to put him on the contract that he will stay on for awhile. Rather than jerking him around, putting him on one type of contract and then changing it up like 2 weeks later which you just don't really see teams typically do..

3) Let's also think about it from the perspective of a FA player who's out there. Let's say we sign Watson to a 2-way spot. Well, now we lose flexibility to go out and sign another player to a 2-way contract. Again, sure we *could* technically release JD or Peterson or convert Watson, but those things typically don't happen so soon after sign a guy to a 2-way. So I'm a FA out there who is 2-way eligible (and their agent is trying to put them on the team with the best chance at getting a 2-way spot) that player might not even bother returning the phone call if Brad or coming in for a workout for the Celtics. They might just focus their time/energy on talking to teams, meeting with teams and working out for teams who do have an open 2-way slot. So by keeping a 2-way slot open as long as possible, you have more flexibility to find/sign other 2-way players..you have more leverage in negotiations with potential 2-way players and your team is seen as a more desirable landing spot to potential 2-way players.

Same thing with free agents who are vets..guys like Cedi Osman for example. By keeping that 15th roster spot open, vet FA are more likely to talk to Brad, meet with him, come in and work out for us, etc.

The longer we have 1 standard and 1 2-way spot open, the longer we remain a desirable landing spot for both types of players (young guys who are 2-way eligible and vets looking for a standard spot..there's also some young guys who are 2-way eligible who if they play well enough could end up earning a standard roster spot. For a guy like that, a team that has both types of roster spots open becomes extra attractive since there's 2 different types of contracts he could possibly get, and 1 of them is the *real* prize - and standard contract..

[Parliament10]

The longer we have 1 standard and 1 2-way spot open, the longer we remain a desirable landing spot for both types of players (young guys who are 2-way eligible and vets looking for a standard spot..there's also some young guys who are 2-way eligible who if they play well enough could end up earning a standard roster spot. For a guy like that, a team that has both types of roster spots open becomes extra attractive since there's 2 different types of contracts he could possibly get, and 1 of them is the *real* prize - and standard contract..

Agreed with keeping some type of spots Open. Wish that we have more than 2. But, it is what it is.
We can add up to 6 x Exhibit-10 spots, at a time. -- Meaning, that we could add more, if we release some.

As long as they get Waived from the Celtics (including an Exhibit-10 contract) then we can sign them as one of 4 "Affiliates" on the Maine Celtics. Again, that's 4 "at a time".

[darrendaye]

Read on Twitter

I agree, Keith.

[Gant]

Read on Twitter

I agree, Keith.

When given a role, whether it's G league, summer league or the NBA, Queta reliably causes problems for the opposition.

[Celts17Pride]

Read on Twitter

I agree, Keith.

When given a role, whether it's G league, summer league or the NBA, Queta reliably causes problems for the opposition.

Queta consistently was a positive in +/- last year when he was on the floor. Queta had very few fouls called on him when he was setting screens. Very productive and he will only get better. Not worried about him at all.