Official Celtics 2022 Off-Season Thread

[hugepatsfan]

My dream acquisitions would be Otto Porter Jr. with the tax payers MLE and Kevin Huerter with the TPE.

The Warriors don't have bird rights on OPJ so they'd have to use their MLE to keep him and with Kuminga poised for a bigger role, I think they'd want to use it somewhere else. So I think a tax payers MLE offer could pry him away. I'd start OPJ at the 4 so you can line the C rotation up better with Horford off the bench and have better spacing. I'm also anticipating that Horford will have to play drastically less minutes coming off of a deep playoff run as opposed to a year off like he basically had in OKC. I also think playing with 2 bigs made our offense a little easier to defend. The net ratings and everything were good, but it felt like a slog at times. I think playing with a little more spacing would make for less physically taxing offense. Against MIL with Giannis where you need to build the wall would be the one matchup where I think you want to go back to that lineup heavily. But OPJ is a knockdown shooter who would open up the floor more than our current guys.

Huerter would be huge as another secondary playmaker and he would be our most natural shooter. Guys like Grant Williams or even Pritchard might shooter higher percentages, but they don't take anything but open 3s. Huerter is just a good, solid offensive player all around and a more natural shooter. He'd help balance the "who plays with who" for us on the perimeter and how we balance the floor spacing in different bench lineups.

9 man playoff rotation:

PG: Smart (33 minutes), White (15 minutes)
SG: Brown (22 minutes), White (6 minutes), Huerter (20 minutes)
SF: Tatum (33 minutes), Brown (15 minutes)
PF: OPJ (18 minutes), Grant (20 minutes), Horford (6 minutes), Tatum (4 minutes)
C: RWilliams (30 minutes), Horford (18 minutes)

Minutes by player:

Tatum - 37
Brown - 37
Smart - 33
RWilliams - 30
Horford - 24
White - 21
GWilliams - 20
Huerter - 20
OPJ - 18

OPJ and Huerter would probably be the two best shooters on this team so their additions to the lineup would do wonders for the floor spacing. And this is still a hugely switchable defensive lineup. You can go back to extended two big lineups when matchups call for it. You have guys who can scale up their minutes if guys are hurt.

[moonie_mcgee]

I'm all in on Beal too. He'll take pressure of Tatum both physically and mentally and this dynamic core would boost our scoring output bigtime. The Finals showed we need that 3rd scoring threat. Beal can do it off ball AND MORE IMPORTANTLY on ball.

[Hal14]

My dream acquisitions would be Otto Porter Jr. with the tax payers MLE and Kevin Huerter with the TPE.

The Warriors don't have bird rights on OPJ so they'd have to use their MLE to keep him and with Kuminga poised for a bigger role, I think they'd want to use it somewhere else. So I think a tax payers MLE offer could pry him away. I'd start OPJ at the 4 so you can line the C rotation up better with Horford off the bench and have better spacing. I'm also anticipating that Horford will have to play drastically less minutes coming off of a deep playoff run as opposed to a year off like he basically had in OKC. I also think playing with 2 bigs made our offense a little easier to defend. The net ratings and everything were good, but it felt like a slog at times. I think playing with a little more spacing would make for less physically taxing offense. Against MIL with Giannis where you need to build the wall would be the one matchup where I think you want to go back to that lineup heavily. But OPJ is a knockdown shooter who would open up the floor more than our current guys.

Huerter would be huge as another secondary playmaker and he would be our most natural shooter. Guys like Grant Williams or even Pritchard might shooter higher percentages, but they don't take anything but open 3s. Huerter is just a good, solid offensive player all around and a more natural shooter. He'd help balance the "who plays with who" for us on the perimeter and how we balance the floor spacing in different bench lineups.

9 man playoff rotation:

PG: Smart (33 minutes), White (15 minutes)
SG: Brown (22 minutes), White (6 minutes), Huerter (20 minutes)
SF: Tatum (33 minutes), Brown (15 minutes)
PF: OPJ (18 minutes), Grant (20 minutes), Horford (6 minutes), Tatum (4 minutes)
C: RWilliams (30 minutes), Horford (18 minutes)

Minutes by player:

Tatum - 37
Brown - 37
Smart - 33
RWilliams - 30
Horford - 24
White - 21
GWilliams - 20
Huerter - 20
OPJ - 18

OPJ and Huerter would probably be the two best shooters on this team so their additions to the lineup would do wonders for the floor spacing. And this is still a hugely switchable defensive lineup. You can go back to extended two big lineups when matchups call for it. You have guys who can scale up their minutes if guys are hurt.

sounds good to me. that's a team that can win a title, no doubt.

Huerter and OPJ would be 2 solid additions. Both can really shoot! I like it, because you're always going to have either Smart or White in there at PG so by adding Huerter and OPJ it gives you more shooting to offset that - especially with Rob out there most of the time.

[BK_2020]

Always remember when things look dark and gloomy, that just a couple years ago, we were rolling out a line up of Kanter-Grant Williams-Langford-Tatum-Wanamaker in the playoffs.



Semi also played a lot in that series.

[Parliament10]

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[KamikazeK]

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Wyc:

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Time for ownership to break out that wallet and spend whatever it takes to build a real winner.

[moonie_mcgee]

My dream acquisitions would be Otto Porter Jr. with the tax payers MLE and Kevin Huerter with the TPE.

The Warriors don't have bird rights on OPJ so they'd have to use their MLE to keep him and with Kuminga poised for a bigger role, I think they'd want to use it somewhere else. So I think a tax payers MLE offer could pry him away. I'd start OPJ at the 4 so you can line the C rotation up better with Horford off the bench and have better spacing. I'm also anticipating that Horford will have to play drastically less minutes coming off of a deep playoff run as opposed to a year off like he basically had in OKC. I also think playing with 2 bigs made our offense a little easier to defend. The net ratings and everything were good, but it felt like a slog at times. I think playing with a little more spacing would make for less physically taxing offense. Against MIL with Giannis where you need to build the wall would be the one matchup where I think you want to go back to that lineup heavily. But OPJ is a knockdown shooter who would open up the floor more than our current guys.

Huerter would be huge as another secondary playmaker and he would be our most natural shooter. Guys like Grant Williams or even Pritchard might shooter higher percentages, but they don't take anything but open 3s. Huerter is just a good, solid offensive player all around and a more natural shooter. He'd help balance the "who plays with who" for us on the perimeter and how we balance the floor spacing in different bench lineups.

9 man playoff rotation:

PG: Smart (33 minutes), White (15 minutes)
SG: Brown (22 minutes), White (6 minutes), Huerter (20 minutes)
SF: Tatum (33 minutes), Brown (15 minutes)
PF: OPJ (18 minutes), Grant (20 minutes), Horford (6 minutes), Tatum (4 minutes)
C: RWilliams (30 minutes), Horford (18 minutes)

Minutes by player:

Tatum - 37
Brown - 37
Smart - 33
RWilliams - 30
Horford - 24
White - 21
GWilliams - 20
Huerter - 20
OPJ - 18

OPJ and Huerter would probably be the two best shooters on this team so their additions to the lineup would do wonders for the floor spacing. And this is still a hugely switchable defensive lineup. You can go back to extended two big lineups when matchups call for it. You have guys who can scale up their minutes if guys are hurt.

sounds good to me. that's a team that can win a title, no doubt.

Porter's shooting, defense and toughness would be a big addition against the Bucks Heat or Dubs. Theis' ineffectiveness really hurt our depth. Huerter is an ideal 2 guard off the bench. He'd be very useful in a role that Nesmith wasn't ready at the time. The Dubs and the Heat for that matter had really great depth. We had Milwaukees depth. The Dubs had nearly the entire roster in play. The Heat had Robinson as a 9th man. Are you kidding. Hope BS loads us up and we start off fast in the fall.

[titlebound1]

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[Bill Bradley]

It is not just about Giannis or the Bucks. The Bucks just happen to be the best team in the East alongside probably the Celtics. The Celtics in general need someone who can guard big wings/mobile forwards with size so Tatum and Brown don't have to expend a lot of energy defending them while they are also required to carry the team offensively.

Jerami Grant would be my first option but I doubt he wants to play here since he wants to be a first option. Maybe we can take a gamble on Jonathan Isaac

I really like Jonathan Isaac. Big fan. He was my 2nd favorite player in his draft class after Tatum. He hasn't played basketball for 2 years now. I am not even sure he wants to come back to the NBA judging by his activities. If he is healthy again, he would be a good fit here. Elite rim protector who can also stretch the floor.

I actually wanted Celtics to draft him over Tatum lol. Would love for him to get a second chance here.

[Curmudgeon]

They don't need to revamp the roster, except possibly to add an enforcer. Their stars need to play better. Curry stepped up. Tatum didn't. In fairness to Tatum, I think he was gassed. The Celtics had a more difficult and physically taxing road to the finals than Golden State.

[Bill Lumbergh]

What do you guys think of Malcolm Brogdon? You can probably figure out the primary outgoing piece. Is that an upgrade, downgrade, or a sideways move? I haven't watched the guy enough to know. From what I can remember, seemed like a good player.

[Fierce1]

What do you guys think of Malcolm Brogdon? You can probably figure out the primary outgoing piece. Is that an upgrade, downgrade, or a sideways move? I haven't watched the guy enough to know. From what I can remember, seemed like a good player.

He's a very good player.

High basketball IQ.

Definitely an upgrade.

[Bill Lumbergh]

What do you guys think of Malcolm Brogdon? You can probably figure out the primary outgoing piece. Is that an upgrade, downgrade, or a sideways move? I haven't watched the guy enough to know. From what I can remember, seemed like a good player.

He's a very good player.

High basketball IQ.

Definitely an upgrade.

I feel slightly bad for even suggesting it because Smart has been my favorite player, but I'd consider anything if it gave us a better chance to win it all.

[Fierce1]

What do you guys think of Malcolm Brogdon? You can probably figure out the primary outgoing piece. Is that an upgrade, downgrade, or a sideways move? I haven't watched the guy enough to know. From what I can remember, seemed like a good player.

He's a very good player.

High basketball IQ.

Definitely an upgrade.

I feel slightly bad for even suggesting it because Smart has been my favorite player, but I'd consider anything if it gave us a better chance to win it all.

Smart doesn't have to be traded.

Celts can use White and Theis as trade pieces.

The Pacers already have Haliburton who's also a very good player and will cost less than Brogdon in the short-term.

Smart can move back to SG.

[playa-hater]

You guys are all over the place on trade threads.. I like M Brogs over Smart going forward. Probably need a 3rd team though.

[Fierce1]

You guys are all over the place on trade threads.. I like M Brogs over Smart going forward. Probably need a 3rd team though.

Right now Cs can trade White, PP, and Nesmith for Brogdon, straight up.

[Bill Lumbergh]

He's a very good player.

High basketball IQ.

Definitely an upgrade.

I feel slightly bad for even suggesting it because Smart has been my favorite player, but I'd consider anything if it gave us a better chance to win it all.

Smart doesn't have to be traded.

Celts can use White and Theis as trade pieces.

The Pacers already have Haliburton who's also a very good player and will cost less than Brogdon in the short-term.

Smart can move back to SG.

Well, I am sure you can stack enough salaries together to make it work on a trade machine, but realistically, it'd take Smart to get that done.

[zoyathedestroya]

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[hugepatsfan]

The Brogdon idea really intrigues me. I'm a fan of keeping our top 7 players, but Brogdon is really the one realistically available guy that makes me consider breaking it up. His injury history is troubling, but he's never once not been there for the end of his team's season in the playoffs. This past year IND shut him back down to tank after he came back, but the previous 5 years he was in the playoffs and only once did he miss time (but eventually made it back to the lineup after missing the start of the playoffs). So I view his injury history more as a load management thing than him being unavailable and we're good enough to do the load management thing in the regular season. On the court though, he's perfect. People who want a third on-ball scorer... check. Better floor spacing when the J's have the ball... check. Able to switch defensively as a PG... 6'5" with a 6'11" wingspan so check. Better playmaking with less turnovers... he's no Steve Nash but he's less erratic than Smart is with risky plays. He just checks all the boxes for improvement.

Practically speaking, it would take moving Smart to build up enough value for him. That hurts. I love Marcus Smart and would really want him to be here to see this thing all the way through. But when I take emotion out of it, moving him for Brogdon would simply be an upgrade. Unless Brogdon's medicals really scare you to where you don't think he can be around for the playoffs like he's historically been going forward, I just can't find any basketball reasons against the trade. He's very much an improvement over Smart in areas we've all identified as areas to improve the team and he's not a prohibitive trade off in the things Smart is good at.'

Combining Brogdon with my Kevin Huerter/TPE idea...

ATL gives: G Kevin Huerter, #16
ATL gets: G Marcus Smart, 2023 BOS 1st

Why? Smart is a better overall player than Huerter and a better fit next to Trae as a defensive lynchpin. To get the upgrade they move their pick back a year and down about 10 spots. This improves their team on the court and still leaves them with draft capital to trade for further upgrades.

Utah gives: F Rudy Gay
Utah gets: C Daniel Theis

Why? Gay lost his minutes to Danuel House/Juancho Hernangomez (remember him?!?!). I expect Utah to retain both. They might move Rudy and even if they keep him they have no backup. So Utah just swaps Rudy Gay's 2 year deal for Theis' 2 year deal to reallocate the salary slot from a position they have depth to retain to a spot they have no depth.

IND gives: G Malcolm Brogdon
IND gets: #16, F Rudy Gay, G/F Aaron Nesmith

Why? Haliburton is the future and they're rumored to want to move Brogdon. A mid 1st and minimal salary filler is good value IMO. They have TPEs that fit Gay and Nesmith so they also get a Brogdon sized trade exception.

BOS gives: G Marcus Smart, 2023 1st rounder, C Daniel Theis, G/F Aaron Nesmith
BOS gets: G Malcolm Brogdon, G Kevin Huerter (into TPE)

Why? Like I said, just an all around improvement going from Smart to Brogdon. Giving up a 1st to turn Theis/Nesmith into Huerter further improves our floor spacing off the bench. We acquire Huerter into the Fournier TPE and match salaries on Brogdon with Smart/Nesmith, so we also get a new Theis-sized TPE.

After this, try to land Otto Porter Jr. with the tax payers MLE.

Our new playoff 9 man rotation:

Brogdon / White
Brown / Huerter
Tatum / (Brown)
OPJ / G Williams
R Williams / Horford

Bringing Horford off the bench lets you start a better shooter in OPJ and line the rotations up better for him to play less minutes next year. You have a third scorer in Brogdon over Smart with better off-ball shooting. The floor spacing overall would be DRASTICALLY better with OPJ and Huerter taking minutes from our lesser shooting role players. So much more versatility with this group. You can go small and space the floor but also go back to double bigs. Still incredibly switchable on the perimeter.

[BRUNiNHO91]

Marcus Smart is not going to be traded after he just got DPOY and had a damn good playoff run.

We are obviously going to add around the top 7 guys and not get rid of them. Maybe if Brad Beal is really available, but then again the shift in chemistry might not even be worth bringing him in. Could be Kyrie or Hayward all over again.