Welcome to Boston, Xavier Tillman!

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Huge minutes from Tillman tonight. +9, 4 boards, 2 blocks and of course that three pointer in 11 minutes. Most importantly he is mobile and strong enough to survive being switched onto Luka Doncic. Another masterstroke of a trade from Brad Stevens.

[31to6]

THAT WAS GLORIOUS, X IS MY NEW LEON POWE

[redslastlaugh]

!!!!!!!!!

Good job X man!

[hugepatsfan]

Brad is batting better than 1000 let’s gooooooooooooo

[brackdan70]

I knew we would need him. Not flashy but effective.

[hugepatsfan]

I was at the bar watching and my friend freaked out when he made the 3 and I thought he was being dramatic. I legitimately thought it was Al who made it and couldn’t understand why he acted so surprised lmao

[playa-hater]

I talked X playing into existence..

Great Job X

[djFan71]

I was at the bar watching and my friend freaked out when he made the 3 and I thought he was being dramatic. I legitimately thought it was Al who made it and couldn’t understand why he acted so surprised lmao

Read on Twitter

?mx=2

[brackdan70]

I was at the bar watching and my friend freaked out when he made the 3 and I thought he was being dramatic. I legitimately thought it was Al who made it and couldn’t understand why he acted so surprised lmao

Read on Twitter

?mx=2

Wow that’s a compliment right there.

[zoyathedestroya]

Read on Twitter

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[kivancb]

extend this man. He really could fill it up after Horford's retirement. One final year to gel into the role of Horford by guidance directly from Horford himself: Too invaluable a chance to pass up!

[Larry_Russell]

Tilllman keep working on that 3 point shot young man.

You will have a role on this team for a long time.

[zoyathedestroya]

Read on Twitter

[Hal14]

I was at the bar watching and my friend freaked out when he made the 3 and I thought he was being dramatic. I legitimately thought it was Al who made it and couldn’t understand why he acted so surprised lmao

As he was shooting it, I thought he was gonna miss it because not only is Tillman not that good of a shooter but he was leaning to the side a little bit as he shot it.

But it went in so I was pumped!

He's been putting in work, though. Beat writers post clips all the time on Twitter of him sinking 3 after. 3in practice and in warm ups. All that work is for moments like that.

[Hal14]

extend this man. He really could fill it up after Horford's retirement. One final year to gel into the role of Horford by guidance directly from Horford himself: Too invaluable a chance to pass up!

Yeah. Tillman has to see the writing on the wall..he has to see the opportunity that exists for him here.

Especially with KP's continued injury struggles.

And with this Celtics team dominating the playoffs, with KP only playing in 5 playoff games - with Al in at the 5 most of the time.

Tillman has to know, that if he can keep working on his 3 ball, he can give us most of what Al gives us, at age 25 instead of 38.

Even if he isn't hitting 40% from 3 on like 7 attempts a game (gotta be realistic, that is likely not happening)..But if Tillman can get to the point where he's hitting like 35-38% from 3 on like 2-4 attempts per game..along with his defense, passing and toughness, he can be a very valuable piece on a team that could be starting a dynasty right now.

[31to6]

extend this man. He really could fill it up after Horford's retirement. One final year to gel into the role of Horford by guidance directly from Horford himself: Too invaluable a chance to pass up!

Yeah. Tillman has to see the writing on the wall..he has to see the opportunity that exists for him here.

Especially with KP's continued injury struggles.

And with this Celtics team dominating the playoffs, with KP only playing in 3 games - with Al in at the 5 most of the time.

Tillman has to know, that if he can keep working on his 3 ball, he can give us most of what Al gives us, at age 25 instead of 38.

Even if he isn't hitting 40% from 3 on like 7 attempts a game (gotta be realistic, that is likely not happening)..But if Tillman can get to the point where he's hitting like 35-38% from 3 on like 2-4 attempts per game..along with his defense, passing and toughness, he can be a very valuable piece on a team that could be starting a dynasty right now.

Well said. Since they've gotten him I've said that Tillman never has to get as good as Al Horford was, just as good as 38-year-old Al Horford is. I've liked his chances of doing that! And not just because he looks like him (body-wise), but because he's great on defense, smart on offense, and shows promise of developing into a good 3pt shooter.

[31to6]

The league should have voided this trade. You CAN’T let a team that already has Holiday, White, and Horford get Tillman for scraps. I mean, c’mon now David Stern would’ve never allowed it.

Brad Stevens is a genius and constable will die protecting his vision. The rest of us will just enjoy it:)

bump from March 2, I believe after Tillman's first game in Celtic green
Love this guy. He's been stretching out/hopping around every time out all playoffs *just in case*!

[hugepatsfan]

We have bird rights for Tillman. We can sign him to whatever contract it takes, all the way up to a max deal. Some key financial milestones to keep in mind for him this offseason, based on current cap projections:

Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception: $12,860,000
Room mid-level: $8,006,000
Taxpayer Mid-Level: $5,184,000
Bi-Annual Exception: $4,682,000
Vet Minimum Salary (for his 4 years of service): $2,244,249
(cap space teams could offer anything above or in between these milestones, but can't imagine anyone would ever pay him more than full MLE so these are the relevant comparison points IMO)

It's hard to imagine we wouldn't offer him a minimum contract. That would just be straight not wanting him back, which seems absurd. With our 2nd apron situation, who knows if we'd be willing to pay him anymore than that though? The obvious first question is whether some team would pay him at any of the levels above that and then if so, whether we'd be willing to match.

Horford doesn't play back to backs anymore and at 38 years old next year have to imagine they'd prefer to drop his minutes even below the 26.8 he played per game this year. It hasn't been reported yet on what Porzingis' status will be for next year because focus has been on him playing this year, but have to expect he'll have surgery and miss the start of next year. If Tillman did come back, he'd presumably step into the role Kornet played this year (63 games, 15.6 minutes/game) and probably get extended playing time over that to start the year while Porzingis is out. Basketball wise, being the part time starter for a loaded team that won't ask anything of him beyond his core skill set or leave him in position to be exposed much is presumably the best spot he could land in. So if he doesn't get offers above the minimum, I have to guess he'd take that offer here over elsewhere.

[redslastlaugh]

Good analysis. Hope we can bring Tillman back!

Huge minutes from Tillman tonight. +9, 4 boards, 2 blocks and of course that three pointer in 11 minutes. Most importantly he is mobile and strong enough to survive being switched onto Luka Doncic. Another masterstroke of a trade from Brad Stevens.

[phincsfan]

Give X a fair contract and lock him and Springer in the gym all offseason. 1 million 3's each.

Kudos to Stevens