Free Agent/Trade Thread Offseason 2026, Part 8 (Those beaches will be open!)

[phincsfan]

If they add Simons and with JT coming back, as far as team point production goes what's the ceiling?

JT and JB gives you between 45-50ppg

White NEEDS to be a 17ppg guy

Neems is a 10ppg

I'd start Rico who could be a 5ppg guy

Simons and PP should give you 26-30ppg between them

I think Oooogo can be a bright spot as far as a production bump

Garza and Sam will give you minutes and games played but I think the production takes a dip.

The roster will be a year older with a year of experience under them.

It's boring, but they will compete.

[GrandTheftRondo]

I think so many Celtics fans underrate the importance of having a great big man.

It wasn't a coincidence that they made the finals the moment Al Horford got back to Boston. Also wasn't a coincidence they walked through the East in 2024 with Horford a big key despite Pornzigis being injured.

Queta isn't a championship big.

[BleedGreen1989]

Absolutely. Some muscle in our center rotation would go a long way.

That’s a huge financial commitment to someone who will likely be a backup center.

Unless you’re starting him over Queta and eventually moving on from Queta?

Robinson is an elite backup. He can start. So is the full MLE really a big commitment? Depends what you’re asking him to do. Sometimes less is more. If he gives you elite production for 17 minutes a night might not be the worst thing in the world. Also remember that when the expansion teams get cleared the cap probably will go up too.

With their current cap situation it feels like a lot but entirely possible I’m in the minority not being as interested.

[phincsfan]

[This is a team that has made the ECF multiple times, they’ve made deep playoff runs and this is overall a talented roster. The onus is on Brad to keep developing players that can fill out a roster around Tatum Brown and White. Unless of course White gets moved. I get it though people are tired of a red car and want to buy a black one because change is good. Truth be told your theory of you can’t win with two max guys has a very small sample size.

I don't know about that. IMO, contending is making it to your conference finals.

They made it there a bunch together and early on the rosters were pretty mehhhh imo

Playoffs are tricky with matchups and coaching. If you stay hot long enough there's a good chance you make the dance. Problem is only two teams stay hot enough long enough.

I think this roster is pretty good, but there's a bunch of guys still developing while they're trying to win.

I'm not a fan of Jordan Poole, but when they won in 22' his rookie year he made the starters lives pretty easy those playoffs.

He went from 8 a game to 18 where as White went from 11 a game to 8. I'm not putting it on White, I'm just showing how one addition worked at the right time and another addition didn't.

The East has been so mediocre over the last 10 years that it has been pretty hard for Boston not to make the ECF. In the years I'd say we were a genuine shot at the title, 2022, 2023 and 2024 and 2025 we had some pretty talented rosters and Al Hoford who was incredibly important to everything.

Saying oh they've competed in the past with Tatum and Brown just totally disregards the other talents they've had on the roster. if they run it back again next year it doesn't come close to the defensive talent of the 2022/2023 Celtics or the firepower of the champion team.

You can't seriously tell me Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Neemias Queta comes close to those other rosters.

The only time we actually won the title was when we just completely overpowered the NBA with a stacked roster.

I have seen nearly a decade of evidence about Tatum and Brown. They are who they are. Neither is a true MVP level player and it severely limits our title contending abilities considering they are both supermax contracts.

I don't care if we run it back and win 50-55 games next year and make the ECF. That's not a contender.

1 - You can only play and compete who is in front of you. If the East is mediocre that isn't anybody's fault. You play your schedule.

2 - White is a top 35 player, PP won 6th man of the year. I'll give you Neems, but who ever thought he'd be a double double guy playing 95% of the season.

3 - Most championship teams have stacked rosters. The Warriors kept stacking with Durant.

4 - If they run it back and JT shows he is healthy enough and they make the ECF, that would be pretty incredible IMO. That tells me that the development is working and the starting group is solid.

[BleedGreen1989]

I keep crushing the free agency list and man is it a depressing class.

Bring Bruce Brown back home?

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

I think so many Celtics fans underrate the importance of having a great big man.

It wasn't a coincidence that they made the finals the moment Al Horford got back to Boston. Also wasn't a coincidence they walked through the East in 2024 with Horford a big key despite Pornzigis being injured.

Queta isn't a championship big.

I think after Embiid manhandled every big Boston had people realize that Boston's bigs are not going to cut it in the playoffs.

[cloverleaf]

"vwoodruff
Sophomore
Posts: 144
And1: 31
Joined: Feb 08, 2004
Contact: Contact vwoodruff
Re: Free Agent/Trade Thread Offseason 2026, Part 7 (For Christ sakes Martin, this week's the Fourth of July.)
0
Unread post#2012 » by vwoodruff » 3 minutes ago

vwoodruff wrote:
Since everyone with a website is speculating and this board is losing its collective mind over what Brad has done without anything finalized, I’ll offer a plausible possibility of what’s up…

At this point, the delay could be due to this being S&T season. I suspect that Utah, Portland, and the Clippers each have serious interest. There have been zero leaks from Utah, which makes sense given the relationship between Brad and the Ainges. Utah has a major roster imbalance if they are planning to resign Kessler, which they have communicated intent to do.

If they resign Kessler, they have him, JJJ, and Lauri making $$$$$$ in their front court. Too much $$$$$$ for a front court with the current CBA.

Utah needs to figure out Kessler before it pulls the trigger on a deal centered around George and either Markkanen or Kessler for JB. JB is a known quantity in Utah and makes them relevant again with the team they’ve built.

The Clips just jumped into consideration by securing draft picks, trading a #1 for a #2. They may be positioning themselves to land JB without a rostered player being in the deal (which equals no agent leaking details to position their client). LAC could theoretically renounce most of their FAs and absorb JB’s contract without sending salary. They also have a couple of S&T candidates (Collins and Mathurin) who might be of interest to BOS.

With competition, POR now feels the pressure to put more assets on the table. They resign Timelord and bring in a value signing in Carlson to buffer the loss of Clingan. Perhaps the Cs wanted nothing to do with Grant and wanted Scoot and Holiday. They bring in Ja.

It is difficult for me to believe that Brad could go from absolute wizard to bumbling idiot overnight. I trust that they have a plan, and that once the outcome is delivered things will begin to make sense.


Here’s what these possibilities could look like:

BOS sends JB and Hauser to Utah
Utah sends George, Markkinen, FRP to BOS

BOS sends JB to LAC
LAC sends 6 FRPs and a ginormous TPE - BOS uses cap flexibility and assets to bring in talent to backfill JB and fill needs at center

BOS sends JB and Hauser to POR
POR sends Holiday, Henderson, Clingan, and 3 FRPs to BOS - Boston uses draft capital to backfill JB

Brad leverages draft pick option from LAC to get best offer out of Utah or POR"

Six FRPs for JB? We've got a green goggles of the week winner right here!

“On July 6, 2024, Bridges was traded to the New York Knicks along with Keita Bates-Diop in exchange for Bojan Bogdanović, Shake Milton, Mamadi Diakite, five future first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, and a second-round pick.”

Bridges was younger, on a more favorable contract, and Brunson's buddy that assured Brunson stayed--on a voluntarily favorable deal.

And come on, have you seen anyone else suggest even 5 picks? The C's are getting shellacked for misjudging the market by asking for 4!

[phincsfan]

Wherever LeBron goes I hope he wins a championship just so he can be in the same breath as - Danny Green, Robert Horry and John Salley

[GrandTheftRondo]

[This is a team that has made the ECF multiple times, they’ve made deep playoff runs and this is overall a talented roster. The onus is on Brad to keep developing players that can fill out a roster around Tatum Brown and White. Unless of course White gets moved. I get it though people are tired of a red car and want to buy a black one because change is good. Truth be told your theory of you can’t win with two max guys has a very small sample size.

I don't know about that. IMO, contending is making it to your conference finals.

They made it there a bunch together and early on the rosters were pretty mehhhh imo

Playoffs are tricky with matchups and coaching. If you stay hot long enough there's a good chance you make the dance. Problem is only two teams stay hot enough long enough.

I think this roster is pretty good, but there's a bunch of guys still developing while they're trying to win.

I'm not a fan of Jordan Poole, but when they won in 22' his rookie year he made the starters lives pretty easy those playoffs.

He went from 8 a game to 18 where as White went from 11 a game to 8. I'm not putting it on White, I'm just showing how one addition worked at the right time and another addition didn't.

The East has been so mediocre over the last 10 years that it has been pretty hard for Boston not to make the ECF. In the years I'd say we were a genuine shot at the title, 2022, 2023 and 2024 and 2025 we had some pretty talented rosters and Al Hoford who was incredibly important to everything.

Saying oh they've competed in the past with Tatum and Brown just totally disregards the other talents they've had on the roster. if they run it back again next year it doesn't come close to the defensive talent of the 2022/2023 Celtics or the firepower of the champion team.

You can't seriously tell me Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Neemias Queta comes close to those other rosters.

The only time we actually won the title was when we just completely overpowered the NBA with a stacked roster.

I have seen nearly a decade of evidence about Tatum and Brown. They are who they are. Neither is a true MVP level player and it severely limits our title contending abilities considering they are both supermax contracts.

I don't care if we run it back and win 50-55 games next year and make the ECF. That's not a contender.

1 - You can only play and compete who is in front of you. If the East is mediocre that isn't anybody's fault. You play your schedule.

2 - White is a top 35 player, PP won 6th man of the year. I'll give you Neems, but who ever thought he'd be a double double guy playing 95% of the season.

3 - Most championship teams have stacked rosters. The Warriors kept stacking with Durant.

4 - If they run it back and JT shows he is healthy enough and they make the ECF, that would be pretty incredible IMO. That tells me that the development is working and the starting group is solid.

I'm just saying there's a difference between being an actual contender and simply rolling through to the ECF because the conference isn't great. We could probably run last year's roster back and make the ECF with the right luck. Does that make us a decent shot title shot? Not for me.

The East once again looks like it will be quite dog ****. Won't be much of an achievement winning 50-55 games and getting bounced again in the ECF.

[vwoodruff]

"vwoodruff
Sophomore
Posts: 144
And1: 31
Joined: Feb 08, 2004
Contact: Contact vwoodruff
Re: Free Agent/Trade Thread Offseason 2026, Part 7 (For Christ sakes Martin, this week's the Fourth of July.)
0
Unread post#2012 » by vwoodruff » 3 minutes ago

vwoodruff wrote:
Since everyone with a website is speculating and this board is losing its collective mind over what Brad has done without anything finalized, I’ll offer a plausible possibility of what’s up…

At this point, the delay could be due to this being S&T season. I suspect that Utah, Portland, and the Clippers each have serious interest. There have been zero leaks from Utah, which makes sense given the relationship between Brad and the Ainges. Utah has a major roster imbalance if they are planning to resign Kessler, which they have communicated intent to do.

If they resign Kessler, they have him, JJJ, and Lauri making $$$$$$ in their front court. Too much $$$$$$ for a front court with the current CBA.

Utah needs to figure out Kessler before it pulls the trigger on a deal centered around George and either Markkanen or Kessler for JB. JB is a known quantity in Utah and makes them relevant again with the team they’ve built.

The Clips just jumped into consideration by securing draft picks, trading a #1 for a #2. They may be positioning themselves to land JB without a rostered player being in the deal (which equals no agent leaking details to position their client). LAC could theoretically renounce most of their FAs and absorb JB’s contract without sending salary. They also have a couple of S&T candidates (Collins and Mathurin) who might be of interest to BOS.

With competition, POR now feels the pressure to put more assets on the table. They resign Timelord and bring in a value signing in Carlson to buffer the loss of Clingan. Perhaps the Cs wanted nothing to do with Grant and wanted Scoot and Holiday. They bring in Ja.

It is difficult for me to believe that Brad could go from absolute wizard to bumbling idiot overnight. I trust that they have a plan, and that once the outcome is delivered things will begin to make sense.


Here’s what these possibilities could look like:

BOS sends JB and Hauser to Utah
Utah sends George, Markkinen, FRP to BOS

BOS sends JB to LAC
LAC sends 6 FRPs and a ginormous TPE - BOS uses cap flexibility and assets to bring in talent to backfill JB and fill needs at center

BOS sends JB and Hauser to POR
POR sends Holiday, Henderson, Clingan, and 3 FRPs to BOS - Boston uses draft capital to backfill JB

Brad leverages draft pick option from LAC to get best offer out of Utah or POR"

Six FRPs for JB? We've got a green goggles of the week winner right here!

“On July 6, 2024, Bridges was traded to the New York Knicks along with Keita Bates-Diop in exchange for Bojan Bogdanović, Shake Milton, Mamadi Diakite, five future first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, and a second-round pick.”

Bridges was younger, on a more favorable contract, and Brunson's buddy that assured Brunson stayed--on a voluntarily favorable deal.

Bridges contract at that time was not seen as necessarily favorable. The six picks assumes nothing else is coming back from LAC.

[GrandTheftRondo]

I think so many Celtics fans underrate the importance of having a great big man.

It wasn't a coincidence that they made the finals the moment Al Horford got back to Boston. Also wasn't a coincidence they walked through the East in 2024 with Horford a big key despite Pornzigis being injured.

Queta isn't a championship big.

I think after Embiid manhandled every big Boston had people realize that Boston's bigs are not going to cut it in the playoffs.

I don't think Brad's realised.

[phincsfan]

The center position is the oldest position in the league right now.

The top guys are messing with father time and a bunch of the young guys have been on bad teams.

[hugepatsfan]

I think so many Celtics fans underrate the importance of having a great big man.

It wasn't a coincidence that they made the finals the moment Al Horford got back to Boston. Also wasn't a coincidence they walked through the East in 2024 with Horford a big key despite Pornzigis being injured.

Queta isn't a championship big.

I don't think this is true at all. Every other post in here is begging for a big man. Lots of people post ideas not involving big men because the position is scarce and hard to find. But it's pretty much everyone's first goal and talked about constantly.

[GrandTheftRondo]

I think so many Celtics fans underrate the importance of having a great big man.

It wasn't a coincidence that they made the finals the moment Al Horford got back to Boston. Also wasn't a coincidence they walked through the East in 2024 with Horford a big key despite Pornzigis being injured.

Queta isn't a championship big.

I don't think this is true at all. Every other post in here is begging for a big man. Lots of people post ideas not involving big men because the position is scarce and hard to find. But it's pretty much everyone's first goal and talked about constantly.

I saw posts a few days ago with people saying how Queta is completely fine as our big man and maybe we don't need a truly great big to win a title.

Think someone even mentioned NY and KAT.

KAT is inconsistent as hell but he does things that your typical big doesn't do.

[Asian Celtic]

Wherever LeBron goes I hope he wins a championship just so he can be in the same breath as - Danny Green, Robert Horry and John Salley

Nah.

[Hal14]

I think so many Celtics fans underrate the importance of having a great big man.

It wasn't a coincidence that they made the finals the moment Al Horford got back to Boston. Also wasn't a coincidence they walked through the East in 2024 with Horford a big key despite Pornzigis being injured.

Queta isn't a championship big.

Warriors won titles with Looney as their big..rumor has it, we might sign him..

[RickyDizzle]

The East has been so mediocre over the last 10 years that it has been pretty hard for Boston not to make the ECF. In the years I'd say we were a genuine shot at the title, 2022, 2023 and 2024 and 2025 we had some pretty talented rosters and Al Hoford who was incredibly important to everything.

Saying oh they've competed in the past with Tatum and Brown just totally disregards the other talents they've had on the roster. if they run it back again next year it doesn't come close to the defensive talent of the 2022/2023 Celtics or the firepower of the champion team.

You can't seriously tell me Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Neemias Queta comes close to those other rosters.

The only time we actually won the title was when we just completely overpowered the NBA with a stacked roster.

I have seen nearly a decade of evidence about Tatum and Brown. They are who they are. Neither is a true MVP level player and it severely limits our title contending abilities considering they are both supermax contracts.

I don't care if we run it back and win 50-55 games next year and make the ECF. That's not a contender.

1 - You can only play and compete who is in front of you. If the East is mediocre that isn't anybody's fault. You play your schedule.

2 - White is a top 35 player, PP won 6th man of the year. I'll give you Neems, but who ever thought he'd be a double double guy playing 95% of the season.

3 - Most championship teams have stacked rosters. The Warriors kept stacking with Durant.

4 - If they run it back and JT shows he is healthy enough and they make the ECF, that would be pretty incredible IMO. That tells me that the development is working and the starting group is solid.

I'm just saying there's a difference between being an actual contender and simply rolling through to the ECF because the conference isn't great. We could probably run last year's roster back and make the ECF with the right luck. Does that make us a decent shot title shot? Not for me.

The East once again looks like it will be quite dog ****. Won't be much of an achievement winning 50-55 games and getting bounced again in the ECF.

Eh, people would've said the same thing this past year with Tatum out that the east was crap. No one had the Knicks winning. You make it to the conference finals and you can go on a run and win the chip. In my mind, the reason the knicks were able to pull it off (other than Brunsons discount) was continuity.

Id like a big move because it's exiting and I'm board. But at the risk of sounding like a "we like our guys"-guy... A healthy Tatum, a speedy guard, and another playable big and we're just as likely to go on a run as the Knicks were. The result last year sucked, but this squad fully healthy with some marginal improvements is still a contender, just not a heavy favorite or anything.

[GrandTheftRondo]

I think so many Celtics fans underrate the importance of having a great big man.

It wasn't a coincidence that they made the finals the moment Al Horford got back to Boston. Also wasn't a coincidence they walked through the East in 2024 with Horford a big key despite Pornzigis being injured.

Queta isn't a championship big.

Warriors won titles with Looney as their big..rumor has it, we might sign him..

The Warriors had Draymond Green who was a DPOY

[GrandTheftRondo]

1 - You can only play and compete who is in front of you. If the East is mediocre that isn't anybody's fault. You play your schedule.

2 - White is a top 35 player, PP won 6th man of the year. I'll give you Neems, but who ever thought he'd be a double double guy playing 95% of the season.

3 - Most championship teams have stacked rosters. The Warriors kept stacking with Durant.

4 - If they run it back and JT shows he is healthy enough and they make the ECF, that would be pretty incredible IMO. That tells me that the development is working and the starting group is solid.

I'm just saying there's a difference between being an actual contender and simply rolling through to the ECF because the conference isn't great. We could probably run last year's roster back and make the ECF with the right luck. Does that make us a decent shot title shot? Not for me.

The East once again looks like it will be quite dog ****. Won't be much of an achievement winning 50-55 games and getting bounced again in the ECF.

Eh, people would've said the same thing this past year with Tatum out that the east was crap. No one had the Knicks winning. You make it to the conference finals and you can go on a run and win the chip. In my mind, the reason the knicks were able to pull it off (other than Brunsons discount) was continuity.

Id like a big move because it's exiting and I'm board. But at the risk of sounding like a "we like our guys"-guy... A healthy Tatum, a speedy guard, and another playable big and we're just as likely to go on a run as the Knicks were. The result last year sucked, but this squad fully healthy with some marginal improvements is still a contender, just not a heavy favorite or anything.

The Knicks were East favourites this season the moment Tatum and Haliburton went down and were one of the shorter priced teams for the title. This notion that nobody thought they'd win the title isn't true.

The Knicks are also in a similar position to what we were in two years ago where our payroll was high and we had paid up for a lot of talent.

I'm sorry but I'm never going to be convinced that a team that blew a 3-1 lead against a Joel Embiid led Sixers has the necessary talent to win a title.

[cloverleaf]

I think so many Celtics fans underrate the importance of having a great big man.

It wasn't a coincidence that they made the finals the moment Al Horford got back to Boston. Also wasn't a coincidence they walked through the East in 2024 with Horford a big key despite Pornzigis being injured.

Queta isn't a championship big.

Warriors won titles with Looney as their big..rumor has it, we might sign him..

Still a rebounder, never a shooter, but he's really fallen off. As a big, his TS% was down to .535 2 years ago and .458 last year. He fell into the negative on defensive stats last year, and down to -11.2 on-court and -7.3 in on/off.