The Celtics wrapped up Summer League in Las Vegas this past week following the debut of three new rookies on the roster. Boston has started tweaking the roster in the aftermath with the release of JD Davison Thursday, but let’s talk about the roster, potential additions and more in this week’s mailbag.
Is Brad done making moves this off-season? And what is your best guess at the starting five in October? —jjsully
Who will be Celtics starting C on opening night? — Adam M
The guess here is the Celtics aren’t done this offseason but how they proceed is truly going to depend on the trade market. They were able to successfully navigate getting off Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis deals without giving up any future assets while also cutting a lot of money from the payroll. Moving forward, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them cut more payroll in order to reduce a luxury tax bill and saving that spending for next season when Jayson Tatum’s back healthy. The financial benefits of starting to reset the repeater tax can’t be ignored either.
However, the Celtics don’t want to give up draft capital likely to dump more money so they aren’t going to jump on a deal right now that requires that. How patient they will be on that front will be fascinating to watch, but the guess here is more tinkering is coming.
Onto the starting five. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White are the only names you can put in right now with permanent marker. I’d bet on Payton Pritchard starting over Anfernee Simons (if he’s still here opening night) but a case could be made that Simons is better served in that starting role with the sixth man of the year remaining in his place. Neemias Queta feels like the frontrunner at center given the continuity and the fact someone needs to rebound on this team. Elsewhere, pencil in Sam Hauser or Georges Niang in the fifth spot with Josh Minott being a potential wildcard. Will be an interesting battle in training camp to see how exactly Joe Mazzulla wants to play with this group.
Any news on Tilman’s knee? Understand he had surgery last off season and that was a major reason for his poor play. — Honestdenverma
Nothing that I’ve heard. He made an appearance in Las Vegas to watch the Celtics in Summer League alongside new additions Luka Garza, Josh Minott and Georges Niang but he did not speak with the media.
Tillman’s numbers last season were horrific in his limited minutes so the team has to hope a bounce back of some form is in order since he likely would be not on an NBA team right now without a guaranteed deal. Boston probably needs to sweeten the pot in order to clear his roster spot but he’s a good locker room guy and obviously is capable of much better basketball than we saw last season if he’s healthy. Whether he’s healthy enough to get back to that level is the biggest question.
Curious to hear your take on what you’ve seen with the Summer League team in relation to this Brad Stevens quote: “they’re trying a bunch of stuff out there now with our Summer League team that we haven’t done in the past” — Joel V
I think we’re going to see more uptempo basketball than we’ve seen before under Stevens or Joe Mazzulla. Boston’s best healthy talent across the roster right now like to play at a high speed and we saw plenty of that in Vegas with the team running hard off both makes and misses. With no more Jayson Tatum isolations to lean on or elite shooting at all five positions, playing fast is probably the best path. Defensively, I think we saw a lot more ball pressure in Summer League than normal from this group and that’s a nod to the style we could see with this revamped group potentially in October.
What letter grade would you give the Celtics for their offseason efforts so far? This includes free agency, trades, releases and the draft. — Ed H
Part of me wants to go with an incomplete grade here since I believe there is more coming but that’s a cop out. For now, I’d go with a B. I think the team did well with Holiday/Porzingis trades given the hand they were dealt. I wonder about letting Kornet walk at that price tag with no proven starting center in the pipeline (is that money better off going to Kornet or Hauser if you choose one?) but time will tell on that one. Can’t judge Garza/Minott deals really until we see them and same goes for draft guys. Going younger with minimum deals makes sense as well as finding guys that will commit to two years.
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