Celtics 16/17 Roster and Assets
- Thread starter sox311
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I know he hasn't played any significant minutes at the 3. My question was if he could guard an opposing 3 for a stretch of time, up to a quarter. I think he could.
I then looked at those top teams and I didn't see anyone who could really take advantage. I mentioned GS, and they'd have Igoudala as part of their small ball lineup, no? If that's the case, I think Blake can handle him. OKC went big last year and Blake would have no issues matching up with Ibaka, who's basically the same size and is no longer there anyway. Miami going small isn't a concern because they're going to stink and don't have the guards for it.
The rest?
Detroit- is build around Drummond and guards. If they go small, he can guard Morris or Harris
Toronto- He could stick with Carroll or Ross
Atlanta- now built around Dwight and Millsap. Are they taking Dwight off the floor in the 4th? That's almost zero interior defense.
Charlotte- Batum could give him trouble, but not MKG or Marvin Williams
Cleveland- Could present the toughest matchup if they had LeBron at the 4 and Love at the 5. But that would mean someone like Jefferson or Dunleavy is likely on the floor and I think Blake could hang with them, while Crowder matched up against Bron. If they go with 3 guards, say Kyrie, JR and Shumpert, they can stick him on Shump, who stinks on the offensive end of the floor anyway.
San Antonio- Why would Horford have trouble guarding long 2's? He's not a big plodding center. And Blake would dominate West, who's gone anyway. They have Gasol now, so they're more likely looking at Gasol/Aldridge down the stretch vs going small.
Where's the concern? Teams would be adjusting to having to defend Horford and Blake, not the other way around, and Blake's athleticism helps take away some of those small ball options.
I just don't see who's going to be putting Brad Stevens in this small ball pretzel you're twisting.
My impression was that Stevens' favorite lineup down the stretch last year, especially when trailing by a few points, was Thomas-Bradley-Crowder-Smart and a random big man (Olynyk before his injury, Johnson on his foot-pain-free days, or occasionally Jerebko), with Smart guarding the opposing 4. Even assuming that Bradley goes in a deal for Griffin, Rozier looks ready to take over the ballhawk role. The Celtics have the personnel to win most smallball matchups. A Griffin-Horford front court gives them the personnel to match up much better than 2015-16 against tallball teams too.
I don't see why the Clippers would want to trade Griffin away, though: isn't their best hope of making full use of Chris Paul's best years to keep Griffin and Jordan?
They have not really suffered as much as you'd expect when Blake has been off the court. Now I think that's mostly on Doc, but he's the one making the calls, so it's hard to really get rid of him.
If Doc isn't going anywhere, and he's too old to learn new tricks, then I think the Clippers would probably improve by trading Blake for Amir and Crowder for instance (they go up by 3 wins in my projections with such a move).
They go down, but any move for Blake would have to be based on the Celtics (Stevens) getting more out of his skillset than the Clippers do. My projections can't "see" this, so they don't like Griffin much.
To add some fuel to this fire, it's been recently reported that the Celtics have "reached out" to Budinger's agents...
As it stands today they're pretty shallow at SF, they should have their eye on depth guys regardless.
- Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach 3m3 minutes ago
Per source, Guerschon Yabusele's status will depend on whether Celtics open roster spots w/a trade. If no trade, he's going overseas.
Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach 2m2 minutes ago
Yabusele still could go overseas even if there is a trade, too, but that is scenario in which he could possibly stay.
Good. I was worried they were going to stash him on the roster. He still has quite a bit to go before he can become any type of consistent contributor.
Bullpett article about trade for a star and why it hasn't happened.
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics/2016/07/bulpett_celtics_working_the_nba_room_but_no_deals_looming
Interesting bit is the anonymous (non-celtics) exec knocking Blake's value by saying that teams are very concerned about his leg injury.
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics/2016/07/bulpett_celtics_working_the_nba_room_but_no_deals_looming
Interesting bit is the anonymous (non-celtics) exec knocking Blake's value by saying that teams are very concerned about his leg injury.
Is "anonymous" Danny Ainge's alter ego? There has been a consistent trend over the years that these leaks always seem to benefit the Celtics position. Weird.
Good move by the Celtics. They can focus solely on developing Jaylen Brown who I believe has superstar potential.
Adam Himmelsbach
@AdamHimmelsbach
According to a league source, Celtics 1st-rd pick Guerschon Yabusele has agreed to a 1-year deal w/Shanghai Sharks:
Adam Himmelsbach
@AdamHimmelsbach According to a league source, Celtics 1st-rd pick Guerschon Yabusele has agreed to a 1-year deal w/Shanghai Sharks:
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The clock on his rookie deal doesn't start until he actually signs, right? So unless you think he's develop more in Maine than in China, this is great because his rookie deal will presumably encompass a more productive part of his basketball career, and it won't cost us a roster spot. Right?
Well the advantage of China is that he's going to get a lot of playing time in China, doesn't cost a roster spot, and is available in March if Boston manages to pull off a major deal at the deadline. And if they can't pull off a major deal then they don't need to worry about him until the summer.
Having the same problem here. It's Yabusele to China on a 1 year deal with the Shanghai Sharks.
This is probably a dumb question, but will there be communication by the Celtics and the Sharks about development goals/objectives?
There may be attempts but he's under contract with the Sharks so they can, and will, do whatever they want without caring about any development goals that the Celtics may have.
Of course they can, but it's not hard to imagine an NBA team making it worthwhile for a foreign team to reach an understanding about a player's usage/development. Or would this be against league rules?
The NBA and China have a joint coaching development agreement that I believe was extended through 2019. The training includes coaching, training, nutritionists, etc so the Chinese coaching receive ongoing training so this isn't anything like it was 10-20 years ago. If the Sharks want to continue having good relationships with NBA GM's, agents, and players they will adhere to the desired usage of the player. In the end it's a game of basketball and Yabusele, like any other young player, is ultimately responsible for the learning and improvement of his own game. He'll have an ex-NBA point guard in AJ Price which will be very helpful having him at that leadership position so this helps too.
Moondog80's post suggests that this somehow keeps the clock from ticking on his eventual free agency. Am I misreading that? Is it correct? Is playing in China any different in that regard than playing in Europe or Maine? Why would Yabusele be happy with this arrangement? Is the money a lot better in China than in Maine? Than in Europe or Israel?
He hasn't signed with the Celtics, but they retain his rights. This keeps the clock from running. It was most likely agreed upon (at least that he was willing to, if not destined to like Zicic) before he was drafted. He can go make money and get playing time to develop somewhere else rather than sitting on the bench and stalling out. If he went to Maine he'd be under his contract, so the money would be a lot better but the Cs probably would have taken him where they did. The trade off is rather than get drafted in the second round on a non guaranteed deal and then hang out on a D league team, he can go abroad and develop and when he comes back he's on the contract for his draft slot, which is higher money and more guarantee. As nighthob said, if he wasn't ok doing it, they most likely wouldn't have picked him there.
Without agreeing to be stashed before the draft it is unlikely that he would have been drafted in the first round. His rookie contract clock doesn't begin until he signs his rookie contract likely either next year or the following which is far different than him signing a NBA contract and playing in Maine.
Recently the money has been better in China than most of Europe, both in basketball and soccer for what they consider "draws" if they put Yabusele in that mix, he'll get a pretty decent chunk of cash and some solid playing time.
Well he didn't "have to go" there. We didn't sign Yabusele to a contract.....we own his rights but do not technically control where he signs to play this season. He had already said he was not returning to France. The decision to sign in China was his as they offered a one-year deal whereas many Euro clubs demand multi-year deals with buyouts to keep the player in their system.
He's going to get a lot more developmental time in China than Europe and with some NBA style oversight of his program. And Chinese teams don't include onerous buyout clauses in their contracts that would force him to take out a loan to get to the NBA. Also, in the unlikely case that Boston makes a giant deal in the middle of the year, he's available as roster filler come March.
And by not signing him yet, the C's could renounce Zeller and Holland to free up almost $12M of cap space to make another move. Then sign Brown once they're over the cap.
Sean Deveney@SeanDeveney 7m7 minutes ago
The @celtics will sign free-agent guard Gerald Green, a source told Sporting News.
The @celtics will sign free-agent guard Gerald Green, a source told Sporting News.
Well, he's 6'8", can play three positions, drains threes at a 36% clip, and adds depth at a spot where the Celtics are particularly thin. Assuming this is a one-year deal, I can't find a single reason not to like it. Certainly takes away the immediate pressure of force-feeding a 19-year old Jaylen Brown twenty minutes a night from the jump.
We are thin at the backup 3 with only Jerebko ready to play NBA minutes behind Crowder unless we go with a 3-guard lineup. Min deal I assume for one-year.....decent depth pickup.
Very pleased with this. I was concerned about there being no real replacement for Evan Turner. Would still like to see another veteran who can distribute. There's still an overeliance on kids to back up the guard spots.
I agree - this is a solid move. A lot of metrics are unkind to Green's game (defensively in particular), but he's got the skillset to be useful on this team, and if it doesn't work out, it's a one-year deal.
- Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach 4m4 minutes ago
The Celtics have agreed to guaranteed deals w/Gerald Green, Tyler Zeller, & Demetrius Jackson & partial guarantee w/Ben Bentil, source says.
Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach now6 seconds ago
League source says right now, R.J. Hunter, James Young, Ben Bentil and John Holland are in position to fight for the final roster spot
Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach now6 seconds ago
Tyler Zeller's deal with the Celtics is two-years, second year non-guaranteed. Same setup as Jerebko/Amir had this year, source says.
Tyler Zeller's deal with the Celtics is two-years, second year non-guaranteed. Same setup as Jerebko/Amir had this year, source says.