Celtics acquire Mike Muscala

HomeRunBaker

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Dude has made like $25mil on those team friendly deals.

Fuck you Mom and Dad for not having better genes and leaving me about a foot shorter than Mike Muscala.
We run so fuckin bad brother! Our grandparents have to be from Armenian where the average height of a Power Forward in 1927 was 5 foot 3……and not from Sudan? WTF man.
 

Jakarta

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I love this move if only because my prediction (more like a suggestion but who’s counting) happened.

With the Nets now not a concern, playing big makes sense against the other East contenders (Bucks, Sixers, Cavs) so adding Muscala helps in each of these matchups. And as others have noted, allows the team to give Al and TL plenty of rest over the next 2 months to try to keep them as healthy as possible for when the playoffs begin.
 

benhogan

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I love this move if only because my prediction (more like a suggestion but who’s counting) happened.

With the Nets now not a concern, playing big makes sense against the other East contenders (Bucks, Sixers, Cavs) so adding Muscala helps in each of these matchups. And as others have noted, allows the team to give Al and TL plenty of rest over the next 2 months to try to keep them as healthy as possible for when the playoffs begin.
Good call!

Adding a veteran BIG was job #1 for Brad since the start of the season. Mission accomplished. 18 months of filling in around the JAYs to near perfection. The Celtics not only have the best record but the deepest roster.
 

chilidawg

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I love this move if only because my prediction (more like a suggestion but who’s counting) happened.

With the Nets now not a concern, playing big makes sense against the other East contenders (Bucks, Sixers, Cavs) so adding Muscala helps in each of these matchups. And as others have noted, allows the team to give Al and TL plenty of rest over the next 2 months to try to keep them as healthy as possible for when the playoffs begin.
Especially with Philly and Milwaukee, we've seen they're prioritizing protecting the rim over the perimeter, a stretch big is going to get good looks.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Moose! This Thunder fan is going to miss Muscala. He is a steady, cheerful presence who doesn't care about his playing time. During the tanking years, there were weeks when he never played. But, he was always willing to return to the Thunder on team-friendly deals. He was supposed to be a "big brother," veteran player who would help his younger teammates acclimate to the Thunder Way.
What is the "Thunder Way"?

Did they ever think of calling it "Thunder Road"?

:)
 

AMS25

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It's like The Cardinal Way only less smug! No, actually, the Thunder focus a lot on team culture. Since OKC is all about "draft and develop," "draft and develop," the team believes that it has the opportunity to help young players become NBA professionals. There's also a lot of emphasis on becoming part of the OKC community. It's nice but can be hokey.
 

shoelace

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It's like The Cardinal Way only less smug! No, actually, the Thunder focus a lot on team culture. Since OKC is all about "draft and develop," "draft and develop," the team believes that it has the opportunity to help young players become NBA professionals. There's also a lot of emphasis on becoming part of the OKC community. It's nice but can be hokey.
I dig that, and while others may dismiss it, it says something about OKC and Muscala that he would likely take less money to stay there. Sam Presti seems like a class act and a great GM, hopefully your 8,000,000 picks can get your team back to contention soon.
 

dirtynine

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Bucknell guy gonna bring 18 home for the C’s! Muscala’s natural rival is CJ McCollum going back to their Patriot League days. Something the announcers can kill time talking about the next time the Pels are in town.
 

Imbricus

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Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey called the move an ‘absolute steal’ and shared some statistics that paint the trade as a full-on heist — one that came at the expense of a player who had been out of the rotation and second round picks that don’t figure to turn into win-now contributors anytime soon
These statistics included the fact that the Thunder's net rating was 3+ with Muscala on the floor and -8.1 with him off (to be fair, not sure how much run he's getting with the starters). I really like this move. It's kind of what I expected: that Brad wouldn't try for a flashy trade, but would work hard to find a way to use the TPE. I think getting a big man was always the greater need ... now they can wait for a wing in the buyout market.

Edit: tweaked sentence about getting run with starters, because I don't follow the team.
 
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Reverend

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Moose! This Thunder fan is going to miss Muscala. He is a steady, cheerful presence who doesn't care about his playing time. During the tanking years, there were weeks when he never played. But, he was always willing to return to the Thunder on team-friendly deals. He was supposed to be a "big brother," veteran player who would help his younger teammates acclimate to the Thunder Way.
This is everything I would have wanted to hear about the guy that can’t be gleaned from numbers and more. More peak POBOBS?

Forget the pants. That jacket is sweet. I want it.
I think that particular species of couch is nor endangered and so it is illegal to kill it.

These statistics included the fact that the Thunder's net rating was 3+ with Muscala on the floor and -8.1 with him off (to be fair, not sure how much run he's getting with the starters). I really like this move. It's kind of what I expected: that Brad wouldn't try for a flashy trade, but would work hard to find a way to use the TPE. I think getting a big man was always the greater need ... now they can wait for a wing in the buyout market.

Edit: tweaked sentence about getting run with starters, because I don't follow the team.
This seems to me like a total Brad move as well, and his record of late has been really remarkable in terms how the players appear to be more valuable in their roles on the Celtics than the value they might have elsewhere, which is the height of using fit as a form of efficiency to optimize roster construction. When Brad ended up being what I thought at the time was kicked upstairs, I was disappointed and disappointed for him that pro coaching hadn’t worked out; wow, was that misguided and wasted energy in my part—I can scarcely believe how good he seems to be at this, so hoping to see Moose turn out to be another feather in Brad’s cap.
 

Imbricus

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This seems to me like a total Brad move as well, and his record of late has been really remarkable in terms how the players appear to be more valuable in their roles on the Celtics than the value they might have elsewhere, which is the height of using fit as a form of efficiency to optimize roster construction.
Yeah, part of his genius as a coach seemed to be his ability to make teams be more than "the sum of their parts." He knew how to optimize his resources, though I think that he began to flail a little when Danny saddled him with a bunch of inexperienced Smurfs.

Now that he has the power to pick out the parts, and has the strategic smarts to know how they'll all fit together and how new players will cover existing needs, I think he's at a position where he optimizes a considerable skill.
 

lovegtm

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This gives them another playoff move to when defenses collapse to keep Brown and Tatum out of the paint.
He's a nice guy to have in that you can just stick him on Brook Lopez without huge worries, while letting him give Brook problems when he pops to shoot.

Milwaukee has a hard time applying that same pressure back, because they don't have as dynamic ballhandlers in the PnR.
 

Don Buddin's GS

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Have you SEEN any good 7th grade ball this year? I mean other than that kid in Serbia and I bet he turns out to really be 15 and comes out in the 2027 draft.
Forget 7th graders how about 7-year-olds? This site ranks players up to and including the Class of 2034! How the fuck can you possibly rank 7-year-olds nationally?

Player Rankings (top25scouts.com)
 

JM3

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Forget 7th graders how about 7-year-olds? This site ranks players up to and including the Class of 2034! How the fuck can you possibly rank 7-year-olds nationally?

Player Rankings (top25scouts.com)
Apparently they can't...

We're sorry, we couldn't find the page you requested.

You can try to return home to try to find what you were looking for.
https://www.top25scouts.com/2034playerwatch

Now I'll never know if my 7 y/o is a top 25 player to watch.

Based on my 9 y/o not being in the 2032 top 111, I can only assume he would have gotten jobbed, too.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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He's a nice guy to have in that you can just stick him on Brook Lopez without huge worries, while letting him give Brook problems when he pops to shoot.

Milwaukee has a hard time applying that same pressure back, because they don't have as dynamic ballhandlers in the PnR.
This is such a great point, and I wonder if its the genesis of the trade.

Giannis is going to get his. But, even though the boxscore doesn't show it, there were times in 2019 and 2022 that it really felt like Lopez could be the person to swing the series. He gets away with 3-seconds ALL the time, and hes so fucking big that he can really impact the defensive end. If Muscala can keep him working on both ends and also pull him away from the basket as a consistent 3-point threat, thats huge value for the Celtics.
 

benhogan

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Jared Weiss, from The Athletic, with an excellent Muscala recap/expected usage.

The Athletic is a very worthwhile subscription, that runs daily articles on the Celtics.

https://theathletic.com/4174496/2023/02/09/celtics-mike-muscala-trade/

Muscala’s core competency is pick-and-pop shooting, an important distinction compared to most floor spacers. Luke Kornet can space to the corners, Grant Williams can spot up and attack from the elbows, but Muscala lives above the break, the ideal spot to space out a big. He has the full array of shooting skills for a backup big, being able to catch and shoot from anywhere and even having a quick little pull-up 15-footer on the short roll.

He takes about a third of his 3s from the top of the arc, where he is hitting exactly a third of them (a percentage point below league average). But he ranks in the 99th percentile of above the break 3 frequency, per Cleaning the Glass, with only Kevin Love and Gorgui Dieng taking more of their shots from up there. At 40 percent, he ranks sixth among bigs in the league in hitting those shots on at least 50 attempts, just behind Al Horford.

But he’s more than just a shooter. Muscala is 10th in the league in points per possession as a roller/popper with at least 50 possessions, per Synergy. He hits a ton of 3s out of the pick-and-pop and hasn’t turned it over once this season in these actions.

He’s decisive and consistent, well aware of the strengths and limitations of his game at this point of his career. Muscala isn’t proficient to the point that he’s earned a substantial spot on a .500 team in the Thunder, but he’s good enough to merit backup minutes on any team looking for a popping big to work with its stars.

That’s the main thing Boston has been missing this season, someone who can screen for Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown and go straight back to 25 feet out and launch lightly contested 3s. Horford does it on occasion, and, for some reason, they rarely do it with Grant Williams, even though he’s proven to be a deadly shooter from the corners. But this has been Muscala’s bread and butter for years.

He’s a good fit because he already runs a lot of actions in Thunder coach Mark Dagineault’s system that you’ll see from Joe Mazzulla’s bigs. Whether it’s slipping screens before contact or faking one screen only to sprint into another, the Celtics system works for its newest acquisition.

Muscala has a few quirks to his game that make him effective against defenses with anchor bigs, as he can read the coverage well to decide whether to quickly release off a screen and roll or pop hard. Muscala can also use a hesitation or even a stunt in the wrong direction to completely throw off the coverage.

But what makes Muscala a value add is that he is more than just a spot-up shooter. Grant Williams already covers that role well, being able to attack closeouts and keep the ball moving. Muscala adds to the Celtics’ depth by doing all of that, while also having some finishing ability against starting-caliber centers.

Kornet has been solid in his role in the half-court offense and tries his best to keep up with the tempo, but Muscala is just a more fluid athlete who is especially effective as a trailing shooter in transition. When Boston wants to play fast on second units with Brown and White trying to leak out in transition, Muscala will give them outlets so they don’t turn it over on those fast breaks.

Defensive limitations
With all of this offensive versatility, there’s a reason Muscala is a role player on a Play-In team. It’s not obvious, but it slowly crystallizes when watching him on defense over the course of the game. He’s a technically sound player who jumps into action right away, whether it’s to blitz the ball or drop off a screen. But when the offense gets to where it wants, his physical limitations show through.

Muscala moves his feet decently in space so that he can fill the lane off a pick-and-roll or rotate over to an open shooter, but he usually loses his leverage once they hit the gas. He can keep up with ballhandlers to force them toward help, but then he can’t get up in the air enough to affect their shot once that happens. Generally, he can stay in front of most players, but can’t keep them from getting to their spots.

He’s statistically an average defender going up against mostly second units, which is going to be his role unless Rob Williams and Horford are both hurt. He provides a balance between Grant Williams’ dynamism guarding pick-and-rolls or closeouts on the perimeter and Kornet’s reach to contest shots at the rim. But Kornet is a superior rim presence, and Williams is several levels better at containing penetration and closing out to shooters.

Muscala shouldn’t steal any minutes from Williams, but Muscala theoretically provides a good alternative to Kornet when they need to drop into the paint and don’t want to rely on the gamble of the Kornet contests. Muscala mostly deep-dropped on pick-and-rolls, but he showed he could defend up at the screen level on occasion.

Muscala’s addition shouldn’t spell the end of Kornet’s and Griffin’s place in the rotation. Kornet’s length will always have some value, and they can dust off Griffin when Boston faces a big who wants to bang. But when the Williamses and Horford are healthy, Muscala should still get minutes to keep the Celtics centers fresh during the stretch run.

Horford is playing 30.8 minutes per game, on pace for his highest single-season average since 2017-18. He barely sustained his energy for the NBA Finals run last season after an extended offseason, and his workload makes him a huge risk for burnout. They need Muscala to help ensure Horford is still himself in June once he flips that playoff switch he somehow has every single year.

On a day full of monumental splashes, the Muscala trade hardly registered a ripple at the trade deadline. But the Celtics are atop the league and didn’t need to make any changes. They just had to get a little bit better. Muscala is the simple yet reliable player they needed to round out this rotation
.
 

JM3

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Your 7yo and 9yo still have ceiling. If they're not top100 by 7th grade, you can reduce your sneaker budget and spend the savings on math tutors.
They mostly focus on gymnastics & soccer, but I figured the child scouts would scout those skills & project them translating into elite basketball skills when/if they ever make basketball their primary sport.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Can the Celtics put in a geographical claim on Boston Bailey?
Remember when the league had territorial draft picks up until like the 70’s or something? Even after it went away many teams would draft local D-2 and D-3 players later when they had 7-8 rounds of picks. We had 3 guys from our summer league back then drafted, one by the Celtics. Everyone was excited but they would have no chance of ever making the team.
 

lovegtm

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I didn't realize Muscala was an actual shooter (until I looked him up after the trade was made.)

I just assumed he was one of these "shoots 37% on 2 attempts/game and you can run him off the line" bigs, which is, uh, not the case.
 

benhogan

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I didn't realize Muscala was an actual shooter (until I looked him up after the trade was made.)

I just assumed he was one of these "shoots 37% on 2 attempts/game and you can run him off the line" bigs, which is, uh, not the case.
Kind of shocked OKC gave him away on his contract. That's the 2nd time Presti has done Brad a "solid".

Boston basically acquired a TOP5 Center that can shoot 3s above the break for pick-n-pop purposes. Expect plenty of two "large fellas" lineups.

It's also some Grant RFA insurance. There is not a hint of contract issues on this team for the media to bludgeon to death.
2019 scarred Brad/Zarren
 

lovegtm

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Kind of shocked OKC gave him away on his contract. That's the 2nd time Presti has done Brad a "solid".

Boston basically acquired a TOP5 Center that can shoot 3s above the break for pick-n-pop purposes. Expect plenty of two "large fellas" lineups.

It's also some Grant RFA insurance. There is not a hint of contract issues on this team for the media to bludgeon to death.
2019 scarred Brad/Zarren
They're going to re-sign Grant, if the deadline reports are anywhere near true. They both wanted a lot for him, and also will use the fact that teams know they wanted a lot to scare other bidders away in the summer.
 

Devizier

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They're going to re-sign Grant, if the deadline reports are anywhere near true. They both wanted a lot for him, and also will use the fact that teams know they wanted a lot to scare other bidders away in the summer.
I feel like if they were worried about him leaving, they would have snagged a potential replacement at the deadline (Muscala is not it!)
 

lovegtm

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I feel like if they were worried about him leaving, they would have snagged a potential replacement at the deadline (Muscala is not it!)
Right, I imagine the thinking was "if someone gives us a 1st and a big wing replacement, we do it. Otherwise, we match in RFA."
 

benhogan

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They're going to re-sign Grant, if the deadline reports are anywhere near true. They both wanted a lot for him, and also will use the fact that teams know they wanted a lot to scare other bidders away in the summer.
Correct. Grant's RFA season has gone to script.
 

Ale Xander

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Remember when the league had territorial draft picks up until like the 70’s or something? Even after it went away many teams would draft local D-2 and D-3 players later when they had 7-8 rounds of picks. We had 3 guys from our summer league back then drafted, one by the Celtics. Everyone was excited but they would have no chance of ever making the team.
1966 they nixed them
Before my time, but drafting Tommy (the Ter pick, thank you holy cross) and KC Jones in the same draft was super cool and then you trade easy Ed for Bill was the cherry on top.
1956 what a year
 

radsoxfan

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He's a nice guy to have in that you can just stick him on Brook Lopez without huge worries, while letting him give Brook problems when he pops to shoot.

Milwaukee has a hard time applying that same pressure back, because they don't have as dynamic ballhandlers in the PnR.
Thought about the Mil matchup too and completely agree, Muscala is a great big to have on the edge of the rotation.

Some matchups I can see him getting important 4th quarter minutes, in others he may not play at all (if other bigs are healthy).

Obviously he has some significant flaws and there is a reason he is paid what he is paid, but perfect guy to snag at the deadline for this team.
 

snowmanny

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1966 they nixed them
Before my time, but drafting Tommy (the Ter pick, thank you holy cross) and KC Jones in the same draft was super cool and then you trade easy Ed for Bill was the cherry on top.
1956 what a year
I am reasonably sure that no other franchise ever obtained via the same draft three players who would each go on to win multiple titles for the team AS HEAD COACHES…..That is a hell of a day.
 

HomeRunBaker

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1966 they nixed them
Before my time, but drafting Tommy (the Ter pick, thank you holy cross) and KC Jones in the same draft was super cool and then you trade easy Ed for Bill was the cherry on top.
1956 what a year
Yeah I guess that with the draft being 10 rounds in the 80’s many of those mid to later round picks were the locals. I was looking at the ‘83 draft when Bobby Reitz (Stonehill) and Ron Jackson (Providence) were picked by the Celtics and the guard from URI was picked by NY or NJ as he was from that area. Pretty cool nonetheless.