The Celtics Offseason
- Thread starter kazuneko
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I’m excited for the season as well, but a bit embarassed I have no idea who this is.Preseason is closing in, excitement starting to set in.
He was perhaps the slowest player I've ever seen under 6'10 when he was on the Celtics. It's baffling to me that he stuck around for 4 more years after leaving Boston, and with pretty solid teams in OKC and Phoenix.
I really hope not. Kornet still has real value in the regular season, considering all 3 guys in front of him have major injury and/or age question marks. Queta is 24 has played a total of 149 minutes in two seasons (Kornet played more than 5x that last year alone), there's not much reason to think he's even an NBA player. This is the definition of a nothing signing.
I like Luke, too, but the C's clearly are in no hurry to lock him up for 2023-24.
Runner up G League MVP. From this highlight video, it looks like he's got some athleticism and skills. Let's hope he's a late bloomer.
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nQyMJZdme3o
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nQyMJZdme3o
I like this move a lot. Queta looks like a decent free throw shooter for a big (about 70%). Biggest knock against him seems to be that he's the kind of traditional big that the NBA simply doesn't value as much anymore; no outside shot. Also appears he's a bit turnover prone, but you don't want the ball in his hands anyway. But he's moderately beefy, huge, and surprisingly athletic for his size. Knee injury in his past, but seems like a one-time thing that's not causing recurring problems (?). A "violent shot blocker" always warms my heart. Seems to have a few decent-looking post moves. Bigs can develop late, so getting him at 24 seems about right. If he learns to switch well on defense, and takes another step forward, this could be a nice pickup. I was hoping they would grab someone like this. Will be interested to see what he looks like in action.
I haven't loved a guy this irrationally from a 7-minute highlight video since the halcyon days of Arsen Edwards!
View: https://twitter.com/AdamHimmelsbach/status/1703124830327877710
Standard offseason article, but I'm happy to read anything C's-related this time of year.
Standard offseason article, but I'm happy to read anything C's-related this time of year.
I am really interested to see how they use Pritchard. My take-away from last year was that Mazzulla wasn't a fan given his overall usage (it was a crowded depth chart) but maybe that's wrong. Let's see what happens when teams inevitably target Fast PP on defense - it seems like Mazzulla had a short leash when it happened last year. Given their current needs and roster composition, they kind of need it to work.
Hah! I suppose it's a bit nuts to get too excited about a guy who might be lucky to be a bench warmer ... but the man does look good in a highlight video! Seriously, I'll be looking for two main potential flaws when I see him live: (1) basketball IQ (2) propensity to throw himself around and pick up quick fouls. If he's one of those bigs who's prone to picking up 3 fouls in two minutes, then he won't stick.
I get the sense Brad is a Pritchard fan, but I'm not sure about Mazz. Now that Mazz no longer has his Smart-White-Brogdon rotation, it will be interesting to see what the adjustment looks like.
My bad. I thought I'd read that Kornet was far from assured of a roster spot in 2023-24.
The list of 3rd string PGs better than PP is short...
With a J-Zing core get used to having #8-14 players on rookie or minimum deals.
With a J-Zing core get used to having #8-14 players on rookie or minimum deals.
The thing about PP is ceiling, not floor. For the 82, he's a great guy to have around. I'm hoping that he doesn't play much, because that means that the team was healthy at smalls.
I was pretty high on Kabengele, still working on getting over that heart break.
I am hoping to see a lot of experimentation with lineups during the regular season. If PP gets much playing time in the playoffs and it isn’t due to injuries that compromise the team’s ability to challenge for a championship I will be surprised.
I'm very familiar with this player from his college days and I can assure everyone he's no threat to Kornet's role. He used his length, wingspan and stationary athleticism (best way to describe it since he's not mobile) to defend the rim defensively and overpower smaller post players offensively. He has below average ball skills....and is another of those guys who should hate Steph Curry as he'd probably have a role in this league 15 years ago. I haven't seen him ever defend a pick and roll but with his mobility I'm guessing that it wouldn't be pretty. Think a poor man's Roy Hibbert without the offensively ball skills.
There were also some political issues. DWhite was playing himself into a starting role, and there was no way PP was going to get minutes over Marcus or Brogdon, given the need to keep both those guys happy.
Not even talking about replacing them (they're better than PP)--Brogdon was letting everyone know at every turn what a sacrifice he had made, and cutting his minutes further wasn't an option at all afaict.
Politics or not, didn't the regular season turn out as well as anyone had any right to expect? They entered the playoffs as healthy as they could possibly hope for, other than Jaylen's hand (which happened off the court) and Galinari's ACL (which happened in the summer). Tatum and Brown took steps forward, as did White. This happened while breaking in a brand new coach, and winning more games than any celtics team since 2009. It wasn't perfect (both Williams failed to develop further, and obviously Pritchard was marginalized), but it'd be wonderful if the upcoming regular season plays out more or less identical to the 2023 season.
It's not.
It's non-guaranteed, but he's still locked up.
He's only "unlocked" at the Celtics discretion.
For some extra context, his contract last year was also non-guaranteed. The Celtics guaranteed his full year on 10/18/2022.
Was only half guaranteed on opening night in October last season.
The rest fully guaranteed 1/10, that's the date every season contracts that aren't fully guaranteed become guaranteed if the player is still on the roster.
Karalis starting early with rotation/minutes thoughts.
He describes lineups as having 2 BIGs + 2 WINGs + 1PG, semantics/position descriptions aside he's usually pretty good.
https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2023/09/19/an-early-look-at-the-celtics-rotation-and-who-might-be-shut-out-of-regular-minutes
He describes lineups as having 2 BIGs + 2 WINGs + 1PG, semantics/position descriptions aside he's usually pretty good.
https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2023/09/19/an-early-look-at-the-celtics-rotation-and-who-might-be-shut-out-of-regular-minutes
Mazzula has the crazy smile going on...looks like someone trying to smile that doesn't know how to.
So this story is making the rounds now: Brogdon unhappy about being involved in the trade talks this summer.
Obviously, this is less than optimal. I imagine someone in the Celtics front office is trying to do some damage control. I kind of wonder if Brogdon isn't overreacting a bit. He hasn't been with the team that long, and God knows, GMs are always wheeling and dealing.
Hard Pass on Austin Rivers, not sure why but he is one of my least favorite NBA players
https://hoopshype.com/2023/09/20/austin-rivers-interested-in-celtics-heat/
https://hoopshype.com/2023/09/20/austin-rivers-interested-in-celtics-heat/
"Joe, come here, were going to take a picture. Make sure you smile!"
Joe: "Yes, normal human smile, got it"
Joe: "Yes, normal human smile, got it"
I'm getting increasingly unhappy they couldn't manage to ship him out instead of Marcus
As an 8th-10th guy in the rotation, why not? He's got experience, he'll be motivated, and at 6'4" he's versatile enough to play either guard spot if needed.
The story doesn't make it clear but I'm pretty sure the quote is from a Celtics Beat podcast that Washburn was on with Adam Kaufmann. The podcast was last week.
I listened to podcast and what Washburn actually said was that Brogdon was upset in July when the news of the trade went down but he isn't talking to the press so no one is sure whether he is still mad.
The three guys on the podcast then went out to point out that Brogdon has been traded twice before and certainly knows how the business of the NBA works so it would be HIGHLY unusual if he still "held a grudge" (or whatever way people want to put it) about the failed transaction.
Besides, it wasn't like he was being sent to ORL or something like that. Brogdon, KL, and PG would be a pretty formidable 3.
Austin Rivers seems like one of those players where the team singing him has to weigh the baggage versus the ability. He has some skills but when you hear other NBA players reference him, its not in positive terms. I wonder if the potential chemistry issues makes him too much of a headache for this team.
On the other hand, he feels like a Heat central casting vet FA who comes in and does all the annoying Austin Rivers stuff effectively like playing just over the line and doing grimy stuff that every team needs.
Maybe the Cs culture is strong enough too but given the roster changes I would not risk it.
On the other hand, he feels like a Heat central casting vet FA who comes in and does all the annoying Austin Rivers stuff effectively like playing just over the line and doing grimy stuff that every team needs.
Maybe the Cs culture is strong enough too but given the roster changes I would not risk it.
Austin Rivers isn’t a good NBA player. Here’s how he compares to other depth guards/smaller wings on our roster already. As you’ll see, there’s really no case for wasting a roster spot on him based purely on talent. I also added in Cameron Payne, who also doesn’t make a ton of sense but at least has upside if his brief stretch of being a good shooter a few years ago were repeatable (I doubt it is).
Austin Rivers isn't a good NBA player - I completely agree there. But he still has an NBA career (or at least did) because he seems well suited to NBA dirty-work and he is adult enough to know when to play within a system. Even if those players won't "win" teams games, they have some value, especially if you need some veteran guile or filthy play during a crucial game.
I'd rather see PP, Hauser, Svi, Delano get those 8th-10th minutes
I admit to having an irrational dislike of Austin. Didn't care for the overpay he got from his dad a few years back. He's really never been a good player. Feels a little entitled.
I also like the idea of Brad keeping an open roster spot & being patient/opportunistic
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Here's Austin's comments on a recent Bill Simmons podcast:
"So I thought I handled that pretty well, and it just seems like, yeah, I had the weirdest f—ing luck in the NBA. The ironic thing about it is people always talk about me and my entitlement. Or, like, me and my privilege, just because I played for my father for three years. But the reality is, man, I was an elite – and I am still – but I was an elite scorer that got drafted to a team where I wasn’t supposed to even put in a position to do that."
I'm with the consensus here. I just don't think he's any good and never really was.