Or a 1st rounder could be bundled with other assets (young players, 1st rounders) and a TPE to get a core player for the future.

Best case scenario he has a tremendous 1st half of the season, a contender loses their starting point guard to a major injury, and Stevens can trade Schroder for a 1st rounder at the deadline.Īgain unlike Schroder, Richardson, Dunn, Horford, or Kanter the 1st rounder could actually end up being a long term player on Stevens' retooled Celtics team. Sure he's underpaid this season, but he's a rental. I'm not sure how people can call the Dennis Schroder signing the best NBA move of the offseason. Once you're a favorite to win it then becomes a lot easier to add guys like PJ Brown and Sam Cassell after the trade deadline.īut the reality was the Big 3 on that team took up almost the entire payroll. Then they had to get lucky/ use the appeal of playing with former MVP KG, Pierce, and Ray, to add quality cheap vets like Posey and House. They needed young, inexpensive players like Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe, Tony Allen, and Glen Davis to compliment the big contracts of Pierce, Garnett, and Ray. So it's imperative Boston develop, cheap, young, rotation players. If they are going to pay the tax again, like they did back in the KG era, it won't be some huge number over. They want to win, but in more of a Money Ball way. We have pretty good owners, but they are not the type to pay whatever luxury tax is needed. You can't pay Tatum the max, Jaylen $28 million, Smart $20 million, AND another guy huge money (let's say Beal) without either surrounding them with several tiny contracts or paying a large luxury tax bill. We already knew Begarin was a tremendous athlete, but between the steals, assists, rebounds, hustle, and his shot, the kid has all the potential in the world to at least be a rotation player on the Celtics down the road aka when they will have their championship roster.īegarin will play another year overseas, but if he works on what the Celtics tell him to work on he's the cost controlled, young, small money contracts that winning teams need to balance out their roster. While there are cases where a great shooter might put up big numbers in the summer league, but it not translate to the regular season (See Carsen Edwards in 2019 for a local example), you can at least moderately judge a prospect by his Summer League performance. 📽 Kings trounce Turnover Celtics in Summer League championship 100-67 /eBmGAgSR6c- August 18, 2021 But the idea that strong performances in summer league mean little more than 'hey this guy at least showed us he doesn't notbelong in the NBA potentially. The cliche line is 'Summer League is for showing who doesn't belong in the NBA, not who belongs.' The theory is if a player like Yabusele can't even look productive in Summer League, he definitely won't in the NBA. It would be wise to not get attached to the current Celtics roster - TEAMBOSTON July 31, 2021 Not only because the other players will likely be gone, but because of Begarin showed this summer. Juhann Begarin as a second rounder has his obstacles, but when the dust settles and Boston fields its 2022-24 roster, out of all of Brad's offseason additions, he has the greatest chance to be wearing Celtics green. But like with Evan Fournier, he won't be a priority. Now could a guy like Richardson find a home in Boston and potentially re-sign next summer? Sure. Guys like Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando are only here because they make less money than the outgoing Tristan Thompson. He will try again at the trade deadline and again next summer.

In the mean time, Horford, like the other two players, will help this year's Celtics win games, but if Stevens could move the $44 million left of guaranteed money on Horford's contract today, he would. Stevens will continue to try and trade Horford til he finds a taker. Schroder and Richardson will most likely either be traded or their contract will expire next summer so Boston can use the cap space. It's a bridge year, where he's not punting on the season, but he's by no means going all out. While it's true that 'Anything is Possible,' Stevens is banking on this season being the year for Boston. One thing to keep in mind with Stevens' offseason moves is the goal is to build a perennial championship contender.Īdditions like Dennis Schroder, Josh Richardson, Al Horford, and Enes Kanter will get significantly more media exposure, but truth be told, none of them will likely be around when the Celtics next play for a NBA championship. He used the 45th pick on 18 year old international prospect Juhann Begarin. Brad Stevens only had one selection in the 2021 draft.

Celtics roster 2021