How DRASTIC Will The Celtics’ Roster Teardown Be This Offseason?

How DRASTIC Will The Celtics’ Roster Teardown Be This Offseason?

Sham saying the Celtics are preparing for some level of change this coming off season. He references five players making over 28 million next year. Those five players are Derek White who checks in at 28.1 million next year. His salary is going up $8 million. Chris’s Porzingis is scheduled to make $30.7 million next year. Drew Holiday will be at 32.4. 4 million next year. All three of those players, their salaries going up from where they are right now. Same is true for Jason Tatum, who this season is making $34.8 million. Next year, that number goes to 54.1 million, which will put him just ahead of his teammate Jaylen Brown at 53.1. You heard the salary tax bill will be half a billion dollars for the team next year if they try and keep it together. So, new owner or not, there was a decent chance they were going to break this up after a two-year window, which is not earthshattering new information. We talked about this two years ago or what’s it been? Yeah. Uh, a year ago, no, two years ago, offseason two years ago when they they started making moves and made the Marcus Smart trade and brought in Porzingis and the extensions and Drew Holiday and Drew Holidayiday’s extension. This is not brand new information, but we kind of put it off in our minds like, “Ah, that’s down the road. Deal with it then. You got two-year window. Maximize the window.” Well, guess what? That two-year window closes in few weeks. They’ve arrived. This is where it gets to that point. So, I think there are there are two options here. There are two opt Oh, I think there are two options. I I think there are two options. Okay, good. What are the only up one and a half? I don’t think either one’s a good option. Let me just state that. All right. I I don’t think either one is a good option. Uh they’re both very difficult options that will um upset any fan of this team. And that is they move on from those like tier 1A guys, which is Porzingis, Drew Holiday, Holiday or Derek White, and they’re they’re kind of I keep him chipping off there. And then you could say, “Yeah, and they’ve got some other money they can move.” Like Sam Hower is going to be making $10 million next year. Or they can say, “Let’s just rip off the band-aid and we could keep just based on numbers, we can keep more of the team together if we move on from Jaylen Brown, which by the way would get the biggest return. He would get you a hall if you move Jaylen Brown. So, the best return and the most valuable chip you have if you’re willing to break up the Jays would be Jaylen Brown. Yeah, it’s the best return. But then what’s your team? Your team is very different without him. See, but but you still based on numbers, based on the guys on the roster, you keep more of the roster together by trading away a salary of $53 million. See, you might be trading away one player instead of two. Can I can I whine for just a little bit? Can I whine for like 30 seconds before I get to your your point? NBA owners, a lot of these NBA owners are babies. That’s why we’re in this position. We’re in this position because some of the rich owners said, “I don’t care. I’ll take I’ll spend whatever it takes to have a championship team. I may not get there, but I’ll spend the money.” So, if you got deep pockets, okay, bring it on. Fine. And some of the uh the owners who don’t have the pockets, don’t have the resources or don’t h do have the resources but don’t have the desire to spend their money complained about it. And that’s why we have this collective bargaining agreement. So it’s not about just your willingness to spend money. Now it’s, hey, if you spend money, we’re going to tax you. Just it’s going to be an unbelievable tax and we’re going to take away draft picks and a mid-level exception from you, too. There’s stuff you won’t be able to do for your team building purposes just so we can level the field. So, unfortunately, we’re in this position. Uh, Shams is right. It’s it’s it’s inevitable for every team. every every every big spending team is going it has a very it’s either two to four years a two to four year window of competitiveness before it’s just too expensive and you got to move on. Brad Stevens has done a fantastic job. Your your explanation right there takes him out of the mix cuz now his hands are tied. He has to do it. He has to unless unless Beetle you say, “All right, well I don’t care if my team doesn’t have a first round pick. Uh, I don’t care if my team um can’t use a mid-level exception to acquire talent. I’ll just keep getting taxed and keep getting taxed so I can keep the team together. That’s not going to happen. So, I think it is it really is the last run. I think it’ll be Porzingis. I think it’ll be Holiday. I don’t think they’ll move on from Brown. It’ll be Porzingis. It be Holiday. It’ll be Sam Hower. Um, I know Hower is not big money, but they’ve already got his replacement. They need Derrick White and his replacement is cheaper. They they they Shyman was was drafted as that’s Shyman is Sam Hower, just cheaper. So, it changes the dynamic this year, but it also changes how we look at greatness. So now true greatness is if you can be a back-to-back champion in the NBA, that’s the modern equivalent of a three repeat because when Shaq and Kobe did it as a a threeeat, these these uh structures weren’t in place. When Jordan did it twice, these structures weren’t in place. Uh even when when Steph, they didn’t have a three repeat, but when they went back to back with Steph and Durant, these structures weren’t in place. So you we kind of have to kind of grade on a curve when we’re talking about all-time great teams. If the Celtics are able to pull off a back-to-back championship, first time in Celtics history since 1969, if they can pull it off, we got to look at them and say, “Yeah, it’s pretty impressive.” Although we wouldn’t have done that 10 years ago. Ah, you won two. Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, it’s great. But now with this kind of financial pressure, with the the way the league is set up, winning backtoback is hard. It’s harder than it’s ever been. So there’s the repeater penalty. And I don’t want to get bogged down in all the minutiae of this, but I would just tell you that without trading Jaylen Brown, they’re not going to get down to a level where they can reset. Like they’re never going to be able to get under it and reset. But what I would do is just philosophically, which is do you want to chip away at all the other guys on the roster, Porzingis, Holiday, Hower, etc., or do you want to trade a big chip? I always 100% of the time will tell you keep Jaylen Brown and keep Jason Tatum together. You’d be crazy not to just start shedding salary in other places, which may require a bunch of deals to get it done. now. And if they are able to doing it that way, because I’d agree with you, but doing it that way, imagine if you win another one, now you’re legendary. Cuz it’s not like, oh, look at all the support that they had. Now the focus really is on Jaylen and Jason. And if you could win a championship with a completely different cast, it’s like it didn’t matter. You you put you can even start uh changing the narrative a little bit. start uh start building your own ego. Hey, they changed the rules because of us cuz we were so dominant. They changed the rules and we still were able to win even though they didn’t want, you know, they didn’t want us to win and we did it anyway. Put it on Brad. Like remember when people were pissed when he got rid of Marcus Smart, but like look how it turned out. No one knew who Derek White was. Like we knew who he was. Well, but like the role he’s played and look how good Pritchard has gotten. You say put it on Brad. You say put it on Brad. You know who he gonna put it on. Bill Chisum. Hey, congrats, Bill. Hey, Bill. You just got a new team. All right. Uh, now we got to break it up. And who’s got who’s going to be holding the bag? Who’s who’s responsible? They win a championship. And you imagine a week later, a couple weeks later, the Boston Celtics have moved on from Drew Holiday and Chris Porzingis. Who do you blame? The new guy. I’m gonna blame the guy who’s still in charge, Wick. You want to be in charge? Still got a gig, right? Here you go. This is your call then. No, Wick. Wick’s too smart for that. Wick’s going to be like, you know, we we talked about it. Yeah. All of a sudden, it’s going to be a collaboration. You know, we talked about it. Wants to stay in charge. Wants the courtside seats and wants the uh paid wants to wants to hoist the trophy at the end, but wants no responsibility when they start slashing guys off the roster. I’m just We blame Wick. Make it. Put it up there, Fowler. We blame Wick. I’m just here in a supporting role. How how how dare you uh take down the Chisums like that? The Chisums. I Our Brad. No, our Joe. That’s what That’s what she said. Our Joe. Our Joe. Our Joe. The valuation on the Celtics. And uh the deal will soon be completed and be fully compliant with NBA rules as it relates to these things. So, it is happening. Probably used her podcast money. You think that’s what it was? No, the podcast revenue. So, very lucrative. very lucrative podcast. No, he got it. Um, and there really wasn’t a question, I don’t think. Uh, Steve Steve Paluka kind of muddied the waters a bit and gave people some hope. It made you pause. Yeah. I think he gave people hope, but also was like, what is it? Made people worry a little bit, too. What does he know? Yeah. What is he saying here that if this deal doesn’t go through, he’ll be there waiting in the wings? Well, it took him a couple of months to get it done, right? I I think it was his disappointment. I think it was his disappointment speaking more than anything. Like this guy, there’s no way that they’re going to announce him and then find out, oh, actually, I’m I got some empty pockets here. I got lint in my pockets. I don’t have enough. It’s the same thing a Beetle that happened with the with Pags and Wick when they when they bought the team from Paul Gaston. They they agreed on the price. They were announced as the new owners and then after that there was like a race to find different partners to complete the to complete the sale. And that’s what that’s what happened here just at a at a much higher rate. Yeah, I think it’s a little different when the sale price is 6.4 $6.1 billion as opposed to right around 300 million. 300 million versus 6.1 billion. But these are money people. I know. But when we saw that report earlier that that he had approached a deep pocketed NFL owner about buying in and that was going on as of I don’t know a week, two weeks, who knows? Recent recent days that if that was necessary and still hadn’t been nailed down, well, maybe there was a chance that at the very least it was going to be delayed. It was going to take a little more time to get there. I think that’s the one thing he had on his side that Wick would wait as long as as necessary for him to find it. It may even help facilitate him finding it. Right. And it’s not just Wick uh Zo, it’s also Adam Silver. Like they’re not going to announce Bill Chisum. They’re not going to make a big deal about this and have all this media attention if the NBA is not comfortable with the guys that you’re presenting as uh the guy or the guys that you’re presenting as the next owner owners of the Celtics. I think the NBA was fine with with the the plan. This how you’re going to do it. Okay, we’re good with that. So, the next I want them to win just to see the photo opportunity of who holds the trophy. How many hands are going to be on it? Oh, Pack Wick’s going to have it. No, Pack. No, Pag’s got a plan already. Pag is going in. It’s like I’m I’m going in here. I know. I’m not gonna let Billy’s gonna have it. I When Wick has the I’m gonna let him have the mic. I’m taking the damn trophy. He has hog He hogged it in 2008. He hogged it last year. Not this time. I’m going out with that with my fingerprints on that thing. You know, he does have something to be happy about Pags, which is his piece of the team is now worth a lot more than it previously had been worth. Sure. So even if he didn’t end up with what he really wanted, which was being the controlling owner, his piece is now worth quite a bit. Everything goes up. What do you make of Pags and Wick sitting together at these playoff games? Is this fraudulent? Is this Is this just fraudulent? Totally PR. It’s fraudulent. So why are we doing this now? All of a sudden Belch Craft and Belch, you didn’t do it in 20 years. Why are you doing They really didn’t. They are not frequently sitting together at games opposite end one was under a bucket the other guys under and you know who knows this better than anybody Michael Holly who over the years has had more courtside experiences. Oh come on then really I think outside of season ticket holders that are down there no one’s been there more than you. It’s been fun. It’s been a hell of a ride. It’s been a hell of a ride. Who’s the business guy? Always stands up. Sully love him. He’s on a firstname basis. Shout out Sully. Yeah, Holly’s on a firstname basis with everybody around. I got spoiled though. Here’s here’s it. When I covered the Celtics, this is before the NBA learned how to really make the big money. I covered the Celtics half court. The beat writers sat at at midcourt. So, I could sit if I if I’m covering if I’m writing the main story for the Boston Globe. I sit at midc court. I hear the officials conversations and all this stuff. I could I could lean into the huddle, the Celtics huddle, hear the plays being called. And if I’m not writing the main story, how about this, Zoe? The baseline seats were also for writers. So, think about all the money they gave away. Like, wait a minute. Why are we letting these freeloading journalists Yeah. free million sit sit here? Because we used to be a proper country. Yeah, that’s why. Get them out of here. Granny’s still [ __ ] He’s up in the corner. Yeah. let’s let’s get them up like 15 16 rows uh from the floor and let’s make some money off these seats. So yeah, I got spoiled. I got spoiled covering the Celtics and now I just I love that. I love the courtside. So then you quit journalism and put all the ethics to the side and said just give me the free tickets, baby. I want the good seats seated at the right hand of the Wahbergs. Tony comes in. Oh, why not? So high five and El Pres. Yes, without a doubt. So, here’s the one thing I do question about it now. Just curious. Not that I think it matters in terms of how the team will operate. Who bought in? Who do we have? Who’s on the roster of owners now for the Celtics? Just because it could be an interesting name. Zo brought up the other day. Maybe the deep pocketed NFL owner that they had approached was not Robert Craft, but Jeffrey Lurri because Jeffrey, that’s a good one, Zo. Because Lori at the Super Bowl, he had a he had a it wasn’t quite a strong denial. It was I’m focused on what we’re doing right here uh with the Philadelphia Eagles, which is what he’s supposed to say. You can’t in the Super Bowl, you can’t say, “Oh, yeah. I’m really excited about the Celtics and now let’s talk about the NBA. It’s so exciting.” No. So, he just he kind of redirected the conversation. That’s not a bad call. And we know he wanted the he wanted the Patriots very badly. He’s a local guy. Uh talk about deep pockets and and talk about return on investment for all those guys who bought into the NFL in in the 90s and where they are now. So he’s got some he’s got some disposable income. Let’s get to your Celtics calls coming up next. 6177790985. Also, Isaiah Thomas, Celtics Isaiah Thomas is upset for being left out of the eight-part docue series. Nine. Nine. Thought it was eight. Nine parts. It’s nine episodes. Yes. Nine. Nine episodes. I I promise someday I’m going to turn it on. Someday I’m going to get this. You what? You didn’t You didn’t watch any of it. Because you know why? Why? Because it’s that many episodes. It’s daunting. It’s too much. It’s like a uh a a book that’s 700 pages. Cut it down. Cut it down to like nice 350. I put it I put it off because I just know once you start Well, that’s a really long thing. You got to get a commitment coaching baseball, right? It’s like It’s like the ESPN book. Remember the ESPN book? Did you read it? Uh the whole thing? No, I did. Jim Miller, you read that whole book? Yes. Because you start a book, you got to read the book. No way. So, what how long is that? That was like 800 pages. Yeah. daunting. That’s how I feel about this particular but this is docu series. That’s Well, listen, Beetle, if you read the 800page ESPN book to support your boy here, well, you know, why don’t you watch Then I’ll go and binge watch White Lotus, no problem. Yeah. And season 3 was not so great on White Lotus. I was okay with this. Was that more than nine episodes? No, eight. It was about eight or nine. There you go. That’s your limit. There you go. Eight. I’m finding out that eight’s the number. That’s the limit.

On Friday’s edition of Zolak and Bertrand, the guys reacted to a report from ESPN that indicated how the Celtics are going to look to off load salary to be able to get under the luxury tax. The guys then questioned how drastic the changes will be.
Thumbnail Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports.
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