What are the Celtics long-term plans?

What are the Celtics long-term plans?

where do you think we are with the Celtics at this stage they got a lot of credit for regaining their quote unquote flexibility do they really have it and do you think they’re done
i I don’t think they’re done i don’t think they’re done here i don’t think they’re done adding to the team and I also don’t think that they’re done trimming money at this point i mean you look at some of the reporting that is out there uh you know Bobby Manning had the idea that obviously they’re going to decline this JD Davidson option over the week coming up over the weekend and that gets them really close to the first apron getting below the first apron they’d be within about 5 million i think the plan here depending on who they can get in terms of players is to maybe even go all the way down below the actual luxury tax so that now you have a chance if you can do that in consecutive years you can reset all the repeater taxes that start to click in when you’re above the luxury tax and then above the first apron then above the second apron and that’s sort of what you know did them in being above the second apron’s not great obviously but it’s like you know $6.75 for every dollar you spend but because they had the repeater tax it went up to $8.75 for every dollar that they were spending and that really necessitated some of these moves so if you’re not going to be a championship contender and I know people look at the East and feel like it is weak and maybe it’s there for the taking I understand that but I’m sorry even if you get out of the East whoever you’re facing in the West if you don’t have Jason Tatum or you don’t have the Jason Tatum we’ve seen before you’re probably not winning that series and so the odds of of getting there and winning a championship are not great so if you approach it that way it does make sense and this year this sort of gap year for the Celtics to try and get all the way under the 1879 of just the regular luxury tax so that’s not second apron that’s not first apron that’s just the luxury tax to get under that if you can okay so Chris getting under that number again not the apron the actual tax number which means being a non-ax team would that have been a goal even if Tatum were healthy probably not that’s my guess i mean probably not if Tatum’s healthy you with a player like Tatum
you probably feel like every year he’s out there you have a chance to compete for a championship if you put the right pieces on the team and especially having Tatum and Brown so I would guess that that wouldn’t be a goal if Tatum weren’t down but with him down it sort of makes sense maybe to try and while you’re doing this recalibration get below that because then when he comes back if you want to stretch yourself and you want to do some things to try and go for it again it puts you in a more flexible position to do that financially because you’re not worried about you know the repeater tax now again you have to do it twice it’s not just this year that that alone wouldn’t wipe it out but if you could do it this year and next year which you might be able to do it would make a lot of sense moving forward in terms of chasing more championships with with Jason Tatum on the team
sorry so how do you do it yeah I think what you would have to do is move on from either Anthony Simons or Derek White and if it were me I would move on from Derek White not because Simons is a better player i I think he’s a better scoreer but he’s not a better player i think Derrick White has more value and I think you’d be selling about as high as you possibly can on Derek White and I know Celtics fans don’t want to hear that but White’s value right now is probably as high as it’s ever going to be if they play this year without Jason Tatum and he’s asked to be a number two he’ll play well but I think people will look at and say “Well you know he’s not really a number two.” There might be somebody out there now that can convince themselves that he can be a two so you’re looking at the season he had averaging 18 points per game you’re looking at his contract he’s making 21 excuse me 28.1 million uh this year his three years of of of term on that plus a player option he turns 31 in July so he’s a little older than maybe Celtics fans think and I just feel like with his value this high right now you could leverage him uh into something else where either you’re getting a bunch of picks back and you you find a way under the luxury tax or maybe even if you’re still over the luxury tax and you’re in like the first apron which they’re they’re only like $5 million away from getting the first apron let’s say you’re still in the first apron but you’ve been able to use him and get some different players at different positions and maybe some younger players
all right so that’s a tough sell for fans we get that obviously would be a tough cell for Jason Tatum as well how do you how do you massage that if they were going to do that and move on from Derek
and again it’s a tough cell for Jason Tatum why because this is his guy like this best friend on the team
yeah it’s his best friend on the team and that that would certainly be a tough cell I think for for Jason Tatum and it would be sort of incumbent upon Brad and
you know Joel Missoula to explain to him why they they have to do this but I think that’s the thing let’s say it’s hypothetical but let’s say you’re able to get under and it gets really complicated and I’m not going to pretend that I know exactly what I’m talking about in this but so I’ll just say my understanding of it they would have to get below the first apron to do a sign and trade but they could probably do that by moving off of just Sam Hower and get below that first apron because they’re close they’re within like five million so at that point you could do a signin trade with another team and so that would maybe be someone like Nas Reed in Minnesota
oh who’s a free agent he opted out of his contract so if he does you know a sign in trade with Minnesota coming to you and Derek White goes back then Nas Reed is 25 and a center so that might be how you sell it to Jason Tatum like hey we needed bigs you know we love Derek but this is this guy has a longer runway and this is a big that’s going to help you in your career
favorite of Drew Carter as well nazare
yes he’s a great player though i mean I’ll take him
chris how do you feel about what they’ve done so far i like what they’ve done you know and I know you guys are kind of like oh man you know why is Brad getting all this credit i’ll tell you why Brad’s getting all this credit because they got off of these two contracts without having to give up any considerable draft capital normally in the NBA to get out from under contracts like this and Holiday’s different because he is valued across the league but still at his age with that term remaining I don’t think anybody would have been surprised if they had to attach a pick a first round pick to him and they didn’t have to give up any first round picks to get out of these two deals and that’s why I think people are throwing plottits at Stevens the way that they are because he didn’t have to give up the draft capital that can hope them down help them down the line in order to be able to send out these contracts and that more than anything is what’s impressive to me i mean getting Simons back is good we’ll see what they do with him i mean that’s a guy I said in the show email either Derek White or Anthony Simons to me is is not on this team on opening night i I would be surprised if they’re both on the roster on opening night i I I think that’s tough given what they’re trying to accomplish i think one of those guys has to go for cost cutting or roster reconfiguration purposes but the fact that Brad was able to make these Simons is an asset that you could flip so that’s good didn’t have to give up a first round pick to move off a Holiday’s contract didn’t have to give up a first round pick to get off of Porzingis’ contract that’s why Brad is getting the credit that he’s getting for these deals okay i that all may be true he’s getting the credit because he’s a Celtics GM and green teamers are going to support the team
i think he’s getting the credit across the league though Felgar
yeah no fair enough fair enough
no look at it and say “Oh this is pretty good maneuvering by Brad to not have to attach a pick to either of these guys and do what they’re doing.”
Well I don’t think their contracts are all that bad i mean Porzingis is a expiring contract right it’s one year left no he’s got No no you’re right you’re right yeah so that’s actually like I gonna treat that as kind of valuable like actually
it can be i mean it can be valuable but it’s still you know clogging up some of your cap space for a guy that might not really take the the the court that often you don’t know he’s injured all the time so if and there was not a lot of cap space across the NBA this off season i mean they got Brooklyn involved in that deal and that certainly helped at the end of the day but that’s the thing so yeah expiring contract yes you know that does have some value to it but there’s not a ton of cap space across the league and now you got to carry this guy at least for a little while and you don’t even know if he’s going to be on the court you know so that’s I mean you’re selling Porzingis really at a low you know based on what his injury situation was so to not have to attach a pick for someone to take him I think is is significant
okay so Gasper says uh well I’ll just say we all agree that they haven’t really accomplished what Steven spent so much time talking about the other night which is flexibility they they still don’t have it they’ve they they’ve set themselves up to have it but again if they sign Horford and Cornet they’re back in the second apron back in all these taxes and there goes the flexibility so it’s something’s still got to give for them truly to have the flexibility they’re talking about there’s another step and if he means capital F flexibility it’s not just first apron it’s all the luxury tax stuff so it’s going back below the C you know like that’s how you that’s flexibility with a capital F and if he’s serious about it then something has to give anthony I I say Anthony Simmons Simons and Derek White uh one of those two is gone and I’ve been saying Simons because it’s just sort of an easier that’s an easier band-aid to pull I think for fans and the business and all of that chris what what is it when you say that they could get more for white that totally makes sense to me what do you think the likelihood is that what they will do in other words are they more likely to move White or move Simons um that’s a good question my guess would be Simons just because I think again expiring contract no history with the team and they’re going to want a hall for White they’re going to want real value for White whereas Simons I’m not going to call it a salary dump but I think that they would be more willing to take back you know essentially 80 cents on the dollar for him um than somebody like White who is a real asset a real part of their team but that’s why White should have I mean there’s teams across the league if there are teams that feel like hey we’re one if you’re Minnesota you feel like you’re one player at Golden State one player away some of these other teams or you’re team like Sacramento who wants to be competitive in a really tough Western Conference and probably needs a point guard and has some different player assets there there might be somebody after free agency or at the outside of free agency who looks around and says “Man what we need isn’t here.” Uh Derek White would really tip the balance for us and somebody gets I don’t want to say they get stupid but somebody gets desperate and is willing to to give them a lot for Derek White okay we’ll take some Celtics calls with Chris first real quick your thought on uh what Stevens had to say the other night about the Celtics play style and what he saw in that Knicks series and he sort of circled back to that again and talked about what he saw in the finals and you know I don’t know if I tie that into the stuff we were hearing on NBC Sports Boston about the new thing in the NBA is cutting according to to Scal do you put all that together and say the Celtics are about to change the way they play
i don’t think they’re going to totally change the way they play but I do think they’ll moderate it somewhat and try and get more movement it’s interesting i mean we’ll see if Amari Williams he’s going to probably be on a two-way if he even makes the team but he is one of those guys his one of his best skills is passing and you play him with the high post well if you have a big man who plays at the high post and one of his best skills is passing uh it’s not standing at the high post and then throwing it backwards 10 feet to the three-point line it’s trying to hit cutters guys that are running by him on either side behind him so in order to take advantage of that you have to cut and I I think Brad probably realizes they need more more movement and they do play a lot of five out but if it’s just you know five guys standing around the ark you know one guy with the ball four guys standing around the arc that gets easier to defend they do need more movement and motion and I think they’ll incorporate that but I don’t all of a sudden expect them to really really drop down the number of three-pointers they take i still think that’s going to be their their bread and butter

Felger and Mazz get Chris Gasper’s opinion on the Celtics’ latest trade moves, pondering what their long-term plans are.

Thumbnail photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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