Are the Boston Celtics still TITLE CONTENDERS after massive offseason moves? 👀| The Hoop Collective

Are the Boston Celtics still TITLE CONTENDERS after massive offseason moves? 👀| The Hoop Collective

Stevens gave a press conference on Tuesday talking about the Celtics and their situation. And look, he said what you have to say, which is that the reason that they had to make these trades to take their team down was the second apron. They knew this was coming to a certain extent. Um he said rather definitively, we will not use the term rebuild. Um however, they do need to rebuild. Now, they don’t need to rebuild their core players. They have three core players that they’re keeping. Um, and Jason Tatum hopefully will make it back and everything like that, but they do need to rebuild their role players. And whether that’s okay, a rebuild is like ground up, not with two supermax guys semantics, however you want to do it. That’s not They need They’re going to need to get some more players. Bottom line. Correct. Yeah. Correct. They have to rework the roster. I mean, look, they they moved out for Sasporzingis for George Nier essentially. They moved on for Jihadi for Anthony Simons, who I think is a stop gap option. And I could see them potentially move on for him if they could save some more money on his trying I mean they are like I have talked to other teams who have said the Celtics are actively trying to trade Anthony Simons. like whether they can or not, it would behoove the Celtics. It would behoove the Celtics for a variety of reasons to get out of the luxury tax this season to reset there with Peter and to like look, you know, I think we’re going to get into Al Horford in a minute. Luke Cornet was introduced, I believe, Tuesday in San Antonio, uh, with his new team, the Spurs. Um, he is no longer Celtics. You see why he said he was he took number seven? He because he hopes to be oneird. He said because he hopes to be one-third the player than Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan. That’s that is I could see Luke I could actually see Luke saying that. Uh it’s pretty funny. But no look they and and as Brad also said um you know Al Horford very unlikely to return to Boston. This is also not a surprise based off where the Celtics are at. Again go back to the Jason Tatum injury. The Jason Tatum injury set off a whole cascading series of events across the the league, let alone in Boston. And if Jason Datim is healthy and the Celtics are trying to win the East next year, Al Horford is not going anywhere. But with the Celtics very clearly in a rebuild, retool, you know, reset, whatever you want to call the 2025, 26 season, what it is not is a season where they’re trying to win the Eastern Conference. And if you’re Al Horford, who’s approaching his 40th birthday, who has, you know, most a couple years left probably in the league, even though it looks like he could play another 10, um he wants to be competitive and so he to me is the number one free agent available in terms of guys that can really move the needle in terms of the championship picture next year. the unrestricted guys. There’s some good restricted players, but again, he is in terms of guys who are moving the needle for next season to change the championship picture, Al Horford is the best player available, period. And I think you could ask Steve is going to make them better. You could say Steve Kerr, hey, who would you rather have in your roster next year, Al Horford or Jonathan Kaminga? You and tell me what tell me what Steve tells you. Ask him over. He would he would he would uh answer that one very uh diplomatically is what he would do. Ask him Ask him over survey. Well, he might have both. So, he would say he would probably say, “I’d like to have both,” which he might have. He would probably say he’d like to have both. And Al and Al Horford would have a really good homem if he lands in Golden State. But look, wherever Al winds up, he’s going to be on a team that’s got a shot to win. and he’s going to have a big impact, especially if he can be in a situation like he was in Boston where he can play 50 to 60 games and be fully ready to go in the playoffs cuz I thought the Celtics vanished in the last couple years perfectly and had him ready to go when it mattered and when he ramped it up against big opponents or in the playoffs, he still would have a massive impact even though he’s approaching his 40th birthday. Yeah. And by the way, speaking of Porzingis, Anie Salah, the general manager of the Hawks spoke today and he said they have no concern about Chris Porzingis’s health. So, thought I’d put that out there as well. Yeah. And the Celtics lost their number one Euro basket. Yeah. But, you know, the Celtics, so the Celtics, their fourth string center is pencled in as their starter now, but it’s not like a major concern going in the season because it’s a gap year for him. And, you know, maybe maybe a Luca Garza or or uh help me out with it, Josh Mina. And no, he’s not a big uh Kada. He’s talking about Nidas Kada, who is Portuguese actually uh where I’m at at the moment or Portugal. My guess is he’ll be my guess is he’ll be starting and he look he’s a super interesting player. I mean he’s a sevenfooter who can really jump. He can move his feet like he he’s an interesting developmental guy that was on a two-way in the past. Boston converted him and he like I think he’s going to get a lot of minutes next year. He’s going to get a chance to develop. He could be a really good long-term piece for them. But that’s what next season’s going to be about. It’s gonna be about as you just said Brian, can Josh Miden turn into a piece for them? Can Luke Garza be a piece for them? Maybe can they find some other guys? Can you Hugo Gonzalez, the guy they drafted from Real Madrid, play for them? That that’s what 25 about not if it’s going to be a gap year, make it a gap year. So this is what I’m see people may say, well why would the Celtics try to retrade Anthony Simons? The guy is an electric scorer. They need something like that. The answer is not because they don’t like him. The answer is because they’re trying to make it a true gap year. Get out of the tax, reset the repeater, reset the luxury tax, put themselves in a position to Dallas Mavericks and jump up in the lottery and get Aaron Peterson or Nate Men or AJ Deansa or Cameron Boozer or whoever. Although it’s a hell of a lot easier to land in the lottery in the West than it is the East. That’s true. The Jazz are going to make that clear. As a reminder, there are still some tickets left. By the way, I was told it’s close to a sellout. And I wouldn’t just say that to um try to get people to buy tickets. I was told it’s close to a sellout. So, whatever that’s worth to you. It’s a Saturday night at the Brad Garrett Comedy Club at the MGM Grand. McMahon and I will be there. Will Bonts make it from Portugal? God, I hope not. Will he literally fly back and forth across the Atlantic just to do this this podcast? Because I believe he’s supposed to be in Portugal for multiple weeks. Guess we’ll find out. That is correct. How committed is long tips? We will find out. Yeah, we will. We will find out. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On The Hoop Collective, Brian Windhorst, Tim MacMahon and Tim Bontemps discuss the Boston Celtics’ massive offseason changes and what it means for them next season.

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