Big Moves Still Coming? Lillard? Al? Simons to go? Celtics Insider Mego Joins! ||The Greg Hill Show

Big Moves Still Coming? Lillard? Al? Simons to go? Celtics Insider Mego Joins! ||The Greg Hill Show

During they said it, we heard from Derek White, who is delighted to still be here as a Boston Celtic. And I, as our Celtics insider at this radio station, wanted to ask you about whether this uh you believe Brad Stevens is done. Is this uh when you look at this roster now, is that how they are headed into next season from what you are hearing? My personal opinion is that they’re not done. And mostly it’s financial. Like if you look at it’s clear one of the goals of this off season was to be under the second apron of the CBA and they’re a little bit over the second apron because of what they got back in trades and what they did in free agency. So, even if you’re like being um I don’t know, very cynical and saying, “Well, the goal of the Celtics was to offload these salaries and have a down year in terms of getting under maybe even getting under the luxury tax and not be a tax repeater.” They still haven’t done that. So, like they could still move somebody like Anthony Simons. He’s on a $27.7 million contract that is an expiring contract. So it’s easy to move. Like even if they wanted to add more to their front court, get another big cuz they don’t have anybody on the roster right now who’s a traditional starting big, they could flip Simons, open up some of that space, and then maybe bring back a smaller piece financially who would be a starting big. So, I don’t think it’s going to be anything that’s like giant fireworks in terms of a core player like Jaylen or Derek moving, but I also think that it’s just pretty obvious that they have to make some other moves before you get to to the beginning of the season. You’re in favor of doing the Dame Lillard deal. Abs freakingutely. Okay. Yes. Yes. To me, it is the most obvious thing. I don’t understand an argument against it. It’s basically like found money. I mean, this guy is maybe going to cost you $5.6 million if you do uh the the mid-level tax exemption. That’s nothing. And he won’t play this year. Nope. He’ll come back the following year, hopefully be somebody who’s kind of like a luxury piece for you, very cheap. He can be a volume scorer off the bench. You have Payton Pritchard as your starting point guard, and then you bring Dame Lillard in off the bench. Like it’s just it’s such an unusual circumstance for you to be in with a player of that caliber. Yeah, he’s getting older. Yeah, he’s coming off of a dramatic injury, but the risk is so low. It doesn’t even count against your and it and just the player that you look at that he could be and not he’s going to be the Dame Lillard that we all know but he’ll still have some of that late game Dame Dollar where and we were talking about this yesterday where the league has become you know try to get to the paint and then dish to open guys to spot up in the corner and one of the callers said well what about Russell Westbrook I would say give me Dame Lillard because when you got Tatum driving or Jaylen driving kicks out to Dame Lillard in the corner for one of them open threes. I would much rather have that guy who I know can knock shots down like that. And I’m with you on this one, Mego. It is a nobrainer that you add a guy for that cheap and low risk, high reward. Could be a guy that in, you know, a playoff game or two or a couple goes out there and scores 27 28 points. Who can you get from a big perspective if you’re throwing Simons out there? So, I mean, at this point, most of the free agents who would be a big impact player are gone or signed. So, it would have to be a trade that you’d execute. And even then, if you look at what Cornet and what uh Al Horford are and what Al Horford’s probably going to get with his next team, like because those guys are in that $10 million a year range, you have to imagine Brad Stevens told us the other day that they made offers to both of those guys. They’re looking much lower than that in terms of what they’re paying. So, I I I mean, I’ve always been a little intrigued by Mo Vagner from the Orlando Magic. He’s somebody who has been a free agent because they didn’t pick up his option for his final year, but even that is just like very very rich for this off season. What about the the guy from Chicago? They could they’ve ru his name is V uh Veovich. Is that how you say? His name has kind of been thrown out a lot, but is he does he make a ton of money though? I don’t I don’t have his contract in front of me. I’m not sure, but I like is is it possible that they run out Namias Kada and Luca Garza, their new acquisition, as their starters and you get like Xavier Tilman as a bench piece. It’s just it’s it’s hard to imagine that they’re completely finished there, but I think whoever they add in that big spot is not going to be somebody like I don’t know like a Jonathan Kaminga level like huge name that you would know. And where do they end up it with Jaylen Brown as your alpha and uh as currently composed? What do they end up? Are they a playoff team? Are they are they what seed do they end up being at? I say that they’re either a six seed or in the playin. I think that that’s kind of where they’re at realistically. It’ll be interesting to see Wiggy and I were talking about this during the break a couple breaks about ago. It’ be interesting to see if they keep Simons. That would indicate to me that they are so heavily leaning towards being an offensive powerhouse team because they’re basically going to say our strength is in offense. We’re continuing with the Missoula ball. We’re going to try to score as much as we can and kind of play defense through our offense. If they move on from Anthony Simons and they bring back somebody else, I think that that may look a little different. But I think I don’t like I think a six seed feels like the most accurate, but at the same time I don’t think that the Eastern Conference has gotten better in the wake of the finals. Yeah. And the uh Nola Vuchi is like 21 million. So it’s like flipping Simons is basically the same amount of money. I don’t think they’d go for that. But you’re right. When you start to look at this team and but I’m cool because my expectations are not high. Like as a Celtics fan, I’m not looking at this year for them to go in and compete for a championship. Like my expectations are not high. So if you’re a five seed, a six seed, you’re in the playoff round. Like, all right, that’s what I expected. My thing is, all right, how are you setting up the year after? I don’t even want Tatum playing at all. Okay, so Wiggy, what happens if they get past the second round of the playoffs and Tatum says he’s good to go? Like what if Tatum has played very sparingly? He’s like on a Christophs Porzingis playoff plan where he he’s played like two games. Do you have him playing in the playoffs? So you said if they get past the second round. Yeah. So then that means they’re headed into the Eastern Conference Finals. Do you play Do you play Tatum? Tatum says I am good guys. Like I’d have to see how he looked that when he’s playing sparingly to see what he looks like, you know. Um because I I and I don’t like I don’t equate him to Kevin Durant, you know, but I look at the Kevin Durant model of Kevin Durant when he blew his Achilles out. I know Tatum is much younger when it happened. I think Durant might have been 31 at the time where you know uh where Tatum’s what 27. So I still expect Tatum to come back and be Tatum that we’ve seen before. 774 textter on the Subaru of New England text line, and I hear this frequently, says they can win the East without Jason Tatum, which is I I don’t I don’t I don’t think so. I think it’ll be tough to get past Cleveland and New York, but I mean, even the Hawks have gotten a lot better, but at the same time, the Pacers have gotten significantly worse, right? But you you were probably going to lose the series against New York with everybody. So now you really are gonna have Jaylen Brown, Derek White, Pete Pritch, and maybe Simon and then however you patch the rest of the team together. So, and it looks like New York could potentially get Giannis or they could get better. I don’t really see how you how they can say that about this Celtics team. Yeah. 978 texts are all over your insider status saying they should be higher than a six seed and uh calling you out on being an insider. I mean, you’re there all the time. That’s what I consider to be an insult. Look, if you want them to be higher than a six seed, I I love that. Like, I I would love the more optimistic perspective. I’m just I think I got two feet on the ground and I’m looking at it and saying I don’t know who the starting big is. And that’s a big question. So, we’ll see. Maybe maybe the roster, like I said, I don’t think they’re done. So, what does the roster look like when you’re in September when you start heading into training camp? We’ll see. You want to come out, Mego? You got to go go through Shine. There you go. And then Wiggy and then Jackson. And if necessary, I mean, I do wear glasses, but I would be the I would be the line of final defense. Okay. What’s that person think? I give if they’re So, do they think that this team’s going to be a fourth seed? Cuz I feel like they could fall anywhere between four and seven. But does he think they’re going to or she do they think they’re going to be a one or a two seed? I think they do. Come on. Stop it. All right.

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The Greg Hill Show!

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