Brad Stevens has done the work to clear salaries, but the final re-tool of this roster is still up in the air.
The Celtics entered the offseason staring at a projected $238 million luxury tax bill. To avoid this, Brad Stevens had to drop $20M in salary without completely gutting the team. He wasted no time in achieving that goal before we even got to the NBA Draft.
I won’t pretend that any of that was easy (most assumed it would take several incremental moves to achieve). However, it is always easier to dismantle a team than it is to build it back up. So, as we wait for the agreed upon trades to be officially completed and announced, the question that seems to be on every Celtics fan’s mind is, “now what?”
Despite the talent drain of losing Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet, and most likely Al Horford, there’s still a solid core of a team that Stevens can build around with an eye towards 2026-27. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Derrick White is still a heck of a top-3. If they keep Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser, they’ll have cost effective shooters as well. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess and I have a feeling we’ll be discussing this for the next year.
As much as I’d like to get answers and a quick and satisfying conclusion to this mess, we very well could be waiting a long time for that other shoe to drop. We could be entering the following season with Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang on the roster. Or maybe they’ll be flipped for other players and assets (and of course, the all-important cap flexibility). At some point I’m hoping that they’ll improve upon the center rotation of Luka Garza, Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman, and rookie Amari Williams. But that might not be anytime soon.
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Real ones remember the churn of transactions that occurred after the Pierce/Garnett Nets trade. The revolving door of players and trade assets was dizzying. This “Gap Year” plan seems to be on a much tighter schedule than that full detonation of the team. But the lesson is clear: nobody outside the top-3 should be considered safe and none of the new faces should spend too much time on Zillow.
The hope is that some of the draft picks and low-cost flyers really click into place. I could see Stevens flipping the Simons and Niang expiring contracts for 2 or 3 “guys” that could be in our rotation down the line. Hopefully something resembling a starting center will materialize on the roster.
I have a ton of faith that Brad Stevens can and will make the right moves to position this team into being a contender by the time Tatum is back to attacking the basket. I just don’t have the foggiest idea of how he’s going to get there. The 2024 title team was built around a loaded roster of veterans that were paid very handsomely. With the Tatum and Brown deals taking up so much of the cap, the next version of this team will have to be a lot more efficient financially.
There’s still plenty of time left in this offseason for some additional transactions. But it is worth noting that there’s also the trade deadline transaction cycle, as well as next offseason. Brad is pretty good at this. Let him cook.