APRIL 6: The Celtics have officially signed Gibson, the team confirmed today in a press release. Boston’s announcement doesn’t mention Silas, but the assumption is that his 10-day deal was terminated a day early in order to accommodate the signing of Gibson.
APRIL 5: The Celtics will be signing free agent point guard Jonathan Gibson to a rest-of-season contract, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.
Gibson, who appeared in 17 games for the Mavericks during the 2016/17 season, has otherwise spent his professional career playing for a variety of international teams. Since going undrafted in 2010, Gibson has made stops in Turkey, Israel, Italy, Iran, and China.
In 2017/18, the former New Mexico State standout appeared in 38 Chinese League games for Qingdao, averaging 33.7 PPG with 6.8 RPG and 4.7 APG.
Gibson will be a much-needed backcourt addition for a Celtics team that will be without Kyrie Irving for the rest of the season. Marcus Smart also remains sidelined with a thumb injury, while Shane Larkin has missed Boston’s last two games with an illness and Terry Rozier has been dealing with an ankle issue.
[RELATED: Kyrie Irving to miss playoffs]
The Celtics currently have a full roster, with Xavier Silas serving as the team’s 16th man via a hardship exception. According to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link), Gibson will replace Silas on the roster. Silas’ 10-day deal had been set to expire on Friday night, but the team could opt to terminate it before it expires in order to sign Gibson — Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald suggests (via Twitter) that the Gibson signing won’t become official until Friday at the earliest.
Boston’s hardship exception, which allows the club to carry a 16th man, won’t extend into the playoffs. As such, Gibson won’t be postseason-eligible unless the C’s cut another player, which seems unlikely.
How do these guys go to China and average 30+? Do they just not play defense or something?
The pace in that league is pretty fast, and the defense is not really a thing
Time to TANK !!
I know you’re joking and you made me laugh. Very funny post. But since you brought it up, I have to believe that everyone knows by now tanking doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter where you pick, it matters who you pick. The Sacramento Kings can pick in the top 10 for 15 years and still suck. They don’t know how to draft. Management counts. Other teams doesn’t matter where they pick they’re going to find the best player. Look at Kyle kuzma picked up late… very late. Look at Donovan Mitchell picked 12 or 13 or whatever, amazing player.
Signed via hardship exception (16th man).
Silas was in that 16th spot already though, which is why I assume his deal was terminated a day early.