The Celtics‘ lack of depth was exposed during the Eastern Conference Finals against Miami, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, who contends that president of basketball operations Danny Ainge deserves some criticism for the club’s thin bench and a failure to make upgrades at the trade deadline.
In Washburn’s view, the Celtics’ squad was “cluttered” with too many non-contributors who couldn’t help the team this year. Ainge needs to focus this offseason on adding more players who can be counted on for minutes in big games, says Washburn.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau singled out RJ Barrett and Julius Randle as a couple players who impressed him during the team’s in-market mini-camp, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News and Marc Berman of The New York Post write. Thibodeau said Barrett had his best practice on Tuesday and praise Randle for his leadership.
- Eric Koreen of The Athletic considers which teams the Raptors should view as the biggest outside threats to lure away free agents like Fred VanVleet, Serge Ibaka, and Marc Gasol, among others.
- In his latest mailbag, Derek Bodner of The Athletic explores whether the Sixers should regret their years of tanking, how much autonomy Elton Brand has in the front office, and a few more 76ers-related topics.
- In case you missed it, Tyronn Lue interviewed for the Sixers‘ head coaching job on Tuesday. We have the full story right here.
Will Knicks make offer for both VanVleet and Harrell？
Will 76ers make a full salary dump trade for Horford？
100 percent true on Celtics, They had Tatum, Walker, Smart and Brown, who were all different degrees of very good, then Hayward and Theiss, then…pretty much nothing. When Hayward went down Brad Wanamaker was the 6th man. Nuff said.
I mean, where are Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk when you need them?
I’m no Boston fan but Ainge deserves blame….. for them making it to in the Eastern Finals? Lol
No. The team was 1 or 2 bench players short from going to the championship and maybe winning one. Ainge knew it and failed to make any deadline moves
Ainge keeps being cheap and hoarding draft picks even tho most of them end up as busts. He’s only good at drafting in the top 10. After that he’s pretty awful. Should’ve traded some future picks for good players.
Agree. For all the college games that Danny Ainge attends and all the scouting that his son does over in Europe the Celtics are one of the worst talent evaluators unless they are drafting in top 3.
On top of that he hoards all these lower picks claiming they are worth more than the offers he’s receiving yet his staff does not posses the acumen to turn those trash picks into gold like other franchises.
As a result you have too many picks that end up being misfits in the G-League or stashed in Europe and no one to help club in Boston.
Forget the tank… Sixerswould have Iggy, Jrue, and Vucevic if they didn’t tank. What does that team even accomplish? Who were they beating? Embiid and Simmons > anyone on those teams they had. Iggy was good as the 4th, 5th, or 6th option in the playoffs and if they reupped him in Philly
Technically vooch was traded for Andrew Bynum…that was not a tank move. But because of his never actually playing, it led to the demise of the FO and thus the Process was born.
Iggy was part of the Bynum deal. The whole move was a catalyst to the tank move.
I agree that the Celtics lack of depth was a big issue… but it’s also not like they didn’t know that pretty much before the season even started. The problem was/is that they didn’t really have ANY contracts that could be traded. All of the guys making enough $ to be included in a trade to bring back a solid veteran for depth were already starters. Beyond Tatum, Brown, Walker, Smart, Hayward and Theis everyone else was making less than $3M so their options to add a veteran at the deadline was extremely limited. I think this off-season having the low-level exception (or bi-annual… whichever they’ll have available) and the ability to maybe package some guys together with picks will give them more flexibility. But as far as at the deadline goes… Ainge’s hands were pretty much tied because of the salary situation. One other possibility could be trading a guy like Marcus Smart — but at the deadline that was definitely not a move you were going to make given how big of a role he has in their rotation.
Tatum, Brown and Smart are the backbone in Boston these playoffs made that abundantly clear. If Hayward stays he is the tradebait…I would put money on Ainge to get Hayward to opt out and return for crumbs.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Walker moved for CP3 at all.
Tatum and Brown imparticularly look like a killer combo for a long time, the experience they have picked so far in their short careers leaves them miles ahead in development from most.
I would trade Walker for CP3 except it was disclosed after they were eliminated that Kemba was still hurting during the Toronto and Hear series.
But Ainge’s hands weren’t so tied because he’s admitted to turning down deals for his lower draft picks claiming that either…
-He wasn’t receiving good enough deals for what amounted to pick numbers 14, 26, 30.
-He really liked all the chemistry in the locker room and the current team was just a bunch of nice guys including the rookies Poirie, Williams, Langford, Fall, etc who contributed nothing to the team.
-If he did make a deal for a real shooter off the bench that they would basically be the 9th player on the Celts’ bench so it wouldn’t be worth it.
All that being said I think Celtics ownership and all the Green Teamers out there need to hold Ainge more accountable because it’s apparent that nepotism and complacency have infiltrated the organization, the FO have turned into hoarders of picks, and now the Lakers are going to tie them in number of titles won.
Celtics could have traded for Love or Aldridge. Both could have helped them beat Heat. Instead they held onto their picks l. In a supposedly weak draft. Ok so Ainge deserves blame. Good thing is they can get depth in draft. With three #1 picks. They can also move Hayward as expiring contract.
I doubt Knicks stay with Randle. He’s not a Thibs kind of player. He will be shopped. Sixers move Horford they are right back in it. IMO they should go with DAntoni. The East will be much tougher next yr. So all teams better get their act together.
Jaylen Brown is #1 shooting guard…let that sink in. He is not reliable shooter. Should be coming off bench if they are to win a championship. He and Smart have terrible shot selection.
Amen and don’t get me started about Jaylen Brown’s poor handle, the fact that he barely moves without the ball, or how his hands are always down at his side so it makes it hard for him recover quick passes in the paint.
Ainge is fine. The team lost Al Horford, replaced him w/ Enes Kanter, had the expectations of a 6th seed, and made the Conference Finals.
The main issue w/ the roster is Kanter didn’t fit schematically. They were so overloaded with scoring that it didn’t make sense to play him. They needed more guys like Theis who were highly effective off the ball.
Robert Williams should have been that guy, but can’t stay healthy. Grant Williams and Romeo Langford are being developed in those roles. Were they supposed to trade the young guys for vets and shortcut to success? When Tatum is 22 years old?
So does green Kool-aid actually taste like lime? Lol