The playoffs showed that the Celtics could use more scoring off their bench, and Jared Weiss of The Athletic has a few suggestions that should fit into Boston’s budget. If Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter both opt in for next season, the team will be limited to the taxpayer mid-level exception, which should be about $5.7MM.
Weiss’ first choice is Langston Galloway, who averaged 10.3 points per game and shot 39.9% from 3-point range this year with the Pistons. Weiss notes that Galloway also handles the ball well enough to be considered a combo guard and would be a step up from Brad Wanamaker. Two other veteran possibilities he brings up are Orlando’s D.J. Augustin and Atlanta’s Jeff Teague, who may want to wrap up their careers on a team that can compete for a title.
Weiss also throws in point guard Jordan McLaughlin, who played 30 games for the Timberwolves this year after a sensational performance in the G League. However, the 24-year-old is a restricted free agent and Minnesota has expressed a desire to keep him, so the Celtics would likely have to go above his market value to have a chance.
There’s more from Boston:
- Center Daniel Theis had an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee Tuesday that included removal of a loose body, the team announced on Twitter. The surgery was successful and he is expected to be ready when training camp opens (Twitter link). Theis had surgery on the same knee in 2018, notes Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston (Twitter link).
- In a full story, Forsberg looks at Carsen Edwards, Javonte Green and Vincent Poirier and examines whether any of them have a future in Boston. Edwards was a second-round pick who is under contract for $1.78MM next season, so he’ll likely return. Green made his NBA debut at age 26 this season after several years of playing overseas, but he has a non-guaranteed contract for 2020/21 that nearly doubles his salary to $1.5MM. Poirier will make $2.6MM next season, and Forsberg expects the Celtics to look for someone to take that salary off their hands to ease their tax situation.
- The Celtics are monitoring the Andre Drummond situation in Cleveland and could be a potential trade partner if the Cavaliers decide to move him, sources tell Evan Dammarell of Forbes. Drummond is expected to opt into the the final year of his contract at $28.7MM, which would make him a free agent next summer. Dammarell mentions the Clippers and Spurs as other possibilities.
No way on Drummond. Seriously? Oh yeah, he would fit in great.
Drummond for Kanter for a ‘20 #1 and #2?
Galloway would be a nice pick up but I believe they would be better off keeping a player (Wanamaker) that is not quite as good as him but already knows the system
Their best bet is to find some trade targets we have the 4 players we drafted last yr plus T. Fall and we have (as of right now) 4 picks this yr plus a few useless players on the bench no offense to Kanter, Green, and Poirier
I would love to have a guy like Drummond on are team but I don’t think it’s a realistic option you don’t give up Walker or Hayward for him and if Williams can stay healthy and improve a lil more he can get the job done
What they need is that 6th or 7th man of the bench
According to 82games.com Boston was negative in production with their PF & SG when compared to their opponents.
(link to 82games.com)
PF was Jayson Tatum as starter but weak after that. On the other hand, SG was manned mainly by Smart & Brown who had a lower eFG and higher TO rate compared to their opponents. This is mainly due to Smart taking to many bad 2 pt shots/not driving enough.
So my question is: How does Andre Drummond solve either of those problems?
Better enables a smaller PF like Tatum, who may not be willing or able to engage in the paint & rebound; nor JBrown. Drummond would enable two SFs; he likes it in there.
In CLE Drummonde may come into conflict with the goals of KLove, TT, Nance, maybe a rookie, and so be available if they can’t move KLove.
Nice source. I like PERs since BasRef goes back in time with it and it’s an overall-value aggregator.
Drummond may do what you say but I think Boston’s front court reserves are the issue. Theis is handling the 5 spot fine it is 4 & 5 backups that are wanting. Drummond does not fit beantown’s version of small ball. Additionally, Smart’s inefficiency is hurting them more than his D is helping them at the 2 spot.
Seems like Smart gets beat up a lot. I’m sure he’s tough but his style has to wear.
Their smallball is fun but it looks like brinksmanship!
Celtics should try and get Love. Hayward and a pick can do it. He can fit there nicely. Love can score and is a shooter. Plus he’s a good rebounder. He would love to play for a contender. Celtics with Love have to be favs in East. Its a big upgrade for a pick. They have three picks in 1st rd.
Hayward is the same size as Love, is a better shooter, passer, playmaker. Hayward is better than Love. Do you actually watch the games and read analysis from smart basketball people, or do you just watch highlights, read headlines and listen to sports talk radio?
Wow, Montezuma, that’s quite an attack on a friendly assessment of the current Celtic situation. You really mean to go at him like that? Especially when you have no clue? Gordon Hayward is a small forward and he’s probably six 6-7. Kevin Love Is A Center or power forward at around 6-9. Totally different players. Hayward is a wing, Kevin Love is a stretch 4.
I would be very confident in this statement. You would find many who would argue that Kevin Love is the better shooter, passer and playmaker. Gordon Hayward can’t even stay on the floor nowadays. Plus I remember watching him in Utah and he was a guy that would get you 20 in the first three quarters but when it came time to the 4th he couldn’t get you two.
It’s funny how the people with the loudest mouths often have no idea what they’re talking about themselves.
Okay, sorry for the unnecessarily sharp reply, I was in a bad mood today. However I strongly disagree with everything you said. First of all, Kevin Love is listed at 6’8”, Hayward at 6’7”. I went to a Celtics/Cavs game and watched them both closely and I’m telling you that in person they look to be exactly the same height except Hayward is thicker. Hayward plays with more force when healthy and is widely known to be an excellent locker room guy. I just feel like Kevin Love is an overrated brand name from 5 years ago and if I’m Boston I would much rather have a switchy wing who can bust a zone in the playoffs and occasionally take over a game.
Fair enough Montezuma, I appreciate your opinion. I’m no expert, but I see it a different way. That’s what’s great about sports and talking about it.
You may not like or agree with my takes. I doubt an Aztec knows more ball than a NewYorker. I’ve schooled many here. You know you can actually look up their stats. I don’t post what I don’t know. Maybe you are use to the 2nd grade espn boards. We’re all adults here. So show me facts not hot air. He was drafted as a PF even played C. He’s was a rebounder first always. He became a good shooter. He’s played the 4 for Cavs even C his whole career there. Hayward has never played the 4 till he came back from injury in Boston. And that’s cause Tatum took his spot. Fact is you not only don’t know Squat about ball. You can’t even take 5 mins to get your facts right. That’s NonFanatical.
Hayward has always been a 3. Since college. He is 225 LBs and 6’7””
Love came in at 265 lbs. is now 255lbs at 6’9”. If you look at him n Bron together. You will see who is taller. You do know Bron has been listed as big as 6’9”. Love was listed 6’10” when drafted.
This scouting report is from his rookie yr. I only care about the facts and numbers. Not their opinion or YOURS. We Straight.
link to draftexpress.com
What does Hayward provide for Celtics. Even after coming back he was a fourth option at best. His best asset on Celts is his FT shooting. Love is just as good a FT shooter. Love can give them the 34-38 mins at PF. Hayward has givenn 24 and 33 mins in two yrs. and got hurt again last yr.
Love has played 32-35 mins whole career. He’s basically a 20 n 10 guy. Who can shoot and pass. Celtics lose nothing in moving Hayward. Tatum is the SF. They gain a better player on a position of need. Who is a better rebounder, scorer, passer, and almost as good a shooter. So they gain in every way. Plus Love would fit cause he wants to win. He’s an IQ player who learned to win as a team from Bron.
Go read all you can then take as long as you need to understand it lol.
Part of the reason I jabbed at you earlier is because it’s really annoying to hear Kevin Love’s name brought up over and over by talkshow host idiots like Tony Massaroti and bandwagon Celtics fans (not saying you fall into that category) that don’t really know basketball but know a few fancy names of big guys. There are just so many more under the radar frontcourt options that sabermetric friendly front offices would rather have in 2020 at their expected price points than someone like Love. I’d argue Hayward has more value at $34 mil than Love does at $28 mil, but that’s just my opinion.
Dude facts are K-Love is a 5 times All-Star, 2 times All-NBA, champion… also the only player (apart of Moses Malone in ’82) in the last 40 years to have a 20/15 season (points/rebounds).
Hayward has 1 All-Star.
Now I know who I would take knowing who is the better player, no one doubts K-Love is the better player here!
Hayward has a stat line for his career of 15/4/3 with a shooting line of 45/36/82 & 17 PER.
K-Love has a stat line for his career of 18/11/2 with a shooting line of 44/37/83 & 22 PER.
Again stats clearly favor K-Love, better scorer, rebounder & shooter.
IMO BOS would be the winner by getting K-Love instead of Hayward & best of all they could get JT out of playin’ the PF, win win for BOS!
You’re looking entirely at past performance. It’s not what they did in the past, it is what they can be expected to provide next year and beyond. Hayward is two years younger and is a more dynamic player than Love right now. It’s much harder to find big wings than can switch on defense than it is undersized big men who can’t defend on the perimeter. The game has changed.
stats: career….last year
link to stathead.com, link to stathead.com
Love’s stats are a little better than Hayward’s because he rebounds better. Hayward’s advantage in playmaking does not show significantly in assist or PER stats. Neither is a good leader or is in sync with teammates outside of the WC, but both try.
Interesting how you think Hayward wins in a smarter viewpoint. BOS’s committment to modernity caused them to lose to Miami IMO and they are in danger of being passed up in strength unless they can match up better.
How about considering that when KLove was most visible, he had the Durant assignment. LJ did not want it. KL was not as good as Durant so what who was… not even LJ was. Hayward has never been in that situation, never progressed that far, and the Celtics have had talent. Indeed Hayward is not even a playoff starter! I doubt your noisy Boston homers hardly heard of him in the WC but now likely overrate him.
Far as I can tell, when Hayward looks like he wants out, he means to home, and with Love, it’s out of prison with those kids to a team that has a chance. He can play the 4or5 snd gets favorable calls inside, while Hayward plays positions of BOS’s strength.
Cavs won with Love and Thompson at C. Love guarded Green. And played team D on Warriors. You think you can phrase it to help you. Hayward is not even back from his knee injury dude. He got no D. He’s a good shooter with high IQ. Love is 1 n 1/2 yr older. And more physically ready. You think Boston with Love would of lost to Heat. He could have taken Bam out the blocks. I doubt you even watch the Celtics lol. You are talking about Utah Hayward. Celts don’t have a true 4. Love is more a stretch 4. Who is a great rebounder. He is not Bam on defense. He is better than you are saying. Especially team D. Gm hasn’t changed. You even use words (not yours) of these talking heads and writers. Not a real original thought. Positioning less basketball started that way lol. Celtics with Russell were small ball and positioning less ball. You don’t even know the history of what you argue about. That’s just sad. Like I said. No one has to agree with me. But know what you are talking about. If you want to bang heads with me lol. I mean that in basketball.
The Don is coming around. Preach bro
The money doesn’t matter much for next year, as it has already been appropriated, and there ‘s even savings of a few million. However I see it will matter for two years after that, when they want to sign Tatum then Smart. Unless they want to move Brown anyway; it can get complicated. Drummond would be easier to fit probably.
I hear you. Good post.
Here’s a three team trade idea.
Celtics get
Andre Drummond
Justin Jackson
Milwaukee’s protected 2022 1st round pick from Cavs
Mavericks get
Gordon Hayward
pick #30 from Celtics
Cavs get
Tim Hardaway Jr.
Dorian Finney-Smith
Romeo Langford
Vincent Poirier
pick #14 from Celtics
Boston gets the guy they want plus a future first and get rid of the guaranteed money for 2 of their 3 1st in this draft.
Dallas gets a potential 3rd star to run with Luka/Prozingis along with pick that they could use as a trade up if they wanted. They would have 18, 30, & 31 in this scenario and could easily get a top 10 pick if they wanted someone.
Cleveland gets a handful of decent prospects along with the Grizzlies pick in this year’s draft. Their is definite potential there. A lot better for them than just taking Hayward anyway.
What yearis this, 2015? Why would anyone pay this much for Drummond?
Someone already signed him to this contract a few years ago. He’s in the final year. He obviously won’t make this much again. But that’s his contract right now.
The opportunity here would be to unload some unwanted money and send it the other way while getting a rebounding dominant 6-11 Beast.
Because he gives you a 18/15/3/2/2 stat line, I mean this are stellar numbers in any year you look at it!
To everyone being fooled by this Drummond report: it’s not happening. Boston would never do this. This was obviously floated by Cleveland, Drummond’s people, or a random “source” who is just meddling to stir the pot.
Drummond is unplayable at the end of games and will get quickly played off the floor in a playoff series against any smart team. He’s a classic good player on a bad team kind of guy. Boston is too smart to do this. If he was making 5 million maybe they’d go for him, but he is absolutely not worth anything close to 30 million and they are not trading Kemba or Hayward to get him. Come on people!
A center who averages 15+ rebounds a game over the course of a season is more than just a good player. That’s called domination on the boards.
The Celtics would gladly trade straight up Drummond for Gordon Hayward. Ask anyone. Anyone.
You are very wrong
Ya I’m with you I would rather have Hayward there’s other rebounding center/forwards out there that would fit with C’s better maybe even take a flay on Demarcus Cousins he doesn’t cost more than the mid-level and he’s coming of a injury so he maybe hungry enough to loss the attitude for one season and get a paid day next yr
Most of Drummond’s rebounds last season in Detroit were uncontested. There was a whole article about it on 538.
He’s a good rebounder, but dominant? No.
And until he can pace and space, he won’t have nearly as much value as Gordon Hayward, who is MUCH more valuable.
In a vacuum, you are probably correct. Hayward might be more valuable. But not on Boston. Boston needs a center and Hayward is a little superfluous with Smart, Tatum and Brown the that could start at the 2 3 4. He is useful to them, but isn’t as useful as he should be with his salary. Drummond at the 5 is something they don’t have. It’s just a classic case of trading for a need from a surplus. You might not get the value on paper, but your team will likely be better as a whole.
I’m sure Boston would rack up more regular season wins with Drummond in place of Hayward, but they would get exposed and torched by any of the top East teams in the playoffs. Drummond on the floor at the end of a close game against Nick Nurse? They would gameplan entirely around fouling him repeatedly at the end of games and letting him shoot 50% from the line
The “Hack a Shaq” technique would only really apply if he was a main offensive option. On a starting 5 with Walker, Smart, Brown, and Tatum, Drummond would be option #5 on offense. But his defense and rebounding would make up the difference for poor foul shooting.
Statistically Drummond led the league in contested rebounds by a wide margin, not just rebounds… or did for several years until last year when he got dumped to a team that felt they had rebounding covered. A B-R article that mentioned the 538 point also ranked him the 7th center and said he was both nimble and lumbering, and should be schemed as a point center because of his passing and pass lane awareness. He seems to confuse.
I mean IDK, didn’t follow him closely, but I’m starting to wonder if the Cavs should keep their bigs and forget Hayward, even though they need a playmaking 3!
No, Drummond’s not an end-of-game guy, but he doesn ‘t have to play the whole game. I would prefer Klove move to center for the clutch.
Is Hayward?— I don’t recall. Neither has much of a playoff record. I hate to put him down, but Hayward’s been below average in the playoffs, if he’s even playing. With a minus13 on/off— no pluses in 4 years— he’s not helping much.
The best version of Hayward (which has never played in BOS) isn’t anywhere near as good as Drummond, as simple as! Drummond is an absolute beast, Hayward at best a decent player if fit to play at all!
Right…but Drummond doesn’t fit Boston’s style of play at all, and Hayward does. That stuff kind of matters you know.
Maybe Boston plays that way because they don’t have a dominant Center? Be nice to have a beast back there Shoring up the boards and doing a little defense plus has the skill to do a few other things as well.
I love this spirited conversation. Good stats and article research Jason and X%sure.
You also have to realize that styles can change based on personnel as well. A good coach implements his system to the team. A great coach adapts his system to the players he has available.
Just make it happen,DeMarcus Cousins!!!
I think Cousins just tore a muscle reading your comment.
Hayward is staying. Stevens was his college coach and sold him on Boston! Drummond is an overpaid slug. Ainge won’t take him. Need scoring from bench….Carson Edwards needs a chance. He can shoot the rock. Their big problem is Jaylen Brown plays SG and he is not a reliable shooter!!! Brown and Smart have to stop the shots in pressure moments….Kemba is the man.
I know that a lot of people say that Drummond’s stats are exaggerated and that he gets a lot of trash rebounds etc. BUT as a Celtics fan I think it would be worth the risk to try him out with this group for a year and then see what happens. They have too many picks and first year players anyway so trading Hayward and a 1st for Drummond wouldn’t really be a big price for them to pay. I actually like Hayward BUT I think part of the C’s problem is that they’ve got too many similar guys (SGs/SFs) that all need the ball to score/be effective. Drummond on the other hand is a guy who can get his own shots via offensive rebounds and at the very least is an imposing presence in the paint defensively. Do I think he’s the perfect fit for Boston? No… but I think that the Celtics have a REALLY good team and Drummond could possibly put them over the top (if he can mesh with the current unit). Normally I actually like Hayward enough to say I wouldn’t want to trade him… but like I said before they have too many SGs/SFs and beyond Theis (and maybe Robert Williams depending on development and health) have nothing at PF/C. Even as good as Theis has been, he’s a smaller center (6’9″ I believe) so I really think an imposing force like Drummond could really add a dynamic to the team that they’re otherwise lacking. If there were a way to acquire him AND keep Hayward (and Walker) I think that would be the best option. But salary cap wise I think you have to include Hayward… and given that both Hayward and Drummond are on 1-year deals (technically both are options but assume they both opt-in) I think swapping Hayward for Drummond could really make the Celtics a more well-rounded team and – if things mesh well – could give them a legit shot to win it all next season.
Drumond is slow & 5fools guy has no shot no FT & gets injured each season … No trade 4 now … Love can be a better fit
You lost all your credibility when you said Dre gets injured every year… as a matter of fact he has never, ever been injured!
How ’bout that?
My Bad i was thinking about Love …
That’s ok dude, it happens!!!
Returning Baynes would make sense, Drummond? Laughable!