Celtics Sign Tyler Zeller To Two-Year Deal
JULY 27th, 6:09pm: The signing is official, Boston announced via press release.
JULY 23rd, 10:15am: The Celtics will re-sign restricted free agent Tyler Zeller to a two-year deal, Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reports (on Twitter). The deal is worth $8MM per year and there is a team option for the second year, Bulpett adds. The Celtics also signed second round pick Demetrius Jackson and have agreed on a partially guaranteed deal with second round pick Ben Bentil, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).
R.J. Hunter, James Young, John Holland and Bentil are in position to fight for the final roster spot, Himmelsbach tweets. It remains to be seen just how much more creative Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is going to be after he said he was looking to add another significant piece to a group that features newcomer Al Horford. If there were to be another move for Boston, it would likely come in the form of a large trade, according to recent reports. The Celtics also plan to sign unrestricted free agent Gerald Green.
Zeller spoke fondly of the Celtics after the season and was open to a return. It would not have been surprising, however, if he had signed elsewhere with the hopes of having a larger role than the one he had last season with Boston. Zeller averaged 6.1 points and 3.0 rebounds last season. He did not play in three of the six playoff games.
Celtics Sign Demetrius Jackson
JULY 27th, 6:07pm: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
JULY 26th, 5:40pm: The Celtics have signed 2016 draftee Demetrius Jackson to a four-year, $5.5MM deal, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops reports (via Twitter). It’s unknown how much of that salary is guaranteed, but the fourth year is a team option, notes Scotto.
Jackson, 21, was the No. 45 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft by Boston. He joins a crowded Celtics roster that now has 18 players heading into training camp, which is three over the regular season maximum.
The point guard spent three seasons at Notre Dame, appearing in 103 games and averaging 11.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting .467/.381/.782 from the field.
Celtics Sign Gerald Green
JULY 27th, 6:05pm: The signing is official, the team announced via press release.
JULY 23rd, 8:50am: The Celtics will sign unrestricted free agent Gerald Green, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reports (on Twitter). It is a guaranteed one-year deal, Deveney writes in a full story. Green’s deal is for the minimum, Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald tweets.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Green, whom the Celtics drafted at No. 18 in the 2005 draft. Green has played for eight franchises and spent last season with the Heat. Miami never reportedly seemed interested in re-signing Green, but the swingman did play decently. Green averaged 8.9 points per game last season.
By adding Green, the Celtics continue to seem headed toward making a trade. It’s been an interesting summer for Boston, which landed Al Horford early in free agency and it may not be over. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has already said he would still like to add one more big piece. The Celtics will have 14 guaranteed contracts on their roster, once they sign No. 3 pick Jaylen Brown, as Deveney points out.
Opinion: Celtics Should Hang Onto Their Assets
- The free agent spending boom sparked by the league’s new TV deal this summer has many role-players earning higher salaries than the Celtics‘ All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas, who will be paid $6,587,132 for his work in 2017/18. Thomas isn’t bitter about his situation, but the player does worry if these larger deals will affect locker rooms around the NBA, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com writes. “Hopefully it doesn’t mess up any locker rooms, hopefully it doesn’t mess up ours, but it can,” said Thomas. “Definitely if you get paid that much, you feel like you should have a bigger role than whatever that role is. But hopefully for the betterment of the team and the guys we have around the locker room, I don’t think it’s going to happen.“
- Despite feeling the pressure to add a superstar to the Celtics‘ roster, team executive Danny Ainge should hold onto the teams ample assets and not deviate from the plan merely to add a short-term piece, Michael Pina of RealGM opines in his look at the team.
And-Ones: Cap Room, L. Sanders, R. Smith, RFAs
The Sixers, Nuggets, Nets, Thunder, and Lakers have the most cap room still available, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders details. In addition to those five clubs, the Timberwolves, Suns, Jazz, Celtics, Pacers, and Bucks also have some wiggle room remaining. While some of those clubs could use that cap space to try to sign a free agent like J.R. Smith or Lance Stephenson, I’d expect many of those teams to stay well below the cap throughout the year. Remaining $10-15MM below the cap would allow a team to accommodate a mid-season salary dump, potentially picking up a draft pick or two in the process.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:
- Larry Sanders, who has been working out and is considering an NBA comeback, may be willing to play for a minumum-salary contract, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter). It remains to be seen whether a team will take a flier on the former Bucks big man.
- Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders identifies a few players who will be under pressure to perform in 2016/17 due to big new free agent contracts or roles that changed as a result of other players’ deperatures.
- Former Louisville guard Russ Smith, who appeared in 15 games for the Grizzlies last season, has accepted a $1MM contract offer from Galatasaray, according to international basketball reporter David Pick (via Twitter). Mete Budak of Eurohoops pegs the former second-round pick’s salary at $850K, so the Turkish team may have included some bonuses in the deal.
- Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders explains why he thinks the NBA’s restricted free agency system has problems, and puts forth some suggestions to potentially improve it. Donatas Motiejunas of the Rockets is the only RFA still on the market this summer.
Update On Unsigned 2016 Draft Picks
Over a month has passed since the 2016 NBA draft, and most of the 60 players selected in June – including first overall pick Ben Simmons – have been signed by their NBA teams, or have lined up overseas deals. Still, there are several players whose immediate futures have not yet been determined.
As our list of draft pick signings shows, there are still five first-rounders who have yet to either sign a contract with their NBA team or to strike a deal with an international club. Of those players, four were top-11 picks, so it’s likely just a matter of time until they sign their rookie-scale contracts. Only 15th overall pick Juan Hernangomez is a question mark — a recent report suggested he’d probably join the Nuggets immediately, but it’s not set in stone yet.
In the second round, eight of 30 draftees have unresolved situations, and many of those outcomes are more difficult to predict. Celtics draftee Abdel Nader, for instance, could end up signing with Boston, being joining the team’s D-League affiliate, or heading overseas as a draft-and-stash prospect.
We’ll pass along updates on 2016’s draft picks as they become available. For now, here’s the full list of players whose situation for the 2016/17 has yet to be resolved:
First Round:
- Los Angeles Lakers: Brandon Ingram, SF (Duke)
- Boston Celtics: Jaylen Brown, SF (California)
- Milwaukee Bucks: Thon Maker, PF (HS)
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Domantas Sabonis, PF/C (Gonzaga)
- Denver Nuggets: Juan Hernangomez, F (Estudiantes)
Second Round:
- Milwaukee Bucks: Malcolm Brogdon, SG (Virginia)
- Utah Jazz: Joel Bolomboy, PF (Weber State)
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Kay Felder, PG (Oakland)
- Utah Jazz: Marcus Paige, PG (North Carolina)
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Daniel Hamilton, SG (UConn)
- Boston Celtics: Abdel Nader, F (Iowa State)
- Sacramento Kings: Isaiah Cousins, SG (Oklahoma)
- Utah Jazz: Tyrone Wallace, PG (California)
Celtics Roster Depth, Coach Stevens Are Strengths
- The Celtics remain a team on the rise, with a deep roster and talented coach in Brad Stevens, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com writes, noting that the future is bright in Beantown in his look at the strengths of the team.
Eastern Notes: Ainge, Kuzminskas, George, Scola
President of basketball operations Danny Ainge was able to quickly rebuild the Celtics by maximizing the return for his stars when the team got too old, writes Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders. Ainge sent Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets for a package of draft picks and traded Rajon Rondo to the Mavericks instead of letting him become a free agent. This summer’s signing of Al Horford accelerated the building process, and Hamilton believes it makes the Celtics legitimate contenders in the East. Boston is also set up well for the future, with only Horford, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas under contract for 2017/18. Even if the Celtics pick up their team option on Marcus Smart, they may have more than $50MM to spend on free agents next July.
There’s more out of the Eastern Conference:
- Mindaugas Kuzminskas provides enough offense to become a rotation player for the Knicks, according to Trevor Magnotti of Upside and Motor. The 6’9″ Lithuanian forward signed with New York earlier this month after playing in Europe for the past five seasons. Knicks president Phil Jackson said the team wanted to find a mobile small forward who could shoot from distance. That describes Kuzminskas, who gets most of his points on cuts to the basket, but is also a streaky shooter from 3-point range. However, there are questions about his defense, which Magnotti warns might limit his playing time until he proves he can contribute on that end.
- Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski says Paul George is playing the best basketball of his life two years after the broken leg that had many concerned about his career, writes Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. The Pacers‘ star, who had 18 points in Friday’s exhibition win over Argentina, said he had to put that scary incident out of his mind to be effective again. “It’s behind me,” George said. “I don’t play the game expecting to get hurt. I know it’s a possibility. But there’s no thought in my mind I’m going to get hurt. I play this game because I love it. I just play hard.”
- Newly signed Nets power forward Luis Scola will be Argentina’s flag bearer at the Summer Olympics, according to the Associated Press. “I had the chance to play four Olympics, to play 10 years in the NBA, to carry the flag for my country, win an Olympic gold medal,’’ Scola said. “I mean, different things that happened along those days that I couldn’t even dream of those because it would be too wild to dream.”
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Knicks, Raptors
DeMarcus Cousins said he has enjoyed being around Carmelo Anthony with Team USA because the Knicks star has experience playing on both winning and losing teams in an interview posted on the Sacramento Bee’s website. The comment is interesting and while Knicks fans may read it and envision Cousins in blue and orange, there may not be much to put stock into. The Kings are refusing to listen to trade offers for the talented big man, who has two seasons remaining on his contract.
It’s well-known that I have been a Melo fan my whole life so just to work with him on a daily, I think it is going to help me be a better player.” Cousins said. “I‘m excited for it.”
Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- DeMar DeRozan has epitomized the idea of staying loyal by never forgetting his Compton roots in California and choosing to remain with the Raptors this summer, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in a worthwhile profile of the Toronto star. DeRozan told Medina that the reason he chose to re-sign with the Raptors and not sign with the Lakers had nothing to do with the latter’s recent shortcomings. “When you have an opportunity to go home, that’s something that certainly would cross your mind. But it wasn’t anything,” DeRozan said. “After I finish playing, I’m pretty sure I’ll live in L.A. But I just wanted to do something special and leave a legacy of my own in Toronto.”
- With a need for shooting, the Celtics could conceivably make a bid for free agent J.R. Smith after failing to add more offense via free agency, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe writes.
Celtics Notes: Sullinger, Bentil, Nader, Jackson
Former Celtics power forward Jared Sullinger had a pretty good idea that he would be changing teams when the season ended, writes Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. Sullinger signed a one-year, $5.6MM deal with the Raptors last week after Boston rescinded its qualifying offer. The 24-year-old sensed a change was coming after spending four years with the Celtics. “It’s definitely a hard part when you walk into this locker room and you see the same people every day,” he said after Boston was knocked out of the playoffs. “These guys are great. This is one of the best teams I’ve been a part of as far as just the community of the guys. We do a lot of things together. I really can’t speak on the future, but if I leave, it’s going to be tough walking away from great guys like we have in this locker room.”
There’s more news today out of Boston:
- Second-round pick Ben Bentil may have left college too early after slipping to the 51st pick in the draft, Bulpett writes in the same story. The 6’8″ power forward was a star at Providence, averaging 21.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game as a sophomore, but many observers believed he could have used another year in school. “I think it was a difficult call because he had such a great year,” said Friars coach Ed Cooley. “He had a really good year, and I thought he had an opportunity, but somebody had to like him, you know what I mean? And I’m appreciative of the Celtics giving him an opportunity to show what he can do. Getting a roster spot there is going to be very difficult, but I think, given the opportunity, he’s tough, he can score and he’s really physical. And hopefully some physicality and some scoring from a frontcourt person is something that Danny [Ainge] and Coach [Brad] Stevens can use. He’s all of 6’8 1/2″ flat-foot. He’s got a good wingspan and a great motor — a really, really good motor. I think he can add something to a team, and as he learns what the NBA game is about, I think he can improve.”
- The Celtics may be adding second-round pick Abdel Nader to an already overcrowded roster, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. The Iowa State forward was taken 58th overall and impressed Celtics officials with his play in summer league. A source tells Himmelsbach that the Celtics are exploring several options, including designating Nader as a D-League player for next season and having him spend it with their affiliate in Maine.
- Boston hopes to finalize deals this week with Bentil and Demetrius Jackson, Himmelsbach writes in the same piece. That would give the team 18 players under contract heading into training camp.