Less than a month ago the Denver Nuggets won the NBA Finals and a lot has changed for the Boston Celtics since then. The offseason is far from over but it felt like a good time to do a roster reset.
Transactions
We’ve covered each of the transactions as they occurred, but “winning” and “losing” each individual deal is less important than the aggregate effect on the roster. At the end of the summer, the goal is to have a better team than we had the prior year. That doesn’t always mean “more talented;” it might just mean “fits together better.” When you are competing for championships, taking a step back is a very bad idea (we can talk about the CBA later).
So let’s look at the aggregate of the transactions to this point.
Outgoing:
- Marcus Smart
- Grant Williams
- Mike Muscala
- Danilo Gallinari
- 35th pick in 2023
Incoming: (feel free to fact check this)
- Kristaps Porzingis
- Oshae Brissett
- Dalano Banton
- Jordan Walsh
- 2024 1st (GSW) top 4 protected
- 2024 2nd (DAL)
- 2025 2nd (DET, GSW, or WAS)
- 2025 2nd swap (DAL)
- 2026 2nd (MIN, NOL, NYK, or POR)
- 2027 2nd (ATL)
- two additional 2nds and a pick swap via Grant Williams trade
- $6.2M TPE (here we go again)
Net impact: Porzingis has star potential but it cost us two high level playoff rotation guys. There’s flexibility to go get more (we also have all our 1st rounders) but as of now we’re just …different. Maybe that was the point. The team needed to make changes but didn’t want to break up the Jays, so everything else was on the table. The jury is still out if this is a better roster or not. So let’s dive deeper.
Depth Chart
Let’s take a look at the roster from a depth chart perspective. Some of these positions are very subjective, so allow for some flexibility between categories.
Guards/Ball Handlers:
- Derrick White
- Malcolm Brogdon
- Payton Pritchard
- Dalano Banton
- JD Davison (two-way?)
Forwards/Wings
- Jayson Tatum
- Jaylen Brown
- Sam Hauser
- Oshae Brissett
- Jordan Walsh (unsigned)
- Justin Champagnie (non-guaranteed)
Bigs
- Kristaps Porzingis
- Al Horford
- Robert Williams III
- Luke Kornet
That’s still a loaded team on paper, but personally I get lost in the deep bench guys so I like to look at the roster in terms of tiers.
Roster Tiers
Stars (very general term)
- Jayson Tatum
- Jaylen Brown
- Kristaps Porzingis
Playoff Rotation Guys
- Derrick White
- Malcolm Brogdon
- Al Horford
- Robert Williams III
Regular Season Rotation Guys
- Payton Pritchard
- Sam Hauser
- Luke Kornet
Upside Guys
- Oshae Brissett
- Dalano Banton
- Jordan Walsh
- JD Davison
- Justin Champagnie
That leaves a playoff rotation of just seven reliable guys (by my subjective count). The hope here is that one or two of the regular season rotation guys proves to be reliable enough to play meaningful minutes in the postseason. I think both Pritchard and Hauser could get there but they do have defensive limitations.
Salary Cap
I’m just going to point you to Spotrac on this one.
Here’s our current year cap sheet.
Here’s the multi-year projection.
Not Done?
This could very well be it (aside from signing another minimum and/or some more upside guys to bring into camp). All signs still point toward signing Jaylen Brown to a supermax extension.
Still, the team has all their first round picks and a truckload of 2nd rounders to work with. There’s a chance that Malcolm Brogdon could still be moved. Perhaps with Grant’s money coming off the books, there’s an opportunity to split Brogdon’s salary into 2 useful players. Maybe there’s an opportunity to get involved as a 3rd team in a Damian Lillard or James Harden trade. Until Brown signs the extension, there’s always a chance that a blockbuster trade could occur (just don’t expect it).
I’m not convinced that something else is brewing, but there’s some flexibility to do …something else. I’m just not sure what at this point.
So with that roster reset, how are you feeling about our team on July 6th?
