Robb: Wyc Grousbeck plays it close to the vest on Celtics offseason

Wyc Grousbeck made his first public remarks on Wednesday afternoon in the aftermath of an ugly Celtics exit from the postseason on the Felger and Mazz program on 98.5 the Sports Hub. It was the first public comments from a member of the Celtics brass since the C's dropped Game 5 in Milwaukee last week. The 20-minute phone interview featured a heavy dose of reflection of the season and questions about what is coming next. Grousbeck kept his cards fairly close to the vest (understandably so) for the entire exchange but there were a few noteworthy remarks worth pointing out:

On whether this year's Celtics were a challenge for Brad Stevens: "It was one of the hardest teams to love, from my standpoint, just to answer for myself. I wasn't coaching them but I was watching them. It was frustrating. It was a tough year for everybody concerned. I think the fans all feel that. We're going to try to make it better. We all feel that. The highs and lows -- it just has been frustrating."

His reaction to the end of the season: “We’re all annoyed and upset and disappointed. I feel like there was a mismatch between the talent that we had on paper and the way that it was expressed on the court. The actual and the potential, there was a gap.”

How does the team evaluate what went wrong and what comes next? “Start by looking in the mirror and saying what could I have done better. Did we, meaning those of us responsible for putting the team together, led by Brad and Danny, but signed-off on by me, so also responsibility here, did we construct it correctly, did we course correct it? No we didn’t, we went right through the trading deadline. What did we decide?

On chemistry issues: “It’s not like we said ‘to hell with chemistry, we know this is a mess, but we’re going to try to get out of it with talent.’" he said. "We didn’t know it was a mess. It turned out to be, at times, really good and, at times, a bit of a mess.”

We’re really just going to go through the roster, the 15 guys, and say who’s here, should we move some of the guys, should we re-sign these people, what are we going to do. It’s really like a new movie, with a new script, and in some cases a new cast. And hopefully a new ending.”

On offseason decisions looming: "We’ve got some layups, and we’ve got some 3-point shots and we’ve got a half-court shot or two to try to hit. There’s some easy decisions and there’s some harder decisions and we’re actually going to have to take the time to decide in a sense what the roster looks like.”

On the future of Kyrie Irving in free agency: "I'm not going to comment on ... I'm really not going to talk about specific guys except in real generalities. Kyrie's given us two years of strong effort. He's going to decide what he's going to do down the road. He hasn't commented publicly, so I'm going to respect that."

On if the team wants Irving back: "I'm just not going to comment about anybody on the roster on that. We've got 15 guys, and we're going to evaluate all of them, and I'm not going to comment on one person and then not comment on another, because it's going to send a negative or positive signal. Just don't want to do it."

On Kyrie free agency rumors: “A lot of the stuff that’s out on the internet, about almost anything, often times comes if you trace it down when you can, it comes from agents, and it doesn’t necessarily come from the agent of a player that is referenced, so there’s reasons, there’s agendas, it’s someone saying someone’s going somewhere, it might actually benefit this guy’s player who is trying to get a job somewhere else.”

BSJ ANALYSIS

Grousbeck is one of the more candid owners in town during his public appearances but he showed off a more guarded front in this exchange with Felger and Mazz, which comes with little surprise given how much uncertainty there is in the air surrounding the C's offseason. A few notable takeaways from his comments.

1. Danny Ainge seems to be doing better healthwise: While Grousbeck refused to speculate about the future of Ainge or his health situation,

he did indicate that Ainge was taking time with Stevens right now to evaluate the past season and what comes next. That may not mean much on the surface but it does show that he's back on the job to some degree and back to being a decisionmaker. This is clearly good news from a health standpoint since he would have needed to be cleared by doctors for this kind of activity after his second heart attack. We will likely hear from the president of basketball operations at some point in the coming weeks in what will be his first remarks since his health scare.

2. Grousbeck does not want to rock the boat with Irving (or anyone else): While Grousbeck did not hide his frustrations with this team, relaying some of the same concerns he had in March, he was careful not to talk specifics about any particular player in the course of his evaluation. While Ainge has referenced an engagement period in regards to Irving back in February, it's clear now Grousbeck does not want to make any public statements about a delicate situation with their All-Star point guard. While a large chunk of the Celtics fanbase may want Irving gone, it's quite clear that Boston's Plan A this offseason involves bringing Irving back (surrounded by a revamped team). Grousbeck tried to downplay the reports of him being out the door, downplaying rumors without addressing them specifically '95 percent' committed to New York from Stephen A. Smith by downplaying the chatter but it's clear the owner is proceeding carefully with him and the rest of this roster since it's entirely possible anyone in the rotation could be brought back next year depending on what track the team takes.

3. Grousbeck knows the team might have to make a serious gamble to contend: While the biggest free agent of the Celtics offseason is Irving, it's likely the Celtics are going to have to make some big decisions about their future without knowing what the future holds for the All-Star. He's not going to give them a commitment before free agency begins and a decision about a trade for Anthony Davis needs to be made before the draft in all likelihood. Do the Celtics take a bigger gamble than usual (giving up a lot now in hopes of convincing Davis to stay long-term with Irving)? Do they try to pool their assets to go after more of a sure thing than Davis as a long-term building block under contract? Is a guy like that even available? In hearing Grousbeck talk about the situation, it's evident he knows that the team is a tough spot in terms of choosing a path forward because there is no clear cut right move that is a surefire path to success. However, he does not sound like someone who is willing to hit the reset button in 2019 after setting his sights on building up towards Banner 18 over the last several seasons. His references to taking a 3-point or half-court shot indicate to me that the Celtics may be willing to gamble on a high-risk move with championship upside.