This silly Boston Celtics season is almost over. No matter what they manage against the Brooklyn Nets, their season will end soon.
Frankly, I’m thrilled to see it go away. Covering this team this season has been the sports equivalent of pigeons fighting over moldy bread. The product has been mostly terrible and the access has been worse. Whatever access we get has resulted in answers so generic that the media’s collective coverage might as well be one giant beige square.
What I’m saying is the 2020-21 Celtics are basically poorly made khakis. We can dress them up and make them look good sometimes, but mostly they suck and they’re boring.
I feel like Dockers missed a sponsorship opportunity.
Still, there are salvageable elements to this. Any good cook, especially those who come from some of the poorer areas of the world, knows that there’s always something to pull from the scraps of another meal. Bones can be boiled into a stock. Ingredients on hand can be repurposed, mixed with a few new elements, and seasoned to become a new dish.
Just because some of these ingredients are blah in their current form doesn't mean they can’t become something good. There’s a gumbo to be made from the scraps of this season.
The question is how much of what Boston already has can stay, what has to go, and what will they have to work around?
THE NO-DOUBT KEEPERS
Brad Stevens, Danny Ainge, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown
Stevens is going nowhere, no matter how much you scream or how long the comment you leave on this piece is. I’m sorry to inform you that this is the reality, and you have to accept that it’s true. The same is true of Ainge. You can take a minute to scream into a pillow if you’d like, but Stevens and Ainge are going to be here next season.
I will say this about Stevens: he has been desperate to get his read-and-react offense to work. His dream is to recreate what the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors had at their peak, and he has a fervent belief it’s possible with this team, but maybe it’s time to give that up.
I hate to break it to you, Brad, but Tim Duncan and Draymond Green were the keys to those two amazing offenses and there’s just no duplicate on this team. Robert Williams might, if you squint after a few drinks, fit into a poor man’s version of that role, but he still has a lot of growing to do and even if he reaches his ceiling, it might be asking too much of him.
The reality is that if Stevens really wants to unlock this team’s true offensive potential, he has to figure out how to work with the players he has. Tatum and Brown are the cornerstones here, and while they themselves certainly need to adjust and do more cutting, moving, and passing, Stevens needs to just accept that this is going to be a mostly slow-down, lower assist team.
Ainge, in conjunction with all of this, has to support what he has on his hands. He has two dynamic wings who like to isolate. Yes, they need to dial that back a bit, but also the Celtics need to find the types of players that emphasize that skill. Every available shooter on the market needs to be a target.
And on a team where the stars and the coach are more low-key, it might be nice to add some energy to the mix.
THE KEEPERS UNLESS MOVING THEM LEADS TO A HUGE UPGRADE
Robert Williams, Marcus Smart
Williams just makes the team better. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say he can grow into a Draymond-light sort of role with Boston. They are very obviously different players, but “high-energy ball-mover and defensive anchor” is at least the basis of an accurate descriptor for both ... or at least it can be for Willilams.
I question Williams’ durability and whether he has some sort of physiological issue that causes the recurring injuries, but if that can somehow be stabilized, he’s certainly a guy I want long-term.
Smart is Smart, and while he’s been polarizing in a lot of ways, I am steadfast in my belief: If the Celtics have well-defined roles for everyone and everyone is healthy, Smart can be exactly what they need. When he tries to do too much, he flies too close to the sun.
These guys are very important to Boston, but if moving one or both of them means a massive upgrade to a third star, then they grudgingly have to do it. Just watch the Brooklyn Nets and remember that they moved Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert in a deal for James Harden.
This league is about star power. Sorry.
But at the same time, you don’t just give those guys away. The “you gotta move Smart” crowd has to sit down. He’s very valuable.
THE ROLE PLAYERS THAT SHOULD STICK & DEVELOP (BUT WHO CAN BE DEALT)
Aaron Nesmith, Romeo Langford, Payton Pritchard, Grant Williams
Nesmith showed a lot as the season wore on. I’m glad he’s getting these playoff lessons because he’ll need them as his offseason fuel. The same is true of Pritchard, who is getting picked on defensively. Both can come back to bigger roles next season.
Langford deserves one more shot at a healthy season. I know there’s going to be a “he’s always hurt” comment after this, but he didn’t suffer any new injuries this season aside from a very brief stint in the concussion protocol. He missed half the season recovering from wrist surgery and then he caught COVID-19. He needs a full offseason to show us what he really has.
And I’m willing to chalk this Grant Williams season up to circumstance. He had a decent rookie season and a not-so-decent sophomore season. I believe in his ability, but next season will have a bit of a “prove it” element to it.
THE POTENTIAL DEPARTURES
Kemba Walker, Tristan Thompson, Evan Fournier
Let’s face facts: Walker costs too much for what he’s going to be if he stays, unless ownership is willing to pay a little more in taxes than they have in the past. I believe Walker can fit and do well here, but I don’t know how much appetite this ownership group has for paying him AND keeping Fournier.
Side note: I hate this part of the business because Walker is a guy I want on my team. I like his energy and I think he can be an overall plus. I think this season has done him too much of a disservice.
The Celtics certainly have a maximum price they’d like to pay Fournier. If he can get more than that on the open market, they’ll try to pull a sign-and-trade with the new team and at least get another Traded Player Exception out of it. The last thing Ainge needs right now is Fournier walking for nothing.
If Fournier leaves for nothing, then a new discussion needs to be had about Celtics ownership. Ainge moved Daniel Theis, a very useful guy who the Celtics really could use right now, in a tax-saving move. If that was for a few weeks of Fournier with nothing in return, which really means nothing in return for Gordon Hayward ... yeesh.
Thompson can just go. If Boston needs to match salary for any kind of trade, they can include his $9 million to make it work. This was a mistake of a signing in a bad offseason by Ainge.
IT WAS NICE KNOWING YOU
Semi Ojeleye, Carsen Edwards, Tremont Waters, Tacko Fall
Teams can only sign players to two two-way contracts, so Waters and Fall are done in Boston after this season. Sure, it’s possible one or both of them could sign guaranteed deals, but it’s not likely.
Edwards hasn’t shown any real ability to be consistent at this level, and is just too small to keep around on a team that’s been almost comically small.
And if we’re being real, Ojeleye was only back because Hayward left.
Good luck to you all. There is a lot of money for all of these guys in professional basketball, it just shouldn’t be paid by the Celtics anymore.
THE 'WE NEED TO FILL OUT OUR ROSTER' GUYS
Luke Kornet, Jabari Parker
Kornet is ok as an emergency third big, but there are probably better upgrades out there. If Boston whiffs on those other guys, the Kornet can come back.
Parker has his moments, but he’s basically done as a real NBA player. He can stick around and be a guy who can score buckets in an emergency if there’s no other home for him and Boston has extra spots.
A little growth from this year’s rookies, some coaching adjustments, and some other personnel moves can make Boston more competitive next season. A major move can push them further into the top half of the East, but even then it doesn’t need to come at the expense of their core guys.
Hopefully a normal offseason can help snap things back into focus for Boston and we can see what these guys are really about next season.