The Boston Celtics are trudging through their offseason, holding regular draft workouts over the past week or so as they prepare for the draft. The workouts have reportedly mostly focused on second-rounders and potentially undrafted guys for now.
In the meantime, there are little bits of news regarding their coaching search and players. Here’s a look at what’s been happening.
Jayson Tatum to play in the Olympics
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports Tatum has committed to play in Tokyo next month for Team USA.
On the one hand, it’s obviously a great honor, but on the other, it’s Tatum participating in full contact, international competition a short time after his season ended. This follows the short turnaround of the bubble, which followed a season that was extended by his participation in the FIBA World Cup.
When asked after the season ended about playing for Team USA, Tatum said “It's definitely something to think about. Obviously [been] going 2 or 3 years kind of without much of a break. But obviously that's an incredible opportunity, and something I've got to think about further down the line.”
In the end, he simply couldn’t resist the chance to get a gold medal. It’s a nice thing to add to the resume, and by playing now he has an outside chance at four of them. No men’s basketball player has done that. Five women have done it (Teresa Edwards, Lisa Leslie, Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings, and Diana Taurasi). Edwards also has a bronze for five total medals. Tatum would have to play until he’s 40 to have a chance at that.
Bradley Beal seems to be close to committing, which would give Tatum his first real chance to play meaningful, high-level basketball with one of his best friends (no, I’m not counting their time together in the All-Star game). It might be a chance for some legal player-to-player tampering from Tatum. These international competitions have been known to start conversations about playing together, and it could be Tatum’s chance to bring his buddy to Boston if they win gold together.
Jayson Tatum misses out on All-NBA team
Tatum was left off the three All-NBA teams.
In a weird voting twist, Tatum had 69 points, more than Kyrie Irving's 61, but Tatum received a majority of his votes as a forward, so that's where he was slotted.
So Tatum misses out on the All-NBA nod, but more importantly, he misses out on having the starting salary in his extension begin at 30% of the cap versus 25% of it. That's a $5.6 million difference in his first year salary and $32.6 million over the course of his five-year deal.
That will help Boston out tax-wise, and Tatum will probably be able to make up that loss with an extra endorsement somewhere, but I do think it's ridiculous that these votes determine a player's earnings. Yes, he'll be more than fine, but who are we (I don't have a vote, but people in my profession) to make this determination?
Marcus Smart shut out of All Defense awards
Smart had a tough year, missing a big chunk of time with his calf injury, suffering through personal tragedy, and trying to make up for the loss of various players due to injury or COVID-19.
He clearly wasn’t himself, so it should be no surprise that he was shut out of the Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defensive Teams.
He didn’t get any votes for DPOY, and he easily missed the All-Defensive teams.
My guess is that Smart disagrees with the voting, but he could be going into a contract year with some added motivation, so opposing guards might want to watch out next season.
Celtics assistant leaving for Detroit
There isn’t any news coming out of the Celtics as far as their coaching search is concerned, but we can deduce from the departure of Jerome Allen that the choice isn’t likely to come from within.
ESPN reported today that Detroit is finalizing contracts to revamp their assistant coaching corps, and that includes Allen.
Detroit is finalizing deals to hire three new assistants to Dwane Casey’s staff: Boston’s Jerome Allen, ex-Indiana assistant Bill Bayno and Sacramento’s Rex Kalamian, sources tell ESPN. Kalamian, Bayno worked for Casey in Toronto. Allen interviewed for Celtics HC job last week.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 15, 2021
Allen was interviewed for the Boston job along with fellow assistants Jay Larranaga, Scott Morrison, and Joe Mazzulla. However, the Celtics have publicly stated that a change of perspective is a priority. According to Bleacher Report, other priorities include a demonstrated ability to connect with players and playing experience, while the team would also prefer to hire a Black head coach. Names that could fit what Boston is looking for include Chauncey Billups, Sam Cassell, Darvin Ham, Charles Lee, and Ime Udoka.
Lloyd Pierce could be another candidate. Brad Stevens has publicly praised Pierce a number of times, and he has a connection to Tatum, Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker through Team USA. He played professionally, but not in the NBA, and he has head coaching experience in Atlanta. His reported rift with Trae Young would be a strike against his candidacy.
A sports supplement brand tried to cash in on the publicity surrounding the coaching search by putting up a billboard outside the Auerbach Center imploring Stevens to hire Spurs assistant Becky Hammon or Duke Women’s Basketball head coach (and former Celtics assistant) Kara Lawson. As of right now, Hammon has not been named as a candidate for the Celtics job, but is one for the openings in Portland and Orland.
Lawson was asked directly about the job in a Bleacher Report Q&A and said, “I’ve done really well in my career by focusing on myself in the moment. I loved my time in Boston. I loved coaching those players. It was a special time in my life. The speculation, you can chase a lot of rabbits down a lot of holes.”
That’s pretty non-committal, so while she still seems to be focused on the Duke job, she doesn’t seem to be out of the running for the Boston job just yet.
