Everyone who runs a professional sports franchise makes mistakes. There are players who seem like good fits and earn good contracts only to change their attitudes once they sign. There are players who have earned big contracts and who can’t handle the pressure of living up to the big deal. And there are some complete whiffs.
They happen everywhere and to everyone. They involve contracts big and small. And how teams decide to handle those mistakes can be critical to the team’s future development.
The Boston Celtics aren’t immune to this, but Boston’s recent stretch of decisions, mostly from the end of the Danny Ainge tenure, have come back to haunt them a bit as they struggle through mediocrity. The added layer of luxury tax pressure from ownership has further exacerbated an issue that has left them searching for the types of players they once actually had on their roster.
Max Strus is shooting 41.4% from deep for the Miami Heat. In his last game, Strus started, played 31 minutes, and discord 25 points on 9-17 shooting, including 7-13 on 3-pointers. He has now started four games for Miami and is outplaying Duncan Robinson.
The Celtics had Strus in camp on a two-way deal back in October of 2019. At that point, there was discussion about how the Celtics were going to approach their final roster and two-way spot.
Then Javonte Green showed up in camp and had a stellar preseason. The Celtics also had Tacko Fall in camp and, instead of keeping the shooter, the Celtics cut Strus, signed Green to a guaranteed deal, and added Fall on a two-way contract.
Fall is a great guy with the potential to be an NBA contributor, and I understand the curiosity of using the two-way to explore the potential of a physical anomaly, but the Celtics passed up a potential wing with size and shooting ability to do that and it cost them. Fall’s progress is slow, while Struss is becoming the latest poster boy for “Heat Culture.”
Of course, there's no guarantee things go the same way for Strus in Boston. Opportunity is a big reason for his success, and it’s not clear that the same opportunity would have presented itself in Boston.
Still, Boston would have had a season to watch and evaluate Strus. Considering that he’s the exact type of player they need to space the floor right now, it’s a bit of kick below the belt to watch him thrive elsewhere.
That's especially true considering the guy they cut him for, Green, was sent packing as part of a luxury tax move as part of acquiring Evan Fournier.
Green went on to start 18 games for the Bulls this season and play a nice supporting role before he got hurt. That move also cost them Daniel Theis. They obviously didn’t re-sign Fournier, something he took personally because he keeps dropping huge scoring nights on the Celtics, including last night’s 41 points.
The through-line of cutting Strus to keep Green, then trading Green to get under the tax to get Fournier, and then not signing Fournier is the type of sequence that kills teams (not to mention that Fall didn’t work out as a two-way guy). While some of it is excusable as a “we couldn't have known”-type of scenario, this type of misfiring from a team desperate for high-quality role players is costly.
The only saving grace here is the Fournier Traded Player Exception. The Celtics need to use that to find some kind of useful player or asset, or else this entire thread goes down as a debacle and a wasted opportunity to live up to the stated goal of supporting their pillars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Even more painful than Strus finding himself is Desmond Bane’s emergence in Memphis.
Bane is a revelation for the Grizzlies, starting all 39 games for them and averaging 17.4 points on 41.6% shooting on 3’s. He’s a 6’5” brick wall with feathery touch from 3 and the absolute perfect choice to start in Boston’s backcourt to provide the Jays space.
Instead, the Celtics used the pick to sell then-Enes Kanter to Portland in a three-team deal. Paying a first round pick to get off Kanter’s deal was a steep price, but it was made even worse when Brad Stevens signed Kanter this past offseason. The name change will provide Boston no freedom from this debacle.
Bane is one that got away from Boston and it happened for nothing.
Paying to shed bad contracts is always risky because there is always the possibility of this type of repercussion. Stevens is certainly hoping Alperen Sengun (and anyone picked after him) isn’t added to this list. The re-litigation of the Kemba Walker/Al Horford deal could get ugly considering Sengun’s promise and Horford’s shooting regression.
Pressure to get under the tax line has driven Boston to make costly moves, maybe even moves that cost Boston more money in the long run by delaying their return to the NBA Finals. Financial concerns are understandable for a team in Boston’s situation, but it’s clear that the risk/reward was greater than the team anticipated.
Stevens isn't immune from these kinds of mistakes, either. The Celtics decided to keep Jabari Parker over Garrison Matthews, who was in Boston’s camp a few months ago. Parker has had a minimal impact this season while Matthews has started 16 games for the Houston Rockets and is shooting 37% from deep. Now, the Celtics are about to waive Parker ahead of a contract guarantee, which is partly a salary move and part to open a roster spot.
But between Matthews, Strus, and Bane, it’s hard to believe there isn’t at least one player who could have already occupied that spot and been on the floor last night for Boston to help them close out the Knicks.
Boston is trying to build a contender, and contenders are built in a lot of ways. But as the Celtics choked away another brutal loss last night in New York, it’s the moves around the periphery that are very clearly holding Boston back.
Stevens has moves to make as the deadline approaches. It’s his first trade deadline as head of the snake, and he has to nail it. No team can survive blowing this many moves on the periphery before its stars start to take notice.
