The Celtics waived Justin Champagnie, meeting the August 1 deadline to avoid paying him $50,000 of guaranteed money.
Ouch. That's cold. I guess when you’re staring at a commitment of more than half a billion dollars to your two stars, saving $50k here or there instead of doling out a thank you card is meaningful.
Anyway, Champagnie’s dismissal means the Celtics will have to add at least one player to their roster for opening night. The team has two open roster spots and they have to carry 14 into the season, so they could decide to fill both.
They could also decide to waive Dalano Banton, whose contract is non-guaranteed until opening night. So they can cut him in camp with no cap hit. Luke Kornet is not guaranteed either, and he doesn’t fully guarantee until January 10, so there's a chance he might go.
For what it’s worth, Jordan Walsh’s contract isn’t guaranteed until opening night, but I’m not worried about him making the team.
So there is at least one spot available on the Celtics and possibly more. They still have the Taxpayer MLE, worth $5,000,000 but that hard caps them at the second apron and they're $4 million away from that. They can’t just use $4 million and leave the rest. They need to be the full $5 million under, which means they’d have to make another move. From there they can split it up or use it all on one person.
They could cut Banton at any time, get $6 million under the second apron, and use their $5 million TPMLE, however, they’d be right up against the second apron. That would leave them very little wiggle room.
They could make up for that in-season by moving Malcolm Brogdon for a cheaper option, but now we’re looking at cascading moves just to find a way to fit in a $4-5 million player. It doesn’t make sense.
So, I’m sorry to those people who are pining for Christian Wood or Kelly Oubre. Yes, it’s weird that Wood is still on the market. I know he had a tough time with Jason Kidd in Dallas, but he still put up good numbers (16.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg, .583 efg, 37.6% 3pt.). Sure, he needs work on the defensive end, but Wood still hanging around in free agency at this point is ridiculous.
Oubre has never been a model of efficiency, but he’s still able to score at the NBA level. I don’t think the league has done a 180 on the guy at almost 28 years old, no matter how bad his percentages were last season. There's a number where Oubre is worth the risk.
Is that number something Boston can reach? I doubt it. It’s possible someone like Oubre could slip into Dennis Schröder territory and hit a price in Boston’s range, but there are still a lot of teams with money to spend and a league mandate to spend it. So I’ll believe it when I see it.
That brings us to the next tier of players, and the possibility that someone is slipping into the league minimum range. While it might be surprising that some of these guys are still free agents, Boston’s front office has obviously been well aware of the list for a while. If they felt the need to perform some cap acrobatics in hopes of landing one of these guys, they would have done that already. So the most we’re looking at Boston offering players is the veteran minimum.
Does TJ Warren fall into that range? He’ll be 30 soon and coming off a somewhat tough season following a long recovery from stress fractures in his foot. He could be looking for a prove-it season on a good team with low stress.
The Celtics can offer him a bench role to provide some wing depth in hopes of him returning to the pre-injury, 40-plus percent shooting from deep. He did not shoot well in 42 games with Brooklyn and Phoenix last season, but maybe a more stable situation from the start will help him settle into a role.
Ish Smith could be an option for Boston. He’s definitely in the veteran minimum range, and he’s coming off a championship season in Denver. He’s 35, so he’d mostly be around for depth in case someone like Brogdon got hurt. But we know how much Brad Stevens loves to bring on guys who have killed Boston in the past … and few people have been regulars on team Celtics-Killers quite like Smith has. A little more veteran stability at the point and a member of the reigning champs could be good for Boston.
Wherever you’re looking for an addition to the roster, remember that it has to be a guy willing to make the league minimum. The Celtics also have a $6.2 million TPE they can use in a trade, so free agency isn’t the only way they can improve. Again, they're $4 million away from the second apron, but using the TPE won’t hard cap them, so they would be allowed to go over that.
They probably won’t use that, if they do, until they get into the season and figure out what they need after seeing the team in action. Seeing this team on the floor could present needs that we didn’t anticipate, so even if Boston does pick up another free agent, I doubt it will be any kind of splashy move.
