Tag: 2021-22 boston celtics

With 16 guaranteed contracts, a Celtics player needs to go before opening night – but who?

One way or another, the Celtics need to shed a contract before opening night – but whose?

The Boston Celtics are making use of the league’s expanded roster limits in the offseason, which the NBA allows clubs to roster as many as 20 players until the regular season rolls around and roster size shrink to 15. Currently at 16 guaranteed players, the Celtics will need to get at least one player off their books before the 2021-22 season starts in earnest.

But who to move, and how to do it? There are at least five likely subjects on the roster at present, and there are several ways it could come together depending on how other teams view Boston’s players and what the Celtics are willing to do to make a roster spot free up.

Let’s review who might be off the team come opening night, and the more likely ways it could happen for each.

WATCH: What are the chances of a Boston Celtic winning Sixth Man of the Year?

With such a deep bench, could we see one crowned in Boston this year?

The Boston Celtics significantly deepened their bench in a very busy offseason to date with additions who could see time in a sixth-man role like Josh Richardson, Dennis Schroder, and Al Horford, with young players like Payton Pritchard, Romeo Langford, and Aaron Nesmith all reasonable threats to force their way into a major role in the rotation as well.

With so much talent, it will be a process finding exactly the right combination of players and minutes, with some serious potential to find one of their players in the running for the NBA’s 2021-22 Sixth Man of the Year award.

With a recent top finisher in that race on their roster and several realistic options to join the fray, check out the discussion of the possibility of that particular bit of hardware getting awarded to a Celtic this season on this clip from the latest episode of the CLNS Media podcast “Winning Plays.”

Watch the video embedded above to hear what hosts Brian Robb and Rich Lavine think about the chances of a Sixth Man of the Year being crowned in Boston this season.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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WATCH: Brad Stevens has built a Boston Celtics roster filled with competitors

But will it translate to more wins than last season?

For better or worse, it’s hard to argue that the Boston Celtics of last season were competitors in any sense of the word on the court. While they may have battled through a host of problems off the court, when it came to the parquet the team was softer than warm butter more nights than not.

But to that end, new President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens aggressively retooled the roster almost as soon as the offseason began, adding a collection of players with something to prove, a perennial chip on their shoulders — or both. From Dennis Schroder and Josh Richardson to Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando, the team has gotten grittier.

On the latest episode of the CLNS Media “A-List” podcast, hosts Kwani A. Lunis and A. Sherrod Blakely talk about the team’s new editions and how they may impact the win column.

Watch the video embedded above to hear their takes on the Celtics’ new-look roster — it won’t be long until we can see them tested on the court.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Celtics coach Ime Udoka talks on what Boston needs to change, expectations for 2021-22

In a recent interview, the Celtics coach offered his view on how Boston can be a better team next season.

New Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka recently made an appearance on ESPN’s “Jalen and Jacoby Show,” talking about the coming season with the Celtics to eponymous hosts Jalen Rose and David Jacoby.

The trio discussed everything from expectations and goals to the nuts and bolts of how to achieve them, along with the pressure of stepping into a very talented team with an unparalleled history of excellence and the expectations that come with that. Udoka has made some things clear already — such as his predilection towards ball movement and team defense — in previous interviews but expanded on that with the ESPN hosts in his recent talk.

“The roster is the first thing you look at,” he began when asked what he was most excited about with his new position.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks loves Boston’s offseason, thinks the Celtics are a top-4 team

It seems the Celtics’ offseason has been quite polarizing among experts.

The Boston Celtics have already had themselves a very busy offseason with training camp for the 2021-22 season still a month away, having kicked it off by trading away Kemba Walker for Al Horford and Moses Brown, Tristan Thompson for Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando, and Moses Brown for Josh Richardson.

They’ve extended Richardson, Marcus Smart, and Robert Williams III and signed Dennis Schroder on a taxpayer mid-level exception and Enes Kanter on a veterans minimum, and despite all this there are still some well-known analysts out there who view the Celtics offseason as a poor one. Don’t include ESPN cap wizard Bobby Marks among them, however.

“I love what the Celtics did,” related the ESPN analyst in a recent video praising Boston’s offseason and the Timelord extension in particular.

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Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca talks on Boston’s offseason moves, ascent of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown

The team’s co-governor seems happy with the direction the team is heading in ahead of the 2021-22 season.

Boston Celtics co-governer Steve Pagliuca joined a number of other Celtics front office denizens on the airwaves of WEEI yesterday in support of the Jimmy Fund telethon against cancer and spoke a bit about the Celtics coming 2021-22 season and the significant changes made to the team in recent weeks.

The ascent of Boston’s twin All-Star forwards in particular, and how they will mesh with the new additions to the roster and coaching staff were brought up, with Pagliuca sounding very excited by what the Celtics have done to focus their future around these two star talents. “They’re definitely both leaders on the team,” he explained.

“They’re really great players.”

Boston Celtics ranked close to worst in NBA for offseason by Athletic analyst

There’s a wide variety of perspectives on what Boston has done so far.

In many corners, there are fans of the Boston Celtics’ offseason moves to date, starting with the deal that sent Kemba Walker to the Oklahoma City Thunder and ending with a flurry of extensions with a team-friendly pickup of Dennis Schroder in the middle with several other trades and signings.

But not everyone sees the Celtics’ offseason through green-tinted lenses, or even in a positive light compared to the rest of the league. One such assessment puts Boston near the bottom of the league in fact, that of The Athletic’s David Aldridge, who rates the Celtics shakeup at just 26th in the league.

“The Cs reshuffled the cards, bringing Horford back, and moving on from Walker after just two seasons,” writes Aldridge.

Boston Celtics ranked 13th in NBA in latest ESPN power rankings

With the East getting more difficult, is this a fair assessment?

The Boston Celtics find themselves ranked 13th in the NBA in ESPN’s most recent power rankings, just behind the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors and just ahead of the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers.

“The Celtics essentially swapped Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier for Al Horford, Dennis Schroder and Josh Richardson, opting for financial flexibility and better roster balance over keeping their two top free agents,” observes ESPN’s Tim Bontemps regarding the franchise’s busy offseason. “It presents an interesting puzzle for new coach Ime Udoka to solve, as the Celtics still believe they haven’t done enough to move up the standings much beyond the seventh-place finish they recorded last year.”

It’s unclear what Bontemps means regarding his observations on where the Celtics think they stand in terms of the team’s potential for 2021-22, but this ranking seems about right given all the unknowns facing the team and the ongoing arms race in the East.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Celtics garner an ‘A-‘ for offseason so far from top Sports Illustrated writer

The Celtics have been aggressive this offseason, but not everyone gets the plan.

The Boston Celtics have led us in several directions regarding their teambuilding plans since they kicked off their offseason by trading away starting point guard Kemba Walker, and have polarized fans confused about what exactly new President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens is up to.

But Sports Illustrated’s Michael Pina can be counted among those of us who see the Celtics’ aggressive offseason trades and extensions as part of a longer-view approach setting the team up to compete into a not-so-distant future. In fact, Pina gives Boston high marks for what the front office has accomplished to date, among the highest in the league.

“The Celtics’ significant see-saw offseason began with a series of decisions that made it seem as if they were prioritizing cap space and financial flexibility in an earnest attempt to add another max-level star via free agency,” observed the SI analyst.

Celtics Lab 63: Dissecting the impact of the Timelord and Richardson extensions

The Celtics zigged hard towards cap flexibility to start the offseason, only to dry it up with a handful of extensions. What’s their plan?

The Boston Celtics started their offseason with a bang, making major moves to create cap flexibility and seeming to signal they were all in on pursuing a max deal star in free agency perhaps as soon as the 2022 NBA offseason.

Until it became clear they were not. Now, more recently, the Celtics have been handing out contract extensions to the players on their rosters like candy on Halloween, with veteran guard Marcus Smart, rising big man Robert Williams III and recently acquired wing Josh Richardson all getting additional years — four apiece in the case of Smart and Timelord — added to their contracts.

What might be the plan here? How does it impact what we already know about the team? How do we feel about the moves?

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Join your usual hosts Alex Goldberg, Cameron Tabatabaie and Justin Quinn as they dive into these important questions and the news of the week on this episode of the Celtics Lab, including Kevin Garnett’s jersey retirement news and the release of the full 2021-22 schedule.

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This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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