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Anthony Davis trade rumors 2019: Boston

Celtics may be favorites as deadline
passes with no deal | Tom Westerholm
The Boston Celtics can breathe a sigh of relief:
The 3:00 p.m. trade deadline by which the New
Orleans Pelicans needed to have dealt
Anthony Davis has come and gone, and Davis
will remain with New Orleans for the rest of the
year.
In other words, Danny Ainge will have an
opportunity to make his pitch.
The Celtics were barred from dealing for Davis
this season while Kyrie Irving is under his
current contract, since the CBA doesn’t allow a
team to trade for two players on designated
rookie extensions. Irving is an unrestricted free
agent this summer, and the Celtics could deal
for Davis then (an action which might double
as a reason for Irving to stay).
This situation has been picked to death, but
here are a few things to consider now that the
deadline has passed with no major Celtics-
related action.
1) The Celtics seem to be the preferred suitor,
since they can offer Jayson Tatum. But the
Celtics are understandably concerned about
the Knicks’ package, even if New York doesn’t
get the top pick in the draft. An offer that
includes the No. 2 or 3 pick -- even in a draft
as heavily weighted to the top spot as this year
-- is a powerful one, and the Knicks have every
reason to go all in, since Davis has made clear
he would consider signing in New York. Tatum
is one of the best prospects in the NBA, but
offering a team the opportunity to make their
own draft selection carries a lot of weight.
2) According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the
Pelicans weren’t quite looking to sabotage the
Lakers, but they (how shall we put this) aren’t
exactly upset that their actions might be
messing with the Lakers’ locker room. The
Pelicans, in other words, are happy to be petty
against teams that may have tampered with
their superstar when the situation arises.
That might mean nothing, but let’s just say the
Celtics might want to be careful when haggling
this summer. If they made the Pelicans believe
anything specific about what could be included
in the trade package only to remove it when
the Lakers offer might (theoretically) be off the
table, New Orleans could be understandably
livid. And as the Lakers (may have) learned, a
livid trade partner is not exactly a receptive
one.
3) Yes, I’m talking about Jayson Tatum.
The Celtics were careful not to say anything
about their potential package because no
player wants to hear that he will be in trade
talks after the season. That may go doubly for
a young player, even one who generally acts
as professionally as Tatum on a day-to-day
basis. But while Celtics fans may not be happy
to hear it, Boston has made it abundantly clear
that no player (save Kyrie Irving) will be off the
table, especially if acquiring Davis might
secure Irving in Boston longterm. That’s the
ultimate goal of the franchise at this point.
4) We will do this again in a few months, and
players might have to face some
uncomfortable questions for the next day or
two before it fades from media scrums. But the
noise will carry on and players will hear it
regardless of what reporters ask. SportsCenter
will wonder loudly whether an early playoff exit
by the Celtics affects Irving’s future decision.
Fans and popular Twitter accounts will seep
onto players’ timelines.
No player will be asked about it every day. For
some of these guys, the direct questions might
not come up again until exit interviews the day
after their season ends. But they will still hear
the noise from now through the playoffs and
into the offseason. Whether it affects them or
not remains to be seen, but the ongoing drama
may play a role in this year’s postseason.
5) Much will be made of the Celtics’ lack of
action at the deadline while other Eastern
Conference contenders improved themselves,
but there are a few things to remember. First,
the Bucks and Raptors -- with the additions of
Nikola Mirotic and Marc Gasol respectively --
improved their offenses drastically. But both
players might struggle to match up with Boston
in a seven-game series, and the Bucks in
particular have a lot of targets for Boston’s
offense.
Second, the Celtics hope Gordon Hayward
continues to improve as the season
progresses, and both Jaylen Brown and Terry
Rozier have looked a bit better off the bench in
recent games. The improvement of those three
players (plus the buyout market) would more
than make up for a lack of action at the
deadline.
Finally, in case you missed it, Anthony Davis is
still in New Orleans. Move or no move, that
makes the Celtics big winners at the deadline,
even as the East’s arms race continues to
ramp up.

Danny Ainge: No deal promised or in place

with Pelicans for Anthony Davis
Justin Leger
2 hours ago

Danny Ainge put an end to the nonsense being

reported about the Celtics' rumored pursuit of
Anthony Davis.
Thursday night on NBC Sports Boston's Celtics
Trade Deadline Special, Ainge addressed a
report that there was a deal already in place
with the Pelicans to acquire Davis this summer.
"Of course there's no deal," Ainge said. "Of
course there's nothing like that. I have no idea
where that comes from. I think that we have a
history with New Orleans, in that we've tried to
do deals with them before and they have a
knowledge of our roster and our team and our
assets and all that, but other than that, there's
absolutely no deals."
Even though no deal is currently on the table,
Davis staying put at the trade deadline means
the Celtics are in the driver's seat to acquire the
superstar big man this summer. The one
roadblock could be Davis' reported
unwillingness to sign a long-term deal with
Boston.

Keith Smith
Keith Smith
@KeithSmithNBA

Celtics impacts of this huge LAC/PHI trade:

1. Road just got a lot tougher at the top of the Eastern
Conference.
2. With LAC probably missing the playoffs, their 2019
1st rounder won’t convey to BOS this year. Rolls over to
2020 (lottery protected) for one more shot, then a 2nd.
3. The Sacramento Kings playoff odds have to improve
with the Clippers likely dropping out of the race. That
would push the pick the Kings owe to the Celtics even
lower than it already surprisingly is.

How the Tobias Harris trade

impacts the Boston Celtics
The trade was between the Clippers and 76ers,
but has wide-ranging effects on the Celtics
By Keith P Smith Feb 6, 2019, 10:50am EST
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
The NBA is a shared ecosystem. It’s the old “a
butterfly flaps its wings in China and it rains in
Texas” theory. Every deal has a trickle-down effect
on every team, not just the ones involved. Today’s
monster trade between the Philadelphia 76ers and
the Los Angeles Clippers is no different. This
is CelticsBlog, so we’re going to take a look at how
this trade impacts the Boston Celtics, and boy did it
ever.
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Philadelphia goes all-in
Ever since they made the Jimmy Butler trade, the
76ers have been weak at power forward. They’ve
been starting Wilson Chandler, who recently got
injured and will miss some time, and will now fill
that spot with Tobias Harris. That’s a huge upgrade
for Philadelphia. Harris is a far better player and he’s
healthy. He should have been an All-Star and likely
would have been one if he was in the East two
weeks ago.
In addition, the Sixers added two solid frontcourt
backups in Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott. In
the past, when Boston has played Joel Embiid off
the floor due to foul trouble or when he’s resting, the
Celtics have had great success going at his backups.
Neither Marjanovic nor Scott is better than
Boston’s bigs, but they did close the gap some.
The biggest question when the Celtics and 76ers
meet is now: who does Kyrie Irving guard? In
recent matchups, the Celtics have
put Irving on Chandler. Philly tried to go at him on
occasion, but largely it allowed Irving to hang out
and help off Chandler, who just stood around the
arc. In addition, it lets the Celtics keep Marcus
Smart on J.J. Redick. That makes Boston’s
switching defense more effective as they navigate
the maze of screens the Sixers set for Redick.
Now? Brad Stevens either tasks Irving to chase
Redick, which makes the Celtics less likely to
switch, as Irving would be in a mismatch against any
other Sixer. Or Stevens puts Irving on the non-
shooting Ben Simmons. That’s not ideal, as
Simmons will overpower Irving to get in the paint
and can see over him with ease to find passing lanes.
The best bet for Boston? Stick with the strategy that
works and put Irving on Harris. Harris is far more of
a weapon than Chandler is, but if Philadelphia wants
to take the ball out of Simmons, Embiid and
Butler’s hands to play through a new addition in
Harris, so be it. That’s a gamble worth taking for the
Celtics, as it allows them to keep everything else the
same as much as possible. And Boston will keep
switching everything and then scrambling Irving out
of mismatches whenever possible.
On the other end, Philadelphia has trouble guarding
Irving already and this trade does nothing to quell
those concerns. T.J. McConnell remains the best
Irving defender on the roster, and he’s in a 10-15
minute per game backup. It’s easy to say “Jimmy
Butler can defend Irving”, but Butler hasn’t
defended point guards on a consistent basis for
years. Planning on him going head-to-head on Irving
for up to 35-40 minutes per game over a playoff
series is a big ask.
Overall, this stresses the Boston defense a little
more. Stevens will have to figure things out, but the
Celtics have enough good-to-great defenders that
they can make it work. It’s the offensive end where
the Celtics have had a big advantage and they
continue to have that. In addition, Boston’s bench is
still far better than Philadelphia’s. The 76ers will
make some upgrades, but they’re going to ask their
starters to carry a heavy minute load the rest of the
season and into the playoffs.
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles punting on this season impacts pick
owed to Boston
The Clippers owe the Celtics a first round pick either
this year or next, or that pick turns into a second
round pick. The kicker is that pick is lottery
protected for Los Angeles. As of today, the Clippers
are sitting in the eighth spot in the Western
Conference playoff picture. The Sacramento
Kings and Los Angeles Lakers are right there
competing with the Clippers for that last spot.
Trading away Harris is a sign that the Clips are
punting on this season (and being first round fodder
for the Golden State Warriors) and re-prioritizing
for the offseason.
What does this mean for Boston? You can probably
say goodbye to getting a 2019 first rounder from Los
Angeles. The hope now is that the Clippers big
dreams for this summer pay off and they make the
playoffs in 2020 and deliver a first to the Celtics at
that point. Otherwise, that once promising extra first
becomes a far less promising extra second rounder.
Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
The Kings postseason chances just went up
If the Clippers fall out of the playoffs, the Kings are
right there to challenge for the spot. As much as we
all struggle to envision a LeBron James-led Lakers
team missing the postseason, that team is a mess
right now. They just got hammered by 42 points at
the Indiana Pacers, which was the worst loss
of LeBron James’ career in a game he actually
played in.
So, it’s sitting right there for Sacramento to make
their first postseason appearance since 2006. If that
happens, it’s an unmitigated disaster for the Celtics.
Obviously, Jayson Tatum has become the jewel of
the pre-draft trade Danny Ainge swung with the
76ers in 2017. Boston has won that trade almost no
matter what happens from here. But the icing on that
delicious cake was the Kings pick. Everyone
expected that pick to be top-5 at worst. With
Sacramento playing well, those hopes have become
no more than a faint dream. Maybe the basketball
gods will smile upon the Celtics with some lucky
bounces in the lottery. But if the Kings make the
playoffs, those faint dreams turn into nightmares.
Well, maybe not nightmares. Restless sleep?
Whatever. It’s not good.
That Kings pick, if it lands somewhere in the top-10,
is pretty high on the asset list for Ainge to send to
the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Anthony
Davis. If that pick falls to the mid to late-teens, its
value goes way down. It won’t take Boston out of
the race for Davis, but they’ll have to add something
else to what will be an already considerable trade
package.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
What else are we missing?
For the rest of this season, probably not much. If you
haven’t been living off the grid, you’ve probably
heard the Celtics can’t trade for Davis right now
anyway. So, it’s all a waiting game anyway. Boston
and Philadelphia could be competing for similar
talent on the buyout market, but the Celtics don’t
even have an open roster spot right now.
Down the line, the Sixers roster construction could
have an impact. Let’s be positive and say Boston
brings back Irving in the summer. The overall cost
of the roster could be too high to retain a player like
Marcus Morris. He’s a Philadelphia native and
would be an ideal fit for the 76ers as a bench player.
And they’re going to have a bit more money to offer,
as the Sixers are likely to have the full Non-
Taxpayer Mid-level Exception available.
But it doesn’t matter if it is Morris or not. The point
is that Boston and Philly will be competing for
similar talent to fill out their benches, and the 76ers
might have more money to offer. That’s always a
difference maker.
As for Davis, this doesn’t change much for Boston,
except that the Clippers could now be involved.
They’ve added a whole bunch of draft capital that
they could trade for Davis, along with some young
talent. And the Clippers, like the Knicks, are poised
to have two max salary slots this summer. And Steve
Ballmer and crew aren’t afraid to swing for the
fences. And of course, the Celtics picks may have
been lessened some.
But it could mean good news for Boston! The
Clippers will make a play for Davis, but the Celtics
can still outbid them. That just means LA will turn
their eyes towards free agents like Kevin
Durant, Kawhi Leonard, or even Jimmy Butler in
a delightful twist of irony. Any of those players
leaving their current teams for the Clippers would
weaken direct competitors for the Celtics.
This season is going to play out however it plays
out. This trade deadline is going to usher in a
summer of change around the entire NBA. It’s likely
to be chaos. Almost no matter what, the Celtics will
be sitting pretty atop their treasure chest of assets.
But it’s time to start cashing them in. And we all
know who Ainge wants to redeem his chips for,
before they just become tokens of broken dreams.

Boston Celtics newfound

interior presence paid
dividends against Thunder
6

Boston Celtics added emphasis on scoring in

paint has raised their offense to another level.
By Alex Kungu@Kungu_NBA Feb 4, 2019,
7:00am EST
Even with the Celtics rolling since late November,
there was still an underlying theme that many fans
talked about during our infrequent offensive lulls.
Despite the teams ability to score with the best of
them when needed, they seldom finished in the
paint. With an offense generated to create plenty of
open threes and a closer like Kyrie Irving who could
score whenever, the inability to get buckets at the
rim really didn’t seem to hurt them, but the danger
with relying on the three-ball is the heavy variance.
One night can be record-breaking night and the next
could be could crippling bricks even with the quality
of the looks being the same.
Against the Thunder, the Celtics were able to amass
134 points, and of those, 56 of them were in the
paint. For reference, the Milwaukee Bucks who are
ranked 2nd in both rim attempt frequency and
percentage via Cleaning the Glass average 54 points
in the paint per game. Overall, in the past three
games the Celtics have really made an effort to
finish in the paint and have averaged a whopping 58
paint points per game in that stretch.
What’s changed? Well, nothing really outside of the
team reading each other better. This wasn’t a set
play or anything. It was Irving reading the help and
giving Smart a cutter to bail him out:
This play was a pick and pop between Tatum and
Horford. When Horford gets the ball, all eyes go to
him and Irving immediately takes off and is able to
score a tough finish at the rim:
Some do come from set plays. Rozier
gives Brown an off-ball screen on the weak side
meant to get him a mismatch against Schroder in the
paint:
Finally, we have HORNS action where, because of
the spacing, Grant ends getting caught in no man’s
land stuck between the shooter (Morris) and the
roller (Horford), because Adams played up on the
screen he was a step behind Horford and Smart was
able to find him with a beautiful feed:
Since the Celtics inserted Marcus
Smart and Marcus Morris in the starting lineup,
they have ranked 4th in assists per game. It seems
that they’re now progressing from making the right
plays within a set to reading off one another to create
easy baskets. Jaylen Brown’s response was
measured when asked about how well the team has
been growing together, “we’re learning, we’re
growing, we still have a long way to go. We have 30
or 40 games left in the season, let’s keep getting
better each night.”
The explosion in paint points is still too early to call
a trend, but the natural progression the team seems
to be heading towards as they learn each other is real
and there’s no saying how much better their offense
could be looking by April if everyone can stay
healthy.
Kyrie Irving Rumors 2019: Boston Celtics
‘shaken’ but ‘cautiously optimistic’ about
re-signing their star (report)
The Boston Celtics are in an unprecedented
position. Instead of just being able to pull the trigger
on a franchise-altering trade that could answer
every question in front of them right now, they have
no choice but to wait nearly five months.

Considering that the Anthony Davis saga began a

week-and-a-half ago, it’s pretty safe to say a lot can
change in nearly half a calendar year.

The Los Angeles Lakers are preying on that

uncertainty, hoping to give the New Orleans
Pelicans an immediate reprieve from the madness.
Granted, Klutch Sports, and indirectly, the Lakers,
are responsible for the madness, so their offer is
sort of like a pair of neck-less goons walking into a
business and offering protection because “it’d be
a shame if something were to happen.”
In the meantime, Davis' camp has lobbed grenades
around the league, especially towards Boston.
Klutch needed to poison the waters to eliminate the
Lakers' biggest threat, and that meant infecting
Kyrie Irving, who had been enjoying a rumor-free
half-season in Boston. Frustration with a poor start
to the season, along with now incessant rumors and
the re-emergence of New York as an option in free
agency, have called Irving’s future into question.

Irving didn’t take the chance in New York to reaffirm

his flat-out desire to return to Boston, instead
choosing to say Boston is in the lead. Those
comments, intentionally or not, sent a message to
the Celtics front office. According to Zach Lowe, the
message was received.
Boston, for its part, remains cautiously optimistic about
keeping Irving, though the events of the past week --
Irving’s comments, New York opening up a second
maximum salary slot -- have shaken them. But Boston
is always confident. That is Ainge’s default mindset.
The league at large is much less confident, but it is
hard to say who knows what, and with what level of
reliability. The postseason could be really telling for so
many of this summer’s headliner free agents.
There are so many layers to this situation that it’s
hard to focus on what’s real and what’s conjecture.
It’s also hard not to have our opinions colored by
what amounts to a propaganda campaign aimed
solely at getting Anthony Davis to the Lakers.

The draw of playing in New York is real for Kyrie

Irving. He said so after an October game against
the Knicks.
“Every team was under consideration,” Irving said.
“But obviously, New York held a special place for
me, just being from Jersey, and obviously
envisioning myself as a free agent and ultimately
taking a meeting and playing for (David Fizdale)
and the great young core they had here, and
thinking about playing with (Kristaps Porzingis), that
was a big thing before I made my decision to sign
back -- to plan on re-signing back, I don’t want to
get in trouble, plan on re-signing back with Boston.
But yeah, of course. New York was a strong
consideration.”

Porzingis is gone, but a better player might be there

when July rolls around. Will that player be enough
of a draw for Irving?
The answer might depend on Boston’s pursuit of
Davis. There prevailing theory, and maybe why
Boston is still confident in all of this, is that getting
Davis cinches Kyrie, and cinching Kyrie in turn
cinches Davis long-term. Even Kevin Durant’s
presumed signing in New York and the draw of
playing at home might not be enough for Irving to
bail on the job he started in Boston.

This, perhaps, is why Boston is begging the

Pelicans to wait. They know they have the assets to
make this deal worth New Orleans' while. Ainge will
play hardball like he usually does, but he won’t let
Davis get away if he can help it.

Will Ainge commit now to throwing Jayson Tatum in

a deal? No. He can’t promise the Pelicans specifics
because he can neither paint himself into a corner
nor can he risk an outside leak destroying his locker
room. All he can say between now and whenever
actual negotiations take place is that he promises to
be aggressive and competitive.

Ainge needs the Pelicans to believe that, and he

needs them to believe the Lakers offer will exist as
it stands as a fall-back option. If he can keep them
convinced of that for one more day, then he can
execute his plan. Once things start rolling on
Ainge’s terms, then his cautious optimism has a
greater chance of paying off.

Boston Celtics trade rumors 2019: Jayson

Tatum has been ‘extensively’ discussed in
Anthony Davis talks

Yes, the Boston Celtics have discussed Jayson

Tatum with the New Orleans Pelicans in their talks
regarding Anthony Davis.
From the Athletic’s Sam Amick: “A source with
knowledge of the talks said the potential
centerpiece in a Pelicans package, 20-year-old
Celtics small forward Jayson Tatum, has been
discussed extensively by the two teams and is
expected to be a major part of the talks when June
rolls around.”
That should come as little surprise to anyone who
has watched the last two weeks unfold. The Celtics
want to keep the Pelicans from making a deal
before the summer, because they can’t trade for
Davis until Kyrie Irving is off his current contract
(if you don’t know why by now, go search for
literally any story involving Davis and the Celtics).
The Pelicans are clearly intrigued by what Boston
can offer, but trading Davis now would allow them
to properly tank, and it would rid them of what will
be an unpleasant story over the next two months.
To keep the Pelicans from dealing with the Los
Angeles Lakers, the Celtics need to make sure
Pelicans GM Dell Demps is aware that the package
they plan to offer is worth waiting for -- a package
worth passing on offers from the increasingly
desperate Lakers. That package will presumably
involve Tatum, but the rest of the parameters are a
little unclear. Will the Pelicans demand Jaylen
Brown as well? How many (and which) picks will
be involved? Can the Celtics find a way to hang
onto Marcus Smart?
That’s all far in the future, of course. For now, the
Celtics will simply have to wait with baited breath,
hoping the Pelicans don’t bend to LA’s will before
Thursday’s trade deadline at 3 p.m. Los Angeles
declared itself out of the Davis discussions on
Tuesday afternoon, but don’t expect that to
continue -- the Lakers have followed the posturing
handbook letter by letter so far, and their current
tactics are directly in line. If the Pelicans truly want
a potential All-NBA talent, and if they see Tatum as
that talent (Tuesday’s results were pretty friendly to
the Celtics), they will have to wait a few more
months.

The latest on Kyrie Irving’s future in

Boston and the Anthony Davis pursuit
With new rumors swirling about point guard Kyrie Irving’s future
in Boston, a league source with ties to the All-Star point guard
said Irving has given no indication that he will back down from
his October proclamation that he will re-sign with the Celtics at
season’s end.

The source added that Irving could change his mind before July 1,
but added that if he does, it almost certainly would not be to
reunite with LeBron James, calling that notion “a joke.”

The partnership between Irving and James in Cleveland came to a

jarring end when Irving requested to be traded and ended up on
the Celtics in August 2017. But the two have mended fences.
Earlier this month, Irving called James and apologized for his
own immaturity when he was a young player on the Cavaliers, and
also asked for advice on how to lead this young Celtics team. Then
last week James tagged Irving in an Instagram video of himself
playing a song called “Rewind” in which there are cryptic lyrics
such as “If I could bring it back, I’ll probably press rewind.”

In his weekly radio appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub, Celtics

president of basketball operations Danny Ainge briefly addressed
the rumors surrounding Irving, saying he was still optimistic that
Irving will re-sign with the Celtics this summer.

“I talk to Kyrie on a daily basis and see him all the time,” Ainge
said. “None of this stuff that’s out in the media this week that
people have brought to my attention really matters to me. Just, we
need to sell our team, our players. We need to sell free agents-to-
be that are out there, potential free agents, our own players that
this is a place they want to be on a regular basis.

“Of course we want to keep Kyrie and, you know, time will tell.”

Irving has been sidelined with a left hip strain this week, so he has
not spoken to the media since recent reports emerged
from Yahoo! Sports and Bleacher Report that he may have
interest in becoming a Laker. Coach Brad Stevens said Wednesday
that Irving would likely accompany the team to New York, but
that his status for Friday’s game against the Knicks was unclear.
There are several layers to Irving’s situation. In addition to him
being an important cog in Boston’s future, he also is viewed as a
key player in Boston’s pursuit of All-Star forward Anthony Davis.

Related: Behind the scenes on the Celtics’ Anthony Davis plan

Davis and his camp formally and publicly requested a trade from
the Pelicans last weekend, igniting a feeding frenzy for one of the
game’s superstars. ESPN reported Thursday that Davis’s camp is
informing teams that if Davis is traded to a team other than the
Lakers, he would leave after he becomes a free agent in 2020, and
that this holds true even with the Celtics because Davis is unsure
about whether Irving will re-sign with them.

Of course, Irving’s decision would come a full year before Davis’s,

and the Celtics remain confident that with Irving in the fold and
the championship environment they are creating, Davis would
want to remain in Boston long-term.

A league rule that forbids teams from acquiring two players who
have signed designated player rookie extensions (Irving was the
first) will keep Boston from being able to trade for Davis prior to
next Thursday’s deadline, but there is nothing stopping the two
sides from negotiating now.

According to a league source, the Celtics and Pelicans have not

had trade discussions this week, but they have in the past, and
New Orleans remains well aware of Boston’s interest in Davis as
well as the treasure chest of assets it possesses.

Ainge said during his radio interview that he has reached out to
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to discuss the fact that their
names have been circulating in trade rumors. But there have been
no direct reports connecting them to a deal for Davis, just media
speculation that the Pelicans would seek one or both of Boston’s
young rising stars in a potential deal.

“I think they’re very mature kids,” Ainge said on The Sports Hub.
“They listened to what I had to say. I think they get it. They
understand it.

“Part of it, I feel obligated to help educate these guys on the world
we live in in basketball, the business side of basketball, the media
side, just all the reports that come out and try to prevent them
from being distracted.”
Tatum, for his part, said Wednesday that he wasn’t bothered by it.

“My job is to control what I can control,” said Tatum, who recently
lightheartedly acknowledged that he would trade himself in a deal
for Davis. “I mean, I can’t control what happens, so just got to go
out there and focus on today. Just play the game. See what
happens.”

Danny Ainge draws interesting parallel

between Anthony Davis, KG trade

The Boston Celtics' pursuit of Anthony

Daviscomes with a huge asterisk: If they sold the
farm to acquire the New Orleans Pelicans big man,
would he even stick around past one season?
Davis will enter the final year of his contract in 2019-
20, after all, and reportedly prefers to sign with the
Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 free agency.
 MORE CELTICS: Ainge addresses report of
Kyrie possibly leaving Celtics
Danny Ainge can't talk specifics, but the Celtics'
president of basketball operations said Thursday on
98.5 The Sports Hub's "Toucher & Rich" radio show
he's certainly open to the idea of trading for a
"rental" like Davis.
Yes, but it depends on the situation, It depends
on the player, the circumstances and the
package you have to trade for him. We’ve had a
chance to do it and have done it, and we’ve had
a chance to do it and have not done it.
Ainge then provided fitting historical perspective
involving his pursuit of Minnesota Timberwolves star
Kevin Garnett during the summer of 2007.
We initially had a trade together and KG said he
wouldn’t come to Boston. He said no. So, we
pulled the trade offer. Then we traded for Ray
Allen and went back to Minnesota and they
allowed us to speak to KG, and he said yes.
He also said he would sign an extension and we
did the trade. We had another opportunity -- I
won’t name the player, but that player wouldn’t
commit to re-signing, so we didn’t do the deal.
It’s not about selling the player. They want to be
themselves and they want to win. It’s about
creating an environment where they can reach
their goals. That’s usually how you keep players.
Garnett's and Davis' scenarios are different -- the
Allen trade convinced KG to sign an extension as
soon as he got to Boston, while Davis likely will wait
until 2020 to make up his mind.
But Ainge's point is well-taken: The Celtics' most
important goal this summer should be trading for
Davis (if he isn't moved before the Feb. 7 deadline),
not worrying about the chances he re-signs after a
year. Davis' sights may be set on L.A. now, but that
could change if his experience in Boston goes well.
Just ask Paul George, who spurned L.A. to stick with
the Oklahoma City Thunder this past offseason.
Is trading for Davis a gamble given his contract
situation? Certainly. But the 2008 NBA champion
Celtics are proof that such a gamble can pay off.

Danny Ainge addresses report of Kyrie

Irving possibly leaving Celtics

You've probably heard the report by now:

There's apparently a "growing belief of
uncertainty" Kyrie Irving will re-sign with
the Boston Celtics this summer.
But Irving promised to do just that before
the 2018-19 season even began. So, how
does his boss feel about this potential
change of heart?
Celtics president of basketball operations
Danny Ainge addressed the Irving report
Thursday morning on 98.5 The Sports
Hub's "Toucher & Rich" radio show.
I talk to Kyrie all the time. My feelings
have not changed. I feel like Kyrie likes it
in Boston, but I certainly can’t talk about
Kyrie’s impending free agency. That’s
taboo, and we won’t know anything until
July for certain. But I'm optimistic.
Another report suggests Irving is
"genuinely interested" in reuniting with
LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers,
a fire James himself stoked by serenading
his former Cleveland Cavaliers
teammate on Instagram.
Ainge insisted he hadn't seen the video -- "I
have no idea what you're talking about" --
but in a broader point explained the process
of convincing Irving to stay with the Celtics
is ongoing.
We need to sell free-agents-to-be that
are out there, potential free agents, our
own players that this is a place they
want to be on a regular basis. Of course
we want to keep Kyrie, and time will tell.
Woj went on ESPN and said NOP didn't have
any interest in "acquiescing" to LAL request and
BOS has made it clear everyone not named
Kyrie is an option. We'll see what LeBron's
agency does next. Feels like a "he only wants
to resign with LAL" is next logical step for
them.Woj on ESPN last night. Danny Ainge and
the Celtics are undeterred by ADs preference
and will be aggressive

Rich Conte.

Facts are: 1. Pelicans have no reason to trade AD

for anything but the best offer. 2. Cs can make the
best offer. 3. If the Cs trade for Davis, Kyrie is
guaranteed to resign. 4. If Kyrie resigns, AD is
guaranteed to resign. Klutch and the Lakers have
zero leverage here.

also from Matt Moore: If Ainge offers Tatum

for AD to NOP, NOP ll wait summer 100%.
No other offer can top that.

Would Celtics part with Jayson Tatum in

an Anthony Davis trade?
If you believe the Los Angeles Lakers have
gained the upper hand in the Anthony Davis
sweepstakes, Danny Ainge would like a word.
Davis officially requested a trade from the New
Orleans Pelicans on Monday. On its face, that's
bad news for the Boston Celtics, who can't
trade for Davis until the offseason unless
they deal Kyrie Irving and have to hope the
Lakers or another team doesn't snatch him from
New Orleans before the Feb. 7 NBA trade
deadline.
But the Celtics still have leverage, as many
believe they can offer the Pelicans the
strongest trade package for Davis if New
Orleans waits until the summer.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the
C's plan on using all of that leverage.
Here's what Woj told ESPN's Kevin Negandhi
during Tuesday's 6 p.m. ET "SportsCenter:"
Boston wants to play the longer game here.
They'll talk with New Orleans soon if they
haven't talked here in the last hour or two
and let them know, 'We want to be in this
when the season is over.'
They can't do the trade now. ... But Boston
will let New Orleans know that, 'We are
going to be aggressive. We're going to be
able to give you everything you want for
Anthony Davis. Hold off before the trade
deadline.'
Did you catch that last part? Everything you
want?
Boston's stockpile of draft picks (four potential
first-rounders in 2019) all would be on the
table in a Davis trade, as would talented players
like Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier and Marcus
Smart.
That said, the Celtics' crown jewel is Jayson
Tatum, a 20-year-old future All-Star with
franchise cornerstone potential. Would they be
willing to part with Tatum to land Davis?
Davis and Irving on the same roster would
make the Celtics an immediate title contender,
even without Tatum. But Davis can enter free
agency following the 2019-20 season and
reportedly prefers signing a long-term deal in
L.A., which means there's a scenario where
Boston loses one of the best young players in
the league for one season of Davis.
At the very least, however, Wojnarowski
suggests Ainge will hint to the Pelicans that
Tatum is a possibility. And whether you think
Boston should do that deal or not, it's smart
business for Ainge to leave that door open as a
way to prevent New Orleans from dealing with
the Lakers (or any other team) prior to the
deadline.
The Pelicans' statement Monday -- they will
trade Davis "on our terms and our timeline" -
- suggests they'll make the deal that's best for
them. If that's truly the case, Ainge has a
powerful card to play if he so chooses.

Ryan Bernardoni F.C. 🔴 @dangercart

If you believe C's rhetoric that they ONLY care
about titles, their position is easy to understand.
If they get AD, even for one season, they have
 a chance at the title. If they don't, regardless of
what Kyrie does, they don't have a real chance.
If he goes to LA w/ LeBron and they add
another star, the window for the next few years
is closed for everyone, including the C's, just
like it has been with the KD Warriors.
If that's the case, you lose nothing by getting him
even if it's for a year. 1 year window > 0 years.
I don't ACTUALLY believe that the ONLY thing
that they care about is the title, of course. Like, I
assume that they do see a difference between being a
54 win team that doesn't hang a banner and a 34 win
team that doesn't.

Pelicans won't rush Anthony Davis deal

unless overwhelmed
play

Adrian WojnarowskiESPN
The New Orleans Pelicans plan to listen to offers on
All-NBA center Anthony Davis but won't make a
deal before next Thursday's NBA trade deadline
unless they're offered an overwhelming package for
the franchise's star, league sources told ESPN.
Los Angeles Lakers president Magic Johnson and
general manager Rob Pelinka plan to make an
aggressive push to acquire Davis before the Feb. 7
deadline, armed with confidence that Davis wants to
play for the Lakers and would sign an extension,
league sources said.
The Lakers are expected to talk with the Pelicans
soon, league sources said.
The Pelicans face a pivotal moment in Anthony
Davis' trade request.
Here's what each team can really put on the table in
trade talks.
All-NBA forward Anthony Davis does not intend to
re-sign with the Pelicans and would like to be traded.
After agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports told ESPN
on Monday that he had informed the Pelicans that
Davis wouldn't sign an extension this summer and
wanted a trade, multiple league sources expect the
agent and star to soon deliver word throughout the
league that Davis' preferred destination is the Lakers
and he'll become a rental player until 2020 with a
trade anywhere else.
It would be an attempt to depress offers in the
marketplace, a way to perhaps make the Lakers'
trade package more appealing.
New Orleans is operating with an understanding that
the Lakers' best deadline offer could still be
available to the Pelicans in the offseason -- once the
asset-rich Boston Celtics can become factors in the
Davis discussions.
"We will do this on our terms and our deadline," the
Pelicans said in a statement Monday.
The Lakers resisted unloading assets for Paul
George in 2017, although they were more aggressive
in pursuing ex-San Antonio forward Kawhi
Leonard last year. The Lakers were reluctant to
believe that the Spurs wanted to make a deal with
them, no matter what L.A. offered. If Davis wants to
play with the Lakers, there's ultimately no stopping
him from signing in Los Angeles in free agency in
July 2020.
The Lakers are willing to forfeit the flexibility of a
max contract slot in 2019 free agency for the chance
to turn a combination of picks and their young assets
-- who include Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Josh
Hart and Lonzo Ball -- to acquire Davis.
Still, Boston looms as a threat to every team in the
process once the Celtics are no longer constrained
from adding a player on a designated rookie
extension. After Kyrie Irving -- whose contract is
under the same extension -- becomes a free agent
July 1, Boston is able to officially acquire Davis in a
trade. An agreement could be in place well before
that date and finalized July 1.
GM Danny Ainge is undeterred on making a trade
for Davis, even without an assurance that he would
agree to an extension with the Celtics, league
sources said. Boston has been calling New Orleans
for the past year-plus on Davis, and has gathered
multiple first-round picks and young players to
include in a package for him. Davis has a strong
relationship with Irving, and Boston knows that
trading for Davis would assuredly perish any
possibility of Irving changing his mind and leaving
the Celtics in free agency this summer.
Several teams told ESPN that they're already
weighing the possibility of making offers for Davis,
including contenders who'd be willing to use Davis
to chase a championship this season and perhaps
recoup assets lost in a trade to New Orleans by
flipping Davis in a trade after the season -- or
keeping him into the final year of his contract.
Davis is eligible to sign a five-year, $239.5 million
supermax extension this summer. He can become a
free agent in the summer of 2020. Paul did not place
pressure on the Pelicans to move Davis before next
week's trade deadline, sources said.
"Anthony wants to be traded to a team that allows
him a chance to win consistently and compete for a
championship," Paul told ESPN on Monday
morning. "Anthony wanted to be honest and clear
with his intentions, and that's the reason for
informing them of this decision now. That's in the
best interests of both Anthony's and the
organization's future."
Anthony Davis Rumors: Celtics Still Summer
Favorite, Especially If Kyrie Irving Stays

If the Boston Celtics are going to acquire

Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans,
it’s going to take some patience, a little luck and
Kyrie Irving keeping his word.
News of Davis’ trade request shook the NBA
world Monday and set off a shockwave of news,
rumors and speculation about where the
generational big man ultimately will land.
For now, the Los Angeles Lakers are
the leaders in the clubhouse, and they’re
reportedly the most motivated to get a deal
done before next week’s Feb. 7 trade deadline.
That’s in large part because the Boston Celtics
— considered the Lakers’ top competition for
Davis — can’t trade for Davis until the summer.
If the Pelicans hold on to Davis until the
offseason, “most league sources have long felt
that the Celtics are favorites” to acquire Davis in
a trade, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor wrote
Tuesday.
The only way Boston could acquire Davis this
season would be to trade star point guard Kyrie
Irving due to the NBA’s “Rose Rule.” We never
should put anything by Celtics president of
basketball operations Danny Ainge, but trading
Irving in order to acquire Davis seems highly
unlikely, according to O’Connor’s reporting. If it
does get to the summer, the Celtics have an
undeniable stash of assets to make the deal,
and as O’Connor also reports, Davis would be
keen on playing with Irving.
“For Davis,” O’Connor writes, “the whole appeal
of Boston, according to league sources, would
be to team up with Irving, one of his closest
friends in the league.”
Irving is expected to opt out of his contract this
summer, and he already has publicly stated his
intentions to re-sign with the Celtics. However,
a Yahoo Sports report on Monday indicated
there’s some hesitation within Davis’ camp about
whether Irving actually will re-sign with the
Celtics.
O’Connor also noted there are league sources
who still expect Irving to re-sign with the Celtics.
If that’s the case, perhaps Davis would be more
likely to sign in Boston for the long term, too.
The most difficult thing for the Celtics, it seems,
will be waiting to see if the Lakers are able to
overwhelm the Pelicans with an offer in the next
week or so. That gives the Pelicans short-term
leverage over one team, sure, but if they hold
on to Davis — who can become a free agent
after the 2019-20 season — for the rest of this
season, then their market for Davis gets much
bigger and ultimately would include the asset-
rich Celtics.

According to Kevin O'Connor who works

in LA sources around the league still
expect Irving as of right now to resign in
Boston

35m
Shams say Celtics want Irving-Tatum-AD
together but ultimately could (and probably
will) be pushed to include Tatum.

For everyone saying “Kyrie can just sign the

extension now! Then Boston can trade for Davis.”
Kyrie would be missing out on upwards of $80
million.
Here’s a graphic The Jump used in May that maps it
out for you:
Ryan Bernardoni F.C. 🔴
@dangercart
I'm getting hundreds of questions so here
goes...
I see 4.5 realistic ways that Boston could build a
salary match for AD. Are there fanciful other
versions? Sure, I guess, but this thread has the "real"
ones:
The future value BOS is sending is Tatum,
Williams, SAC Pick, MEM Pick. If you can get
NOLA to take Brown instead of Tatum, cool, but
that's $1.3M less in salary.
Assuming AD will waive his trade bonus (not a
guarantee and another thing that could give him
leverage in picking a team) Boston needs to send
$21,594,416...
Option 1: Horford, knowing that he is part of the
deal, agrees to opt in. Best result for all parties
would be he goes to 3rd team who send an expiring
contract plus additional value (young player / pick)
to NOLA. Boston eats S. Hill's final year as part of
the value to NOLA.
Option 2: Hayward plays well enough to be seen as a
positive value contract and is used in place of
Horford with the rest of "Option 1" as-is. At the
moment, Hayward is likely not viewed as a positive
value. (It's not anyone's fault he got injured but he
did; don't yell at me.)
Option 3: Include Marcus Smart in a straightforward
Smart + Tatum + the remaining collection of pieces
needed to make everyone happy.
Option 4: Baynes opts in knowing he's being traded.
JT+Baynes+RW3+Yabu+Semi gets you close to the
$ match. Use the T-MLE this year and add someone
w/ a 2nd year that covers the diff (waive Bird) or
sign SAC pick and make trade official in August
(Wiggins-Love scenario).
Option 4.5: Trade both Tatum and Brown. From
there you are following the "Option 4" path w/o
Baynes as even JT+JB+GY+RW3+SO doesn't quite
get you there. Are you still including the SAC pick?
A solution could be found to close the salary gap,
but a small one still exists.

Kyrie Irving's free agency influencing

deadline moves
play

With the Anthony Davis and Kristaps

Porzingis bombshells rocking the NBA this week, teams
are cautiously turning their eye toward the Boston
Celtics to see if there is any fallout that affects Kyrie
Irving's future.
In recent days, teams, players and agents have been
discussing the possibility that free-agent-to-be Irving
might not be as committed to the Celtics as he has stated
publicly, multiple sources told ESPN. And on Friday in
New York, Irving was asked if his mindset has changed
regarding re-signing with Boston: "Ask me July 1." He
says he's going to do what's best for his career.
Davis' camp has let it be known he doesn't consider the
Celtics a long-term home because he doesn't believe
Irving plans to re-sign with the Celtics next season,
sources said. The New York Knicks' stunning salary-
dump trade that moved out Porzingis on Thursday cleared
enough salary-cap space for the team to chase both Kevin
Durant and Irving in free agency.
The Celtics haven't changed their feelings on Irving, and
they consider him part of their long-term core; and Irving
hasn't informed the team that his feelings have changed,
multiple sources said. In general, the Celtics have a
reputation as a measured and strategic organization.
With trade demands flying and the high pressure of trade
season, it is possible this is simply a disinformation
campaign. Davis, for example, is incentivized to remove
the Celtics as a bidder for him so he can achieve his
preference and be sent to the Los Angeles Lakers. Irving
and Davis, however, are friends and communicate
regularly.
Nonetheless, there is no mistaking how this information
has spread throughout the league despite Irving's strong
statements to the contrary. In October, Irving committed
to staying with the Celtics long term in front of thousands
of fans at a team event. He backed that up with a Nike
commercial shot at TD Garden in which he said he
wanted to have his number in the rafters.
 Kyrie Irving is averaging career highs in rebounds
(4.8) and assists (6.9) this season with Boston. Omar
Rawlings/Getty Images
Things have changed somewhat in Boston since October,
however. Irving has quarreled with several of the Celtics'
young players at times. Gordon Hayward's recovery from
a broken ankle has been more sluggish than expected.
And the Celtics have underperformed; they are currently
fifth in the Eastern Conference standings.
2019 NBA trade deadline
Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, known as Trader
Danny for his willingness to make sweeping moves at any
time, has to analyze the situation and make a read on how
the team should proceed. There is a delicate scenario with
the Celtics juggling several high-stakes situations.
The Celtics are currently precluded from trading for Davis
because they've already traded for Irving, and teams are
forbidden from trading for two players with designated
player contracts. That restriction will expire on July 1
when Irving is projected to become a free agent. But with
that fact in the way, the Celtics reached out to the New
Orleans Pelicans this week and told them they'd be
willing to discuss all players on their roster in a Davis
trade that could be made after the season when Irving is
expected to become a free agent, sources said.
It remains the Celtics' preference to trade for Davis in
June, around the draft, and then re-sign Irving in July,
locking both in as their cornerstones for the future. But if
Irving's commitment isn't rock solid, things get
complicated.
The Celtics might feel they need to execute a Davis trade
to secure Irving's commitment. But for Boston to make a
massive trade offer for Davis, it might first need to have
Irving's commitment to re-signing. It's a chicken-and-egg
scenario.
This could be one hope for the Lakers -- that the Pelicans
believe the Celtics might never get the chance to make
their best offer, and at least consider what the Lakers
might offer now.
As Ainge contemplates that, there's another matter that
remains on the Celtics' trade board. If the Celtics were to
get skittish enough to trade Irving before the trade
deadline, it would free them to make a Davis trade now.
Boston is investigating the asking price of a few
intriguing young players around the league, perhaps with
an eye on acquiring more of New Orleans' preferred trade
chips, sources tell ESPN. That could simply be due
diligence or the groundwork for something big in the near
future.
The Hoop Collective Podcast
 Brian Windhorst and guests discuss the
Porzingis blockbuster and impact on Anthony Davis,
Kyrie Irving and more. Listen now!
Currently, the Pelicans don't intend to trade Davis to the
Lakers, sources told ESPN, and they rejected a Knicks
offer of a package centered on Porzingis before he was
traded to the Dallas Mavericks, sources told ESPN's
Ramona Shelburne. It seems New Orleans might be
content to wait on Boston to be able to make an offer, but
that offer wouldn't have to wait until summer if Irving
was moved.
The Celtics have won seven of their past eight games.
Irving is having, by most accounts, the best regular season
of his career. Despite the record, the Celtics are starting to
look like the potent contender they were predicted to be at
the start of the season.
There are reasons for them to proceed as normal, stick to
their plan and trust Irving's word. But the past few days
have destabilized situations across the league, and the
Celtics are in the center of that storm.

Kyrie Irving says Boston Celtics

are 'head of the race' in free
agency, but team could be in a
tenuous situation
"Ask me on July 1," Kyrie Irving said on Friday
when asked if he has gone back on his
preseason decision to plan to sign with the
Boston Celtics -- a line that set the internet on
fire and sparked a series of headlines about
how Irving was destined to end up anywhere
besides Boston.
But Irving said a lot of other things as well,
which warrant a full examination, along with
the Celtics' entire situation as we hurtle toward
the trade deadline. Here's an attempt to
pinpoint where everything stands.
First, the video.
Here's everything Kyrie Irving said in his
shootaround media availability, given at
Madison Square Garden prior to tonight's
game between the Celtics and Knicks.
1. Irving could have squashed everything
today, and he didn’t.
Let’s be clear: It’s not Irving’s job to squash
things. He’s entitled to say whatever he wants
and do quite literally whatever he wants this
summer. He’s an unrestricted free agent, and
he can choose whatever destination he desires
(and whatever destination he desires will have
plenty of annoying reporters there to ask
questions he doesn’t feel like answering). In
the meantime, he can take questions in
whichever direction he feels the need to take
them.
But to be clear about something uncomfortable
for the Celtics: Irving could have squashed
everything today and he chose not to.
He could have said something like, “My plans
haven’t changed,” and then launched into the
exact same screed against the media breaking
up locker rooms, saying we are responsible for
the destruction of locker rooms around the
league (more on this in a bit). Imagine the high
ground he could have taken with the media in
that scenario.
Irving is a unique person, and he often balks at
the opportunity to say what others might say.
But his comments couldn't have exactly been
comforting to any front-office types watching
from the Auerbach Center.
2. The Celtics are still confident they will be
able to keep Irving.
The Celtics' decision-makers have been
consistent about this for a long time, and the
noise out of the organization on Friday was no
different.

Boston continues to be confident about re-

signing Kyrie Irving this summer, per sources.
But make no mistake: They understand that
adding AD may be the only way to guarantee
he stays.

The Celtics’ front office has an incredibly high

opinion of Irving -- one that has only been
boosted by his strong two-way play this
season. They would love to keep him, and they
certainly believe they are in a good position to
do so.
Acquiring Davis might cement that, and while
you don't need extra reasons to acquire a top-
three player, the added benefit of ensuring you
keep one of the league's best point guards
might make Boston willing to pony up even
more in trade discussions.
3. Some full Kyrie Irving quotes, with full
context.
First: "At the end of the day I’m going to do
what I feel is best for my career, and that’s just
where it stands. My focus this season is
winning a championship with the Boston
Celtics. Obviously we had goals coming into
this season, and the primary goal is to win a
championship. So that’s where my focus is.”
Second: "I still have confidence in Boston and
what they can promise for the future and what
we have in terms of our pieces. That’s what
excited me a lot about the beginning of the
season was the opportunity to come into this
season really just doing what we planned on
doing, set a goal and go after it and then see
what happens at the end of the season. That
was the plan before and that’s still the plan
now. Obviously Boston is still at the head of
that race. That’s just where it stands.”
As someone noted on Twitter, Irving's
comments are a Rorschach test: You see what
you want to see, and that's probably by design.
But it’s worthwhile to see some of the more
buzz worthy moments in full context.
Yes, Irving seemed to back away from his
preseason commitment. But also yes, he
expressed confidence in Boston and said the
Celtics are still at the head of the race. Both
angles matter.
3. The Celtics can agree to an AD deal
before Irving re-signs.
The Celtics can agree to a deal with the
Pelicans as soon as their season comes to a
close (they could even work out certain
parameters now, if they could guarantee a
leak-free regular season/postseason (which
they can’t (so they won’t))). Of course, the
Celtics would want to know they will get a
commitment from Irving before agreeing to
send talented young players and valuable
picks elsewhere.
The order of events would be a complicated
game of Jenga, which would all stem from
whether or not the Pelicans keep Davis
through the deadline. Boston’s hope would be
that the Pelicans don’t remove the Davis block
from the tower. If the tower stays intact, and if
Irving doesn’t bring it crashing down on his
own, the Celtics will be in a solid position to
trade for Davis, re-sign Irving and then
(presumably) start pushing to re-sign Davis as
well.
4. The Lakers (and Klutch Sports) are
making a hefty push.
This tweet came minutes after Irving’s press
conference. The timing was not subtle.

Sources @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium:

The Boston Celtics aren't a preferred
destination long-term for New Orleans star
Anthony Davis, and in Davis’ mind, remain a
rental option.

6,205
The Lakers/Klutch Sports timeline for
convincing New Orleans was always relatively
clear: Leak that the Lakers are on his preferred
list of destinations, then leak that the Lakers
are THE preferred destination, then leak that
he won’t stay in Boston if the Celtics trade for
him. Throwing some fuel on the fire regarding
Irving’s future in Boston was a nice touch,
attempting to sew doubt with the Pelicans that
the Celtics' full offer would be on the table in
the summer.
Davis pretty clearly wants to be in Los
Angeles. What will really put the Celtics’ front
office to the test is whether they believe Davis
when he says he would bolt after a year in the
event of a trade elsewhere.
If Ainge believes trading for Davis will help him
secure a commitment from Irving, he probably
won’t be dissuaded by posturing.
5. Irving wants to make sure he gets a max
contract.
Part of the reason Irving may be questioning
his commitment: He might want to ensure the
Celtics offer the full five-year, $190(ish) million
deal he could get from them in free agency.
Negotiating from a place of strength is difficult
to do when you’ve already determined where
you are going to go, so it’s possible Irving
wants to signal he is still interested in playing
for the Celtics as long as they offer all the
money he's due.
That would be an easy distinction to leak, if he
wanted to shut down the rumors, but Irving is
his own man.
6. The Celtics are still in a great position to
keep Irving.
Take a giant step back from Twitter. (No
seriously, close the tab. Now quit your
Tweetdeck. Put your phone away. No, away
away. I see you holding it behind your back.
There.)
If you really break down the Celtics’ position in
all of this, Friday probably felt more bleak to
Celtics fans than it actually was. For starters,
they currently employ Irving, and they have
several months to put together a solid playoff
run with the pieces already in place. Getting to
the NBA Finals would help. Seeing
development from the young players (and also
Gordon Hayward) would help. Irving says he
still has confidence in Boston, and the last few
weeks have given him reason to believe.
Is there noise? Is there reason for concern,
and are there questions to be asked?
Certainly, and of course, and you can bet the
Celtics have asked the questions and felt the
concern. But the Celtics’ front office takes a
measured approach to everything, and their
best play (barring something we don’t know) is
continuing forward with Irving and trying to put
a team around him that gives him reason to
commit to five more years with the team.
7. Irving’s comments about locker-room
destruction have some merit.
Do I agree with Irving that the assembled
media at Friday’s shootaround are breaking up
the locker room in Boston? No, of course not.
That media was mostly beat writers and local
New York columnists just trying to do their
jobs.
But do the constant rumors swirling around the
team make it difficult for the players to do their
jobs? That’s much more believable, and a very
fair concern on Irving’s end.
“It’s crazy how stories and things and story
lines can seep into a locker room,” Irving said.
“You guys are part of the destruction of locker
rooms. That’s just what it is.
“This is an entertainment industry. I don’t live
for this entertainment. I don’t live for this talking
to everybody every single day about my life
and my decisions. I would just hope that
everybody would respect that. That’s really
basically it.”
Imagine being Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown
and having to go about your job after
constantly hearing that your boss might trade
you at any time. More to the point, imagine
being Irving and trying to lead a group of
players who are uncertain about their future
next season. That can’t be easy.
None of this is actually going to make a
difference. At this point, NBA rumors are a
runaway industry, and they have nearly
equaled the actual games in terms of interest.
But Irving’s complaints aren’t unfair.

1. ANALYSIS

3.GAMES
Kyrie Irving's career-high four games of 30+
points and 10+ assists this season trails only
James Harden (12) for most in the NBA
Over his last nine games, Kyrie Irving has
averaged 28.3 points on 55.3% shooting (41.1%
3-PT) and 9.1 assists (20+ pts in all 9 games)

FINAL: Boston 134, Oklahoma City 129 The

Celtics improve to 9-1 over their last 10 games,
and are now a season-best 15 games over .500
(34-19)

Boston Celtics defeat Oklahoma

City Thunder: "One of those
Kyrie Irving games," plus 10
things we learned
BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics defeated the
Oklahoma City Thunder in a precursor to the
Super Bowl on Sunday, claiming a 134-129
victory and sweeping the season series.
Here are 10 things we learned.
Hardwood Paroxysm@HPbasketball

Yeah, if this were a playoff series I’d already

be writing it off. “One of those Kyrie games.
Not much you can do."

1. This was "one of those games" for Kyrie

Irving.
Irving's final totals -- 30 points, 11 assists, 14-
for-19 from the floor -- were very good. But as
is often the case when Irving plays in big
games, his brilliance was more situational.
Whenever the Celtics needed a big basket,
Irving created space with a complicated dribble
move and finished. When the Celtics needed a
rebound, or even a defensive stop, Irving was
in place to make it happen. He puts an
incredible amount of pressure on the rim, and
that collapses the defense and opens up the
outside.
Irving consistently proves up to the task in big
games (and then proceeds to downplay the
importance of the game relative to the
postseason in his press conference afterward).
He continues to impress.
2. Irving was not particularly happy
postgame.
When reporters were allowed into the locker
room after Sunday's game, Irving was seated
next to his locker with a pair of headphones in
his ears. When he joined the scrum, he made it
clear he wasn't in the mood to talk much --
offering a series of abrupt answers, including a
couple of one-word responses.
"It’s another regular-season game in the
books," Irving said when asked whether the
Celtics are close to what they need to be. "You
take what you can learn from that, but it was a
great competition out there for a Sunday
game.”
If there was a specific moment that angered
Irving, that moment wasn't immediately clear.
More likely, he is increasingly weary of the
rumors that will follow him (and the rest of the
NBA) to the trade deadline.
With apologies to Irving, there's little that can
be done about the rumors. He's just going to
have to tough it out.
3. The Terry Rozier resurgence has been a
nice surprise.
Over the last few weeks, Rozier has been
considerably better both off the bench and in
the starting lineup. He is clearly still more
comfortable as a starter, but when he plays
with the second unit, he appears to be giving
more effort defensively and playing within the
system a little bit more consistently on the
offensive end. Those two attributes make an
enormous difference for the Celtics.
Over the last 10 games, Rozier's splits from
the field have been rock solid: 41.6/39.1/90.9,
with 15.5/7.3/6.4 per 36 minutes.
Offensively, Rozier does well forcing switches
and then taking advantage. During last year’s
playoff run, he would get an opposing big
switched onto him once or twice per game,
then knock the big man off balance with a
quick dribble move before pulling up from mid-
range. That part of Rozier’s game has bounced
back in recent weeks, which opens up plenty of
other options.
4. Russell Westbrook cost the Thunder a
shot at a win.
Westbrook’s numbers are undeniably
impressive, but he cost the Thunder a shot late
(and his inefficiencies might drive a coach
nuts).
In the closing minutes, with Boston nursing a
two-point lead, Westbrook ran the length of the
court and dribbled into a crowd. Irving, who
said the play was just “instincts” later, got a
hand in Westbrook’s dribbling path and tipped
it away, leading to a series of free throws that
put the game away for Boston.
Westbrook finished 8-for-19 from the floor, with
four costly turnovers despite his 22/12/16
triple-double. That sums up Westbrook nicely -
- his stats are well-rounded and his intensity is
perhaps unmatched, but his inefficient play can
be really costly for Oklahoma City.
5. Has Marcus Smart's shot selection
improved?
Marcus Smart had another nice shooting
performance, finishing 6-for-11 from the field
and 4-for-9 from three, which included a
stretch of 3-pointers in the third quarter that
sparked the Celtics to a 16-2 run.
Here’s Smart after the game: “I’m still getting
my shots up and still doing everything. I’m
probably taking better shot selection if
anything. I’m not taking as many shot-clock
heaves or end-of-quarter heaves and things
like that so, I guess that’s one of the things
that’s changed.”
A counterpoint: Smart’s numbers are up across
the board, according to Cleaning The Glass,
which tracks for those end-of-quarter heaves
Smart referenced. Smart isn’t just better
because his shot selection improved. He’s a
better shooter period, at least through the first
few months of the season.
6. Jaylen Brown looks completely different.
Brown put together another nice, efficient
performance as a shooter -- making 3-pointers
(2-for-2) and showing flashes of the post game
he worked on with Tracy McGrady over the
summer. The more Brown shows as a scorer
beyond just his obvious devastation in
transition, the happier the Celtics will be.
At the start of the season, Brown's confidence
with the ball in his hands seemed misplaced.
But now, with the context of the last month or
two, Brown's insistence on attacking the rim off
the bounce makes a lot more sense. He has
clearly improved since last season.
Brown’s struggles were obvious as he tried to
find his role, and then when he found a more
comfortable role, his struggles with the wrap
that affected his shooting were equally
obvious. Now his hand is healed, and he’s
finding ways to contribute positively off the
bench. He’s also showing flashes of what he
can do from the perimeter beyond simply
spacing the floor and attacking closeouts.
The Celtics always knew Brown had more than
enough talent. Ask Brad Stevens about
Brown’s resurgence and you’re (I’m) likely to
get a clipped answer because 1) this isn’t a
surprise to the Celtics, and 2) the Celtics may
not want Brown to know they were worried.
Assuming some worries were real, however,
Brown is putting them to bed one efficient,
double-digit scoring performance in limited
minutes at a time.
7. Paul George is a killer this season.
Paul George would not be my pick for MVP --
James Harden remains in my top spot, but
Giannis Antetokounmpo is certainly within
range if Harden and the Rockets fall off at all.
But I’m certainly not going to laugh at anyone
who wants to make a case for Paul George.
The guy is incredible.

OKC THUNDER
✔@okcthunder

#PaulGeorge goes for 17 in 1st half.

Twitter Ads info and privacy
8. Kyrie Irving's positional defense is
drawing rave reviews.
Irving might have used exactly one word to
describe his defense, but Brad Stevens was
quick to praise the aspect of Irving’s game that
was always most harshly criticized in recent
years.
“Kyrie’s in the right spot a lot,” Stevens said.
“Obviously that’s always great when you can
create a turnover in that play. But he’s got
unbelievable instincts, and he also has an
unbelievable ability to recognize the biggest
threat in the room.”
Celtics fans have noticed -- Irving received a
hearty round of applause after diving on the
floor for a loose ball in the second half, and
there is certainly a sense around the team that
the star guard is doing more on that end than
ever before.
9. Marcus Morris: Now a Patriots fan?
Last time we checked in with Morris, the Philly
native was an Eagles fan who wore a jersey to
his post-game press conference alongside
Brad Stevens before the Super Bowl last year.
Maybe winning made him a little more friendly
to the local sports teams.
(

Marcus Morris
✔@MookMorris2

Congrats @Patriots True Dynasty!!!!

10. Since Nov. 26, the Celtics have

contender numbers.
Ask any Celtics beat writer the exact date
Marcus Smart joined the starting lineup, and
they can probably tell you: The number of
times we have all sorted stats on the various
stat sites from the present back to Nov. 26
against the New Orleans Pelicans (when
Marcus Smart joined the starting lineup) is
innumerable.
The Celtics have the 2nd best offense, the 5th
best defense, and the highest Net Rating since
November 26th.

That's when Marcus Smart moved into the

starting lineup.

The Celtics have won some really important

regular-season games, including two big ones
against the Philadelphia 76ers (one more
secures home-court advantage), two against
the Toronto Raptors, two against the
Oklahoma City Thunder, and a whole lot more.
They are starting to come together (possibly
just in time for trade deadline drama to tear
them apart).
But the people who pined for the Celtics to look
like contenders have gotten their wish recently.
Whether this exact group stays intact to chase
a championship together over the next week
remains to be seen.
BONUS: What this win meant if you ask
Marcus Smart.
Here's what Smart had to say about putting up
134 points on the Oklahoma City Thunder,
owners of the fourth-best defensive rating in
the NBA.
"It says a lot," Smart said. "It says we can
compete with anybody. They’re one of the best
defensive teams in the league, and we
dropped 134 on them. We did a good job, we
hit a lot of shots, we just really did a good job
of working and making them work and really
dictate to us and not the other way around."

Boston Celtics newfound

interior presence paid
dividends against Thunder
4

Boston Celtics added emphasis on scoring in paint

has raised their offense to another level.
Even with the Celtics rolling since late November, there
was still an underlying theme that many fans talked about
during our infrequent offensive lulls. Despite the teams
ability to score with the best of them when needed, they
seldom finished in the paint. With an offense generated to
create plenty of open threes and a closer like Kyrie Irving
who could score whenever, the inability to get buckets at
the rim really didn’t seem to hurt them, but the danger
with relying on the three-ball is the heavy variance. One
night can be record-breaking night and the next could be
could crippling bricks even with the quality of the looks
being the same.
Against the Thunder, the Celtics were able to amass 134
points, and of those, 56 of them were in the paint. For
reference, the Milwaukee Bucks who are ranked 2nd in
both rim attempt frequency and percentage via Cleaning
the Glass average 54 points in the paint per game.
Overall, in the past three games the Celtics have really
made an effort to finish in the paint and have averaged a
whopping 58 paint points per game in that stretch.
What’s changed? Well, nothing really outside of the team
reading each other better. This wasn’t a set play or
anything. It was Irving reading the help and
giving Smart a cutter to bail him out:
This play was a pick and pop between Tatum and
Horford. When Horford gets the ball, all eyes go to him
and Irving immediately takes off and is able to score a
tough finish at the rim:
Some do come from set plays. Rozier gives Brown an
off-ball screen on the weak side meant to get him a
mismatch against Schroder in the paint:
Finally, we have HORNS action where, because of the
spacing, Grant ends getting caught in no man’s land stuck
between the shooter (Morris) and the roller (Horford),
because Adams played up on the screen he was a step
behind Horford and Smart was able to find him with a
beautiful feed:
Since the Celtics inserted Marcus Smart and Marcus
Morris in the starting lineup, they have ranked 4th in
assists per game. It seems that they’re now progressing
from making the right plays within a set to reading off
one another to create easy baskets. Jaylen Brown’s
response was measured when asked about how well the
team has been growing together, “we’re learning, we’re
growing, we still have a long way to go. We have 30 or
40 games left in the season, let’s keep getting better each
night.”
The explosion in paint points is still too early to call a
trend, but the natural progression the team seems to be
heading towards as they learn each other is real and
there’s no saying how much better their offense could be
looking by April if everyone can stay healthy.
4.TEAM ANALYSIS

END OF THE SHOW

Kyrie Irving’s announcement was a
surprise to the Celtics’ Danny Ainge
The team's president of basketball operations said he
was not expecting it.
“If you guys will have me back, I plan on re-
signing here next year.”
Celtics guard Kyrie Irving spoke those words in
front of the fans at TD Garden last Thursday,
much to the delight of the crowd. Irving had
previously hinted at wanting to stay in Boston,
and his first definitive statement about doing so
came as a surprise to the fans gathered for the
event.
The timing of the declaration also came as a
surprise to Danny Ainge, the team’s president
of basketball operations.
“Kyrie just wanted to make that announcement
then. I didn’t know he was going to make it then
and there,” Ainge said Thursday during an
interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Toucher
& Rich.”

“I think it’s kind of neat that he did it where he

did it, with all of the fans there on that night.”
Irving had told Ainge, along with Celtics head
coach Brad Stevens, that he loved Boston and
wanted to stay prior to his announcement last
week. Though the timing of the announcement
may have surprised Ainge, he knew it was
coming eventually.
“The fact that he wanted to announce that and
just get it out there was not surprising to us,”
Ainge said. “We felt like we were going to move
forward with Kyrie for years to come. We had
talked about it a little bit, but I guess that was
just when he was ready to tell everybody he
wanted to stay.”
Despite the Celtics guard’s early
announcement, all negotiations and contract
talk will have to wait until July 1. Even though
conversations have to be put on hold until next
summer, Ainge is optimistic.
“We’re excited that he wants to be a Boston
Celtic,” Ainge said.

ESPN projects Celtics to

finish second in the Eastern
Conference
85

Boston is projected to finish behind Toronto

ESPN has released their projections for the 2018-19
NBA season and they might cause Boston
Celtics fans to raise an eyebrow.
Kevin Pelton, who puts together the projections for
ESPN, has the Celtics finishing second in the
Eastern Conference with 53 wins. This is two wins
off the 55 Boston tallied last season. Pelton does
note that the projection for Boston is influenced by
last year’s point differential being closer to that of a
51-win team. He goes on to comment that
projections for Gordon Hayward and Al
Horford are conservative in his models. This gives
the Celtics room to outperform the projections.
These projections have Boston finishing two games
behind the Toronto Raptors for the top spot in the
East. If the projections hold serve, the Celtics would
face the Washington Wizards in the first round of
the 2019 NBA Playoffs.
Overall, Boston is projected to have the NBA’s
fourth-best record. They trail the Golden State
Warriors (58.6 wins), Raptors (55.1 wins)
and Utah Jazz (53.4 wins to the Celtics 53.2 wins).
Something else of note is that Pelton projects
the Sacramento Kings to have the NBA’s worst
record with 25.4 wins. If this projection is accurate,
the Kings first round pick would land at the number
one overall spot. That would mean it would convey
to the Philadelphia 76ers, instead of the Celtics,
due to the protections placed on that pick at the time
of the 2017 Boston/Philadelphia trade.
If that is the scenario, Boston would then get the
Sixers first rounder, which projects to be 23rd
overall. Boston would have that selection, plus their
own first round pick, at the 2019 NBA Draft. This is
because the Los Angeles Clippers (pick is protected
1-14, Clippers project to finish 10th) and
the Memphis Grizzlies (pick is protected 1-8,
Grizzlies project to finish 8th) aren’t projected to
convey their picks to the Celtics either.
While Pelton notes there is significant room for
variance in these projections, it at least opens some
eyes that Boston may not be a mathematical favorite
to finish at the top of the East. And at the other end
of the spectrum, not getting the Sacramento pick
would be a huge disappointment. For early August,
as the NBA news cycle grinds to a halt, these
projections give NBA fans something to chew on, as
we (not so) patiently wait for training camps to open.
Best Celtics lineup projections for next
season
Here’s what the numbers say on how the
Celtics will stack up in 2018-2019
The off season means prediction time and one of
the more interesting prediction models we’ve
seen is Jacob Goldstein & B-Ball Index’s
lineup projection model that allows anyone to
plug in any combination of five players to see
what their projected net rating would be. It’s a
super fun tool and you should all go play with it.
Anyway, I took the liberty in putting together
three of my favorite starting and bench lineups
to see what the projections would say. Some of
the conclusions may shock you. So without
further ado, let’s get into it.
Potential starters
Lineup #1
This is the lineup that most Celtics fans are
expecting to be the starters and the returns are
stellar. The 119.4 offensive rating would dwarf
the best mark in the league. However, it’s
dwarfed by the Warriors’ Death Lineup that
posts a 122.7 offensive rating.
The biggest points of contention here are the
defense, which the model predicts will be about
league average based on last seasons statistics
(16th to be exact), and that it’s not as bullish on
the offense. Though 119.4 is high, it’s still beat
out by lineups like Kyle Lowry, C.J
Miles, Kawhi Leonard, O.G Anunoby,
and Jonas Valanciunas (124 offensive rating).
My guess is guys like Leonard, Durant, and
Curry project very well on these models while
guys like Brown, Hayward, and Tatum aren’t
loved the same way. However, even more
interestingly than that, this wasn’t even
projected to be the Celtics best lineup.
Lineup #2
According to this model, replacing Aron
Baynes with Horford doesn’t change much with
the offensive and gives the defense a slight
facelift. Baynes was a net rating darling last
year. He was among the league leaders in
defensive rating and was involved in the
team’s two best lineups last year.
Lineup #3
This lineup is a more traditional one
with Baynes replacing Tatum, but the model
still projects a heavily offensive-oriented
offense with mediocre defense. This appears to
suggest that the model is very down on Irving’s
defense, because it’s using a compilation of
individual stats and not how they work within a
team construct and it isn’t properly adjusting to
how Irving would actually impact defense
surrounded by 3-4 plus defenders. The theme
based off this model is that the Celtics starters
are going to be able to score. But let’s get into
some of the interesting 2nd unit opportunities.
Second units
Lineup #1

In this lineup, I was thinking about how the

Celtics could stay big and switchy in the second
unit and came up with this beauty. The model
likes its potential offensively, but is having a
hard time seeing the vision on the defensive
end. I do think this could be a lineup that really
has some success because it basically gives the
Celtics the ability to switch everything while
having multiple creators on the court at once.
Lineup #2

The famous three-guard lineup grades out as a

plus on the model with a stronger than expected
offense. The rationale here would be that
Stevens loves to go to his three-guard lineups
and it gives Irving a chance to play off-ball and
go into more of an attack mode. In order not to
get killed due to lack of size, the team would
pair with them two of the smarter defenders on
the team who also happen to provide much
needed height and length to protect the interior.
Lineup #3
Finally, this is one of the lineups I'm pretty
confident will be prominently featured if the
starting five is who we all expect it to be. Based
on this model it would be one of our better
defensive units with a very respectable offensive
punch. In reality, the spacing could be an issue
if one of Theis/Baynes doesn’t have much
comfortability launching from beyond the arc.
However, it’s one of those lineups where you
just put a bunch of smart basketball players
together and let them figure stuff out.
Overall, I think the model is really well done for
what it’s trying to do and is another fun way to
analyze what will be a fun regular season of
mix-and-match for the Celtics. I think
defensively, the Celtics will be much more stout
then the numbers show, but it’s hard to disagree
with the offensive punch that will be coming
with the additions of Irving and Hayward.
Training camp can’t get here soon enough.
Fred Katz @FredKatz
Smart's annual money on the 4-year, $52
million deal...

2018-19: $11,660,716
2019-20: $12,553,572
2020-21: $13,446,428
2021-22: $14,339,285

Salaries include a $500K likely bonus for

body fat weigh in, per sources.
That’s $500k per season, by the way.
Jabari Bird's status TBD
Taxpayer MLE available
14 full NBA roster sports currently filled
1 2-Way slot reportedly, but I don't think
officially, filled (Walt Lemon)
Here are the Celtics that are guaranteed
27mpg or more:
Kyrie Irving
Jaylen Brown
Jayson Tatum
Gordon Hayward
Al Horford
Marcus Smart
Terry Rozier
Guy who won’t get big minutes but will be
everyday rotation guys:
Aron Baynes
Daniel Theis
Marcus Morris

Who is the most likely to go to get you under

the tax? Morris?
I don't think it's a given that they'll do
anything to get under the tax, but Morris
would be the most likely.A decent case can be
made for trading him regardless of the tax,
but one can also be made for keeping him
even in the tax."Scoops" Weiss with the news
again!Ascending annual salaries opens up the
possibility of the team getting back under the
tax at some point this year without too much
sacrifice. We'll see how that plays out.
The Marcus Morris dilemma..

Right now-- the Celtics have 15 players for 15

slots. Jeff Clark's roster
breakdown. Marcus Morris seems been
several Celtics's fans favorite whipping boy. He
makes boneheaded plays. But that is why his is
on the bench and not starting. For any fan who
watched the 2016-2017 Celtics-- Morris was a
huge value add. When IT left the game, the
Celtics offense was horrid.
If the Celtics make any additional moves--
clearly Morris will be in play. Lets go over the
PROs/CONs of keeping Morris.

PRO
 Brad Stevens had a short bench in the
playoffs. Morris was one of the guys he
trusted to come in. While Ojeleye and
Yabusele are both improving-- expecting
either to step up into Morris's shoes is a big
ask.
 If you trade/cut Morris, who is out there
that is a better fit for the Celtics?
 Trade value wise-- he is a rich man's
Brandon Bass. What is the market for
Morris? BCS the Celtics maybe could land a
mid 2nd round draft pick. The Celtics will
have at least 5 first round draft picks in the
next three years. Maybe they could get the
Clippers 2022 2nd.
 The Celtics have precious few salaries they
can offer to match trades. Horford, Irving,
Hayward, Brown and Tatum are way to
valuable to be put in any trade mix. Morris
 gives the Celtics some flexibility-- although
limited.
CON
 With Hayward back and Smart resigned,
Morris will find a hard time finding
minutes.
 Any regular season minutes he does play--
are minutes that Robert Williams III, Semi
Ojeleye and Guerschon Yabusele don't. The
Celtics are going to need one or two of these
three to step-up their game in 2020, 2021.
 He is holding a roster spot. A quality vet
almost always gets dumped late in the year.
The Celtics would be well advised to keep a
spot open.
So-- what do you think?

Fully guaranteed throughout is a good get for

Marcus / agent.A bonus of signing Smart is
that if a player gets fined by the NBA then
half the fine amount comes out of a team's
tax calculation, and it's always possible that
Marcus will be fined $50M for inciting a land
war in Asia.

John Karalis 🇬🇬
@getBucketz_
Replying to @RedsArmy_John
Mook prob a gonner too..?
That's certainly possible. Much more likely
than it was before the trade and it's an easy
way to avoid the tax IF that's the Celtics goal
this season

Magic Number: The isolation

myth of Marcus Morris
9
Is Marcus Morris too iso-heavy?
By Chris Grenham@chrisgrenham Jul 29, 2018,
8:00am EDT
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Marcus Morris’ increased role during the 2017-18
season quickly made him a fan favorite. His
aggressive play and loud ways overshadowed his
modest line of 13.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per
game and he acted as a veteran leader for a roster
made up of young players, while also coming on
strong late in the season to help fill the absence
of Kyrie Irving. The forward was an extremely
valuable scorer and asset for Brad Stevens and
the Boston Celtics.
As our own Sam Sheehan noted last
month, Morris shot 58.2% over the last 11 games
of the season, trailing only Jaylen Brown for the
team’s rotation players. He may not have had the
greatest postseason on the offensive end, but Mook
provided depth and assurance at the wing spot.
When it comes to offense with Morris, many people
are polarized by his isolation style. You can pull
your hair out over his questionable shot selection or
admire the commitment to his game. Mook’s play
often begs the question: is Marcus Morris too iso-
heavy? Some people defend it, saying that he needs
to rely on isolations when he’s on the floor with a
lack of shooters. Others claim he takes over
possessions too early ending with bad shots. Let’s
dive into his numbers.

Before we get to the isolation breakdowns, looking

at Morris’ averages will shows that he was virtually
the same player last season as he’s been his entire
career. That’s not a knock on Mook in any sense, as
the Celtics needed his contributions to get to the
Eastern Conference Finals. He played 54 games,
starting in 21, shooting 42.9% from the field and
36.8% from three. Not the best efficiency, but not
the worst.
12.7% of Morris’ possessions fell into the “isolation
play type” category last season when he shot 40.5%.
That was the highest rate on the team besides Kyrie
Irving who finished at 16% while shooting 44%.
That may sound low, but 40.5% placed him smack
in the middle of the pack. Cutting out Daniel
Theis, Abdel Nader, and Jonathan Gibson,
Morris’ isolation efficiency was fifth out of the
remaining 10 players.
Morris’ points per possession was also right around
the average, finishing the with a PPP of 0.89. Now
I’m sure a lot of you are saying, “Yeah well he had
more iso opportunities than everyone else, so his
numbers should be higher.” I get that, but
considering his questionable shot selection, the
numbers are rather surprising, along with the fact
that he was rarely the primary scorer. Morris played
with some of the Celtics’ best players during his
time on the court. The top three most used lineups
including Morris had some combination of Kyrie
Irving, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al
Horford, Terry Rozier, or Marcus Smart in them.
Here’s part of a graphic from Sam Sheehan’s exit
interview:

Another advantage of Mook’s isolation plays is his

ability to get to the line and take care of the ball.
Morris ended up at the free throw line in 10.9% of
his iso possessions. Across that same bunch, the 28-
year-old only turned the ball over 3.3% of the time.
That was the lowest turnover frequency for isolation
plays on the team besides Al Horford and Aron
Baynes.
Mook’s isolation numbers from his previous season
with the Detroit Pistons draw an interesting
comparison. Morris led Detroit in isolation
frequency at 14.8% (compared to 12.7% in Boston),
while having a higher PPP at 1.05 (also tops for
Detroit’s rotation). He shot 51.6% during these
possessions, compared to 40.5% last season. Morris
was in the 90th percentile of isolation scorers across
the league, while this past season he sat at 59.2%.
Many fans stress about Morris’ offense, but it’s
worth noting how valuable Morris is in terms of
isolation defense. Being able to body a strong wing
like LeBron James is something that most players
Morris’ size can not do. He brings a versatile
defensive skillset to the table, which is ideal for
isolation defense. This in itself is invaluable to the
Celtics, especially in the playoffs.
Morris will find himself in a wide array of lineups
this coming season and some second units where
he’s a second or third option. That may lead him to
reverting to his isolation ways. Despite what you
may think, this isn’t a bad thing. Morris has been the
same player his entire career. Yes, he’s iso-heavy,
but his efficiency numbers are not outrageous to the
point where he needs to change that. In fact, by
league standards, they’re average. So the answer is
NO, Morris should not change his isolation style of
play. His effiency turns out to be just fine.
To those who want less iso’s from Morris: Let Mook
be Mook! After all, everyone needs a versatile
bully.

Do the Celtics have enough

minutes for Marcus Morris
next season?

There’s a lot of talent on the Celtics and someone

will get fewer minutes. Is Marcus Morris going to be
satisfied with a reduced role?
Last season Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Terry
Rozier each proved that they are key rotation players on a
contending team. Gordon Hayward and Kyrie
Irving are returning to a team that also features critical
veterans in Al Horford and Marcus Smart. Sprinkle in
some Aron Baynes, Daniel Theis, and Semi Ojeleye and
you’re not left with a lot of minutes.
So where does Marcus Morris fit into this equation?
You are welcome to add up the math as you see fit in the
comments below, but Ben Rohrbach added up the minutes
for his Patreon site (just $1 a month, folks). So you’ll
have to go there to see it.
I did pull his conclusion to share with you here:
Let’s apply this to Morris. Say he plays 20 minutes a
night for 70 games — a lower average, but only slightly
fewer total minutes (1,400) than last season, when he
missed 28 games battling minor knee pain. That leaves
the remaining 608 frontcourt minutes for Guerschon
Yabusele and rookie Robert Williams III — in the
ballpark of the 731 that Yabu and Greg Monroe played
last year. And because Morris can play three positions,
an injury to anyone in the frontcourt and/or
underperformance from Ojeleye, Yabu or Williams would
push him further into the fold.
In other words, worries over Morris’ fit this coming
season are overblown.
While I don’t have any major quibbles with Ben’s math
and understand his overall point, I don’t necessarily trust
that Marcus will be fine with 20 minutes a night. He
peaked at 35.7 minutes a game with the Pistons and was
down to 26.8 last year. He hasn’t been below 20 minutes
per game since his 3rd year in the league (2012). And for
what it’s worth, it’s a contract season for Morris after
taking a discount to play with his brother Markieff in
Phoenix.
Morris is wonderful “insurance” against injuries to key
players and Brad Stevens is going to try to keep his
veterans’ minutes low. In addition, Morris is a very useful
matchup option in the playoffs. He’s also apparently
pretty popular in the locker room and a good veteran to
have around (provided he’s happy).
Perhaps the chance to play on a title contender is enough
for Morris put aside whatever healthy ego he has and
accept a reduced role (and let’s face it, to be successful in
the NBA you have to have a lot of confidence, regardless
of analytics). So maybe it could all work out fine.
Or maybe it won’t. He’s a free agent after this season and
might want more minutes to prove his worth. It is easy to
say he should play the reduced role with a smile and help
the team contend for a title, but that’s easier said than
done for a competitor who’s proven his worth in this
league. There’s also the issue of the luxury tax; Morris is
set to make around $5M next season with the Celtics
about $3M over the tax line.
What if Semi Ojeleye starts knocking down consistent 3’s
and Robert Williams or Yabu prove that they deserve
some minutes as well? Will Morris accept being benched
without complaint? I don’t necessarily think he’d become
a distraction, but who really knows anymore (the
weirdness of the NBA has me considering every possible
outcome)?
Granted, these are first world problems and probably
much ado about nothing, but it is worth considering
moving forward (even before discussing the salary tax
implications of the roster construction as a whole).
So what do you think? Are there still minutes and a
defined role available for Marcus Morris?
The Celtics luxury tax
problem: understanding the
Repeater Tax
3

The Celtics are officially entering the luxury tax,

but should they try to get out of it or accept the
price tag for what could be a championship
team?
After a lengthy delay, Marcus Smart is officially
coming back to the Celtics on a four-year, $52
million deal that has no player or team options. As
the team and fans celebrated the return of the heart
and soul of the franchise, one little detail squeaked
by the mainstream fanbase: the Celtics are now over
the luxury tax by about $2,927,880.
Building a championship team in the NBA is tough
these days. While there’s no doubt that superstars
drive the league and win its championships, there are
beginning to be rumbles around the league of things
growing stale. Some saw that quartet of Warriors-
Cavaliers Finals as a fun rivalry that will define the
mid-2010's in the league. Others grumbled about the
Warriors 8-1 record in the Finals after adding Kevin
Durant. The league doesn’t want the title to be a
foregone conclusion, and (seemingly as a direct
result of the past Miami Heat superteam) instituted a
luxury tax provision that included a draconian
“repeater tax," designed to incur heavy financial
penalties against consistently high spending teams
and effectively encourage owners to break up
superteams.
When the Cleveland Cavaliers won the title in 2016,
they had to pay an additional $45 million in taxes on
top of their $121 million dollar roster due to the
luxury tax. Had they been able to keep Lebron James
this year, their team bill could have reached right
around $300 million. The Golden State Warriors
have paid a little over $113 million in luxury taxes
the past two seasons and with the repeater tax
coming for them during the 2019-20 season, they
could eventually be paying $400 million if they’re
able to keep all their pieces.
Winning doesn’t always guarantee profit either. The
Cavaliers actually reported a EBITDA loss of $40
million the year they won the title.
EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes,
Depreciation, and Amortization. The fact that the
Cavaliers were already at a loss prior to those
calculations suggest that the deficit may have even
been larger.
Meanwhile, the Warriors made about $92 million
that season after writing a check for revenue sharing
and paying out the luxury tax.
The longer you’re in the tax, the steeper the
penalties. Down in Oklahoma City, the Thunder,
who are a repeater tax team (we’ll get to that in a
minute), were staring at a $300 million payroll due
in large part to Carmelo Anthony’s expiring $28
million contract. By trading him, the Thunder were
able to save $73 million. Had he been a more
productive player, the Thunder would have had a
much more difficult decision to make on whether the
small chance of winning a title was worth $300
million. But let’s get back to the Celtics.
Due to the fact that Boston doesn’t have to negotiate
new contracts with Kyrie Irving, Terry Rozier, Al
Horford, etc. until next season, this was a year where
the Celtics could have looked to avoid the luxury
tax. Why? Because once you’ve become a luxury tax
team in three out of four seasons the team will
become subjected to the repeater tax (it’s back
again), which are steeper taxes for every dollar a
team is over the luxury tax. Here is a breakdown of
how the incremental tax rate works from the Larry
Coon's CBA FAQ:

I'm working on something that's going to make

everyone mad and yell at me, but to make
some points easier to understand in the piece, I
made a little visual, that those who aren't
familiar with the cap might find useful.

Kyle Monokuzma@SamSheehan
Going to keep posting these as I make them bc
I think they can be a helpful tool.

This explains how the tiered structure of tax

payments works.

For example $15M over the tax line institutes a

tax payment of $28.75M (The sum of $7.5M +
$8.75M +$12.5M) for a total cost of $43.75.
What is the Repeater Tax?
The repeater is an increased tax rate on teams that
have been taxpayers in three of their previous four
seasons. Should the Celtics be taxpayers this year,
they project to be in the repeater tax beginning in the
2021-2022 season. The repeater tax greatly
accelerates the tax payments that a team must make,
taxing a team a full dollar more for each dollar spent
over the tax. For example, a team $20M over the tax
line would normally pay a tax bill of $45M. With the
repeater tax, that tax bill balloons to $65M.
It’s important to understand the mechanics of the
luxury and repeater taxes, because there’s a
propesity for us as fans, to hear about owners paying
the tax and simply shrug and say “well, that’s what it
will cost to be a championship team." However,
there’s an extremely big difference between paying
$15M for owners and paying $80M. In a way, the
NBA might encourage a team to “overspend” to put
a great team together, but overspending over several
years to keep that team together will be penalized.
It’s all well and fine to look at the numbers and say
that “they’ll pay for a championship team” but at the
end of the day, owning an NBA team is a business.
No matter how benevolent or driven an owner may
be, there will always be a point where costs become
too prohibitive and it no longer becomes tenable for
a team to pay all that money.
The Celtics are a team on the come-up, a mostly
young squad led by three All-Stars that is hovering
right around the tax line currently. Ainge
previously told reporters that the Celtics plan on
“for sure” being tax-payers in 2019. This is some
slick politicking from Ainge, who I’m sure is well
aware that the Celtics not being taxpayers in 2019
would require the exit of one of Kyrie Irving or Al
Horford. Instead, the question is about this year’s
team bill and whether or not the Celtics will zig
under the tax for one more year, given how close
they are to the tax line. This isn’t a testament to the
Celtics being afraid to spend a couple extra million
right now, but rather how being in the tax this year
could compound down the road into a choice that
costs the Celtics north of $20M in a year when they
will be paying much more than they are now.
The problem with projecting out multiple years, as
my wiser peer Keith Smith noted in his own
excellent detailing of the Celtics tax situation, is
that there are simply too many variables to account
for when making these projections. Increases and
decreases in the cap, picks conveying, players
becoming worse or better, player options, collective
bargaining, free agency, and (most importantly)
trades all have a tremendous impact on a team. This
make projecting more than a year out a fool’s errand.
It’s akin to throwing a penny into the air and trying
to hit it with a dart.

The Celtics luxury tax problem:

Projecting the future payroll
A look into what it takes to pay for a contender
Now that we’ve gotten a clearer picture of the
repeater tax, let’s project how the Celtics’ cap
sheet will look in the next few years so we can better
understand some of the decisions the ownership will
make. Remember, these numbers are not set in stone
and can drastically change based on a lot of factors.
In order to avoid a 10,000 word story of all these
factors, we took the liberty of making some
assumptions on the future.
What are the assumptions?
Cap Projections
In 2019-20 and 2020-21, the league’s own cap
projections from earlier this year of $109M and
$116M respectively were used. Personally, I (Sam)
think these numbers are high, based on previous
years of league growth, so I used $119M and $121M
as the Salary caps for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.
These could be significantly higher, but given the
big leaps projected in the next two years, I think
there’s going to be more stabilization.
The legalization of gambling is a big wild card here,
it will give the cap another boost once the NBA
incorporates it into its economy, but it’s still unclear
when and how much the league will benefit from it.
With that being said, Brian Windhorst has already
speculated that it’s unlikely we’ll see a 2016 cap
spike from the infusion of gambling so for now at
least, predicting a more stable cap feels like the safe
bet.
Kyrie Irving will receive a max contract
Depending on who you ask, there seems to litany of
people who think that Kyrie Irving is a threat to
leave the Boston Celtics next year. I’m extremely
skeptical of this, because Irving currently finds
himself in a basketball situation where he is the
defacto team alpha dog, has a relatively
straightforward path to The Finals for the
foreseeable future, and the Celtics can give Irving
the most money and years of any team.
Perhaps, counter to nearly every report that has
detailed his injury, Irving’s knee will continue to be
a problem and the Celtics won’t offer a maximum
contract. Should he play similar to last year,
however, Irving is a no-brainer max player even if
you expect him to regress a bit in his early 30’s.
Therefore, It’s reasonable expect the Celtics to offer
it and for Kyrie to take it.
Both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum will
receive full rookie maximum extensions
I genuinely believe that right now if they were free
agents, both Jaylen Brown and Jayson
Tatumwould receive maximum contracts. Even in a
depressed “buyer’s market” this off-fseason, Zach
Lavine commanded a $19.5M per year contract, just
$6M off of a player maximum for his experience
level. Both Brown and Tatum play on the wing, a
more scarce position than LaVine’s guard spot, and
given the young age and superior production thus far
of both players, I think it would be a slam dunk that
a team would offer them a maximum contract.
Barring (heaven forbid and knocking on all wood
available) an injury, or a massive regression that
seems pretty unlikely, both players project
comfortably to be maximum players in their fourth
year, even if they don’t markedly improve between
now and then. As the Celtics, getting them both on
extensions, even if it is a slight overpay, would seem
to be smart, as that extra year would be likely
cheaper given the experience bucket (similar to
how Kyrie Irving is currently wildly underpaid this
year). I feel comfortable making this assumption.
The Designated Player rule and Designated
Rookie Extension
Both Jaylen or Tatum could possibly qualify for a
higher player maximum under the Designated Player
extension rules should they hit certain performance
goals. The most likely of these is if they were to
make an All-NBA team in the last year of their deal.
While this is possible, I wouldn’t describe it as
‘likely’ right now, so I left the player maximums at
the standard 25% of the cap.
Joel Embiid got a conditional Designated Rookie
max extension last year which would have posted
the contracts value to $178 from $148 million if he
won the Defensive Player of the Year, MVP, or was
on one of the All-NBA teams. Embiid made the All-
NBA second team this season.
The Kings and Memphis picks will convey next
year at #4 and #11, The Celtics own pick will be
#29, and the Clippers first round pick won’t
convey.
This is probably the most spurious of the projections
made, because it requires not only projecting a team
record, but also needs to account for the fact that
there is a draft lottery. The Celtics will lose the
Kings pick if it is #1 and be saddled with the almost
certainly much worse Sixers pick. Luckily, due to
lottery reform, the chances of this happening when a
team is one of the worst in the league (like I expect
the Kings to be) is now significantly lower.
Recent projections have the Kings being as low as
the second worst team in the league. However,
lottery luck will ultimately determine where the pick
lands regardless of regular season record. Given the
strength of the Western conference, we ultimately
projected the Kings with the worst record and the
median outcome for having that worst record, which
is the fourth pick. However, there’s still a 47%
chance (with the new lottery odds) that the Kings
would pick 5th even if they were the worst team in
the NBA. Fourth is an optimistic projection, that
accounts for a reasonable amount of salary for the
pick.
The Projections
With all this in mind, here’s a look at the Celtics
projections going forward. As detailed above, there
are a ton of variables, however, any large move like
a trade would effectively scuttle most of this. The
point of these projections is more to demonstrate
how large the numbers are and the level of “getting
rid of guy x” it will take for the Celtics to even tread
water financially.

Note: These numbers were run before the

Abdel Nader Trade
In these projections, the Celtics don’t make any
more moves this season and finish above the
tax. Terry Rozier walks, as do Brad
Wanamaker and Daniel Theis. Al Horford opts in
after next year, but then walks the year after. I did
the same with Gordon Hayward, given his injury,
but there’s a good chance he actually opts out. Either
way neither return after their contracts are up and the
Celtics are still decidedly over the cap for the
forseeable future.
You can see how thin the roster gets after a certain
amount of time, and how valuable a player like Semi
Ojeleye or Robert Williams developing into a
rotation piece would be for the Celtics. Should they
hold onto the Kings and Memphis picks, they would
be heavily counted on. Wherever the minutes end up
coming from, the Celtics will probably lose some of
their high end talent and will need development of
young stars or trades to fill that. Even then, there
will be stiff bills for the Celtics, as none of these
projections account for free agent signings using
exceptions. In the end, the Celtics will need to make
a decision on one or more of their top free agents.
Bringing back the vet(s)
To give an example of what that might look like,
I’ve included an identical chart but one where Al
opts out and re-signs on a 3-year $75 deal. Given the
caliber of Al’s play and what other players have
gotten, I actually think this would be low for Al,
even given his age, but that’s just me.
Note: These numbers were compiled before
the Abdel Nader Trade.
As you can see, this slightly cuts down the Celtics
bill in 2019-2020 but gives them an over quarter
billion dollar payroll in 2020-21. Even
with Hayward opting in then walking (again, this is
improbable if he’s healthy), the repeater comes
home to roost in 2021-2022 and the Celtics still have
a near quarter billion dollar roster, just
without Gordon Hayward.
If the Celtics think there’s even a slight likelihood
that they want Al Horford after next year, they have
to be willing to offer him a contract that entices him.
That likely means multiple years and in my opinion,
Al is worth it.
A similar circumstance follows with Hayward even
though he’s a little harder to predict. It’s possible
that at 32, Hayward will still have a few good years
left in his prime (like Horford did when he first came
to Boston), but may opt to take a little less than the
max if it comes with the stability of years. Like
Horford, Hayward is worth it. He plays the most
important position in the league and has no
weakness in his game. Even if guys like Tatum and
Brown surpass him he’ll still be one one of the
complete players on the team.
In that instance, is paying the tax this year worth the
possibility of the roster costing more than $25
million dollars in the future?
That’s not really a rhetorical question. It’s hard to
answer and will vary from person to person
depending on how much you like certain players,
think the Celtics front office likes this squad, and
how much of a risk taker you are. The Celtics’ front
office is keenly aware of these looming troubles, and
will be exploring all their options.

A Midsummer Night’s Tax

Scheme
Why did the Boston Celtics trade Abdel Nader
instead of waiving him?
On a sleepy evening in late July, the Boston
Celtics completed a trade that stirred the imaginations of
cap enthusiasts everywhere. After previously being
reported to be waiving Abdel Nader, the Celtics instead
reversed course and traded Nader to the Oklahoma City
Thunder. Boston also sent an as yet undetermined
amount of cash to OKC in the deal and acquired
guard Rodney Purvis.
So, why did the Celtics make such a seemingly
meaningless deal in late July? And why didn’t they just
waive Nader? Much like The Bard’s greatest works,
sometimes you need to look at things a couple of times
for it to really make sense.
Let’s start with the basic particulars. Boston had decided
to move on from Nader. The Celtics have 14 guaranteed
contracts and can only carry 15, plus two players on two-
way contracts. As Nader was only partially guaranteed,
and hadn’t played well enough to hold down a roster spot,
the decision was more or less made for the Celtics. By
waiving Nader, Boston would have had to eat the
guaranteed $450,000 on his contract, but would have
reduced the amount they were over the luxury tax by over
$900,000.
Now, is dodging the tax this year all that important for the
Celtics this year? That depends on who you read/listen
to/talk to. Everyone has a different opinion. But one thing
is clear: with a move like this, Boston is interested in
trying to reduce that tax bill as low as possible or to zero,
if possible.
Back to Nader: why not just waive him and eat the
$450,000? Well, that leaves almost half a million on the
books, that you would rather not have on the books, if you
can avoid it. What about stretching that money? Sure. The
Celtics could have done that. They did that
with Demetrius Jackson last summer, when they
engineered a brilliant transaction to spread the $650,000
owed to Jackson over seven years. How did they pull that
off? When you stretch money, you can spread it across
two times the number of years left on the contract, plus
one additional year. Boston picked up their team option
on Jackson’s final year, which made his contract three
years in length. They then waived and stretched the
$650,000 over seven years ((3 years x2) + 1 year = 7
years).
The Celtics could have done the same with Nader and
dropped that $450,000 hit down to just over $64,000 over
the next seven years. It would have involved picking up
the team option on the final year of Nader’s deal, as they
did with Jackson, but the option was on the table.
So, why trade Nader? Well, that answer seems pretty
simple. Purvis’ contract is fully non-guaranteed. By
acquiring Purvis, and then ultimately waiving him, the
Celtics took that $450,000 and turned it into $0.00. That’s
some pretty good work by Danny Ainge and the front
office team.
To be fair, Boston is likely sending enough cash to OKC
to cover Nader’s salary, and possibly enough to cover the
cost of Nader’s salary plus the extra tax hit the Thunder
are going to incur. But the cash isn’t an obstacle for the
Celtics. It takes a little out of the bank that Boston could
offer to buy a pick at the 2019 NBA Draft, but that’s
hardly a worry. The team has enough draft picks coming,
that buying one probably isn’t a concern.
In the end, assuming Boston does waive Purvis, the
Celtics are now just under $2.5 million over the tax line.
That’s an easy enough figure to work around, should
Boston want to. And by moving Nader for the fully non-
guaranteed/eventually waived Purvis, the Celtics also
keep a roster spot open. That spot is filled by Jabari
Bird on a standard contract, after he played last season on
a two-way deal.
Celtics, Jabari Bird agree to
a contract 8

The second-year guard will return to Boston

after playing on a two-way contract last season.
Shams Charania reported on Thursday that restricted
free agent Jabari Bird and the Boston Celtics have
agreed on a deal for the guard to return to the team.
Shams Charania
✔@ShamsCharania

Sources: The Celtics and 2017 second-rounder

Jabari Bird are finalizing a multiyear deal. Bird
spent his rookie season on a two-way contract,
had a strong summer league.
Bird averaged 3.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.6
assists last season with the Celtics. In June, Keith
Smith reported that the Celtics tendered a
qualifying offer to Bird to make him a restricted
free agent after a strong close to the regular season.
In July with Boston’s Summer League squad, Bird
made a strong impression, furthering his case to own
a spot on the roster.
In 4 Summer League games, Bird averaged 16.8
points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists to go with 1.8 steals
on 57% shooting from the field.
Keith Smith added additional contract details for
Bird next season:

Keith Smith
✔@KeithSmithNBA

Sources: Jabari Bird is signing a two-year

minimum contract with the Boston Celtics. First
year is expected to fully guaranteed.
The Celtics will now carry 15 guaranteed
contracts into training camp with Walt Lemon Jr.
on a two-way deal. The Celtics have one more
two-way slot available after Kadeem Allen signed
with the New York Knicks earlier thiAfter re-
signing Jabari Bird, the Celtics roster is now
at the regular season maximum of 15 players.
Still have one open two-way spot (Walt
Lemon Jr. has one of them) and 3-4 deals for
training camp.s week. Up next is finding a
couple of players to fill out the training camp
roster for the preseason slate.
Boston Celtics sign Jabari Bird: Five
things to know about reported two-year
deal
The Boston Celtics filled their last remaining roster
spot on Thursday, agreeing to a two-year deal with
Jabari Bird, according to multiple reporters.

Bird was on a two-way contract last season and

entered the summer as a restricted free agent. The
Celtics took him with the 56th pick in the 2017 draft.

Per the Boston Globe's Gary Washburn, the

contract will be guaranteed in his first year,
conditional in the second.

gary washburn
✔@GwashburnGlobe
Two-year deal for Jabari Bird with the #Celtics . First
year guaranteed, second year conditional. Gives
guard a chance to earn minutes.

The Celtics' roster is likely now complete before

August. Here are five things to know about Bird's
new deal.

1. Bird had to earn this roster spot.

The Celtics like going into a season with an open

roster spot, since it means they can make a trade
without having to cut someone. After drafting
Robert Williams and signing Brad Wanamaker, they
were at 14, and all 14 players should be able to
contribute.

Bird had to be really good to earn this spot, and he

was. His performance at the end of the season and
his Summer League performance (yes, it's just
Summer League) hammered home his profile as a
hyper-athletic cutter with good pick-and-roll instincts
and 3-and-D potential.

That type of player is too talented and too

potentially valuable to simply let walk. The Celtics
will now have to make either a trade or a cut to add
a player, but having Bird seemed more valuable
than having the roster flexibility.

Whether the Celtics make a move to get below the

luxury tax line now remains to be seen.

2. Bird always seemed to think he was going to be

with the Celtics.

After the season wrapped up, I asked Bird what his

plans for the postseason were, and he said he
wasn't sure.

As it turned out, his plans were to rejoin the Celtics

to workout (and have a better seat for the games, at
the end of the bench).

Bird remains around team, despite uncertain future

Jabari Bird remains around the Boston Celtics,
despite his uncertain future.

"Honestly, I don't even know how restricted free

agency works," Bird told me several weeks later.
"Right now, I'm a Celtic. I'm with the team, traveling,
everything. I'm a Celtic, man."
Bird went on to repeat that mantra multiple times,
including throughout Summer League as he put on
a show of a tryout. He always seemed confident he
was likely to remain with the team, and now -- for
the next two years, at least -- it appears he will.

3. Bird probably won't be in the regular rotation at

first.

Celtics fans who have been following the team

closely since the end of the season saw Bird's
Summer League performance and were entranced
by his seemingly complete offensive game.

But everyone should pump the brakes a bit: A

rotation slot for Bird is unlikely, at least at first,
given the logjam ahead of him. Both Jaylen
Brown/Kyrie Irving and Marcus Smart/Terry Rozier
will have guaranteed playing time available.
Stevens is happy to go to three-guard lineups at
times, which could buy minutes for Bird, but in a 15-
man rotation, Bird won't start the season in the top
10.

4. The Celtics' guard rotation is a little complicated.

We can't know exactly what players were promised,
but presumably Brad Wanamaker didn't come back
from cushy overseas gigs (with his wife) to the
NBA at age 28 in order to play in 15 games. The
pairings above plus Bird and Wanamaker make six
guards, not counting Gordon Hayward who is
sometimes at his best as the primary ball-handler.

Brad Stevens will have plenty of opportunities

to buy rest for his stars, but keeping everyone
happy could be complicated.

5. The Celtics' roster is LOADED.

Celtics fans spent most of the summer excited

about the potential of signing Bird, who will likely
start the season somewhere between 12 and 15 on
the depth chart. And here's the thing: They should
be excited. Bird looked good in his limited NBA
minutes, and he looked great at Summer League.
He's talented and athletic, and he has a high
basketball IQ. For a player entering his second year
in the league, even at age 24, that's a lot of things
to like.
The Celtics may have too many good players.
That's a great problem to have -- Boston will be the
favorite in the Eastern Conference, even though the
59-win No. 1 seed Toronto Raptors added a top-
five-when-healthy player -- but it could still need
addressing.

Boston Celtics trade Abdel Nader to

Oklahoma City Thunder for Rodney
Purvis in money-saving deal
By Tom Westerholm
On Saturday, the Boston Celtics decided to waive
little-used wing Abdel Nader, opting to eat the
$450,000 of the partially guaranteed contract he
would carry into next season.

Two days later, however, the Celtics appear to have

found a suitor to take on Nader's salary, saving the
Celtics a small amount of cap space. Per the
Celtics, Nader has been dealt to the Oklahoma City
Thunder in exchange for Rodney Purvis.

We have traded forward Abdel Nader and cash

considerations to the Oklahoma City Thunder in
exchange for guard Rodney Purvis.
-- Boston Celtics (@celtics) July 24, 2018
Purvis was a 24-year-old rookie guard last season
for the Orlando Magic. He will almost certainly not
play for the Celtics -- by waiving Purvis' non-
guaranteed deal, the Celtics would save the cap hit
of the guaranteed portion of Nader's contract and
come closer to avoiding the luxury tax. Purvis
played in 16 games for Orlando last year, averaging
18.1 minutes per game.

Avoiding the tax will become a somewhat significant

issue to watch as the summer drags on, since
Boston would prefer to push the clock back on the
repeater tax. Per Ryan Bernardoni, the Celtics are
now roughly $2.5 million over the tax line.
The Celtics' starting five will obviously be
untouchable, as will the newly-signed Marcus
Smart. Terry Rozier is too valuable to be moved in
a deal simply to get below the tax line.

But players like Guerschon Yabusele and Marcus

Morris might be on the table. Yabusele's contract
would get Boston just slightly below the $2.38
million necessary, while Marcus Morris's $5 million
contract -- if dealt for a second-round pick -- would
clear space for a signing like Jabari Bird.
Neither player would be easy to give up. Yabusele
was the 16th pick in the 2016 draft, while Morris
gave the Celtics a lot of very valuable production
both off the bench and as a starter last year. But
Boston knows how expensive its roster will be in
the next few years, and trimming money off the bill
now could make a difference for an expensive title
contender down the road.

. Here’s the latest depth chart:

Ball Handlers: Kyrie Irving, Terry Rozier, Marcus
Smart, Brad Wanamaker
Wings: Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen
Brown, Marcus Morris, Semi Ojeleye
Bigs: Al Horford, Aron Baynes, Daniel Theis,
Guerschon Yabusele, Robert Williams
Some have speculated that the last spot may
go to restricted free agent Jabari Bird. The
Celtics extended a qualifying offer to Bird earlier
this summer and if he doesn’t get a better deal,
he’ll again return as a two-way player. Boston
may choose to either sign a more veteran
player or hold the open roster spot to be active
in the buyout market.

Sources: Marcus Smart agrees to 4-year,

$52M contract with Celtics

Shams Charania
Yahoo SportsJul 19, 2018, 4:29 PM
More
Restricted free agent Marcus Smart has agreed
to a four-year, $52 million contract to re-sign
with the Boston Celtics, league sources told
Yahoo Sports.
After a contentious start to negotiations,
Smart’s agent, Happy Walters, and the Celtics’
brass made significant progress in recent days
to ensure Smart remained in Boston. Smart and
Walters met with the Celtics’ front office and
ownership on Thursday in Boston to finalize the
agreement, league sources said.
For Smart, the new deal represents more than
the range of his extension negotiations before
the 2017-18 season (four years, $50
million) and a strong commitment in this year’s
free agency market. Smart had an Oct.
1 deadline on the $6.1 million qualifying offer
that the Celtics tendered him last month.
Smart, 24, has established himself as part of
the Celtics’ core and culture, serving as a
tenacious defender, team voice and productive
player. Smart met with several teams, including
the Brooklyn Nets and Memphis Grizzlies,
during the NBA summer league in Las Vegas,
but also had a private meeting with Celtics
general manager Danny Ainge last week.
A year before dealing with the free agencies
of Kyrie Irving and Terry Rozier, the Celtics
understood the importance of bringing back
Smart on a long-term extension, and the guard
has remained loyal and communicative with
head coach Brad Stevens and his teammates.
In 54 games last season, Smart averaged 10.2
points, 4.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals.
He missed time during the season because of a
right hand injury after punching a glass frame,
and then suffered a torn UCL in his right thumb
in mid-March diving for a loose ball. Smart
underwent surgery on his right thumb, but
returned in the first round of the playoffs.
For Boston, Smart’s resiliency and toughness
has permeated the franchise. In 15 postseason
games, he averaged 9.8 points, 5.3 assists and
3.7 rebounds in nearly 30 minutes per game.
Smart was Boston’s sixth overall pick in the
2014 NBA draft out of Oklahoma State.

Marcus Smart’s deal is fully guaranteed for

all four years with no options and will follow
the standard 8% raise structure starting at
around $11.6 million, a league source tells
The Athletic.
Marcus Smart re-signs with Boston
Celtics for four years, $52 million: Five
things to know
The Boston Celtics agreed to a four-year, $52
million deal with restricted free-agent Marcus
Smart on Thursday. We have in-depth analysis
coming, but here are five quick things to know
about Smart's new deal, and what it means going
forward.

1. The Celtics always planned to bring Smart

back.

There was a lot of sound and fury surrounding

Smart's free agency, as Smart and his agent tried to
angle themselves toward more money, but the
Celtics always wanted him back and had no
intention of letting him go. Danny Ainge was
consistent -- whenever he was asked, he repeated
that Smart was the team's priority in free agency.
Once it became clear that a team like Sacramento
wasn't going to throw something like four years and
$80 million his way, it became a forgone
conclusion that Smart would be a Celtic next
season.
2. Smart's value extends off the court.

Picture-frame-related violence notwithstanding,

Smart is an important member of the Celtics locker
room. He's incredibly competitive, but also one of
the most stoic individuals you will ever meet, which
is a useful combination.
The Celtics have a lot of young players. Marcus
Smart is the type of player you want around young
players.
3. Smart's contract has trade value, but the
Celtics want to keep him.

By keeping Smart's contract within reason, the

Celtics accomplished two things: They saved
themselves some money, and they turned his deal
into a major asset for themselves if they need to
make a deal for a star. At $13 million per year,
Smart's talent doesn't turn his contract into a minus,
so including it in a deal wouldn't require a separate
asset (like a pick) to include him. He's valuable in
his own right.
That being said, don't expect the Celtics to dangle
him around the league. Certainly, if Anthony Davis
becomes available, Smart might want to hit up a
New Orleans realtor. But he's a perfect complement
to the current team, which is a championship
contender as constructed, and his competitiveness
fits the Celtics' ethos. He's not salary filler. He's a
talented, important member of the franchise.
4. The Celtics' roster is going to get
EXPENSIVE.

I'll have more on this shortly, but it should still be

noted here: Smart's deal was fair, but so are the
deals Al Horford and Gordon Hayward signed. That
doesn't make them cheap. The Celtics are going to
be a true championship contender, but they will
rocket into the tax over the next few years.
5. Marcus Smart makes defense fun.

This doesn't really have anything to do with his

contract, but here's your reminder that Smart's
defense is crazy fun to watch.
If nothing else, bringing back Smart gives Weird
Celtics Twitter energy, and energetic Weird Celtics
Twitter is great.

Marcus Smart re-signs with Boston

Celtics: How Smart's $52 million contract
affects the team's cap sheet

From the start of the summer, Danny Ainge

made the Boston Celtics' primary goal in free
agency clear: The team wanted to re-sign
Marcus Smart.
"Our priority remains the same," Ainge told
reporters at Las Vegas Summer League a
week ago. "Our priority is still Marcus in free
agency, and that's where we are."
Eight days later, the Celtics officially landed
their man. Smart agreed to a four-year, $52
million deal that will keep Smart in Boston for
the foreseeable future.
"This is where I want to be, and I'm ready to
put a green jersey back on and get to work,"
Smart said in a statement. "I'm determined to
help my teammates bring another
championship to the best fans in the world."
How will that contract impact the Celtics' cap
situation going forward? First, the gritty details,
courtesy of the Athletic's Jared Weiss: Smart's
deal is fully guaranteed (an important get for
Smart and his agent), and it will follow the
league's standard eight-percent raise structure
to get to $52 million. That means it will start
around $11.6 million this season, escalating to
about $14.5 million in the final year.
That $11.6 million allows the Celtics to get
under the tax this season with relative ease, if
they want to go that route. Boston will now be
about $3.8 million over the luxury tax line,
which means the Celtics could (for example)
attach a pick to Marcus Morris and trade him
into another team's cap space to push the
clock back on the repeater tax.
Pushing back the clock would have some real
incentives for the Celtics, who are staring down
the loaded double barrel of Jaylen Brown and
Jayson Tatum's upcoming deals. Both Tatum
and Brown have every reason to stay in
Boston, but neither is likely to take less than
the max contract they would command on the
open market (nor should they).
The Celtics opted not to frontload Smart's deal,
which could have given them flexibility down
the road when his contract began going down.
But at that point, Boston's cap will almost
certainly be tied up by Brown and Tatum, as
well as Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward,
assuming both are still on the roster. Add
another deal for Horford, who had perhaps his
best season to date at 31, and the bill could be
staggering.
But the Celtics seem willing to pay, as long as
they are winning and the deals are reasonable.
For a free agency this contentious, Smart's
new contract is very fair to both sides. Happy
Walters and Ainge hit the center between
Andre Roberson's three years/$10 million (elite
defender, essentially no offense) and Gary
Harris' four years/$84 million (perceived high-
level contributions on both ends). For Smart's
elite defense and solid play-making, with
absolutely no shooting, $52 million over four
years feels like a reasonable split-the-
difference deal.
Getting all four years fully guaranteed was a
win for Smart as well. The dry free-agent
market afforded him exactly zero favors, and
the Celtics likely would have loved to get a little
assurance on the back end. On the other end,
Smart -- whose intense style of play does lend
itself to the occasional injury -- would much
rather know he's going to get all of the money
owed him.
Frankly, the Celtics won't particularly mind the
lack of a guarantee. They can get under the
tax this year if need be (and need certainly
might be), and they will almost certainly be a
tax team going forward anyway -- Smart or no
Smart.
And, as has been pointed out ad nauseam at
this point, Smart's contract is not a minus if the
team needs to trade him. Boston won't be
dangling him on the market, but an Anthony
Davis trade would require salaries to match if it
presented itself. Given how cheap some of
Boston's best young players are,
Smart's $13ish million would be a big boost.
"Hopefully we'll have an expensive roster,"
Ainge said during the Celtics' exit interviews. "I
think we've been managing the payroll pretty
well to this point and we know there are some
really big, tough decisions going forward."
Plenty of those big decisions still remain. Next
on the docket are Terry Rozier and Kyrie
Irving, both of whom come with their separate
risks and challenges. But for today, last year's
likable, charismatic bunch remained intact.

Marcus Smart is a unique player for Boston

Celtics -- so was his free agency

A running conversation has continued for at least

three weeks. Probably longer. What is the true
value of Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart?
Smart agreed Thursday to a four-year, $52 million
contract with the Celtics, Shams Charania of
Yahoo! Sports was first to report. Had he not gotten
hurt last season, Smart may have made it onto one
of the NBA's All-Defensive Teams. He's an
unheralded creator, as well. He can lead pick-and-
roll and is particularly gifted hitting cutters
with timely pocket passes. But Smart is also one of
the league's worst ever shooters amongst ones who
actually shoot. Yet, he finds ways to remain
productive. The Celtics were nearly five points per
100 possessions better when he was on the floor
this season. But would he make the same impact in
any situation?

And that's where the conversation about Smart

starts. The NBA wasn't necessarily wondering how
good he was; it's more nuanced than that. How
useful might Smart be outside of a situation so
specifically catered to him?
It's one of a few reasons why Smart went three
weeks without finding an appealing contract offer,
eventually accepting one a tad higher than the
extension he turned down in the fall. Restricted
status pushes plenty of free agents late into the
summer. And not many teams had the cap
flexibility to make Smart an offer. But there were
also the fair inquiries: Smart is good, but can he
be this good if he doesn't have a great coach, like
Brad Stevens, and shooters around him?
It limited summer options -- especially considering
most of the teams who had cap room this year
lacked the skilled complements to one of the
league's most intense competitors.

"Teams like the Celtics, who have a lot of high-

level scorers, definitely get more value out of Smart
but have to commit to being stuck with a bad
contract if things change with their team," one non-
Celtics executive told MassLive after the signing.
"So yes, they are paying a premium for a guy like
that who is a specific fit."
Smart met with the Memphis Grizzlies and
Brooklyn Nets in free agency, according
to Charania. The Celtics, however, always
wanted him back, staunchly claiming so publicly
and privately. They'd re-up their arguable best
defender, then worry about the financial
implications (and yes, there are some serious
financial implications) later.
"Our priority remains the same," Celtics President
of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge told
reporters last week. "Our priority is still Marcus in
free agency."
There was a reason, however, the Celtics were wary
of negotiating against themselves. Talks didn't heat
up until almost three weeks into free agency, and
they were dry early as Boston waited for Smart to
receive an offer sheet it would likely match. But the
24-year-old never got that far with any other
organization.
Smart is an intuitive fit in Boston. He's part of the
team's feisty culture. He can help it form possibly
the league's best defense. He can act as a secondary
ball-handler. Stevens, meanwhile, who encourages
mostly anyone capable of throwing up 3s to do so,
has discovered the balance of letting Smart be
himself while also reigning in his inaccurate
chucking.
Smart made sense for the Celtics because they
already had him. And with Boston over the cap, it's
not like it could simply replace him had he bolted.
In that sense, Smart held natural leverage, even if
he wasn't getting it from lucrative offers elsewhere.
It's a situation not much different than what-could-
have-been with the Houston Rockets and Trevor
Ariza, who departed for the Phoenix Suns this July,
or what actually did happen with the Oklahoma
City Thunder and Andre Roberson, who re-upped
with OKC last summer. Those players are more
valuable to those teams than they are elsewhere.
And those teams are better because they have those
players.
It's a rare relationship. Smart seems to fit it. The
Celtics are better now that he's back.

The Celtics are running it

back at full strength - roster
outlook for 2018-2019
As Marcus Smart agrees to terms with the
Celtics, CelticsBlog founder Jeff Clark takes
stock of the roster.
All I wanted was to keep together the same basic
team from last year and run it back. By re-
signing Marcus Smart and Aron Baynes and not
making any other substantial moves, it appears that
the Celtics are doing just that. (Note that it is only
mid-July and a lot can change by October)
Let’s take this opportunity to break down the roster
(at a high level). I’m ignoring the cap dynamics and
luxury tax implications for the moment.
Starting 5: Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Gordon
Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford
Here’s what I wrote about the starting 5 as the
offseason kicked off a month ago:
Offensively, that’s 5 guys that can stretch the floor,
2 are elite level shot creators, 2 are Swiss army
knives, and 1 is a relentless bulldog with athleticism
to spare. There’s a beautiful blend of buoyant youth,
veteran savvy, and Gumby-like flexibility in that
group. The passing and spacing could create ping-
pong ball movement leading to wide open 3’s or
dunks. At the same time, if you need a bucket, there
are multiple options to call upon to make iso-magic
happen. Then on defense, that’s a lot of long,
laterally quick, intelligent thinkers between the ball
and the hoop.
Man I can’t wait to see that group on the floor on a
consistent basis. Let’s move on.
Rotation Bench: Marcus Smart, Terry
Rozier, Marcus Morris, Semi Ojeleye, Aron
Baynes, Daniel Theis
At first I was going to try to break these down into
traditional positions, but that didn’t work. Then I
tried doing Brad’s “ball handlers, wings, swings,
bigs” breakdown, but that didn’t even work. And
that’s kind of the beauty of this roster, right? Is
Ojeleye a swing or a big? Is Rozier a ball handler or
wing? Marcus Smart is at any one time a
combination of all of the above. There are so many
talented, heady, hard working guys in this group that
coach Stevens can mix and match depending on the
opponent and situation. Down the line each of them
can defend multiple positions at a high level. They
aren’t a high volume scoring bunch, but they can be
a wonderful group of support players to rotate in
around the starters.
Deep Bench: Robert Williams III, Guerschon
Yabusele, Brad Wanamaker, Jabari Bird*

These names may or may not change by the start of

preseason (I’m leaving Abdel Nader, Shane Larkin,
and Greg Monroe off this list because I presume
they won’t be back). Each of them figures to spend
quality time in Maine with the Red Claws but each
could be useful in the event of an injury.
Robert Williams III has the kind of hops and length
to plug in for a different kind of look. Yabu has the
size and nimble feet to contribute if he can continue
to develop his defense. Wanamaker fills the Shane
Larkin role (with more size). Bird gives us
athleticism and depth on the wing.
Again, all this could change if the Celtics decide to
make a move for tax reasons or add a free agent to
the mix that they couldn’t pass up. But if the C’s
brass wraps up some paperwork and takes the rest of
the summer off, I’d be plenty happy with this squad
headed into the Fall.
No one in the Eastern Conference had a better summer
than Celtics president Danny Ainge, and all he did was
retain a couple of his own free agents, draft a project late
in the first round, and bring a veteran expat back from
overseas. There were some rumors, as there always are
with the Celtics, but they weren’t as breathless as past
summers.
Bringing (almost) everyone back from a 55-win team that
came within a fourth quarter of reaching the NBA Finals
despite the absence of Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving
was always the priority.
[…]
The key to the Celtics’ offseason was retaining Marcus
Smart on a reported 4-year deal worth $52 million. That’s
a decent amount of money for a restricted free agent who
wasn’t yielding offers in a tight market, but there’s a
method to Ainge’s madness.
The money is good and the years are long, which should
help soothe Smart’s frustration over a process that didn’t
go according to his plan. Also, Smart earned that contract
with his fearless play and emerging leadership skills.
Backcourt Draymond never complains about coming off
the bench or doing the dirtiest of the dirty work, which is
a great example for a team that figures to go 10-11 deep.
[…]
It wasn’t what Ainge did that made his offseason so
successful, it was what happened around him. Even when
his itinerary is light, everything keeps comes up Danny.
SB Nation: The Celtics won NBA free agency without
doing all that much
The Celtics may not have won the summer league, but
they did something more important: they won the entire
summer. Boston got better while Cleveland got worse,
Philly stayed about the same, and Toronto – with a rookie
coach and the addition of an enigma while giving up their
best player – maybe got better, or maybe not.
If you’re like me, you wanted Danny Ainge to keep the
band together to see what they can do if they remain
healthy. He did. Baynes returned with no drama, and after
a bit of tension, Smart will again impact winning in a
green and white uniform.
The only subtractions of note appear to be Greg Monroe
(replaced by the healthy Daniel Theis and rookie Rob
“Wallet” Williams) and Shane Larkin (Brad Wanamaker
being an upgrade, if only because he’s 6’4” and not
5’11”). There’s no apparent reason to believe any further
moves will be made before training camp.
Smart made it plain how happy he is

2.KAWHI LEONARD TRADE

The San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors

agreed to a deal in principle that would
involve a swap of All-Stars Kawhi Leonard
and DeMar DeRozan, according to ESPN's
Adrian Wojnarowski on Wednesday.
Wojnarowski reported Leonard and Danny
Green will head to Toronto in exchange for
DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019
first-round draft pick. Per Wojnarowski, the
first-round pick is protected for the 20th
overall selection and above, and after a year,
it will turn into two second-round draft
choices. David Aldridge of NBA.com
reported Leonard has been informed of the
deal.

The Celtics haven’t offered Kyrie, Hayward,

Tatum, Brown OR Horford in a trade for
Kawhi Leonard, per @wojespn and
For Boston Celtics, Kawhi Leonard trade
to Toronto Raptors makes Eastern
Conference more dangerous
For a league that just spent the better part of
two weeks in Las Vegas, the Kawhi Leonard
trade saga -- which appears to have finally
wrapped up, at least for the time being -- is
appropriately a gamble on just about every
side.
Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the San
Antonio Spurs brought the situation to a
merciful end on Wednesday, dealing
Leonard and Danny Green to the Toronto
Raptors in exchange for DeMar DeRozan,
Jakob Poeltl and a protected first-round pick.
For the Spurs, dealt an abysmal hand by
Leonard and the now-infamous Uncle Dennis,
this is an acceptable value move. Leonard's
refusal to even consider playing
anywhere except Los Angeles put them in a
bind and limited the assets they could receive
in return. Young talent like Jayson Tatum,
Jaylen Brown and Markelle Fultz were all
reportedly off the table in exchange for an
injured superstar with no intention of re-
signing. So rather than risking losing Leonard
for nothing -- and it seems abundantly clear
they would have lost him -- the Spurs get an
All-Star in DeMar DeRozan, along with other
compensation.
The Raptors, of course, get Leonard. When
healthy, he's one of the five best players in the
NBA, and for a Toronto team that has
continuously scuffled in the postseason, a
trade for even a disgruntled superstar makes a
lot of sense.
Perhaps just as interesting as the teams
involved, however, are the teams that weren't.
The Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and
Philadelphia 76ers all could have beaten the
package offered by the Raptors -- any trade
involving Brown, Brandon Ingram or even Fultz
plus picks would probably have swayed the
Spurs, who are staring a rebuild in the face.
Jumpstarting that rebuild by adding a
cornerstone prospect almost certainly would
have been a more attractive option than
DeRozan, an All-NBA talent who will still turn
29 before the season begins.
But each team had separate reasons to pass.
The Lakers believe they can sign Leonard
outright next summer without giving up assets
(and Leonard's camp has given them every
reason to maintain confidence). The Sixers
didn't want to give up the necessary assets for
what appears to be a rental, especially with
plenty of cap space looming in next summer's
deep free-agent class.
The Celtics' lack of interest, of course, has
been well documented. Boston's current
starting lineup is Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward,
Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford.
All five will have a legitimate chance to make
the All-Star team next season, and the Celtics
are excited to see how they all fit together
during the regular season after the young stars
on the team made a push to the Eastern
Conference Finals. Giving up any of those
pieces for Leonard with no guarantee of health
and no assurances he would even consider
remaining in Boston would have been an
unnecessary risk for a team so well
constructed for both the present and the future.
Of course, the gamble all three teams took was
simple: They don't get to employ Kawhi
Leonard this year. The Lakers hope the
Raptors don't sell him on Toronto. The Sixers
(who suddenly might be the third-best team in
the East) hope they can find someone else
willing to sign next summer. The Celtics hope
the Raptors didn't just vault themselves to the
top of the conference by acquiring a potential
MVP candidate.
So where do things stand now?
Celtics fans who believe the Raptors aren't a
threat (and there are plenty of those fans) have
forgotten exactly how good Leonard is. He's
the best wing defender since Scottie Pippen
and a consistent 3-point threat who can also
create offense for himself in isolation (0.94
PPP on nearly three possessions per game in
2016-17, good for the 72nd percentile). The
Spurs looked like a legitimate threat to the
Golden State Warriors with Kevin Durant, when
Leonard was on the floor briefly in the 2017
Western Conference Finals before he suffered
a bad ankle sprain.
Adding Leonard and Green alongside Kyle
Lowry and Serge Ibaka makes the Raptors a
potentially nasty defensive team -- Toronto
was fifth in defensive rating last year already
with DeRozan (a bad defender). Replacing him
with Green and a healthy Leonard may turn
them into a juggernaut.
Meanwhile, Toronto gave up essentially none
of the depth that made its bench so tough.
Fred Van Vleet re-signed earlier this summer,
and Ujiri somehow managed to hang on to
Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and C.J. Miles.
The Raptors should be able to punish teams
with both their first and second units on both
ends of the floor. They are going to be really
good.
The Celtics still look better, at least on paper.
The starting unit is essentially a Big Five, and if
Boston keeps the band together, a second unit
of Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, Marcus Morris,
Daniel Theis and Aron Baynes (interspersed
with potential All-Stars) is as good as any that
exists league-wide. Boston's defense was even
stingier than Toronto's last year, and while
Irving is far from a plus defender, the Celtics
were great around him for most of the season,
and Hayward's return will only help.
Meanwhile, the addition of Irving and Hayward
-- and inevitable improvements from Tatum
and Brown -- will likely boost the Celtics'
faltering offensive rating, which finished 18th.
The Celtics still look like they will be as good
as anyone -- a two-way juggernaut with a ton
of options and star power.
But the Raptors made things interesting. A
healthy, engaged Leonard would automatically
be the best player in the conference (barring
some not-impossible improvements from
Giannis Antetokounmpo) and Toronto's two-
way options will give them a real chance to
compete.
The Celtics will probably still be the favorites,
and their gamble was a good one. But the road
through the East is considerably more
treacherous than it was a week ago.
Adding Baynes to Boston’s salary under the
announced luxury tax threshold of $123
million raises the Celts to $112.9 million on
the books for the 2018-19 season. They’ll
also add first-round pick Robert Williams,
who projects to make $1.3 million this year.
With that in mind, under $11 million remains
for Smart if Boston wants to avoid the tax,
though doing so may be unavoidable now.
Yahoo! Sports' Shams Charania and the Boston
Globe's Adam Himmelsbach first reported the deal
via Twitter.
Baynes proved his value to the Celtics last season
during the playoffs in particular, playing stellar
defense against Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia
76ers while showing flashes of versatility and 3-
point range. The Celtics started him in 67 total
games, largely utilizing him against teams with big
men, and Baynes shored up the defensive glass
while protecting the paint at a high level.
The Celtics gave Baynes a solid deal in a relatively
dry free agent market, betting on his continued
contributions and his good presence in the locker
room. Baynes, meanwhile, will be able to opt out
and get a bigger deal if he proves himself to be
worth more next season, when the cap is expected
to rise and more space becomes available.

In return, the Celtics get another year with one of

the best defensive options against Embiid and Ben
Simmons -- an increasingly pressing concern in the
Eastern Conference. The Sixers stars struggle to
shoot beyond the arc, and with Baynes clogging the
paint, scoring around the basket becomes a chore
as well. From a roster perspective, the Celtics
signed Baynes using Non-Bird Rights, keeping their
non-taxpayer mid-level exception open.

The Celtics drafted a potential big man of the future

in Robert Williams a little over a week ago, picking
up a bouncy rim protector with tons of skill on the
glass. But Boston wants to win immediately, and
Baynes will help them do that.

Now, the Celtics' focus will shift to Marcus Smart,

whose restricted free agency presents a lot of
thorny questions for both Smart and the
organization. Baynes' contract negotiations seemed
simple and straightforward. Smart's will likely be
considerably less so.

Kyrie Irving and signing an extension right

now

Q: Why isn’t Kyrie signing an extension right

now? I heard he can. Should I be worried?
A: Not really. It isn’t beneficial for Kyrie to sign
an extension right now. He’d have to give up a
considerable amount of money to do so. Kyrie
can only get 120% of his current salary if he
signs an extension right now. That means in
2019-20, he’d get about $26 million or so. If he
opts out and signs a new max contract, he’ll get
over $32 million. That’s $6 million in just first year
salary alone.

Also, don’t take it to mean Kyrie doesn’t want to be

in Boston or isn’t willing to sacrifice for the team.
He gave up some money in his last extension and
he’s said nothing but positive things about the
Celtics. And Boston can offer him the most money
as a free agent, which always means something.

On to the questions!
Anthony Davis
Q: I keep hearing the Celtics can’t trade for
Anthony Davis because they have Kyrie Irving.
Is this true? If so, why?
A: It is true. The CBA prevents a team from having
two players on the same roster that were acquired
via trade that had previously signed a contract
extension under what is called the 5th Year 30%
Max criteria. This criteria is commonly referred to as
the “Rose Rule”, as Derrick Rose was the first place
to make use of it.
How does this impact the Celtics? Boston acquired
Kyrie Irving via trade last summer (if you don’t
know that, you have a lot of reading and catching up
to do!) and he had previously signed that contract as
an extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers using the
Rose Rule (I’m using Rose Rule because it’s shorter
to type!). Anthony Davis also used the Rose Rule to
sign his contract extension with the New Orleans
Pelicans. As the Celtics would need to acquire Davis
via trade, they are not allowed to do because both he
and Irving signed using the Rose Rule and both
would have been acquired via trade.

Before the inevitable "AD to Boston!" stuff

starts, a reminder: The Celtics can't acquire
Anthony Davis while they still have Kyrie Irving
on his current contract. This is because they
were both signed as 5th Year 30% Max guys.
AKA the Rose Rule. So the Celtics until Kyrie is
off this current contract which is next Summer
cant get Davis in a deal unless Kyrie was to
sign an extension before then which he has
already made it clear he is not doing.

Despite Jimmy Butler

rumors, Celtics are confident
that Kyrie Irving will re-sign
111
There are rumblings that he may want to team
up with Jimmy Butler, but the Boston Celtics are
confident that they can re-sign Kyrie Irving.

Kyrie Irving will not agree to a contract extension

this offseason because he’ll make a lot more money
(provided he’s healthy this year) by waiting till next
summer. That’s just math. Same rules apply
for Jimmy Butler. They have all their options
available to them next year so it is natural for them
to consider everything.
Recent reports indicate that those two players
would like to team up to play together.
A league source close to the situation told the Sun-
Times on Tuesday that Celtics point guard Kyrie
Irving and former Bulls All-Star Jimmy Butler —
who’s been playing with the Timberwolves since a
draft-night trade in 2017 — are still trying to figure
out a way to play together. The Celtics could try to
acquire Butler this summer, or the two former Team
USA teammates could simply opt out of their player
options after next season and join forces then. Their
intent is to build an elite backcourt, whether that’s in
Boston or somewhere else in the East.
Additional outlets have come out with rumblings
that support this story (at least the part about the
players being fans of each other and having interest
in teaming up). So there’s a least some smoke to this
rumor to keep an eye on.
The Celtics won’t have the cap room to add more
max level free agents next season, so unless they
swing a trade for Butler mid-year or get very
creative with the cap, this theoretical team-up likely
won’t happen in Boston.
Does that mean we should be running for the hills
bemoaning the end of a new Celtics dynasty that
hasn’t had a chance to get started yet? (Yep, that’s a
hyperbolic, sarcastic, rhetorical question. Forgive
me.)
Zach Lowe weighs in with this analysis/report:
Boston is confident it can re-sign Irving despite
chatter -- credible chatter -- that Irving and Jimmy
Butler would like to play together, per league
sources. They’ve earned such confidence.
Without my own set of inside sources all I can pull
from is my own read on the situation from many
miles away. I will point out that worst case scenario
of Kyrie leaving as a free agent is on the table. As
unlikely as it sounds right now, a lot can change in a
year (ask Isaiah Thomas, or really anyone from the
2016-17 team). Free agency gives players leverage
and now more than ever they are being creative and
finding new ways to team up and form their own
version of super teams.
However, I would submit that Kyrie already has a
pretty special team in place right now. Remember
how excited he was in the press conference
welcoming Gordon Hayward to the team? Read
any of the quotes he’s made about this past year’s
team run through the playoffs and you can feel his
enthusiasm.
Kyrie Irving is a superstar and he’s in the prime of
his career. If he wanted to he could team up with
Jimmy Butler and who knows who else and create a
special team somewhere. That’s his right and a risk
for the Celtics to consider. (I just don’t see that
being a risk worth shopping him in trade talks)
Or Irving could take the Celtics offer (which will be
more than what any other team can offer him) and
build upon the foundation that will play out on the
court this coming year. If this team comes close to
the loft expectations that they’ve earned, that could
include a run to the NBA Finals and perhaps even a
banner in the rafters. Hard to imagine him walking
away from that, but I guess you never know.

ZACK LOWE ABOUT THE TAX

Very important information buried in the NBA's

salary cap memo sent to teams: projection for
2019-20 cap up to $109 million, and then $116
million for 2020-21. Cap is set at $101.9M for
upcoming 2018-19 season.

Remember, the heavily punitive repeater tax kicks in

when a team has been a tax payer in three of the
prior four seasons. If Boston pays the tax this year
but avoids it next year or the year after, then it has
the same desired effect of avoiding it this year. If
they somehow can avoid paying it two years in a
row, then they will find themselves in a much better
position.

One way they can do that is by Al Horford opting

out of his $30 million next summer and agreeing to a
longer-term deal with Boston. The Celtics could
offer him five years at a lower average annual salary,
giving Horford long-term financial security while
giving themselves tax relief. And because the “over
36” rule was recently changed to the “over 38 rule,”
the Celtics are allowed to give him that kind of deal.
(side note: the cap spike in two seasons make my
Marcus Smart 2-year deal scenario that I’ve been
hammering even more sensible. Forget hitting the
market next year the way everyone else is trying to
do it… take two years in Boston, hit the market
when the cap jumps to $116 million and try to take
advantage of stupid GM’s who can’t handle having
cap space)
This is all to say there might be a longer game in
play here. The Celtics can give Baynes and Smart
deals that bring them over the tax line but either (a)
find a way to shed contracts over the course of the
season or (b) not care because they have ways to get
under the tax next season so the repeater tax isn’t
looming as large down the line.

2018-19 season salary cap and tax: New salary

cap: $101.8M; Luxury Tax: $123M. Non-Tax Mid-
level: $8.6M; Tax-payers mid-level: $5.3M; Room
Mid-Level: $4.4M. Bi-annual: $3.4M Aron Baynes
2 year 11 million dollar deal. Year 1: $5,193,600
(max using his Non-Bird Rights) Year 2:
$5,453,280
Who is Brad Wanamaker?
Celtics bring in Euro Star to strengthen rotation

Yesterday, the Celtics added another piece to their deep

roster when they brought over Fenerbache star Brad
Wanamaker. The 6’4 Euro veteran was a key member of
one of the best European teams and was being chased
by two other playoff teams prior to choosing Boston.
You’ve seen the name, watched a couple of highlights,
but here’s everything you need to know about
Wanamaker.
Who is Brad Wanamaker?

EuroLeague guard Brad Wanamaker is finalizing a

deal to join the Boston Celtics next season, league
sources tell ESPN.
9:36 PM - Jun 25, 2018
Wanamaker was named the 2018 Turkish BSL League
Finals MVP for the second time in four years and helped
Fenerbache reach the EuroLeague Final Four before
falling to Luka Doncicand Real Madrid. He’s a Philly
basketball legend who ran the city with his twin Brian
Wanamaker before they each went their different paths
during college. Wanamaker played all four years at the
University of Pittsburgh, half a season in the G-league,
and then six seasons in Europe before finally getting his
first crack in the NBA at age 28. Needless to say he’s
coming in with a boat load of experience and a work ethic
that shouldn’t be questioned.
What type of player is he?
Wanamaker is a versatile player who played on and off
the ball while defending across the perimeter. At 6’4 with
a 6’8 wingspan, Wannamaker is a well-built player who is
probably going to be used in multiple ways by the Celtics.
A quick YouTube search of his game highlights his best
asset of scoring as a pick-and-roll threat:
However, Wanamaker’s best chance of getting on the
court might actually be on the defensive end.
With a thick, jacked frame, Wanamaker is the complete
package defensively in terms of lateral quickness,
anticipation, strength, and effort. Fenerbache switched
liberally as we see many teams in the league do and they
used Wanamaker to do everything from pick up guards
full-court to switching onto bigs and battling them in the
post.
Here, he picks up 6’8 Luka Doncic full court, switches
onto a hard-rolling 6’11 Anthony Randolph, successfully
shuts down the lob threat, boxes out, and grabs the
rebound.
When he needs to fight over screens he can:
He can move his feet:
And he can give ball-handler a very hard time when he
decides to full-court press:
One thing we’ve learned from Brad Stevens is that he
heavily values what players bring defensively and it’s
usually the only way players can earn roles on his team.
With a team loaded with depth at the guard and forward
position, Wanamaker’s best chance at earning a role on
this team will start and end on the defensive end.
But what about his offense?
In a more expanded role last season, Wanamaker
averaged 16.7 ppg, 4.6 apg, 3.1 rpg on 44.8/38.6/86.4
shooting splits in 33.5 mpg. However, in a more
decreased role this season (26.1mpg) he averaged 11.3
ppg, 3.5 apg, 2.6 rpg on 41/33.3/85.5 splits. He’s a good,
but not a great shooter who doesn’t have much pull-up
ability but is able to shoot off the catch if you leave him
open.
Wanamaker loves the PnR and does some of his best
creation for himself and others out of the set. He has a
very good feel for where his reads are and can thread the
needle with pinpoint passing:
In Europe, Wanamaker saw a fair amount of use as a lead
guard who would run heavy pick and roll, but also shared
the court with other lead guards and moved off-ball where
he was used in a ‘3 and D’ type of roll.
What’s his role in Boston?
Stevens has had a history of mixing and matching players
and using funky lineups such as the 3-guard lineups
which appeared in 19 games (the number goes over 50 if
you include lineups with Jaylen Brown who was
primarily used as an off-guard this season). With that
being said, I do see Wanamaker being more of a
situational player who is brought in because of a certain
matchup, injuries, or foul trouble to provide a spark. I’d
caution thinking that he’s merely a “Shane
Larkinreplacement.” Wanamaker has a lot more
versatility due to his size and can be used in situations
that go beyond simply a 3rd string PG. He’s someone
who could just as likely be brought in for his defensive
presence as his ability to run an offense or space the floor.
Does this signing signal anything for the Celtics?
On it’s face, and probably the most safest answer, this is
just a contending team strengthening the end of the bench
with veteran players who they can rely on to provide a
specific skillset consistently.
On the other hand, if you’re going to make a big trade for
a star like Kawhi Leonard or need to prepare for life
without Terry Rozier or Marcus Smart, Wanamaker
provides veteran depth in the versatile mold that Stevens
love.
David Pick reported that Brad Stevens got on the phone
with Brad Wanamaker and described the role he
envisioned him playing which ultimately won him over.
That at least suggests Boston has plans for Wanamaker on
the court, so we’ll see how far they extend.