Boston Celtics Offseason Preview

THE BOSTON CELTICS
OFFSEASON PREVIEW

The Boston Celtics had a successful 2016 offseason. They signed the 31 year old frontcourt veteran Al Horford and drafted the current 20 year old Jaylen Brown as their headlines. The Celtics failed to sign the biggest free agent in the 8 time NBA All Star and 1 Time MVP, Kevin Durant. To me, it’s very funny how both Al Horford and Kevin Durant earned $26.54 million in the 2016–17 season. After averaging 15.2 points per game in Atlanta the past two seasons. Horford had a drop off year only averaging 14 points per game. The main reason the Boston Celtics were the 1 seed was due to their star point guard averaging a career high 28.9 points per game. In 78 games, rookie and 3rd overall pick Jaylen Brown averaged 6.6 points per game at the small forward position behind 7 season veteran Jae Crowder. In the past two years, Crowder has been making an impact averaging 13.9 points per game this year and 14.2 points per game in the 15–16 season. Brown made his mark on the league this year as one of its best young dunkers, as Brown was invited to the 2017 NBA dunk contest but later declined. Per 36 minutes, Jaylen Brown averaged 13.8 points per game. At the shooting guard position, the Celtics starter is Avery Bradley who is a 1 time all defensive first teamer nd 1 time all defensive second teamer. He is the only remaining Celtics player from the 2010 team that lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. A fun fact about the Celtics is that their starting backcourt members (Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley) are both from Tacoma, Washington. Bradley was the second highest scorer on the Celtics with 16.3 points per game. At the starting power forward position, we have one of the worst starting power forwards in the league in Amir Johnson. Johnson is a 30 year old 6’9 big man who was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in 2005 at the 56th pick. Johnson was a highly recruited player and was a McDonald’s All American and 2005 California’s Mr. Basketball. Johnson went straight out of high school and entered himself into the 2005 NBA Draft. Johnson averaged 6.5 points per game for the Celts and 4.6 rebounds in the 2016–17 season. This season, the Celtics found their leader off the bench in the 2014 6th pick, Marcus Smart. Smart averaged a career high 10.6 points per game in a career high 79 games played. Smart led the team in steals per game with 1.6 steals per game and was the best defender for the Celtics this year. Smart took a career high 4.2 3 pointers attempted this year and improved his jump shot. The Celtics backup center Kelly Olynyk was also a key player off the bench for them averaging 9 points per game and 35% shooting from behind the arc but averaged only 4.8 rebounds a game which is very poor. Other bench players for the Celts include point guards Terry Crozier and Demetrius Jackson, small forward Gerald Green, power forwards Jordan Mickey and Jonas Jerebko, center Tyler Zeller, and shooting guard James Young.

The Boston Celtics surprised everyone as they became the Eastern Conference one seed. That is primarily due to the fact that the Cavs had a bad 2nd half of the year. The Celtics finished with a 53–29 record, 36–16 in conference play, and 11–5 in the Atlantic Division. The Celtics were ranked 15th in total team defense allowing 105.87 points per game, 32.09 defensive rebounds a game, and 22.57 assists per game. The Celtics were ranked 9th in total offense with a average score of 105.55 points, 25.54 assists, and 9.13 rebounds. The Celtics were one of the worst rebounding teams with an average of 42 rebounds per game. They were the 3rd best three point shooting team in the league though.


In the playoffs, the Celtics struggled early losing two games at home to the eight seeded Chicago Bulls. In game one, the Bulls won by 4 with the helps of Jimmy Butler’s 30 point game with 9 rebounds. The Celtics were out rebounded 53 to 36 which was also a HUGE factor. The Celtics ended up losing game 2, but going on a 4 game win streak including 3 wins in Chicago which helped them prevail to a round one victory in 6. Then the Celtics moved on to play the 4th seeded Washington Wizards in round 2. Isaiah Thomas had just got back from his sister, Chyna Thomas’ funeral in Tacoma, Washington. The Wizards jumped out to a 16 point lead, but Isaiah Thomas and the Celtics weren’t having it as IT dropped 33 for Chyna and the Celtics scored 19 3’s. This series featured one of the best playoff games in the 2017 playoffs as in game 2 the Celtics won by 10 in overtime and Isaiah scored 53 points. Then the Wizards took 2 in Washington after a fight between Kelly Olynyk and Kelly Oubre broke out causing the suspension of Outré. The Celtics won in game 5 and had a win in game 6 but choked it due to the likes of John Wall’s insane game winning three. Game 7 featured a battle and back and forth game until Kelly Olynyk decided to step it up and score 26 points and a few three’s to prevail the one seeded Celtics to Brad Steven’s first Eastern Conference Finals. Then the worst of the worst happened the Boston Massacre happened after a game one defeat in the second game against the 2 seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics lost in a 44 point defeat. Yes, a 44 point defeat. During the second quarter of that game, Isaiah Thomas faced an ankle injury and was ruled out for the rest of the playoffs. The Celtics, led by Marcus Smart’s 27 points and 7/10 shooting from beyond the arc, won game 3 of the playoffs with Avery Bradley’s second career buzzer beating three against the Cavs. And the rest is history as the Boston Celtics took a gentleman sweep or a loss in 5 to the Cavs. The Celtics are currently full of assets and trade pieces and cap space to form a team around Isaiah that can be led to the Championship. And as a proud Boston Celtics fan, I am happy to say that this is the offseason us Celtics fans have been waiting for two years.

What did we learn this year for the Celtics season? We learned that a 5’9 All Star point guard is capable of having two 50 point games this year, being an ALL NBA 2nd team defender, leading a team to a 53 win season, and averaging 10 points in the fourth quarter. Despite the trade rumors of IT being traded (which won’t happen) he is still a very good player and he needs help. He has an ok core of starters with Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, and Al Horford. This is my preview for the 2017 Celtics Offseason.

The biggest thing we need to know is what is the Boston Celtics team payroll? The Celtics team payroll for the 2016–17 season was $93,463,238 million dollars. The 2016–17 salary cap was $94,143,000 million dollars. The Celtics were paying R.J. Hunter this year, but they traded him to Chicago so his cap will be taken off. The Celtics upcoming free agents and their current payroll include Amir Johnson ($12,000,000), Jonas Jerebko ($5,000,000), Kelly Olynyk (3,094,014), James Young ($1,825,200), and Gerald Green ($1,410,598). For the players that are currently in the D-League for the Maine Red Claws that are set to become FA’s include Ben Bentil ($250,000), Damion Lee ($50,000), Marcus Georges-Hunt ($25,000), Jalen Jones ($25,000).
That means for the players that aren’t becoming FA’s the Celtics payroll will be $71,940,058. The salary cap for the 2017–2018 season is expected to be around 105 million. Let’s just say the cap is 105 million. The max deal I believe Gordon Hayward can sign is $30,900,000 which the Celtics can afford. But first, we have the NBA Draft.

The Boston Celtics have the first overall pick in one of the best drafts we have seen in awhile. When you think about drafting, you want to draft the player that helps your biggest need, you want to draft the best available, or you stuck in a situation where the best you can do is pick trade bait. What is the Celtics biggest need? Rebounding. The best rebounder in the 2017 Draft in my opinion is Jarret Allen, center out of Texas but he isn’t a projected top 10 pick. The best player in the 2017 Draft is Markelle Fultz, point guard, Washington. Markelle Fultz is a 6’4, 19 year old point guard, 2016 McDonald’s All American, First Team All PAC 12, Third Team AP All American, and FIBA Americas U-18 Championship MVP. Fultz is a very talented shooter, he averaged 23.3 points per game as a freshman, 50.2% for 2 pointers, 41% for three pointers, a 28,6 PER, good passer, good scoring versatility, good size at 6'4 195 pounds, he has a good 6'10 wingspan, good shot creator and good creator for other players, he has good defensive potential, he’s very fast and shifty, he can play through contact and getting fouled, he has good hands and feet, he has good extension at the rim when he leaps to dunk the ball, his good size allows him to drive, he can create space after picks and at Washington he created many threes after picks, can create space with dribble moves, able to get past big men with moves, very good at the euro step, and he likes to use hesitation moves and is very good at it. If that doesn’t convince you enough that Fultz is the best player in this draft, then I don’t know what will. There are three players I believe the Celtics will look into drafting. The first player we have already covered. The second player is Lonzo Ball. Ball might be the most famed player in this draft. I believe most teams wouldn’t touch him in the top 10 due to his dad. I am almost certain however that the Lakers will draft him. Their are rumors that the Lakers would pass on Lonzo if draft was today and that they aren’t convinced he’s a star. The Lakers are just saying that so some teams will try to trade up because they think the Lakers don’t want Lonzo. Magic is just trying to trick us. The Celtics did say they have interest in Lonzo even though they are just trying to get teams to give them offers because they might possibly pick him. I believe it would be amazing if the Lakers just traded the 2nd pick and a 2nd round pick or a future 1st just to draft Lonzo and the Celtics could get their boy Markelle Fultz. The third player I believe the Celtics could draft is Josh Jackson. Jackson is a phenomenal player believe me, but the Celtics don’t need a small forward. They already have a young small forward in Jaylen Brown. It would make the most sense to me that the Celtics get a point guard because they would play him at shooting guard. Also, it’s very logical they would draft a point guard due to the fact they have drafted a point guard in each of the last three drafts. Fultz is expected to meet with the Boston Celtics on Monday, June 5th. We’ve come to a conclusion that the best fit for the Celtics is Markelle Fultz. Now there is also the possibility that the Celtics trade the pick, but knowing Ainge I doubt they do trade. The two players they would most likely go after Paul George and Jimmy Butler. If they were to trade for them, the four most likely trade pieces that would be involved include Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, the 2017 1st overall pick, and the 2018 first round pick via Nets. With the first overall pick in the 2017 Draft, the Boston Celtics select Markelle Fultz. Fultz signs a 2 year 14 million dollar deal.

With the draft done, the Celtics have one more thing to do. And that is to bring in help for Isaiah Thomas to make the Celtics a contender. BREAKING NEWS: GORDAN HAYWARD DECIDES NOT TO RESIGN WITH JAZZ; BECOMES A FA. That is the headline we will all see. The Boston Celtics will sign Hayward to a four year deal worth $30,900,000. The Celtics let go of game 7 hero Kelly Olynyk, Amir Johnson, and Jonas Jerebko. They resign James Young and Gerald Green to small deals. The Celtics finally become contenders and still have trade bait with Avery Bradley and the 2018 pick which has potential to be the first pick.
The Celtics Lineup will look like this at the start of the season:


PG: Isaiah Thomas
SG: Markelle Fultz
SF: Gordan Hayward
PF: Jae Crowder
C: Al Horford

PG: Marcus Smart
SG: Avery Bradley
SF: Jaylen Brown
PF: Gerald Green
C: Tyler Zeller

PG: Terry Rozier
SG: James Young
PF: Jordan Mickey
PG: Demetrius Jackson

The Celtics will most likely try to deal Bradley in the middle of the year and give Rozier the backup shooting guard role. Gerald Green did take some reps at starting small ball 4 in the playoffs providing very good 3 point shooting. The Celtics starting lineup is small but Crowder does have good size and I believe he will be able to play at the 4. I believe it will work though and that the Celtics have potential to be a contender.

Thank you for reading through this article and i hope you enjoyed it! I am welcome to criticism whether it be good or bad so I can improve my writing. See you next time!