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Celtics Mailbag: Did Boston make right call on key offseason trade?
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- Celtics Mailbag: Did Boston make right call on key offseason trade?
The Celtics season has been a wild ride already, with Boston playing more games than any team in the Eastern Conference amid a 4-5 start. Joe Mazzulla's lineup choices have gotten easier amid the emergence of Neemias Queta and Josh Minott but bigger questions remain about the roster, offensive style and the offseason so let's cover plenty questions on that and more in this week's mailbag.
In hindsight would it have been better to trade White than Holiday? Assuming the Celtics would have received a better return for White than they did for Holiday. — Paul
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It's an intriguing question given how well Jrue Holiday has started this year in Portland but I'm not going to let a small sample size influence it. White has had a rough start but his age, contract and performance last season make him a far bigger bet on the future than Holiday would have been.
Once Tatum got hurt, everything changed for this group. The focus turns to 2026-27 and beyond for building a contender and it's hard to envision Holiday still being a viable No. 3 option on any contender at that point. He was never that here on Boston 's title team to begin with.
It still remains impressive to me that the Celtics got off his long-term contract for an expiring deal although it's evident that Simons doesn't have much trade value (if any) for the time being. Dealing White for a bigger haul would have still left the Celtics with a contract unlikely to age well on the books in Holiday and a tougher road to building back to contending. If White struggles for a full season and torpedos his trade value, we can revisit this question but there's no second guessing of this move yet from my end.
Hi B,
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Lose 3 win 3 lose 2. And the first game against Philly we should have won-and Mondays game against Utah. So it's better than I thought and they have to work out a lot of new moving pieces. Wouldn't one of these pieces be the 3pt attempts? Or shouldn't it be?
Right now they are shooting lights out in the mid range and can't hit a barn door from 3. Why are they still jacking up close to half their shots from beyond the arc? I tried to look up some of the stats but the NBA site is pathetic.
Thanks, Peter
The shot diet will be fascinating to watch all season long. Boston is first in 3-point attempts per game (47) and second in 3-point shot rate, all despite miserable shooting starts from their starting backcourt on the perimeter.
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Right now, the offense is working best with a rim runner (Queta) on the floor to provide a threat in the paint and a proper pick-and-roll partner for Boston's ball handlers. Boston's other high volume shooters (Hauser, Brown, Simons) are taking and making their 3s but it's important that the Celtics don't get too one dimensional on that front. Going smaller with Minott at center may be a path to doing this as he might be the best roller among the reserve bigs right now and allows you to get better wing shooters on the floor compared to Luka Garza and Xavier Tillman . Ultimately, with no one on the roster getting to the line with any consistency outside of Brown, getting up 3-point shots is the strategy I expect to see Mazzulla lean into with this roster. However, that will be a slippery slope if they remain in record-breaking attempt territory. Scaling that back a bit will be the best thing for this offense.
Hey Brian do you know if the kid from summer camp Bassey (is that his last name ?) that was a rebounding monster is available? There's no reason we cant make room for him . Jordan Walsh seems stuck on the bench along with Boucher he could easily supplant one of those two! — Guy
Bassey signed with the Grizzlies using the hardship exception last week but his 10-day contract I believe expired this week. It's unclear right now if the Grizzlies are eligible to keep him (depends on their injury situation) but he's lived up to his rebounding reputation down there, grabbing 15 rebounds in his 30 minutes of action.
Ultimately, don't look for him to land in Boston anytime soon barring clearing some space on the roster. Any signing of a 15th man right now will cost millions more when factoring in repeater tax penalties, and there's certainly no one out there that will push the needle within this group. The Celtics got a good look at Bassey in Summer League and could have tried to maneuver then if they wanted him. It's clear that Boston could use a meaningful upgrade given the play of their centers off the bench so far but trades will need to happen in order to open the door for that with the team's salary situation.
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Do you think we know enough about the team as currently constructed to say where it will end up sans Tatum (i.e., a slightly under .500ish team?) or do you think there's more gelling that can/will happen? And if so, what's the impact of a returning Tatum? — Mark
I think we have to give up another 5-10 games to figure out what side of .500 they will realistically end up at. There have been some really encouraging signs (Queta, Minott, Gonzalez) so far across the roster and starting five with some weaknesses (backup center, rebounding) standing out about as much as expected. The defense looks a lot better than I would have guessed so if the shooting comes around for Derrick White and Payton Pritchard , this could be a fun borderline playoff team in a weak East. Whether they play well enough to make it worth the risk for Tatum to suit up this year (when he's ready) is going to be a fascinating subplot in the second half of the season.
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