Celtics Deadline Recap
Around 12:30 pm this afternoon Woj announced that the Celtics had traded Bol Bol and PJ Dozier to the Orlando Magic in what was essentially a salary dump.
CELTICS RECEIVE:
Future Second round pick
MAGIC RECEIVE:
Bol Bol
PJ Dozier
Future Second round pick
Cash considerations
I read the tweet and figured that was it. The Celtics had dumped two players who are out for the season to dip under the luxury tax. That seemed like a signal that the team was content to move forward with the current roster. They had accomplished their goal of avoiding the luxury tax without giving up any players on the active roster (and two guys who had never played for the Celtics since being acquired). Mentally I accepted it and moved on, ready to cheer on our eight man rotation that has looked so good over the past month and a half.
BOY was I wrong. Out of all of my pre-deadline predictions, basically the only thing I was right about was that ducking under the luxury tax was a priority. Shortly after the trade with Orlando, the NBA was rocked by the James Harden/Ben Simmons blockbuster trade. The Celtics were completely out of mind at that point and then while the dust was still settling we get word of another trade by the Celtics, this time with the San Antonio Spurs:
CELTICS RECEIVE:
Derrick White
SPURS RECEIVE:
Josh Richardson
Romeo Langford
2022 First round pick (protected 1-4)
2028 First round pick swap (protected #1)
This is just an absolute doozy of a trade and there is a lot to break down. First of all, I was surprised to see Richardson get moved. His name had been in rumors for a while, but it seemed like talks had cooled and due to his and the team’s play lately he had become a key part of the team, and not someone we would dump for a future asset. I like the way Richardson has fit in with us this season and he filled a huge need as the closest thing we had to a 3 and d wing/combo guard. You could make a case he was our best option to close games in crunch time alongside Rob, Marcus, and the Jays. I really did not expect Richardson to be used to buy at the deadline but that is exactly what happened. This certainly isn’t an “all-in” move by the Celtics, but I think it’s a lot closer than what anyone expected to see at the deadline.
Derrick White is a 27 year old 6’4” combo guard in his 5th year in the league, all with the Spurs, who drafted him with the 29th overall pick in 2017. White showed a lot of promise his first few years in the league, establishing himself as a young building block for the Spurs in their post-dynasty era. He dramatically outperformed his draft status, and earned a 4 year $73 million extension in December of 2020, his fourth year in the league. But an injury derailed that season, and he has been in a shooting slump this year, as he has played on a bad team that has clearly chosen (and for good reason) Dejounte Murray as their backcourt leader of the future. That clearly made White expendable as the Spurs attempt to build a contender and Brad Stevens and the Celtics jumped at the opportunity to acquire him.
Here’s the book on White. He is one of the best defensive guards in the whole league and adds another great perimeter point of attack defender. On top of that he might be the best shot-blocking guard in the league and has an impressive highlight reel of chase down blocks for a guy of his stature. He’s currently leading the league in blocks for a guard, and he’s second in charges drawn; watching him and Smart together is going to be a lot of fun. Since Brad Stevens took over and hired Ime Udoka, it has been abundantly clear that the priority was to build an elite defensive team and this move only continues to solidify that notion.
Offensively, White should fit in nicely because he has shown an ability to play with or without the ball. His three point shot hasn’t been there this year (31%), but he has hit almost 40% of his wide open looks and he should get a lot more of those in Boston. White was above 34% from beyond the arc the past two seasons and he’s got a nice looking stroke, as evidenced by his shooting above 85% from the stripe three years in a row. He’s by no means the marksman the Celtics so desperately craved, but he’s not somebody the defense can leave alone either.
Perhaps even more appealing than the shooting he can provide is the secondary playmaking. In his second season in the league, White played in 67 games, starting 55, and notched over 25 minutes per game. Of those minutes, he logged 83% at the point guard position and 17% at shooting guard. That number has nearly flipped since then (along with the emergence of Murray) and this season White has played 78% of his minutes at shooting guard and 16% at point guard. Last season he actually played more minutes at small forward (17%) than point guard (13%). Despite that, White is averaging 5.6 assists per game this season (he has never even reached 4 apg prior to this season) as a clear secondary ballhandler/creator behind Murray. For reference, Marcus Smart currently leads the Celtics with 5.4 assists per game.
White offers what the Celtics value as much as anything; positional versatility on both ends of the floor. The team’s starting lineup has been incredible lately, but if they wanted to, White could slot in seamlessly at shooting guard. The Celts have shied away from their double-big starting lineup all season long in crunch time, and the 5th spot on the floor has been a bit of a revolving door with Dennis Schroder, Grant Williams, and Josh Richardson. That spot should belong to White now and if things go well we could be looking at our lineup of the future as well. White has three years left on his contract after this at an average of $17.6 million per year. The Celtics now have an intriguing core of players 27 and under, all under team control for at least two more years after this one, at pretty solid value in Marcus, Rob, Jaylen, Jayson, and Derrick. In theory those pieces should all fit together pretty smoothly on offense, and there’s a good chance we have the best defense in the NBA now. When Jaylen Brown is the worst defender in your lineup, your lineup is pretty damn hard to score on. That alone should give us a fighting chance in a playoff series against anyone.
On top of the basketball fit, White worked together with Udoka in San Antonio and should already have some familiarity with the system, so hopefully he can acclimate a little more quickly than a typical trade acquisition. On top of that, white played on the 2019 USA World Cup team alongside current Celtics, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum that was coached by Greg Popovich and Ime Udoka. So White possesses knowledge of the coaching system and should also have some chemistry with his new teammates. You would have to think Brad Stevens, Mike Zarren and company consulted with their coach and superstars before making a move like this. One more nugget on White? His father grew up in Boston and was a diehard Celtics fan.
If this deal doesn’t work out for Boston it won’t be the end of the world because White should still possess decent trade value and his contract can be very useful for matching salary in any star-chasing trade this offseason. Giving up Richardson hurts, but he only had one more year on his deal and the chance at a big upgrade for now and the future is pretty clear and appealing. Richardson was a good soldier in Boston but he was never really part of the future plan (clearly). If you had told me when we acquired Ricahrdson last summer that he’d be the main piece in a trade for Derrick White I would have been ecstatic. Parting with Romeo Langford hurts in the sense that he was such a promising young player who just never made it work. He was an elite prospect out of high school, but injuries derailed his few seasons with the Celtics and despite glimpses, he still hasn’t managed to crack the Celtics rotation in his third season. Langford will go down as basically a waste of a lottery pick. One of the worst bits of luck in the Celtcis rebuild was the Kings randomly having a decent year and only conveying the 14th overall pick to us, which we basically wasted on Langford. But he’s still only 22 and should get a chance to play a lot more and develop in one of the best systems in the league for developing young players. I wouldn’t be surprised if he still ends up becoming a solid role player in the league, but it was never going to happen in Boston.
The biggest reason not to be thrilled about this deal is the draft capital the Celts had to give up. Ideally, this move will only help the Celtics continue to climb up the standings and the 2022 pick will be somewhere in the early 20s. The Celtics haven’t exactly been able to find helpful players in that range lately, and apparently Brad Stevens hates rookies. If recent history is any indication, it’s far from a lock the Celtics would have turned that pick into a player who can help them any time soon, so why not push that chip in for a guy who can make an immediate impact? The 2028 pick swap sounds a little scary. That’s six years down the road, and almost anything could happen between now and then. Is there a chance we suck by then and have to hand over a top 5 pick to the Spurs? There is. But realistically that should be the prime of Tatum and Brown’s careers and the Celtics expect to be competing for titles. Giving up this swap indicates as much to the players, and if we end up sacrificing a top 10 pick, then something has gone horribly horribly wrong.
One other notable positive from this trade is that the Celtics used the TPE created by the Evan Fournier sign and trade to absorb Derrick White’s salary, so the team also created a new TPE for $11.6 million by trading Josh Richardson. TPEs have become a never ending running joke for the Celtics front office (Mike Zarren might just be an absolute sicko), but these can be valuable assets in today’s NBA, as evidenced by the whole Gordon Hayward situation.
Once the full details of this trade came out I started to recalibrate the roster and it was clear there was a bit of an imbalance with a sudden surplus of guards. It felt like another move was coming, and sure enough right before the 3 PM deadline we got our third and final deal of the day:
CELTICS RECEIVE:
Daniel Theis
ROCKETS RECEIVE:
Dennis Schroder
Enes Freedom
Bruno Fernando
So finally after all that we still get the Dennis trade that we all expected; it just wasn’t exactly the route we had mapped out. Bringing in White pretty much alleviated any need for Schroder, so he was truly rendered an expiring contract. Moving him always made sense to save some money but we actually ended up getting a useful player back and a familiar face in old friend, Daniel Theis. Theis was one of the few overseas imports that worked out well for the Celtics and it was a shame to see him become a financial casualty at last year’s trade deadline. Now he comes back to give us a legitimate center off the bench. Theis can pick and pop, he’s a solid screen setter, and an underrated rim protector. People may have soured on Theis by the end of his last Boston stint, but keep in mind he was playing a lot of minutes out of position (at power forward) alongside Tristan Thompson. He was a part of the dreaded double big lineups that were so brutal to watch. Now he’s our third center and fourth big if you count Grant Williams. If anything, Theis is probably overqualified for this role and should provide vital bench minutes. Like White, Theis is also under contract at under $10 million a year for three more years after this one, so add another guy to the mix who is locked up for the foreseeable future. If nothing else, Theis should offer some minutes off for Rob and Al, and provide solid injury insurance for a thin frontcourt. He also gives us a legitimate longterm option as a backup center if (and probably when) Al Horford and his giant contract are used in a trade, either for a star or for multiple role players. Also like White, Theis obviously has a lot of familiarity with the players and the personnel in Boston so this transition should be seamless and Daniel should be able to step in and help right away.
Dennis Schroder had some nice moments for the Celtics and he was a good soldier all year as well, but from the moment he fell into our lap as a free agent, this was always the most likely outcome. As the deadline grew closer it seemed like he may ride out the end of the year, but after the White trade there was really no reason to keep him around and lose him for nothing, especially with a known commodity available, in Theis. Fernando never really got a chance fo us, and was merely a salary dump here. And Enes Freedom is one of the worst players in the NBA, and probably the biggest (maybe only) misstep of Brad Stevens’ short tenure as President of Basketball Operations. Oh… and of course, the Celtics opened up yet another TPE in this deal worth $5.9 million.
So where does this leave us? If you’ve been doing the math at home, you’ve probably realized that the Celtics sent out seven players and only brought back two. So at the end of deadline day, the Celtics roster looks like this:
GUARD: Smart, White, Pritchard
WING: Tatum, Brown, Nesmith
BIG: R. Williams, Horford, G. Williams, Theis
So that leaves the C’s with 10 active players, 5 open roster spots, and 13 (THIRTEEN!) TPEs. The Celtics’ starting lineup is still in tact (if they choose to keep it that way), so Smart, Jaylen, Jayson, Al, and Rob will likely continue to start. Grant will still be a key part of the bench along with new arrivals, White and Theis. Udoka has basically been rolling with an eight man rotation for the last few weeks so that could certainly be the full list of guys who log meaningful minutes, as out of the seven players we traded, only Richardson and Schroder were playing consistently. It remains to be seen if Pritchard and/or Nesmith will get a more extended look now. Perhaps Nesmith will be needed more as we’ve lost some wing depth, and hopefully he can look better surrounded by a better second unit.
As for the five open roster spots, with these three trades the Celts wound up about $3.5 million under the luxury tax so the team should be able to add 4-5 players either from the g-league, waivers, the buyout market, or other veteran free agents. Two-way player Sam Hauser has already been rumored to be getting a full contract. This seems like a logical move as Hauser has been lighting the G-League on fire and profiles as the long range sniper the Celts have needed. Others from Maine could get a look like Denzel Valentine and Luke Kornet, but it’s likely the Celtics will look for more proven, veteran help to fill out the bench. It’s tough to project exactly who will get bought out and what those players will be seeking. But the Celtics are in a nice position to be able to offer actual minutes - especially to a wing player who can shoot and defend. I would imagine replacing Josh Richardson would be the top priority. Two logical names that I would like to see are Gary Harris and Ben McLemore. Both guys have proven themselves in the league and could be able to come here and play right away. Harris is the more complete player and would be my top choice amongst realistic options. McLemore is more of a pure scorer than anything else, but his streaky shooting could be a useful card to have up Ime’s sleeve. Wing players like that seem to be at a premium and there aren’t currently a lot of other obvious candidates. But if we wanted to add more ballhandling or big men, I wouldn’t mind seeing guys like: Robin Lopez, Paul Millsap, Cory Joseph, Mike Muscala, and DJ Augustin. The Celtics will have some options, and they just need bodies at this point. I’ll have much more on this as the buyout market develops.
So in a macro sense, the Celtics upgraded the current team, committed to a lot of long term money, and mostly maintained future flexibility. I did not think the Celts would be serious buyers at the deadline, and I definitely did not think they would use the Evan Fournier TPE. I was wrong. The Celtics made a pretty decent sized splash that helps the team now and in the future. We now have six good young players locked into long term deals. It seems like Brad’s philosophy is basically to lock up good players around his stars and figure out the rest later. It’s easier to turn a few good players into a great one then it is working with a bunch of meh. Brad has also pretty quickly fixed most of the mistakes that were left behind by his predecessor. The team has stability and flexibility going forward. The identity is clear with suffocating defense and we continue to add talent around our two offensive dynamos. The team still has Al Horford’s $27 million contract to use this offseason as a trade chip along with the bevy of aforementioned TPEs. This is the kind of low-risk, high-reward deadline that I can get behind. Celtics fans have been dying to be buyers and here we are. We’re certainly not the favorites to win it all this year, but things are moving in the right direction. I’m cautiously optimistic about how this will fit and excited to watch this team the rest of the season. I’ll be in the building tomorrow night to bring good vibes when we go for 7 in a row against Denver, so if you see me, say hi, Chuddyheads.
Ben Handler