JULY 17: The Celtics have officially re-signed Theis, the club confirmed today in a press release.
JULY 2: The Celtics have reached an agreement to keep forward/center Daniel Theis, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The two-year, $10MM deal was confirmed by Theis’ agents, Michael Tellem and Aaron Mintz of CAA.
Boston will use its Early Bird rights to re-sign Theis, allowing the team to exceed the cap, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). The deal won’t be finalized until after the Celtics exhaust their cap space by adding Kemba Walker.
Theis has been a reliable backup since coming to Boston in 2017. He appeared in 66 games this season, starting twice, and averaged 5.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in about 14 minutes per night.
Theis may complete the Celtics’ efforts to fortify the center position after losing Al Horford in free agency and trading Aron Baynes. They reached an agreement with Enes Kanter on Sunday and French center Vincent Poirier earlier today.
Boston has no plans to pursue free agent DeMarcus Cousins, believing the “potential drama” outweighs any benefits, according to Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald (Twitter link).
Theis is a lot better than people think. He’s athletic and can hit the three. It all hinges on whether Williams is ready to play minutes. Kantner, Theis and Williams is certainly not anything great, but it’s definitely solid.
Could not have said it better my self. That trio will be strong on the offensive glass & decent+ at the foul line.
Kanter is BUCKETS down low, and a good rebounder, both skills which the Celtics have lacked for years. I know the league is not about that anymore…but it can help a struggling offense, specially in the Playoffs. The Garden will love his attitude too.
I look for a big year out of him this season he seem to be getting better and better every season , he knows now how to play in the nba .the cs will be fine with these threes ….
Don’t forget about this 6-11 French center Vincent Poirier. I noticed where he said he would not go to the NBA to sit on the bench. He must think he can get some decent minutes. I think we might see more of him and Kantor in the middle with Theis playing some power forward. Theis and Poirier appear to be better defenders and would probably cover players like Horford and Embiid. Now that’s a challenge. Tatum has to improve defensively.
If they made a promise to Poirer to lure him here, then there’s the starter. Otherwise I would bet on Theis, with Kantor off the bench. You can’t let the other team get the jump on you at the start via lousy defense, like in GSW’s next-to-last win vs Blazers (if I recall).
Often the winning margin is established very early.