As he transitions from the sidelines to the front office, new Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens will have some immediate decisions to make on the roster this offseason as he considers how to improve a group that finished seventh in the East in 2020/21.
Trading Kemba Walker is one path the Celtics figure to consider this summer, but the point guard still has two years and nearly $74MM left on his contract and his value is down after an injury-plagued season. While Walker is viewed as a player capable of having a strong comeback season, he’s not considered a positive asset at this point, given his injury history and contract situation, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps and Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
“They’ve been trying to move Kemba Walker for a year now and no one is touching that,” one NBA executive told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. “Their best bet would be to move (Marcus) Smart, but I don’t know what his market is. They could trade (Jaylen) Brown to try to fill a different position, but that would be a bad move.”
Evan Fournier‘s unrestricted free agency is another issue looming over the Celtics. One league executive who spoke to Scotto estimated that the veteran wing will be seeking a deal worth $15-20MM annually, though another predicted a cool market for Fournier.
“The issue will be what teams with room are going to target him?” that exec asked. “San Antonio might, but if not, who else will give him north of $10 million? If Fournier can be kept at a price around the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, I think Boston would re-sign him.”
Here are several more Celtics rumors and updates on an eventful day in Boston:
- The Celtics’ head coaching search will likely start with internal candidates before they move outside the organization, sources tell Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link). Current assistant Jerome Allen is one in-house candidate likely to get an interview, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Mannix (via Twitter) adds Nets assistant Ime Udoka to the list of probable external candidates for the Celtics’ head coaching job, while Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) says Chauncey Billups will likely receive consideration as well.
- Asked today whether he intends to retire or seek another job, Danny Ainge was noncommittal, telling reporters that he’s not sure what his future holds and he’s focused for now on getting his successor Stevens up to speed (Twitter link via Tim Bontemps of ESPN).
- Jared Weiss of The Athletic hears that in-season comments by Ainge and team owner Wyc Grousbeck about the Celtics’ shortcomings may have contributed to the club’s chemistry issues. Ainge said in February that he didn’t view the roster as championship-caliber and echoed that point multiple times later in the season.
- One prominent member of the Celtics organization wanted to fire Stevens as the team’s head coach during the 2020/21 season, but Ainge and others in the organization were against that idea, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv.
- Speaking to reporters following the Celtics’ elimination from the postseason, Jayson Tatum said he doesn’t feel the need to get involved in the front office’s personnel decisions, per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).
- Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston takes a look at five key roster-related questions facing the Celtics this offseason.
After dumping some Walker salary, Celtics can resign Fournier
Trade idea would be something like this
Walker and 2 future Firsts for a heathy player with annual salary $20-$25 million
Example
Walker and 2 Firsts for Wood and Augustin
Salary filler if needed
What would they do with Wood? Tatum is the near all-nba version of Wood. Besides a hampered Walker still produces better than Augustine. I’d see what a regular off season and healing does for Walker. There’s no one in they can realistically get for him that brings what Walker brings if he’s healthy.
Ime has been on a short list for HC jobs for years. Hopefully he gets a shot this year.
Agreed. He played hard and smart for Pop, and he’s been a great assistant for years. He’ll be a decent head coach for sure.
What did Stevens do to get all this hype? Celtics could never take the next step despite all the hype about how they were going to run the east when LeBron left the conference.
He took a very young team who’s best player at the time had a broken ankle to the Eastern Conference finals.
He’s a basketball genius. Read up on him and you’ll learn he’s one of the smartest, most innovative x’s and o’s coaches in the business. He’s also done well with adjustments in the playoffs, overcoming injury issues, and exceeding expectations most years.
But I don’t know what experience he has as far as the front office is concerned.
Walker was a ‘this is what’s left’ signing that was a mistake and probably a tough trade. Hoping the Knicks don’t make the mistake of trading for him.
As for Fournier, he’s not getting 15-20M per. 10-15M is more realistic. Going to be interesting to see what Stevens can do differently than Ainge.
One way to fire a guy is to kick him upstairs.
What are some other ways
Celtics need to continue to build around Tatum and Brown there two best players.
I’ll throw out a few names which could be great long term fits. Myles Turner, DeAaron Fox, Jarrett Allen, Lonzo Ball and Pascal Siakim.
Knowing you only really have two players/contracts with any kind of value in trades being Walker and Smart, it’s going to be hard to get one or two of these players. Your possibly going to have to give up 1 or 2 future first, but I would happily do that to add another young star to this team.
Of those names I’d ask what’s the price of Fox (probably near untouchable) but I’d offer Walker and 2 firsts for Fox. Another player which I think would be a great fit would be Myles Turner. Think his shooting and defensive abilities would be a great match. Pacers probably aren’t that I tersted in trading again so maybe it’ll take a lot but these would be the names I target
They’d have to throw in Brown to get Fox.
coach k is available after the college season is over, any interest? tatum’s there.
Was it Grousbeck or Pagliuca who wanted Stephens fired midterm
No one is taking Kemba now. Unless they give him away. I hope Knicks would look at Fournier. He’s worth 25 mill to us. He can get his 20 a gm at the wing. We are in big need of a scorer shooter. I don’t see a big name coming to Knicks. But signing Fournier and Dinwiddie makes us a much better team. That’s saying a lot for a 4th seed in the East.
Don’t know who Celtics would get to coach. Seems a vet is better than a first time coach.
Sorry make that 15 mill… not 25.
Stevens should have been fired like 5 months ago, and somehow ends up as president of basketball operations. Worked out nicely for him…his rotation decisions all season, all the way down to the end, were trash. It was as if he lost all ability to coach after last year’s playoffs, going from actually being a good coach, to being extremely bad, in a short time. Will be interested to see what they do, and if they continue to squander the talent and versatility on this roster
One way they can fix the Kemba signing, and add depth where they need it: Kemba + 16 for Thad Young, Satoransky, and S&T for Markkanen. Fixes the Bulls PG issue, they recoup a 1st. There’s a few interesting names at 16 too on the wing – Duarte, Wagner, Ziaire Williams, Josh Giddey, Corey Kispert could fall.
Not many scenarios to get Kemba out –
OKC for Horford w a 1st and 2 2 nds ? Throw in one of the young vanilla guards as well…..
Orl for Gary Harris T Ross+ filler would probably cost 2 1st, a potential swap yr + a young player but would make them real cap friendly the next couple years and pretty solid on the court in the meantime ….
While I would have liked to see Larry Bird back with Boston I believe Stevens enjoys the same respect by players that Bird has so I respect his choice by ownership.
Replacing Stevens will be very difficult and that selection should be made very carefully.