Most of the best options on the buyout market have gone to other teams, but the Celtics plan to find someone to fill their open roster spot, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. Whoever gets signed probably won’t play much, but owner Wyc Grousbeck confirms that Boston will have a full roster before the postseason begins.
“We’re looking at buyout candidates and free agents,” he said. “I’d be very surprised if we went into the playoffs with an open roster spot, don’t think that’s going to happen. … All those things are in process, but no, we’re not saving roster spots for a rainy day. We just gotta find the right fit.”
One potential candidate, according to Terada, is veteran swingman Will Barton, who reached a buyout agreement with the Wizards this week. The Celtics may be Barton’s best option to win a ring, although he could seek out a larger role with another team. Terada points to Stanley Johnson and John Wall as other possibilities, along with Juan Toscano-Anderson if he agrees to a buyout with the Jazz.
There’s more from Boston:
- The Celtics have been dealing with injuries to their rotation players all season, but they’re fully healthy coming out of the All-Star break, Terada adds in another MassLive story. Jaylen Brown missed the previous four games with a facial fracture, but he’s not on the injury report after playing 25 minutes in the All-Star Game.
- Blake Griffin‘s NBA experiences over 12 years enable him to relate to both the stars and role players on the Celtics’ roster, observes Jay King of The Athletic. Griffin is only playing sporadically in his first season in Boston, but he has become a popular leader in the locker room. “As you get older, you have to be somewhat self-aware,” Griffin said. “I don’t even know if self-aware is the right word. Just in touch with reality. Some guys just want to go make as much money as they possibly can. And I don’t fault anybody for any decision that they make, guys have to take care of what they want to take care of. I’ve been fortunate enough to be on some good teams and be in the position I am to be able to make these decisions based on trying to win a championship. So you have to let go of your ego and just be self-aware about your game. But the biggest driving point to me is just winning.”
- Having the word “interim” removed from his job title isn’t a big deal for head coach Joe Mazzulla, who tells Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, “The interim tag was never a thing because we’re all interims.”
Barton is a better player but Johnson would probably be a better fit. He can defend numerous positions, can hit the 3 and doesn’t need minutes to be happy.
Yep.
Quizlet Joe with the sage wisdom. Hope they hold on to this guy for a long time.
Tony Snell is another candidate for that open roster spot. Since he signed with the Maine Celtics about a month ago,in 7 games he’s averaged 11/4/2 while shooting 46% from three on 28 attempts.
I’ll take the better defender between Tony Snell & Will Barton.
I understand that a ring is a ring, but when you get signed to a team for a quarter of the season and play minimal minutes, I’d guess most guys would consider that at least a little “asterisked” in their own mind…
Where’s Joe Johnson
They ain’t signing nobody. They say the same nonsense every year about how they gonna make a splash I. The buyout market and they always come up with nothing.
If making a splash in the buyout market is signing Russell Westbrook Celtics are probably OK.
If you’re in the market for popular trading cards from 10 years ago I got a garage full of em.