- The Celtics‘ offseason has received good reviews from rival teams in the Eastern Conference, as noted by Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. Boston is essentially bringing back its defensive-minded starting five, packaging it with Grant Williams, plus new additions Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari. “(Brogdon) will be good for them,” a rival Eastern Conference general manager said. “Going to Boston, with strong people around him, unfortunately, yes, he’ll be good for them. I think he’s going to make them a lot better — which pisses me off.”
The Wizards are coming off a disappointing season, but Taj Gibson believes his new team has the talent to contend for a playoff spot, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Gibson’s assessment of the roster is one of the reasons he made the decision to join the Wizards after being waived by the Knicks.
“I’ve seen they have a young and talented team,” Gibson said. “It’s a sleeper team and I just want to be a part of something special. The NBA is full of ups and downs, but I wanted to go to a place where I can just put my veteran mentorship and whatever I can to add to the team.”
The 37-year-old projects to be the third-string center behind Kristaps Porzingis and Daniel Gafford. His role may expand if there are injuries or Porzingis sees some time at power forward, but Gibson has proven he can be productive in limited minutes.
“They have so many talented guys,” he said of the Wizards. “I’m just a fan of all of them. I’m just lucky enough to be able to say I can go into the gym and get better with these guys, build a bond with these guys. That’s my whole goal.”
There’s more from Washington:
- Malcolm Brogdon was ultimately traded to the Celtics, but he said on a recent edition of The Woj Pod that he expected to be dealt to the Wizards on draft night (hat tip to Bijan Todd of NBC Washington). “I thought it was going to be Washington,” Brogdon told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. “I heard the Pacers loved the idea of having that 10th pick and having two picks in the lottery and I knew Washington needed a good veteran point guard to pair with Brad Beal. I knew I fit his timeline and knew that everything fit.” The Wizards were heavily linked in trade rumors to Brogdon, who has ties to the D.C. area after playing college basketball at Virginia.
- The Wizards used Summer League to focus on talent from their G League team, per Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. Seven players on the Las Vegas roster spent time with the Capital City Go-Go last season. “We want to become the Miamis, the Golden States, the Oklahoma Citys — the teams that bring these guys in at the G League level and then they see a pathway to the NBA,” Go-Go general manager Amber Nichols said. “You’ve got to cultivate them in your own system, in your own house.”
- Gonzaga coach Mark Few believes his former players Rui Hachimura and Corey Kispert have a bright future ahead after overcoming difficulties last season, Hughes adds in a separate story.
- Boston’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, are promoting Jarell Christian to GM from head coach, while Alex Barlow – Christian’s associate head coach last season – will take his place, sources tell Scotto. Christian was formerly an assistant coach with the Wizards, Scotto notes.
After Raptors 905 head coach Patrick Mutombo was hired away by Phoenix, Eric Khoury will take the reins coaching Toronto’s G League team in 2022/23. As Doug Smith of The Toronto Star writes, Khoury’s background in academia and analytics is a little out of the ordinary for an NBA coach, but the 33-year-old has been in the Raptors’ organization for nearly a decade and has proven his basketball bona fides.
“I think that shows that you can come from any sort of background, any diverse background and if you show interest in the game, passion for the game, some hard work … you don’t necessarily need to come from the most traditional, ‘Well, I’ve coached at this level, now at this level’ and slowly bring your way up the ranks,” Khoury said.
“If you show that you have a passion for the game and you bring a cool perspective or a different perspective and you’re willing to work hard at it that it’s possible to make it at the next level.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Mike Moser, who spent the 2021/22 season as an assistant for the Oregon women’s basketball team, has accepted a job on the Celtics‘ coaching staff, writes Jarrid Denney of On3.com. Oregon women’s basketball head coach Kelly Graves announced the news on Twitter.
- Jared Weiss of The Athletic takes a look at which Celtics Summer League players made the strongest cases for a shot at a regular season roster spot, evaluating Brodric Thomas, Matt Ryan, and Justin Jackson, among others.
- Brian Lewis of The New York Post shares his takeaways from the Nets‘ Summer League performance, including his impressions on Cam Thomas, David Duke, and Alondes Williams. While Thomas had another big Summer League showing as a scorer, he’ll have to continue improving as a play-maker and defender to earn an increased role in Brooklyn’s regular season rotation, Lewis says.
- In addition to carrying a pair of Australians (Ben Simmons and Patty Mills) on their roster, the Nets now have one on their coaching staff. Alex Schiffer of The Athletic profiles Adam Caporn, the newly-promoted Nets assistant who coached Brooklyn’s Summer League team after spending last season in the G League coaching the Long Island Nets.
Of the players eligible for rookie scale extensions this offseason, Spurs forward Keldon Johnson became the first to sign a new deal worth less than the maximum. According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link), Johnson’s new four-year contract will have a base value of $74MM, with $1.5MM in annual unlikely incentives that could push the total value of the deal to $80MM.
Johnson’s contract will serve as a point of comparison for many of the other extension-eligible players who will be negotiating with their respective teams this summer and fall, Fischer writes in a full story for Bleacher Report.
For instance, representatives for De’Andre Hunter figure to seek a similar deal for their client, though the Hawks may be reluctant to invest heavily in a player who has appeared in just 76 games in the last two seasons due to injuries. One cap strategist who spoke to Bleacher Report said Hunter’s injury concerns “are very real,” and sources tell Fischer that the 24-year-old and Atlanta are approximately $20MM apart in their discussions about a four-year extension.
Johnson’s extension with San Antonio is worth roughly the same amount annually as deals signed by sharpshooters like Davis Bertans, Duncan Robinson, and Joe Harris, and all four of those deals will be reference points when Cameron Johnson and the Suns discuss a new deal, according to Fischer, who suggests an extension for Johnson could easily surpass $15MM per year.
Here are a few more notes from Fischer on rookie scale extension candidates from around the NBA:
- There’s a sense that the Warriors may be best off waiting on an extension for Jordan Poole unless they can get a team-friendly rate this offseason, Fischer writes. “What’s the upside in locking him in now?” the team cap strategist said. “He’s not Luka Doncic or Donovan Mitchell, who’ve proven they can carry a team. He’s close. If he does it again, you pay him. But prior to this year he was a borderline rotation player.”
- Cap experts who spoke to Fischer believes that the Celtics‘ four-year extension for Robert Williams (worth $48MM, plus $6MM in incentives) will be a benchmark for their extension talks with Grant Williams. However, rival executives don’t think the C’s will want to spend much more on Grant than they did on Robert.
- The Trail Blazers and Nassir Little may both be motivated to work out a new deal this summer. As Fischer explains, Little could increase his value (and his price tag) in 2022/23 if he’s part of Portland’s new-look starting lineup, but his injury history might make him inclined to take a guaranteed payday sooner rather than later.
- There has been no traction on extension talks between the Sixers and Matisse Thybulle, sources tell Bleacher Report. Fischer also classifies Bulls guard Coby White as a player who is unlikely to sign an extension before the season.
The Celtics have a recent history of reaching extensions with their first-round picks, and Grant Williams hopes to be next, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Weiss reports that Boston has already started extension talks with Williams, who displayed his value during the team’s run to the NBA Finals. He provides a strong defensive presence off the bench and shot 39.3% from three-point range during this year’s playoffs.
Williams talks about wanting to play his entire career for the Celtics and help the organization add more banners to the rafters. Weiss notes that negotiations might be tricky in light of recent deals for similar players, but Williams expressed confidence that management will be fair with him.
“Just making sure that the extension works for both sides. My number one focus is winning,” Williams said. “You take care of the good guys. You take care of the guys that provide value to your team, both on and off the floor. I feel like the Celtics are feeling the same way. I’m not too stressed about the negotiations because I feel like both parties want to get a deal done.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- David Duke Jr. improved his chances for a standard contract after turning down a two-way offer from the Nets prior to Summer League, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Duke, who also had a Summer League offer from the Raptors, showed the most improvement among Brooklyn’s second-year players in Las Vegas, Lewis observes. “The great thing is I haven’t noticed anything other than complete professionalism and dedication to playing well and doing everything we asked of him: Attacking and being aggressive within the team framework,” coach Adam Caporn said. “I just love what he’s doing defensively, picking the ball up, setting the tone. He’s doing everything the right way.”
- The Raptors may be saving part of their mid-level exception to sign second-round pick Christian Koloko, Eric Koreen of The Athletic suggests in an overview of Toronto’s roster. Koreen adds that the team might also be waiting to to see if the Arizona center’s draft rights are needed in a trade package before officially signing him.
- The Knicks‘ collection of young players and draft assets makes them seem like a logical landing spot for Donovan Mitchell, but Fred Katz of The Athletic looks at why Jazz CEO Danny Ainge and New York’s front office might night not be perfect trading partners.
Rookie Tyrese Martin signed a two-year contract with the Hawks over the weekend. The second-round selection out of UConn signed for the minimum of $1,017,781 and the contract is only partially guaranteed for $450K, Hoops Rumors has learned. The second year of the contract ($1,719,864) is non-guaranteed.
Martin averaged 13.8 PPG, 3.6 RPG and 2.2 APG in five games at the Las Vegas Summer League.
We have more from the Eastern Conference:
- Bucks rookie MarJon Beauchamp delivered some solid Summer League performances, Eric Nehm of The Athletic writes, with his 3-point shooting standing out. However, it’s not always indicative of what will happen in the regular season, he adds. Nehm also breaks down the performances of two-way players Sandro Mamukelashvili and AJ Green.
- The Jazz hired Celtics assistant Will Hardy as their new head coach but Joe Mazzulla, another Boston assistant, was also a finalist for the position, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe notes. He’ll now have a front-of-the-bench role due to Hardy’s departure. Jazz CEO and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge hired Mazzulla in 2018 out of the Division II ranks. “I just liked his presence,” Ainge said. “He just had a good way about him and how he developed players. … He just has a great way about him of pushing guys, holding them accountable, and letting them know this is a serious time.”
- The Spurs bounced back from losing the 2013 Finals to Miami to win the championship the following season. Retired Spurs star Tony Parker told The Athletic’s Jay King that the Celtics can use their loss in this year’s Finals as a motivational tool. “For me, the way we lost in 2013, it created what happened in 2014,” Parker said. “Maybe one of the best finals in NBA history. Maybe the best Spurs basketball that we played. In 2014, the way we played, the passing game, everything, we were maybe at the highest level of my whole career. It started with a tough loss in 2013.”
The Celtics‘ $17MM+ traded player exception from last summer’s Evan Fournier sign-and-trade will expire if it’s not used on Monday, as our tracker shows.
A trade exception allows a team to acquire a player – or multiple players – without sending out anyone for salary-matching purposes. Using their Fournier TPE, the Celtics could acquire any player earning up to $17,242,857 in 2022/23.
However, Boston’s team salary is already well over the luxury tax threshold and there had been a sense following this month’s Malcolm Brogdon trade that the Celtics might not use their big exception — besides pushing team salary further into tax territory, the Brogdon deal had helped the club address one of its most pressing needs (adding a play-making guard), reducing the likelihood of another major trade.
If the Fournier TPE expires today without being used, the Celtics will still have a handful of trade exceptions – including ones worth $6.9MM and $5.9MM – that won’t expire until January or February.
A Clippers trade exception worth $8.25MM from last summer’s Rajon Rondo deal will also expire today if it’s not used. Los Angeles has a second exception worth $9.72MM that won’t expire until the February trade deadline, so losing the Rondo TPE wouldn’t be a major blow. Like the Celtics, the Clippers are also far into tax territory and don’t have any obvious roster holes to fill.
The Trail Blazers used a $21MM trade exception to land Jerami Grant earlier this month, while the $18MM+ TPE the Pacers were able to create in the Brogdon deal was renounced when the team used its cap room to make a play for Deandre Ayton. Once the Celtics’ $17MM+ exception expires, no NBA team will have a TPE worth more than $10MM.
- Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe interviewed new Jazz coach Will Hardy, who recently joined Utah after serving as an assistant with the Celtics. Hardy reflected on his experience with Boston, which included a successful trip to the NBA Finals. “It’s not lost on me that what our guys in Boston did on the floor is a huge reason why I had an opportunity to get this job,” Hardy said. “I think sometimes we can get a little bit full of ourselves as coaches thinking we’re the reason, and I think we’re a part of it. We have a role in the team, and the success of last year, I think the coaching staff had a part of that. But the players and what they did in between the lines and their winning … that’s a huge reason I got this job. So I feel very fortunate for the year in Boston for a variety of reasons.”
The Celtics may consider adding swingman Justin Jackson to their training camp roster this fall, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe writes. Boston thought about signing Jackson in March, but the team ultimately signed Nik Stauskas instead.
Jackson played summer league with the Celtics this month. In his final game, he recorded 16 points and five assists, shooting 6-of-15 from the floor.
“Ever since [December], me and my agent have kind of stayed in touch with the Celtics,” Jackson said. “Kind of built that relationship. Came out here to join and kind of play a little bit of basketball, so it worked out.”
Here are some other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston examines which Celtics players improved their stock the most during summer league. The player Forsberg identifies as the biggest beneficiary of this month’s action is JD Davison, who was drafted No. 53 overall last month and showed serious offensive potential in Las Vegas.
- Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer explores whether the Hornets are truly any closer to making the playoffs than last season. Charlotte re-signed Cody Martin, but the team still doesn’t have any resolution on restricted free agent Miles Bridges, who is currently facing felony domestic violence charges.
- The Magic finished summer league with three straight losses, but plan to keep looking forward, Terry Gilliam Jr. of the Orlando Sentinel writes. Orlando has a young core of Franz Wagner, Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, No. 1 pick Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr. and others to continue developing. The team finished with the NBA’s second-worst record at 22-60 last season.