- In a pair of articles for The Athletic, Jay King and John Hollinger examine Gordon Hayward‘s contract situation and a potential max extension for Jayson Tatum, and Hollinger explains why he’s not particularly bullish on the Celtics‘ group of rookies.
- Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren told season ticket holders that the front office is well-prepared for any draft scenario, Celtics analyst Marc D’Amico tweets. Boston could have as many as three first-round selections. “Regardless of what happens, we’ll be very ready for the draft,” Zarren said.
- Following up on a report by Chema De Lucas (Twitter link), Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (Twitter link) confirms that Celtics guard Brad Wanamaker has no intention of leaving the NBA to return to Europe. Before joining Boston for the 2018/19 season, Wanamaker had built an impressive international résumé, winning multiple championships and several awards in Germany and Turkey.
Executives and coaches around the league are taking different approaches to keep their teams engaged during the NBA’s hiatus. Celtics team president Danny Ainge is simply trying to keep his guys motivated, as he believes the season will resume and wants to be ready for that moment.
“We’re approaching this like we’re going to return to play and that we’re going to be playing playoff basketball,” Ainge said told reporters earlier this week including Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. “And we are staying in touch. We are having conference calls where we have guest speakers, motivational speakers, that address all of our guys on Zoom. We are doing workouts with the coaches and with the strength coaches via Zoom and so forth.”
Who have the guest speakers been so far? There are some notable names on the list.
“Maybe I don’t want to say that, just because maybe they’ll get bombarded by other people that read this,” Ainge said. “But we’ve had… Mark Wahlberg, (he) was great. He was a lot of fun. Our players got a good kick out of him. He had some pretty good stories. LL Cool J, his story is pretty fascinating. Jim Cash (one of the Celts’ board of directors), who’s always magnificent to listen to, had some great wisdom and knowledge for the players. And we had Dr. Myron Rolle, who has a fascinating story (neurosurgery resident, former NFL player), here at Mass General. So, yeah, we’ve had some very inspirational speakers.”
As for the evaluation part of his job, Ainge doesn’t envision the current circumstances making it that much more difficult. He did admit that not having pre-draft sessions (which is a possibility) could force teams to miss out on some gems.
“Let’s just take Rajon Rondo as an example,” Ainge explained. “Had I not been able to see him in the draft workout and sat down and talked with him and looked into his eyes, I don’t think I would have drafted him. So I think there is value in that. At the same time we drafted Avery Bradley without any draft workouts. We drafted Steve Nash back in our Phoenix days without a draft workout. So I think you don’t always get guys in for draft workouts, but you have to be prepared to take guys. That’s why we’re doing so much homework at this time and taking advantage of getting ahead of the game in case we don’t get draft workouts. But we’ll be prepared.”
- A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston revisits the Celtics‘ 2019 draft decisions, exploring whether the team should have gone in a different direction with any of its four selections.
- Celtics forward Gordon Hayward said the hiatus has allowed him to heal up from lingering knee and foot injuries, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reports. “That’s one positive from this whole thing is everybody’s been able to recover,” Hayward said. “We haven’t been able to do much, so hopefully everyone is healthy whenever and if ever we get back this year. … This has been good for everybody’s body.”
- Kemba Walker would have remained with Charlotte for less than a super-max deal last summer but he knew that wouldn’t happen after meeting with Hornets owner Michael Jordan, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe writes. Walker may have stayed put if the Hornets had offered him five years and approximately $180MM. The Celtics emerged as the most likely destination because they were already a playoff team and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge had been enamored with Walker ever since the point guard’s days at the University of Connecticut, Himmelsbach adds.
The Clippers hold the top spot in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings, which predicts the best and worst franchises over the next three seasons. While the team has one of the best one-two punches in the NBA with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Los Angeles’ inability to trade a first-rounder may come back to haunt the team, Bobby Marks suggests.
L.A. sent out several first-rounders in the George deal and had just one pick (2020 selection) that was eligible to be included in a trade this season — the franchise used it to acquire Marcus Morris at the deadline.
The Lakers, Warriors, Bucks, and Celtics round out the top-5 in the ESPN’s latest rankings. Here’s more from around the league:
- The Pistons and Cavaliers rank 29th and 30th, respectively, on that aforementioned ESPN’s list. Both franchises lack blue-chip prospects and each has expensive veterans clogging its cap space.
- Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times believes Thaddeus Young will find himself on the trade block this offseason. Young, who inked a deal the Bulls last summer, was the subject of trade rumors earlier in the season.
- NBA agent Mark Bartelstein said he expected the season to get postponed after watching what was going on abroad in February and March, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic relays. Bartelstein has clients in the Chinese Basketball Association and other international leagues.
The Basketball Hall of Fame officially announced over the weekend that Kevin Garnett will be part of a star-studded Hall of Fame class of 2020, joining former NBA legends Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan in a group that also features former head coach Rudy Tomjanovich, ex-WNBA star Tamika Catchings, and four others.
In a conversation with Shams Charania of The Athletic, Garnett spoke about his election into the Hall of Fame, referring to it as “the perfect way to end a dope story.”
The former Timberwolves and Celtics big man also offered some thoughts on what it means to be inducted alongside longtime rivals Bryant and Duncan, and weighed in on a few more topics. Here are some highlights from the discussion, which is worth checking out in full:
On going into the Hall of Fame with Bryant and Duncan:
“They both are unprecedented, not only athletes, but people. I feel more than honored to go in with these two, but Kobe not being there is going to be super emotional for everybody.
“The fact that the three of us actually pushed the other two… whether it was awards, All-Stars, battles, rings — we all three pushed the lines. To go in with these two guys, I couldn’t ask for two other people to go in with. And shout out to Tamika Catchings too. I’m a huge fan of Catch; Catch has put that grind in, she’s put that work in, and it’s dope to see all of us right here.”
On his NBA career:
“If I could actually go back and change anything, I would’ve left Minnesota a little earlier, knowing that the management wasn’t as committed as I was. Or wasn’t committed at all. I probably would’ve went to Boston or changed the situation earlier. I would’ve been a little younger and that means less wear and tear on the body. Teaming up with Paul (Pierce), I should’ve done that earlier. Who knows — I’m probably sitting here with another ring or two. But, yeah.”
On why his number is being retired in Boston, but not in Minnesota:
(Timberwolves owner) Glen (Taylor) knows where I’m at, I’m not entertaining it. First of all, it’s not genuine. Two, he’s getting pressure from a lot of fans and, I guess, the community there. Glen and I had an understanding before (former Wolves coach and executive) Flip (Saunders) died, and when Flip died, that understanding went with Flip. For that, I won’t forgive Glen. I won’t forgive him for that. I thought he was a straight up person, straight up business man, and when Flip died, everything went with him.
“There’s no reason to complain. Just continue to move on. My years in Minnesota and in that community, I cherish. At this point, I don’t want any dealings with Glen Taylor or Taylor Corp. or anything that has to do with him. I love my Timberwolves, I’ll always love my guys, I’ll always love the people who f–k with me there. I’ll always have a special place for the city of Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota in my heart. But I don’t do business with snakes.”
Hoops Rumors is looking ahead at the 2020/21 salary cap situations for all 30 NBA teams. Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the NBA, it’s impossible to know yet where the cap for 2020/21 will land. Given the league’s lost revenue, we’re assuming for now that it will stay the same as the ’19/20 cap, but it’s entirely possible it will end up higher or lower than that.
After a disappointing 2018/19 season, the Celtics bounced back in ’19/20, with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown taking major steps forward and Kemba Walker providing the veteran stability that Kyrie Irving hadn’t. Prior to the NBA’s hiatus, Boston was 43-21 – third in the Eastern Conference – and looked like one of the only teams capable of seriously challenging Milwaukee for a spot in the NBA Finals.
Armed with three first-round picks in 2020, the Celtics are in position to continue adding intriguing young talent, even if the club no longer has the cap flexibility that it has in recent years.
Here’s where things stand for the Celtics financially in 2020/21, as we continue our Salary Cap Preview series:
Guaranteed Salary
- Kemba Walker ($34,379,100)
- Jaylen Brown ($23,883,929)
- Marcus Smart ($13,446,428)
- Jayson Tatum ($9,897,120)
- Romeo Langford ($3,631,200)
- Vincent Poirier ($2,619,207)
- Grant Williams ($2,498,760)
- Robert Williams ($2,029,920)
- Carsen Edwards ($1,517,981)
- Guerschon Yabusele ($1,039,080) — Waived via stretch provision.
- Demetrius Jackson ($92,857) — Waived via stretch provision.
- Total: $95,035,582
Player Options
- Gordon Hayward ($34,187,085)
- Enes Kanter ($5,005,350)
- Total: $39,192,435
Team Options
- Semi Ojeleye ($1,752,950) 1
- Total: $1,752,950
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Daniel Theis ($5,000,000) 2
- Javonte Green ($1,517,981)
- Total: $6,517,981
Restricted Free Agents
- Brad Wanamaker ($1,820,564 qualifying offer / $1,820,564 cap hold): Early Bird rights
- Tacko Fall (two-way qualifying offer / $1,445,697 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Tremont Waters (two-way qualifying offer / $1,445,697 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Total (cap holds): $4,711,958
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- No. 14 overall pick ($3,458,400)
- No. 26 overall pick ($2,035,800)
- No. 30 overall pick ($1,936,440)
- Total: $7,430,640
Offseason Cap Outlook
Assuming Hayward exercises his lucrative player option for 2020/21 and Theis is brought back on his modest team option, the Celtics will have committed nearly $135MM in guaranteed money to 11 players.
The NBA’s most recent luxury-tax projection, based on an estimated $115MM cap, was $139MM. Once Boston fills out its roster, it figures to surpass that threshold, making the C’s a taxpaying team whether or not the cap ultimately falls short of that projection. Barring some cost-cutting moves or a surprise Hayward opt-out, that means the club won’t have the full mid-level exception or bi-annual exception available in the offseason.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Taxpayer mid-level exception: $5,718,000 3
Footnotes
- If Ojelye’s team option is exercised, his salary becomes fully guaranteed after October 19.
- Theis’ salary becomes fully guaranteed after October 21.
- This is a projected value.
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are based on the salary cap and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Early Bird Rights was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.