- Asked this week about his stint with the Knicks, Enes Kanter took a shot at his old team, as Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald tweets. “That’s why I chose [the] Celtics,” Kanter said. “They don’t tank.”
Bradley Beal has an important financial decision to make, but the Wizards star insists that money won’t be the deciding factor, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic. The front office gave Beal a $111MM extension offer more than two months ago. He hasn’t signed it and hasn’t made a decision on whether he wants to remain in Washington long term. At Media Day, he told reporters that the chance to be on a contender will matter more than the size of the deal.
“I can really retire today and be OK. … So, I want everybody to understand, it’s not the money,” Beal said. “It’s not the money factor here. It’s me. It’s, OK, what’s the direction the team’s going in? Are we gonna win? Is this what we want? We know that this is probably gonna be a development year. It’s gonna be one of those types of years. So, does Bradley Beal wanna be a part of that ultimately? And that’s something I have to ask myself and something I’m probably still not done asking myself. So, I’m gonna use all my time until I can.”
October 21 is the deadline for Beal to accept the current deal, but turning it down won’t signal the end of his time with the Wizards. He will be eligible for a longer, more lucrative deal as a free agent in 2021, and an All-NBA nod would qualify him for a super-max contract that could reach up to $250MM over five years.
There’s more from D.C. on the first day of camp:
- A lot of contenders would like to find a way to add Beal this season, notes John Hollinger of The Athletic. The former Grizzlies executive writes that swapping newly signed D’Angelo Russell for Beal is a “dream scenario” for the Warriors. He mentions the Lakers, Raptors, Nuggets and Celtics as teams that would also be interested if Beal becomes available.
- Isaiah Thomas is trying to laugh off his latest injury, a torn ligament in his left thumb that will force him to miss the entire preseason, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. It’s the latest in a series of physical mishaps for Thomas since his last All-Star appearance in 2016/17. “I was in there laughing because I’m like: ‘Damn. It’s always something,’” Thomas said. “But at the end of the day, this won’t break me. I’ve been through way worse.”
- Rod Thorn, who has more than 40 years of experience as an NBA executive, will serve as a senior advisor to GM Tommy Sheppard, Buckner tweets.
- With John Wall possibly out for the entire season and a roster filled with young players, the Wizards are in a perfect position to tank, observes Sean Deveney of Heavy. “Keeping (Wall) out, trying to see if you can find a diamond in the rough by playing a bunch of non-guaranteed (contract) guys, that’s the way they have to go,” a rival executive said. “It’s tanking, but you can’t blame them.”
- Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown is eligible for a rookie scale extension until opening night but he’s not fretting over negotiations, Nick Goss of NBC Sports Boston writes. “To be honest, I’m not putting too much thought into it,” Brown said. “I’m not losing any sleep over it. I think stuff like that ends up working itself out in the end, or however so. I’m just focused on this season and playing basketball. I think that’s my No. 1 emphasis. Let the chips fall where they may.” He’ll be a restricted free agent next summer if he doesn’t sign an extension.
- Celtics swingman Jayson Tatum, who played for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup, is hopeful of being on the Olympic roster next summer, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe tweets. “I ain’t got nothing else to do,” Tatum said.
The Celtics have made a handful of roster moves to set their roster for training camp, the team announced today in a press release. Boston waived recently-signed players Bryce Brown and John Bohannon, officially signing Yante Maten and Kaiser Gates using the newly-created openings.
Maten, 23, spent most of the 2018/19 season on a two-way contract with the Heat. He appeared in just two games for Miami but thrived for the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the G League. The rookie power forward averaged 23.5 PPG and 9.7 RPG in 30 games for Sioux Falls, earning a spot on the All-NBAGL Second Team. After being waived by Miami this summer, he reached an agreement with Boston.
Gates, who will turn 23 in November, joined the Bulls for training camp last fall after going undrafted out of Xavier. He was waived by Chicago before the season began and reported to the team’s G League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls. In 50 NBAGL games, the forward recorded 12.7 PPG and 6.4 RPG with a .408/.375/.786 shooting line. Earlier this month, he agreed to sign with the Celtics.
As for the Celtics’ waived players, Brown is expected to become an affiliate player for the Maine Red Claws, while Bohannon will likely rejoin to Boston’s G League team as a returning rights player.
The Celtics now have a full 20-man roster heading into camp, including 14 players on guaranteed salaries. Assuming Boston plans on carrying a 15th man, Maten and Gates figure to compete with Tacko Fall and Javonte Green for that spot.
Speaking today to reporters at the Nets‘ Media Day, Kyrie Irving said he felt as if he let down his teammates in Boston last season and wants to be a better leader for his new team in Brooklyn.
As Malika Andrews of ESPN.com details, Irving opened up about how the death of his grandfather last fall impacted him and why he had a change of heart following his preseason vow to re-sign with the Celtics and ultimately decided to play closer to home.
“A lot of the joy I had from basketball was sucked away from me,” Irving said of the time following his grandfather’s death. “There was a facial expression I carried around with me throughout the year and I didn’t allow anyone to get close to me. It really bothered me. I didn’t take the necessary steps to get counseling or therapy. I had to acknowledge that fact.”
Irving received much of the blame for the Celtics’ disappointing 2018/19 showing, which included chemistry issues and a leadership void in the locker room. In his comments today, he seemed to acknowledge that the criticism was fair.
“A lot of those battles I thought I could battle through (in Boston’s) team environment, I wasn’t ready for,” Irving said, according to Andrews. “And I failed those guys. I didn’t give them everything I could have during that season. In terms of me being a leader and bringing everyone together, I’ve failed.”
Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston provides a more extensive transcript of Irving’s comments, while Rob Perez passes along a video link. The All-Star point guard said he is arriving in Brooklyn with a “fresh mindset” and hopes to avoid the same mistakes he made with the Celtics.
Here’s more from the Nets’ Media Day:
- Asked about why he chose the Nets in free agency and whether he considered teams like the Warriors, Knicks, and Clippers, Kevin Durant said he thought about those other possibilities for “a couple seconds,” but wanted to be in Brooklyn (Twitter links via Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic). “It was really easy to see what these guys brought to the table,” Durant said of the Nets. “It’s not like I had to do any deep analysis of any player here.”
- Durant also offered the following quote on his decision to leave the Warriors (Twitter link via Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog): “I felt like it was time for a change and I wanted to play for a new team and simply put I just did it. I didn’t really think about what I was leaving behind. I thought it’s time to think about me.”
- According to Irving, he and Durant would like to finish their careers together with the Nets (video link via Yahoo Sports).
- Irving told reporters about talking to Durant and DeAndre Jordan at “4:16 in the morning” on the day of free agency and deciding they wanted to play together in Brooklyn (video link via Perez).
- Jordan said that he and Jarrett Allen will compete and bring out the best in one another, and that both players will be fine no matter who ends up winning the starting center job (Twitter link via James Herbert of CBS Sports).
The Celtics have officially signed center John Bohannon to a contract, per RealGM’s transactions log. It’s almost certainly a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deal.
Bohannon, who went undrafted out of UTEP in 2014, has spent much of his professional career playing in the G League. In 2018/19, he appeared in 43 games (20.8 MPG) for the Maine Red Claws, Boston’s affiliate, filling up the box score with averages of 7.7 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 3.2 APG, and 1.6 BPG.
Boston now has a full 20-man roster, though the team has yet to officially complete reported deals with Kaiser Gates and Yante Maten. There has been no indication that either agreement has fallen through, so Gates and Maten will likely be signed at some point after the Celtics open up roster spots by waiving a player or two.
While Bohannon figures to be one of the players cut by the Celtics, it’s not clear whether or not he’ll get a chance to attend camp with the team first. It looks like his contract is intended to ensure he’ll receive an Exhibit 10 bonus worth up to $50K when he eventually returns to the G League with the Red Claws.
- Celtics head coach Brad Stevens says that Jayson Tatum is ready to go for the opening of camp next Tuesday, telling Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald that Tatum is “fine” after suffering an ankle sprain while playing for the U.S. national team. “He’s ready to go from what I’ve been told… I don’t know if he will do anything 5-on-5 this week, but we anticipate no issues when camp starts next week. At least, that’s the latest that I got.”
Vincent Poirier had an awkward first meeting with four of his new Celtics teammates at the World Cup, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Poirier was part of the French team that gave the U.S. their second loss of the tournament and eliminated them from medal contention.
“After the game I think they were a little bit mad, so I don’t come to them and say, ‘Hey, I’m Vincent,” Poirier said. “But they knew who I was, so that was good.”
Poirier took home a bronze medal from the World Cup and talked extensively to his French teammates about life in the NBA. Poirier has spent the past three seasons in Spain and is ready for the NBA challenge at age 25. Celtics scouts have seen him in person at least 10 times over the past two years and were interested in signing him at the end of last season, but he preferred to wait.
“I told a couple people I think this is the best year for me to go to the NBA because I’ve got 100% confidence in myself,” he said. “I trust my basketball and I think it’s a perfect moment.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Gordon Hayward offered a message to fans on his personal blog, promising “the reins are off” for the upcoming season. Hayward was still recovering from a severe ankle injury last summer and said he has benefited from having a full offseason to work on his game. “Last year, I was in my own head a lot, thinking about a lot of different things—hoping that it was going to be okay, hoping that I was going to be right—because I just hadn’t done it. I hadn’t had a chance to put in the reps,” Hayward wrote. “Going into this season, I’ve put in the reps all summer. I know my body is still just as good and feels 100 percent, and certainly, I know the guys on the team a lot better now than I did last year too. All the unknowns are gone. That’s the biggest difference.”
- There will be several interesting battles to focus on when training camp opens, writes Jay King of The Athletic. One will occur at the wing position, where Hayward will be competing with Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown to join Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum in the starting lineup. The other story lines involve who plays center at the end of games and who can earn reserve minutes at power forward and in the backcourt.
- Even though Walker had a full summer with his World Cup responsibilities, coach Brad Stevens said the free agent addition will be “ready to roll” when camp begins, relays A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston.
The Celtics have officially signed free agent guard Bryce Brown to a contract, according to RealGM’s transactions log. Agent Austin Walton first tweeted word of the deal.
Brown, who played his college ball at Auburn, went undrafted earlier this year after averaging 15.9 PPG on .437/.410/.807 in 40 games as a senior. The sharpshooter caught on with Sacramento for Summer League play, appearing in seven total games for the Kings in the California and Las Vegas Summer Leagues.
It sounds like the plan is for Brown to become an affiliate player for the Maine Red Claws, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, who notes (via Twitter) that the team will have to do some “roster gymnastics” to complete all their reported deals.
Boston now has 19 players under contract, but has also agreed to sign Kaiser Gates and Yante Maten, so at least one player will need to be waived at some point to accommodate those signings.
The Celtics have until the evening of October 21 – the day before the NBA’s regular season begins – to finalize a rookie scale extension with young swingman Jaylen Brown and keep him off the 2020 restricted free agent market. However, a league source tells Sean Deveney of Heavy.com that the chances of the two sides agreeing to a new deal by next month’s deadline look “pretty slim.”
So far this offseason, three rookie scale extensions have been completed. Jamal Murray and Ben Simmons signed maximum-salary deals projected to be worth at least $168MM over five years. Caris LeVert, meanwhile, signed a three-year, $52MM extension with Brooklyn.
[RELATED: Players Eligible For Rookie Scale Extensions]
Presumably, if the Celtics and Brown were to reach a deal, it would come in somewhere between those two figures, but that gap is a substantial one. The C’s may look at Brown’s and LeVert’s 2018/19 numbers and argue that Brown’s next contract should be closer to LeVert’s range. Brown’s camp, on the other hand, believes his upside warrants a deal closer to what Murray and Simmons got, writes Deveney.
As Deveney points out, the Celtics haven’t exhibited an eagerness in recent years to lock up rookie scale extension candidates, preferring to let those players reach restricted free agency. None of the team’s first-round picks between 2012-15 – Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk, Marcus Smart, and Terry Rozier – inked extensions prior to free agency.
Even if the Celtics push harder to extend Brown, he has some incentive to wait on a new deal if Boston doesn’t meet his asking price. 2020’s free agent class is expected to be especially weak, so a big 2019/20 could put the 22-year-old in position for a huge payday.
[RELATED: Jaylen Brown’s Stock On The Rise]
“It only takes one team to think he is a max player and then he is a max player,” one NBA executive told Deveney. “You don’t see a lot of max deals in restricted free agency and the Celtics can match, so it’s still something that can work in their favor. But there will be teams with money next summer and making an offer for a guy his age, with his best basketball in front of him, makes sense.”