Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck discussed a variety of topics with Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe this week, touching on subjects such as his team’s spending, draft picks, and the state of the roster.
With lofty expectations around the franchise and its talented roster entering the season, Boston has compiled just a 22-15 record through the campaign’s first 37 games. Asked whether the team could consider making roster changes as the February 7 trade deadline approaches, Grousbeck took an honest approach.
“What we’ll do over the next month is determine if there’s anything we can do in February [prior to the trade deadline] to advance the team to a new level,” Grousbeck said. “But when I look at the team right now, I feel really good about their character, really good about their skill, really good about the upside over the next 5-6 years, with young players and the draft.
“I feel overall confident and excited we can make some noise over the next 5-6 years with this core group, adding on when we can. But this season still does feel like a work in progress, and it feels like we’ve got a long way to go if we want to make some noise in May again, or even in June.”
The Celtics have several young players on their roster today, including the likes of Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown. The team also has veterans such as Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Gordon Hayward to round out its roster, sporting a group of talent capable of competing in the Eastern Conference.
Here are some other noteworthy quotes from Grousbeck in the Globe’s story:
On going after a superstar player:
“Well, this team is stacked with a lot of talented players on reasonable contracts, and a ton of draft picks. So that’s why our phone is already ringing. Our history is that we try to make the big deal and have gone for it. We try to put banners in the rafters. There’s only one so far [from our ownership group]. We’d like to have another one up there, and that may require another move, or just continued growth with these guys. We’ll have to see.”
On his role in looking for possible trades:
“We’ll just leave that in the mystery category. But what happens with trades is that they’re proposed by the basketball side and I’m kept up to date all along as the phone calls develop and as we think about what assets we might include and what the team might look like after a trade. And so I approve them or disapprove them, or try to change them, and that’s gone on for 16 years.”
On being in luxury tax territory, this season and beyond:
“We have a 16-year record of spending and putting the best possible team out on the court and I’ll just leave it at that. Everybody can see what we’ve done, knows what we’ve done and knows that we’ve put the Celtics first in every aspect.”
On the team’s stash of draft picks:
“I’m excited about all the draft picks we have now and in future years. It’s one of the reasons I’m so excited about the next six years as opposed to the next six games. The next six games we might go 0-6, but the next six years I feel pretty good about. I know both February and June will be very active. Because we have all these draft picks and young players, we get a lot of calls. And so Danny [Ainge], Mike Zarren, Austin Ainge, they get a ton of calls and try to figure out if there’s anything to recommend to me to make the team better. My view of this draft right now is it’s going to be as many phone calls as we’ve ever had. I don’t worry much about what players we end up drafting, because that’s completely on the basketball side.”