You had that in the chamber.Someone always has to Armond in the punchbowl
Does anyone know if the Cs included a mutiny and sedition clause in the new deal?
You had that in the chamber.Someone always has to Armond in the punchbowl
I'm glad I'm not the only one racking my brain on that one.
NBA All Star game is scheduled for 2/20, which would put the trade deadline at 2/10.Not that they would've wanted to anyway, but Smart now can't be traded for six months. I don't believe they've announced this years trade deadline date, but if it's around the same time as 2020, Smart can't be traded in season this year either.
100% agree with this. Even the trade kicker doesn't matter - if anything, it makes the Wizards less likely to ask for Smart back in a trade even if he outperforms. I haven't been able to find or think of any situation where a max FA wanted to go to a certain team and the former team refused to entertain a sign and trade as a means of holding the player hostage. If Beal decides he wants to come here then we have a big 1 year salary in Horford and we can balance the trade via any number of picks/assets. Anything that happens at the trade deadline doesn't have that much relevance - I don't think Beal will just magically sign an extension for the team that trades for him.This doesn’t affect the Beal situation at all, and at under $20 mil per this is reasonable and he’s plenty moveable.
He would have to sign with that team to be traded to the C's. It would be an interesting wrinkle if the C's were working on a S&T with the GSW for Beal.100% agree with this. Even the trade kicker doesn't matter - if anything, it makes the Wizards less likely to ask for Smart back in a trade even if he outperforms. I haven't been able to find or think of any situation where a max FA wanted to go to a certain team and the former team refused to entertain a sign and trade as a means of holding the player hostage. If Beal decides he wants to come here then we have a big 1 year salary in Horford and we can balance the trade via any number of picks/assets. Anything that happens at the trade deadline doesn't have that much relevance - I don't think Beal will just magically sign an extension for the team that trades for him.
I think that for the most part what team is at the other end of the S&T doesn't matter so much - some teams trading for Beal might be more interesting destinations for him and have a chance of convincing him to stay. GSW is one of those teams, but Beal will probably see FA no matter what team he goes to. Otherwise, GSW if anything is a better trade partner for the Celtics if Beal doesn't want to stay there, because Smart on a rebuilding Wizards team is a questionable fit, but he would be extremely interesting on a GFIN, Curry's last gasp GSW.He would have to sign with that team to be traded to the C's. It would be an interesting wrinkle if the C's were working on a S&T with the GSW for Beal.
I read that tweet as him talking to Celtics fandom, who are all over him asking about implications to a future Beal deal. In that context, he's being a Negative Nancy. Fans can hope for the unlikely if they want. At least this is well within the realm of possibility.I don;t think he's negative. He's correctly pointing out that star trades aren't THAT common, and that making yourself flexible enough to make them is good, planning on making one isn't, because too many things are beyond your control. Also, a lot of it is that he responds on twitter, and most of his timeline is toxic waste spewed by barely literal mouthbreathers.
According to The Athletic, it's 5 months and he could be traded in January.Not that they would've wanted to anyway, but Smart now can't be traded for six months. I don't believe they've announced this years trade deadline date, but if it's around the same time as 2020, Smart can't be traded in season this year either.
The most conspicuous clue the Smart contract is pointing to a trade for a superstar is consummating the deal at summer league rather than right before the season. Because of the truncated offseason with the NBA Finals ending in July, the usual moratorium on trading players following an extension agreement has been shortened from six to five months.
By getting the deal done on Aug. 16, or whenever the ink finally dries this week, the five-month waiting period will come in January and before the trade deadline. So not only will Smart be trade eligible next season, unlike a player who signs an extension just before training camp, but the team could make an early move well ahead of the deadline like the James Harden deal on Jan. 14 this year. It’s likely why the team got to work on the Smart contract once it became clear Beal was not leaving Washington at this point in time.
I didn't realize they shortened the timeframe for this season.According to The Athletic, it's 5 months and he could be traded in January.
https://theathletic.com/2774215/2021/08/17/what-does-marcus-smarts-extension-mean-for-celtics-pursuit-of-a-superstar/
Almost certainly not.I think it is a stretch to say that this contract means they are looking to trade Smart in January.
Not you, but Jared Weiss' article seemed to be implying that they did this deal early so they could move him sooner.Almost certainly not.
But I had said it was illegal, which was wrong.
They probably want the optionality. If Smart is playing well in Jan and someone like Beal comes available, you can probably flip him to a 3rd team for assets, which could be big in getting that deal done.Not you, but Jared Weiss' article seemed to be implying that they did this deal early so they could move him sooner.
Not looking but it now opens the door for him to have value in a trade aside from being an expiring contract. This extension increases his trade value to the Wizards or anyone else.I think it is a stretch to say that this contract means they are looking to trade Smart in January.
The 1 advantage to the Fournier contract is the 4th year is a team option, but yeah, tis fine.I don't know if it's only interesting to me, but Smart got almost the exact same deal as Fournier (4/77 instead of 4/78 and starting one year later). In that context, I'm pretty happy with this.
Marcus took shots last year because he had to. Kemba missed 40% of the season, who else was supposed to be shooting, Daniel Theis? Tristan Thompson? Jeff Teague? In the years when Boston had shooters/scorers Smart barely shot the ball. With more guys like him on the floor he likely shoots less this year.I have loved rooting for Marcus over the years, but I'm hoping they are planning to move him in the future with this deal. I just don't see the fit on this team. I'm tired of watching guys slack off Marcus on defense, forcing the Jays to give it up, so they can find a wide open
Marcus.
And then we get to watch Marcus brick 68/100 3's over the course of every 15 games or so. If I'm Udoka, I'm benching Marcus at the end of every quarter, just because if the ball is in Marcus' hands with under 10 seconds to shoot, Marcus is shooting. Shit, I might call time out any time the shot clock is under 8 seconds and the ball is in his hands.
Defensively, he was nowhere near the same guy last year as he has been previously, and with his body type, I don't see him aging well at all. Sure, he brings plenty of fire and passion and energy and hustle, and on occasion, he'll make one of those "winning" plays, but I think he stunts the games of our two alpha dogs.
I don't know. I just don't know I don't love it at the moment. Hopefully, Udoka can get to him like Brad never could.
I'm not sure you can find a single stat to support this, actually. With or WIthout You stats all show that Smart is a net positive for both the Jays. Smart is actually a better teammate for Jayson than Jaylen:but I think he stunts the games of our two alpha dogs.
I'm standing by my theory that when Smart does stupid things (like heat check with 20 seconds on the clock) it looks so obviously terrible that it sticks in the mind and people overestimate how often it happens.Its interesting that people are concerned about Smart's worst tendencies now being allowed to run unchecked when the NBA coach most familiar with his strengths and weaknesses is the very same person who offered him this extension. This is not to say that Brad Stevens is infallible because he clearly is not. But unless you honestly believe that Stevens et al thinks Smart is the best offensive player on the team, why would they knowingly keep him around when he is just going to be a net negative to Tatum and Brown.
To secure his trade value. If you are the Wizards say and you know you have to move Beal at the deadline to best control and maximize your return......would you prefer an expiring contract in Smart who can walk in two months or a quality player to replace Beal at his position that is locked up for 3 more years?Its interesting that people are concerned about Smart's worst tendencies now being allowed to run unchecked when the NBA coach most familiar with his strengths and weaknesses is the very same person who offered him this extension. This is not to say that Brad Stevens is infallible because he clearly is not. But unless you honestly believe that Stevens et al thinks Smart is the best offensive player on the team, why would they knowingly keep him around when he is just going to be a net negative to Tatum and Brown.
I don;t think he's negative. He's correctly pointing out that star trades aren't THAT common, and that making yourself flexible enough to make them is good, planning on making one isn't, because too many things are beyond your control. Also, a lot of it is that he responds on twitter, and most of his timeline is toxic waste spewed by barely literal mouthbreathers.
There is no question that this deal was designed to be moveable if the opportunity arises. But that opportunity isn't there yet and now Smart is with the team until at least the deadline.To secure his trade value. If you are the Wizards say and you know you have to move Beal at the deadline to best control and maximize your return......would you prefer an expiring contract in Smart who can walk in two months or a quality player to replace Beal at his position that is locked up for 3 more years?
Marcus took more shots in 2019-20 than he did in 2020-21, when Kemba played 56 of 72 games, Gordon played 52 games, etc. He actually shot less last year than the previous year, and he averaged 1 more mpg last year than the previous year.Marcus took shots last year because he had to. Kemba missed 40% of the season, who else was supposed to be shooting, Daniel Theis? Tristan Thompson? Jeff Teague? In the years when Boston had shooters/scorers Smart barely shot the ball. With more guys like him on the floor he likely shoots less this year.
I don’t feel his game is a detriment to The Jays but the reason they couldn’t trade him again was that he was an expiring contract which limits his trade value for one and for two he is likely the key piece in our ultimate deadline deal for Beal.There is no question that this deal was designed to be moveable if the opportunity arises. But that opportunity isn't there yet and now Smart is with the team until at least the deadline.
My question remains the same - if his game is deleterious to Tatum and Brown why not find a deal for him now?
Is the view that the Celtics will just grin and bear his chucking/power grabbing ways because they know he will absolutely be moved? Under what scenario does Boston extend Smart knowing that he is only hurting them on the floor going forward?
His contract situation is well documented. There are people here suggesting that Smart is hurting the team's results and particularly the production of Tatum as well as Brown. I am simply wondering if that view includes Stevens knowingly putting an inferior team on the court so that he can maybe swing for the fences in a deal down the road or if its just that the Celtics, the data and some fans are failing to see these huge red flags.I don’t feel his game is a detriment to The Jays but the reason they couldn’t trade him again was that he was an expiring contract which limits his trade value for one and for two he is likely the key piece in our ultimate deadline deal for Beal.
I can’t imagine that. He’s fine with this group but his greatest value to the organization right now is as the key match for Beal.His contract situation is well documented. There are people here suggesting that Smart is hurting the team's results and particularly the production of Tatum as well as Brown. I am simply wondering if that view includes Stevens knowingly putting an inferior team on the court so that he can maybe swing for the fences in a deal down the road or if its just that the Celtics, the data and some fans are failing to see these huge red flags.
I'm going with the latter, since I think the alleged red flags are BS.His contract situation is well documented. There are people here suggesting that Smart is hurting the team's results and particularly the production of Tatum as well as Brown. I am simply wondering if that view includes Stevens knowingly putting an inferior team on the court so that he can maybe swing for the fences in a deal down the road or if its just that the Celtics, the data and some fans are failing to see these huge red flags.
Regarding the bolded, Brown missed the entire playoffs, and Kemba missed the last 2 games. Smart's playing time when from 32mpg to 36.6mpg, and his game-by-game rank in shots in that series was 3 (behind Tatum and Kemba); 1 (was 6-13 on a night that Tatum went 3-12); 5; 3 (behind Tatum and Fournier); and 2 (tied w/ Fournier). He finished 2nd overall with 66 shots, while Fournier was 3rd with 63. Bottom line is that he took shots because someone had to take those shots. And he shot 37% from 3, so it's not like those shots hurt the team.Marcus took more shots in 2019-20 than he did in 2020-21, when Kemba played 56 of 72 games, Gordon played 52 games, etc. He actually shot less last year than the previous year, and he averaged 1 more mpg last year than the previous year.
In the playoffs in 2019/20, Marcus took even more shots, 11.6pg, than he did in the regular season (11.4). Then he bumped up to 13.2/g in this year's playoffs.
If Marcus could shoot for an entire season the way he did in the Brooklyn series, I would love everything about him. Unfortunately, I don't think that's a possibility, and the last two games of the Brooklyn series, when he went 3/19 from deep (and 9/29 from the floor) are not really outliers in his game. You're right though, someone had to take those shots.Regarding the bolded, Brown missed the entire playoffs, and Kemba missed the last 2 games. Smart's playing time when from 32mpg to 36.6mpg, and his game-by-game rank in shots in that series was 3 (behind Tatum and Kemba); 1 (was 6-13 on a night that Tatum went 3-12); 5; 3 (behind Tatum and Fournier); and 2 (tied w/ Fournier). He finished 2nd overall with 66 shots, while Fournier was 3rd with 63. Bottom line is that he took shots because someone had to take those shots. And he shot 37% from 3, so it's not like those shots hurt the team.
Correlation doesn’t equal causation. As others have repeatedly noted in this thread, Smart shoots more when the players around him are bad at offense and shoots less when they are good at offense. In other words, just like was the case late in the Nets series, I would bet that most of those high shot volume games came with other key Celtics players hurt, making it no surprise they lost those games.Including the playoffs, when Marcus took 14+ shots in a game last year, the Celtics went 2-12. When he took 10+ shots, they went 13-22.
This team is worse when Marcus Smart takes shots away from virtually anyone else, and that includes the Jays. When he took less than 10 shots, the C's went 10-6.
This is a great set of numbers.Including the playoffs, when Marcus took 14+ shots in a game last year, the Celtics went 2-12. When he took 10+ shots, they went 13-22.
Your argument strengthens his point, though. Marcus is not good enough to be the third best player on a team. Yeah, he may have been surrounded by bad players, but it speaks to his inability to carry an offense that they don't win games when he takes on more of a burden.Correlation doesn’t equal causation. As others have repeatedly noted in this thread, Smart shoots more when the players around him are bad at offense and shoots less when they are good at offense. In other words, just like was the case late in the Nets series, I would bet that most of those high shot volume games came with other key Celtics players hurt, making it no surprise they lost those games.
Smart takes too many shots when the alternative is watching the likes of Semi Ojeleye try to create offense. I’m not sure that’s a feature, but it’s not a bug.
The breakdown: no. of shots, opponent, (W/L), comments:This is a great set of numbers.
When Marcus is the guy taking lots of shots, we're fucked. I think that we need to really look at those games.
Is Marcus taking those shots because fuck the offense? Fuck the Jays, I'm launching? Is that what we're seeing here, in general?
I ask these questions because that's not what I see. Sure, he'll heat check like everyone. But you watch the games too. When the offense is going through the motion with its tail between its legs, Marcus says fuck it and launches. You'd rather that Tatum took more step back 28 footers? You're probably right that the PPP is a little higher than Marcus heat checks. Probably.
I'd pay to see a breakdown of those 14+ FGA games. I'm not sure that they show what you think they show.
There are two problems with your premise.Your argument strengthens his point, though. Marcus is not good enough to be the third best player on a team. Yeah, he may have been surrounded by bad players, but it speaks to his inability to carry an offense that they don't win games when he takes on more of a burden.
That's fine when he's playing with Kyrie or peak Kemba or if they got Bradley Beal, but he's now paid like the third best guy and we should be fearful of ol' Chucker Smart whenever injuries hit. He's limited their options for getting a better third best guy because now he's getting $20 mill a year (unless they make a trade, specifically using him as the contract piece).
That's a lot of pressure on Nesmith/Romeo/PP to develop fast and be good offensive players, for Al to find the fountain of youth, or for DS/JR to return to form in contract years after being fairly unimpressive the last few seasons. If any of those things happen, this is moot because Marcus will be pushed further down the chain. I don't know that we can depend on any of them happening, though.
Offensive cog Marcus is not and that's fine in a vacuum - the defense, tertiary shot creation, intensity are all good features - but he's being foisted into a role of "third best guy" that isn't ideal for him because he just can't shoot well enough consistently.
He's not getting $20 million per year and isn't impacting their ability to acquire a third star. And it's not "Chucker Smart" that's causing Boston to loase when their stars are injured, it's the fact that their stars are injured.Your argument strengthens his point, though. Marcus is not good enough to be the third best player on a team. Yeah, he may have been surrounded by bad players, but it speaks to his inability to carry an offense that they don't win games when he takes on more of a burden.
That's fine when he's playing with Kyrie or peak Kemba or if they got Bradley Beal, but he's now paid like the third best guy and we should be fearful of ol' Chucker Smart whenever injuries hit. He's limited their options for getting a better third best guy because now he's getting $20 mill a year (unless they make a trade, specifically using him as the contract piece).
The breakdown: no. of shots, opponent, (W/L), comments:
19, Philly (L): No Tatum, and Jaylen took 24!
17, Philly (L): No Tatum; Brown took 28, and Kemba took 16
17, Nets (L): No Brown, no Kemba. Tatum took 27
17, OKC (L): No Tatum, no Kemba. Brown took 26.
15: Knicks (L): No Tatum. Brown took 20.
15: Spurs (L): Smart was tied for Walker for 3rd, after Tatum's 25 and Brown's 19.
15: Bucks (W): Very balanced shot distribution w/ Tatum (18), Kemba (16), Brown (15) all pitching in.
15: Pelicans (L): No Brown. Tatum had 25, Kemba had 18.
15: Golden State (W): No Brown. Smart was 3rd behind Tatum (25) and Kemba (20).
15: Detroit (L): No Kemba. Tatum (24) and Brown (21) led the way.
14: Memphis (L): No Tatum. Brown had 24.
14: Portland (L): No Kemba. Brown (22) and Tatum (19) topped the shooter list.
14: Heat (L): No Brown. Tatum and Fournier had 16 each.
In all but 2 of those games (1-1), one of the Celtics key starters was out. And in none of those games did Smart lead the team in shot attempts.
And in the games where Smart took 10-13 shots, the Celtics went 10-7.
Clearly Al Horford is the third highest paid player, but as he's been dumped twice as a negative value contract, he is not viewed that way. Marcus just signed that contract, so we can infer that the Celtics see his role as a $20 million player at the moment. That matters I would think.There are two problems with your premise.
First, he’s not getting paid like the third best player but the fourth. You can see this because he’s, literally, the fourth highest paid player on our team but he’s also getting paid in line with someone like Marcus Morris, accounting for cap/salary inflation. To help illustrate this from the other side, Smart’s contract will pay him $21 million in his last year. Steph Curry will make $59 million that year.
Second, the fact that he’s ill suited to being a top 2 scoring option doesn’t mean he’s overpaid or not valuable. Dray was the third best player on both a championship team and a team that set the regular season wins record and he is not a good scorer either. Jrue was the second or third best player on a title team this year and is not much better than Smart at scoring but uses a lot more possessions despite that.
In short, players contribute in different ways. Smart is a complimentary player who plays really good defense, passes well, and is a willing shooter who shoots well enough that defenses have to defend him on the perimeter. He’s getting paid at a level that is a good but not amazing value.
Thanks. This is about what I expected.The breakdown: no. of shots, opponent, (W/L), comments:
19, Philly (L): No Tatum, and Jaylen took 24!
17, Philly (L): No Tatum; Brown took 28, and Kemba took 16
17, Nets (L): No Brown, no Kemba. Tatum took 27
17, OKC (L): No Tatum, no Kemba. Brown took 26.
15: Knicks (L): No Tatum. Brown took 20.
15: Spurs (L): Smart was tied for Walker for 3rd, after Tatum's 25 and Brown's 19.
15: Bucks (W): Very balanced shot distribution w/ Tatum (18), Kemba (16), Brown (15) all pitching in.
15: Pelicans (L): No Brown. Tatum had 25, Kemba had 18.
15: Golden State (W): No Brown. Smart was 3rd behind Tatum (25) and Kemba (20).
15: Detroit (L): No Kemba. Tatum (24) and Brown (21) led the way.
14: Memphis (L): No Tatum. Brown had 24.
14: Portland (L): No Kemba. Brown (22) and Tatum (19) topped the shooter list.
14: Heat (L): No Brown. Tatum and Fournier had 16 each.
In all but 2 of those games (1-1), one of the Celtics key starters was out. And in none of those games did Smart lead the team in shot attempts.
And in the games where Smart took 10-13 shots, the Celtics went 10-7.
EDIT: I do agree w/ @ManicCompression to some extent that Smart is not the person you necessarily want being #3 in shot attempts overall. But a big part of the problem last season is that there was a huge drop off in offensive talent after Smart. It was part of the reason Ainge traded for Fournier; unfortunately, an untimely bout of CoVid and Brown's subsequent knee injury totally derailed those plans. Richardson and Schroder should alleviate that problem to some extent.
Also, I don't believe Stevens intends for Smart to be the #3 star long term, but he may very well be the #4.
We can do this all day long but it's meaningless because like we said, correlation is not causation. I definitely mentioned this in another thread, but Smart's highest usage situations come when the Celtics are trailing, and his usage only goes up the more they trail by. You are looking at it backwards - the Celtics don't lose because Smart shoots a lot, but rather, when the Celtics are losing Smart shoots more. This is a direct reflection of how passively the Celtics play on offense when they are behind - ball movement disappears, it just becomes a litany of bad ISO possessions. This has held true for almost as long as Brad has been coach, to be honest.They went 48-34 in the regular season in 2019/20, and IIRC, when Marcus took a lot of shots (I forget if I looked at 10+ then), the C's were 17-16.
The NBA.com tracking numbers aren't my favorite, since it seems like 4+ feet is a lot but by those same metrics 67% of Tatum's 3 were 4+ ft open (and as great of a shooter Tatum is, he shot 41% on those, so think about the validity of those tracking numbers/what you're asking of Smart). Usually I use the 6+ feet if I do use those tracking numbers, and Smart shot 37.4% on those. Over the season, he was 3 makes out of 131 attempts away from your goal.I don't obviously think Marcus will ever hit 50% of anything other than free throws, but is 40% when there isn't anyone guarding you too much to ask?
This weird tangent about team record conditioned on a number of shots taken is only fair if we do it for every player.They went 48-34 in the regular season in 2019/20, and IIRC, when Marcus took a lot of shots (I forget if I looked at 10+ then), the C's were 17-16.
In that loss to Detroit, when Marcus took the 3rd most shots on the team, they had no Kemba, as you note. But 8 days earlier, also without Kemba, Marcus took 3 shots against Milwaukee, despite leading the team in minutes, and the C's took down the Bucks.
In that subsequent win against the Bucks later in the year that you note above, he made 7/10 from deep and the C's won by 8. It was probably one of the best nights of his career.
Then he takes a bunch of shots a couple days later, and they lose to the Pelicans by 6 when he goes 6/15 and 0/6 from deep.
My problem with Marcus isn't that he takes a lot of shots, it's that he misses a lot of them, and most of his shots, like by a large margin, are with no defender within 4 feet of him. I think it was like 65% of his shots. When you have guys like Tatum and Brown on the team pulling defenders like a super version of athletic gravity, you're going to have open looks elsewhere. Marcus Smart, IMO, hasn't shown that he can hit the open shots, and nowhere near a clip that he should if he's taking that many shots. Mattise Thybulle can't shoot either, which is why he only takes like 3-4 shots a game. It doesn't matter if Embid is out or Ben Simmons can't shoot, Thybulle doesn't shoot. Guys like Justin Holiday can shoot circles around Marcus, and even he doesn't fire as many 3's per game as Marcus does. Indiana didn't have every guy play every game last year, but it didn't mean some guy who cant shoot should be chucking. That's when you need Marcus to create open looks for guys that can shoot.
Edit: And this is the main point, wrt to the Jays. If defenses can slack off Marcus and force him to beat them, they can help on the Jays. If you replace Marcus outside with a guy who can shoot like PP (I know, we're talking about apples and oranges) and knock down those open looks at better than a 33% clip, it'll open things up for the Jays significantly.
2nd edit: I forget the exact number now, but something like 65% of Marcus' shot attempts come with nobody within 4 feet of him. If you are getting that many wide open looks, you have to make more than he does, or defenses will keep giving you open looks and force you to shoot. Tatum had something like only 5% of his 3 pointers with no defender within 6 feet, and he makes like 52% of them. I don't obviously think Marcus will ever hit 50% of anything other than free throws, but is 40% when there isn't anyone guarding you too much to ask? If he did just that, he'd be like a 37-38% 3 point shooter.
On a per minute basis, all but Nesmith did shoot more often than Smart last year. And Nesmith is a good bet to shoot more this year than last.However, assuming this team is healthy, I'd rather see PP, Tatum, Brown, Horford, Nesmith, Schroder all taking more shots than him.
I think you're really missing the point here with this Smart contract.Clearly Al Horford is the third highest paid player, (1) but as he's been dumped twice as a negative value contract, he is not viewed that way. Marcus just signed that contract, (2) so we can infer that the Celtics see his role as a $20 million player at the moment. That matters I would think.
Also, Smart is not Draymond Green. He is a perimeter defender, which is innately less valuable than what Draymond provides to the Warriors on defense. If Marcus had Draymond's size and ability, yes, of course we would not be having this discussion because the entire Celtics roster would probably be different. Also, I hate to say it, but Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are not peak Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. (2) They need a better third wheel than a smaller, worse version of Draymond Green.
Marcus is also not in the vicinity of Jrue Holiday. If Marcus Smart was on the same Bucks team, I don't think they win the Championship. I would be surprised if a lot of people here shared that opinion with you. Certainly the league and the Celtics do not share this opinion with you if you look at their contracts and trade value.
CorrectamundoNext year's team is not a contender: but they're set-up now between Smart and Horford's contracts and the expirings with Schroder and Richardson to wheel and deal. As far as we know, that's the best the Celtics could have done this offseason, and with the Tatum-Beal connection, the Celtics are in a position to make the best move they can.