Backup playmaker is Evan Turner's primary role on this team, and there are lots of players in the draft and on the market who could perform that role as well or better. There are even some players on the team who could grow into that role, Rozier being the most obvious candidate because of his ballhandling skills. The Celtics signed Turner on the cheap, but he has grown back into the middle class, and will probably be signed away by an also-ran team like the Knicks.
I'd agree with this, mostly. I think Rozier gets the back up point guard minutes next year that Turner is getting now. Turner's minutes at the 3 need to come from somewhere else. If they trade for or sign a wing, that would cover it. That player would also probably pick up a decent chunk of Jerebko's minutes (maybe with Crowder playing a small ball 4 or maybe with our new wing doing it). If we get lucky in the lottery and draft Brown or Simmons, the the backup 3 minutes are coming from that player. One of our later firsts could also net us someone who can step in immediately as a bench 3. If not, and if we strike out on Durant and DeRozan, I expect us to easily sign someone in the Barnes/Batum/Bazemore/Parsons grouping of FA, all of whom are better than Turner. There are 2's other than DeRozan who could be good fits here as Turner replacements, but I think a 3 fits better. DeRozan is one of the only 2's that I see as having the size to slide into a small ball 3 role, which is something I would look for if adding another guard to the Thomas/Bradley/Smart/Rozier rotation.
All that said, I'm secretly hoping we work out something with Durant and the Kings whereby we trade multiple Brooklyn picks for Cousins (so that the Kings can't say no) and Durant agrees to sign here. Adding Durant and Cousins to our current roster (minus Amir and Jerebko) would instantly make us the team to beat in the East. The roster would look like:
5: Cousins, Zeller
4: Olynyk, Sullinger, Mickey
3: Durant, Crowder, Young (only because we are stuck with him)
2: Bradley, Smart
1: Thomas, Rozier
There's room in there to fit in our draft picks. I don't see Young or Mickey playing much on that team. I do see it being very flexible, able to both play big and small. And, I really think that team would be the favorites in the East out of the gate. The basic idea is that, if we can entice the Kings to trade Cousins, and our collection of picks should be enough to do that, we easily offer Durant the best non-Warriors opportunity to win a title. Great coach, very good young roster that is deep and is just missing stars, and a strong front office that would still have a solid stable of draft picks to maintain its current depth. It's a dream, and it's not the most likely option, but I don't think it's crazy. (There are other bigs who could fill the Cousins role in this dream, either via trade or, even more ideally, via FA, but I think Cousins is the best in the game right now and I'd easily overpay in future draft picks for Cousins if it convinced Durant to come here.)