Brad Stevens: President of Basketball Ops

radsoxfan

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The TL extension along with Smart's got me to pondering (always dangerous) and by my count brings to 8 the homegrown 1st round draft picks on this team.
Speaking of draft picks, these recent contracts bring Danny's pretty great draft run from 2014-2018 into focus. He had A LOT of picks, and many flamed out, as expected.

But his 1st selection in each of those drafts... strong work.


2014: Marcus Smart (6th)

2015: Terry Rozier (16th)

2016: Jaylen Brown (3rd)

2017: Jayson Tatum (3rd)

2018: Robert Williams (28th)
 

Cesar Crespo

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We get our stretch 4!

Kidding, although he does have some talent... I didn't realize he was turning 26 this month tho. He's signed for next year too, though it's not guaranteed.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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We get our stretch 4!

Kidding, although he does have some talent... I didn't realize he was turning 26 this month tho. He's signed for next year too, though it's not guaranteed.
He is exactly the sort of piece that this team should be looking to add given the cost (a surplus of tiny guards).

Brad is going to be good at this, isn't he?
 

lostjumper

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I love how has has turned over the bottom of the roster. He knew better than anyone that it sucked. Brad just might turn out to be a good team architect.
 

bigq

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A week or so ago there was speculation that one of the PGs would be gone but I wasn't expecting two to depart.

Here is where I think the roster stands now:

Jaylen Brown
Bruno Fernando
Juancho Hernangomez
Al Horford
Enes Kanter
Romeo Langford
Aaron Nesmith
Jabari Parker
Payton Pritchard
Josh Richardson
Denis Schröder
Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum
Grant Williams
Robert Williams

15 bodies to fill 15 slots. The roster is now very light on ones and an argument could be made that Schröder is the only true PG on the roster.

Perhaps PGs are becoming obsolete and positional flexibility and switch-ability are the future but I am a bit uncomfortable with the prospect of so many minutes with Smart and Prichard at the point.

I'm not convinced that Brad is done tinkering. This offseason has been highly entertaining from a roster perspective and I am fascinated to see how this plays out.
 

Cesar Crespo

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A week or so ago there was speculation that one of the PGs would be gone but I wasn't expecting two to depart.

Here is where I think the roster stands now:

Jaylen Brown
Bruno Fernando
Juancho Hernangomez
Al Horford
Enes Kanter
Romeo Langford
Aaron Nesmith
Jabari Parker
Payton Pritchard
Josh Richardson
Denis Schröder
Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum
Grant Williams
Robert Williams

15 bodies to fill 15 slots. The roster is now very light on ones and an argument could be made that Schröder is the only true PG on the roster.

Perhaps PGs are becoming obsolete and positional flexibility and switch-ability are the future but I am a bit uncomfortable with the prospect of so many minutes with Smart and Prichard at the point.

I'm not convinced that Brad is done tinkering. This offseason has been highly entertaining from a roster perspective and I am fascinated to see how this plays out.
Carsen isn't really a PG and Dunn is always injured. I don't think the trade changed much. Brad has done a good job getting rid of redundancy for need this off season. I wonder if Juan has a chance of stealing Grant's minutes, tho. The team also has Houser on a 2 way and the other 2 way open, I think.

I wouldn't mind another tallish PG but between Schroder, Smart and PP I'm not worry too much about the PG position. The roster construction is pretty solid. Only thing missing is the combo 4/5.
 

JM3

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The last $1.1m of JP's contract doesn't guarantee until opening night & there are a fair # of PGs floating around including old friends Avery Bradley, Brad Wannamaker, Jeff Teague, IT2 & Tremont Waters, as well as random potential new friends such as Matt Dellavedova, Mike James, Nico Mannion, Franky Smokes, Langston Galloway & Quinn Cook.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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My guess is that they go into the season without adding another ballhandling guard just because they have quite a few options in non-guard ball handlers where they don't have to worry as much about match-ups. Al Horford's skillset and what it allows teams to do is underrated here.
 

bigq

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Carsen isn't really a PG and Dunn is always injured. I don't think the trade changed much. Brad has done a good job getting rid of redundancy for need this off season. I wonder if Juan has a chance of stealing Grant's minutes, tho. The team also has Houser on a 2 way and the other 2 way open, I think.

I wouldn't mind another tallish PG but between Schroder, Smart and PP I'm not worry too much about the PG position. The roster construction is pretty solid. Only thing missing is the combo 4/5.
I agree about Carsen (I don't think he will be missed) and know little about Dunn (your comment about his ability to stay on the court appear to be spot on) but thought he could be a good depth piece.

I guess it will be match up specific but I could see small, quick PGs giving this Celtics team a lot of headaches but perhaps that is a reasonable trade off for an improved overall roster.
 

Eddie Jurak

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My guess is that they go into the season without adding another ballhandling guard just because they have quite a few options in non-guard ball handlers where they don't have to worry as much about match-ups. Al Horford's skillset and what it allows teams to do is underrated here.
They could also add one on a 2-way to provide a little more depth. I also think Parker is not long for this team, so clearing a roster spot will be easy.
 

lovegtm

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Also wonder if other GM’s are open for business with us again, and just didn’t want to work with DA anymore.
I don't want to read too much into that, but there may have been some element of it. It definitely feels like all the marginal low-level moves that would have helped title odds in (e.g.) 2019-2020 are now available again, for whatever reason.
 

HomeRunBaker

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The last $1.1m of JP's contract doesn't guarantee until opening night & there are a fair # of PGs floating around including old friends Avery Bradley, Brad Wannamaker, Jeff Teague, IT2 & Tremont Waters, as well as random potential new friends such as Matt Dellavedova, Mike James, Nico Mannion, Franky Smokes, Langston Galloway & Quinn Cook.
Going through this list…..Dellavedova signed in Australia(?) and Mannion in Italy, the latters rights are still owned by the Warriors. Cook is worse than Waters and James doesn’t seem like a good fit. Of this list, only Galloway and Bradley intrigue me and I wonder how much Avery wants to play basketball anymore. There will always be emergency guys of this level available if we need them due to a long term injury and let’s remember the long game includes Beal who will have the ball in his hands a ton anyway.

I am very happy, and not surprised, that Brad is better at structing a roster than he is coaching it. The upgrades at both of these positions seem to have changed our entire culture of last years IDGAF attitude that permeated much of the time.
 

sezwho

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I am very happy, and not surprised, that Brad is better at structing a roster than he is coaching it. The upgrades at both of these positions seem to have changed our entire culture of last years IDGAF attitude that permeated much of the time.
I’m not sure I’m there yet, not taking anything away from the GM piece.

Looking back I can think of no players that I believe would’ve developed better under another coach and no series that I think another coach would’ve won where we lost. I will concede the roster showed all kinds of bad signs last year, but I don’t think it was unrecoverable. Or unforgivable.

I am also surprised both how effective and decisive he’s been so early in his tenure.
 

JM3

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Combo guards like Etwaun Moore & Wesley Matthews
Going through this list…..Dellavedova signed in Australia(?) and Mannion in Italy, the latters rights are still owned by the Warriors. Cook is worse than Waters and James doesn’t seem like a good fit. Of this list, only Galloway and Bradley intrigue me and I wonder how much Avery wants to play basketball anymore. There will always be emergency guys of this level available if we need them due to a long term injury and let’s remember the long game includes Beal who will have the ball in his hands a ton anyway.

I am very happy, and not surprised, that Brad is better at structing a roster than he is coaching it. The upgrades at both of these positions seem to have changed our entire culture of last years IDGAF attitude that permeated much of the time.
Sorry, was just scrolling through the RealGM free agency list. Mannion made no sense to me, but didn't bother questioning it.

Not advocating that we acquire any of those guys as much as saying it is an easy role to fill.
 

Eddie Jurak

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I think there is a strong argument for Brad as executive of the year.

1. He hired the right coach and stuck by him.
2. He took a team that appeared to some to have missed its window of contention and revitalized it with some trades that did not look like obvious winners (eg, reacquiring Horford).
3. Where latter-years Danny Ainge seemed laser focused on talent acquisition and damage control, Brad has managed to incorporate fit into the equation, without abandoning talent acquisition. Where Danny seemed gunshy about surrendering value in trades, Brad is happy to do so for the player he wants. But Brad's mid-level talent acquisition (Josh Richardson, Dennis Schroder) laid part of the foundation Brad needed to make some of his more fit-based deals (White, Theis).

He'll have revisionist history working against him, as the people who vote on these things will probaly have some collective amnesia around all of the "Boston needs to move Tatum or Brown" talk from 3 months ago. And once that is forgotten, all Brad did was oversee the core that Danny had built: in Smart, Brown, Tatum, Rob, Grant, Pritchard, 6 of the 8 core rotation players were drafted by Danny, including the 2 stars.
 

lovegtm

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I think there is a strong argument for Brad as executive of the year.

1. He hired the right coach and stuck by him.
2. He took a team that appeared to some to have missed its window of contention and revitalized it with some trades that did not look like obvious winners (eg, reacquiring Horford).
3. Where latter-years Danny Ainge seemed laser focused on talent acquisition and damage control, Brad has managed to incorporate fit into the equation, without abandoning talent acquisition. Where Danny seemed gunshy about surrendering value in trades, Brad is happy to do so for the player he wants. But Brad's mid-level talent acquisition (Josh Richardson, Dennis Schroder) laid part of the foundation Brad needed to make some of his more fit-based deals (White, Theis).

He'll have revisionist history working against him, as the people who vote on these things will probaly have some collective amnesia around all of the "Boston needs to move Tatum or Brown" talk from 3 months ago. And once that is forgotten, all Brad did was oversee the core that Danny had built: in Smart, Brown, Tatum, Rob, Grant, Pritchard, 6 of the 8 core rotation players were drafted by Danny, including the 2 stars.
Including the pick swap for White is something Danny doesn't do imo, even though I think between Tatum/Brown probably staying and the top-1 protection, it's a good deal.

Might be green-colored glasses, but Brad seems more confident than a lot of executives at evaluating fit in making deals. I wouldn't have thought White was a huge upgrade over JRich prior to the deal, but the difference is extremely noticeable and was worth paying for.

Obviously the Theis deal is looking prescient now too, despite being questioned at the time. Not just because Rob got hurt, but because Theis has been a great fit, once they adjusted to using him more.
 

Jimbodandy

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He'll have revisionist history working against him, as the people who vote on these things will probaly have some collective amnesia around all of the "Boston needs to move Tatum or Brown" talk from 3 months ago.
Good post.

Just wanted to emphasize that this board has amnesia around "Tatum and Brown can't play together" talk too. It's human nature.

Brad did excellent work in year one. Hopefully he keeps it going. He has fewer arrows in the quiver now, but he still has most of the picks.
 

Phil Plantier

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Including the pick swap for White is something Danny doesn't do imo, even though I think between Tatum/Brown probably staying and the top-1 protection, it's a good deal.
I think it's a couple of months too early to evaluate this. If the Celtics underachieve in the playoffs we're going to regret giving this up for a bench player.
 

chilidawg

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Horford for Kemba was key, and he did it quickly. Seems Brad knew which guys were fits from his coaching days, and went out and got them. Schroder was a good move because he was free value that could be flipped for a better fit.
 

jmcc5400

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Good post.

Just wanted to emphasize that this board has amnesia around "Tatum and Brown can't play together" talk too. It's human nature.

Brad did excellent work in year one. Hopefully he keeps it going. He has fewer arrows in the quiver now, but he still has most of the picks.
In some ways he has fewer arrows in his quiver, but the Celtics have developed a culture that is going to be attractive for veteran free agents looking to be a final piece in the puzzle of a championship team. I highly recommend listening to Draymond Green's podcast with Tatum to get a sense of how Ime and Tatum are perceived in the league. Also notably, the Celtics have a pretty substantial trade exception to work with.
 

djbayko

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I think there is a strong argument for Brad as executive of the year.

1. He hired the right coach and stuck by him.
2. He took a team that appeared to some to have missed its window of contention and revitalized it with some trades that did not look like obvious winners (eg, reacquiring Horford).
3. Where latter-years Danny Ainge seemed laser focused on talent acquisition and damage control, Brad has managed to incorporate fit into the equation, without abandoning talent acquisition. Where Danny seemed gunshy about surrendering value in trades, Brad is happy to do so for the player he wants. But Brad's mid-level talent acquisition (Josh Richardson, Dennis Schroder) laid part of the foundation Brad needed to make some of his more fit-based deals (White, Theis).

He'll have revisionist history working against him, as the people who vote on these things will probaly have some collective amnesia around all of the "Boston needs to move Tatum or Brown" talk from 3 months ago. And once that is forgotten, all Brad did was oversee the core that Danny had built: in Smart, Brown, Tatum, Rob, Grant, Pritchard, 6 of the 8 core rotation players were drafted by Danny, including the 2 stars.
If this article is any indication, Brad has a great shot at it. Of course, executives vote on this award rather than the media, which could hurt him. Will his peers want to vote for someone in their first year? To be clear, I don't know if this is a bias which actually impacts this award - it's just speculation.

(8) voters
(5) 1st place votes
(2) 3rd place votes

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2021-22-nba-awards-picks-experts-leaning-nikola-jokic-for-mvp-agree-on-sixth-man-winner-split-on-rest/
 
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DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I am less interested in potential awards and more interested in all the firm takes that he is leaving after this season for another coaching job. Are there people here still pretty certain that is happening?
 

Senator Donut

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I think it's a couple of months too early to evaluate this. If the Celtics underachieve in the playoffs we're going to regret giving this up for a bench player.
Derrick White is signed for three more seasons. At the very least he should have a positive trade value through the end of a deal in 2025. Josh Richardson has been great for San Antonio on an unsustainably hot shooting streak, but even if he were to return to Miami/Philadelphia form, I’d be hard-pressed to give it a negative grade, now that we know the draft pick going to the Spurs (subject to a coin flip).

I also don’t think starter/bench player is a meaningful distinctions between the 5th and 6th most minutes played on the roster, especially since those minutes will likely be flip flopped to take advantage of certain matchups.

Including the pick swap for White is something Danny doesn't do imo, even though I think between Tatum/Brown probably staying and the top-1 protection, it's a good deal.

Might be green-colored glasses, but Brad seems more confident than a lot of executives at evaluating fit in making deals. I wouldn't have thought White was a huge upgrade over JRich prior to the deal, but the difference is extremely noticeable and was worth paying for.

Obviously the Theis deal is looking prescient now too, despite being questioned at the time. Not just because Rob got hurt, but because Theis has been a great fit, once they adjusted to using him more.
I think I said this elsewhere, but in-season trades were Ainge’s blind spot. He made no meaningful player additions between Isaiah Thomas and Evan Fournier (who ended up being part of an artful luxury tax dodge).

This also indirectly led to the draft pick crunch and having to defer picks or limit the team to drafting overseas players to clear either roster spots or cap space (for Kemba).
 

Eddie Jurak

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I am less interested in potential awards and more interested in all the firm takes that he is leaving after this season for another coaching job. Are there people here still pretty certain that is happening?
I never believed that to begin with, but I don't think anything has happened over the past year to make it more likely.
Derrick White is signed for three more seasons. At the very least he should have a positive trade value through the end of a deal in 2025. Josh Richardson has been great for San Antonio on an unsustainably hot shooting streak, but even if he were to return to Miami/Philadelphia form, I’d be hard-pressed to give it a negative grade, now that we know the draft pick going to the Spurs (subject to a coin flip).
Yes - the bolded is very important.
I think I said this elsewhere, but in-season trades were Ainge’s blind spot. He made no meaningful player additions between Isaiah Thomas and Evan Fournier (who ended up being part of an artful luxury tax dodge).

This also indirectly led to the draft pick crunch and having to defer picks or limit the team to drafting overseas players to clear either roster spots or cap space (for Kemba).
I think that, after Kyrie, major trades were the Achilles hell, not just in season ones.
 
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DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I never believed that to begin with, but I don't think anything has happened over the past year to make it more likely.
Yes - the bolded is very important.
I think that, after Kyrie, major trades were the Achilles hell, not just in season ones.
Just so we are getting attribution right, that post is not mine. That said, I agree with both of you though I think trades are a tough way to grade an NBA executive. For me its more of a body of work thing. Bob Myers doesn't make a lot of trades but its hard to argue with the Warriors development regime over his time at Golden State. Ditto Ujiri and I wouldn't even consider his trade history.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Just so we are getting attribution right, that post is not mine. That said, I agree with both of you though I think trades are a tough way to grade an NBA executive. For me its more of a body of work thing. Bob Myers doesn't make a lot of trades but its hard to argue with the Warriors development regime over his time at Golden State. Ditto Ujiri and I wouldn't even consider his trade history.
Sorry - I fixed the attribution mistake. Thanks.

I don't primarily rate Stevens on trades - though I think he has clearly differentiated himself from Ainge with his trades and other personnel moves.

He came in and took over a team he was familiar with, but a team that looked as if maybe its window was closing or had already closed. He added a coach, moved on from Kemba Walker (and reacquired Al Horford), made some 'tinker around the edges' type deals, took a flyer on a cheap Denis Schroder, made some key deadline acquisitions, and showed a decidedly un-Ainge-like focus on fit.

In certain ways it is still very much Ainge's team (Smart, Brown, Tatum, Rob, Grant, Pritchard, Nesmith... even Horford and Theis in a certain way) but in ways that matter it is very much not.
 

NomarsFool

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This off-season is Stevens’ real test, I’d say. He could certainly just run it back, and that is probably the safest play, but if he figures out a bigger move that vaults the team into title favorite next season that will put him into executive of the year conversations.
 

snowmanny

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White is a great fit. Others may disagree with the following statement, and If I am wrong tell me, but it seems to me that his fit with the Celtics exceeds the general level of his talent. Being able to identify fits - beyond the we need a shooter type acquisition- seems like a skill that not all executives possess.
 

BringBackMo

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I think it's a couple of months too early to evaluate this. If the Celtics underachieve in the playoffs we're going to regret giving this up for a bench player.
White is signed through the 2024-25 season, and the pick swap option isn't until 2028. I think it's safe to say that even if the Celtics underachieve in the playoffs this year, there is still plenty of time and potential for the team to not regret giving up the swap whatsoever.
 

lexrageorge

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I don't think trades, or the lack thereof, were Ainge's "downfall" so much as the disastrous combination of the Kyrie trade, Hayward injuries, and Kemba contract.

Stevens did a great job of getting the Celtics out from underneath the problems caused by the Kemba contract, and the White trade was a master stroke. But expectations will only get higher if this year's team makes a deep playoff run. And demands to "continue to fix it" will also grow if there is a disappointing early exit from the playoffs. Either way, a big offseason looms.
 

128

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I don't think trades, or the lack thereof, were Ainge's "downfall" so much as the disastrous combination of the Kyrie trade, Hayward injuries, and Kemba contract.
Yeah, it's impossible to overstate the impact of the Hayward injury. Who knows where the C's would be today had he stayed healthy?
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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My sense is that the nature of how trades happen in the NBA means that while the people who execute them do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of negotiating terms etc, they are essentially assembly line workers. Most transformative trades are driven by the stars themselves.

Again, the organizations who routinely find/develop rotational players as well as bench depth seem to have better than average executives heading up their ops. Toronto, Miami, Golden State, the Clippers and the Spurs come to mind but there are more.

As for executive of the year, I have to give it to Myers. Between their draft and their player development (draft picks, players who came through the G league and free agents etc), he has built one of the deepest rosters in the NBA. At full strength, they match up well with just about any other team they may face in the playoffs. They may end up losing before the finals but they are set up to make a deep run if everyone is healthy.
 

Euclis20

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Getting Smart and Rob Williams extended before the season saved the Celtics a lot of money and/or worry this summer.
Indeed. They have the luxury of knowing that their entire active roster will be back next year (unless they make a trade), with the major decisions this summer being what (if any) action should be taken regarding Al's contract, and how much to offer Grant for his extension. Most of their rotation (Tatum/Brown/Smart/TL/White/Theis/Pritchard) are under team control through at least 2024, which is a great position to be in.
 

tims4wins

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I'm in pure dream big mode here, but this feels like it could be the start of a Warriors type of 3-4 year run. They're not going to come close to a 70 win season, but it doesn't feel like multiple Finals appearances is out of the question for this group.
 

benhogan

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I'm in pure dream big mode here, but this feels like it could be the start of a Warriors type of 3-4 year run. They're not going to come close to a 70 win season, but it doesn't feel like multiple Finals appearances is out of the question for this group.
that's the correct answer. A lot of the perceived current roadblocks will age out over the next 3-4yrs
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I'm in pure dream big mode here, but this feels like it could be the start of a Warriors type of 3-4 year run. They're not going to come close to a 70 win season, but it doesn't feel like multiple Finals appearances is out of the question for this group.
Its definitely a realistic scenario given how much of the core is locked up for another season and beyond. That said, let's see how they do during the balance of the playoffs as it will almost certainly dictate the moves they make during the summer. The good news is that they really only need to look on the rotational shelves depending on the Horford plan. Given Stevens moves to-date, it feels like he has a good handle on what fits with the roster.

On paper, this team is in a good spot beyond this season.
 

Senator Donut

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I'm in pure dream big mode here, but this feels like it could be the start of a Warriors type of 3-4 year run. They're not going to come close to a 70 win season, but it doesn't feel like multiple Finals appearances is out of the question for this group.
I’ve been thinking about “dynasty” potential with this current group. Nothing will come close to the Warriors run with three elite players on value contracts and the cap flexibility to add Durant, unless the CBA rules change dramatically, but I see a lot of potential for the Cs.

I think the foundation is there for a run like the Spurs had starting in Leonard’s second season. They were built around an elite offensive and defensive player and a great supporting cast of role players, several of whom were hall of famers on the downside of their careers. The Celtics have no surefire hall of famers, but they do have a core of role players entering their primes with many years of institutional knowledge of playing together and an elite building block in Tatum, so I see some parallels there.

The Spurs were 55+ wins every year easily, but only won a single championship because of the Warriors and Heat death stars. With super max contracts, more big name players are signing years before free agency. Those super-duper teams are now rare. (The Clippers decided on a “big two” and the Nets for only a brief moment had an unstoppable trio.) I think the fields will be weaker in the 2020s than the 2010s.
 

Eddie Jurak

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you think Brad re-signs Grant? what would you expect there?
That's a tough one, but I lean towards yes. Grant has raised his stock considerably this season, and Brad might even view him as an eventual successor to Al. At the same time, I doubt a team will go after him for his stats. I think he's done enough that Brad will try to sign him.
 

benhogan

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That's a tough one, but I lean towards yes. Grant has raised his stock considerably this season, and Brad might even view him as an eventual successor to Al. At the same time, I doubt a team will go after him for his stats. I think he's done enough that Brad will try to sign him.
4yrs $36M extension (next season he makes $4.3M) + a weight clause

who says NO?
 

mcpickl

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you think Brad re-signs Grant? what would you expect there?
I would guess they just play out next season and see what happens in RFA.

I wouldn't think he's a guy that would get a big offer sheet as an RFA, but if the 2023 free agency class is as weak as the one this summer, it could be a risk.

I'd at least see what shape he comes in at next preseason before thinking about extending him early.

He's a tricky guy to put a value on IMO. I think he's probably a borderline starter/good bench player like a PJ Tucker. I'd offer him something in the midlevel range, maybe 7-8m per year. My guess is, he would think that is the floor of what he could get as an RFA and turn it down.

Maybe they like him more than that, and figure since the money wouldn't kick in til Hoford is off the books, they might overpay him a bit just to lock him in.