Celtics sign Lonnie Walker IV

Auger34

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I doubt there was any chatter about PT. The C's roster/roles are about as set as we've ever seen on a pro team.

Walker's road to a Celtic roster spot
1. Season-ending injury to one of the 14 players on the roster (JAYs, DW, JH, KP, Al, SH, PP, KornXQ, Springer, Baylor, Walsh)
2. Trade that opens up a spot
3. Brad decides to start the season with 15 instead of 14.

Walker is cheap roster insurance... Smart move by Brad
I think there’s an incredibly small chance that Walker isn’t on the roster. He’s definitely better than Springer, Baylor and Walsh. If the team is fully healthy, he’s probably the 9th man? (I think he’s better than Kornet and X)
 

HomeRunBaker

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Isn’t there a very plausible world where Walker is bette than Springer, Walsh, and/or Baylor and he just earns the playing time without any injuries?
He’s such a different player than those guys in many ways. Baylor and Walsh aren’t yet NBA players so he’s clearly ahead of them. Springer can be a defensive disruptor without the offense while Walker can give you offense albeit not in a team concept while being frustrating as hell to watch defensively due to his poor BBIQ/positional awareness to team defense. If I had to compare him to a former Celtic it would be Darren Daye, who had a deep bench role on some great Celtics teams, but didn’t last long in the league for the same reasons mentioned above that are keeping Walker from establishing himself. Theoretically great physical matchups, switchable size, but just something missing. Brad is betting on a guy figuring it out at an age when he should be able to do so.
 
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pjheff

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I think there’s an incredibly small chance that Walker isn’t on the roster. He’s definitely better than Springer, Baylor and Walsh. If the team is fully healthy, he’s probably the 9th man? (I think he’s better than Kornet and X)
That’s where I have him, although he might not be ninth in minutes while Porzingis is out and the depth bigs get more burn.
 

brendan f

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He’s definitely better than Springer, Baylor and Walsh. If the team is fully healthy, he’s probably the 9th man? (I think he’s better than Kornet and X)
He's not better than Kornet, and he's certainly less useful given the KP injury. He has a chance to be better than the other player you mentioned but could be worse than all of them, except maybe Walsh.

Brad is betting on a guy figuring it out at an age when he should be able to do so.
Brad isn't "betting" on anything. He got a guy on the cheap who no one else wanted, who's flashed potential. Brad's hoping there's a chance the C's can captures it. If they don't, the C's lose nothing.
 

benhogan

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I think there’s an incredibly small chance that Walker isn’t on the roster. He’s definitely better than Springer, Baylor and Walsh. If the team is fully healthy, he’s probably the 9th man? (I think he’s better than Kornet and X)
Both Kornet/X are more valuable to the Celtic's roster due to KP's fragility & Al's age. One or both will start a few games for the first few months. Even Queta is more important to the Celtics roster than Walker.

Walker's an excellent Exhibit 10 contract. It gives Brad options (insurance) between now & opening night depending on what happens with Walsh, Springer & Baylor.

Walker is a substantially better offensive player than those 3 so he has that going for him. Then again, the 10th man would never be a go-to offensive player on the Celtics & why they may opt for Springer instead for roster construction.

I'd guess there is a 25% chance he is on the Celtics roster to open the season and less than 10% he sees close to 1000 minutes for Boston this year.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Brad isn't "betting" on anything. He got a guy on the cheap who no one else wanted, who's flashed potential. Brad's hoping there's a chance the C's can captures it. If they don't, the C's lose nothing.
Of course he is. He offered Walker this opportunity over other players or keeping the roster slot open so while it isn’t a huge bet anytime you are bringing a guy into a Championship roster you are betting on that guy over someone else regardless of who it is.


True, but (unfortunately) if Brad is right, Walker is gone, because no Bird rights.
Not optimal but we are looking at this season so as a replacement level player even if successful it would be a good thing to be have this be a problem next summer.
 

Auger34

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He's not better than Kornet, and he's certainly less useful given the KP injury. He has a chance to be better than the other player you mentioned but could be worse than all of them, except maybe Walsh.


Brad isn't "betting" on anything. He got a guy on the cheap who no one else wanted, who's flashed potential. Brad's hoping there's a chance the C's can captures it. If they don't, the C's lose nothing.
The chances of him being better than Kornet (no, not as useful but better) are so much higher than him being worse than Baylor and Springer. It’s really not even close. I don’t know why but the entire tenor of this post kind of bothers me. Maybe it’s the supreme confidence with the first sentence (specifically Kornet being better than Walker, not the useful thing) while hedging on the second sentence, which is even more obvious than the first sentence

@HomeRunBaker kind of nailed it. The three players that he has a “chance” to be better than are all not NBA players right now. Walker is. He doesn’t have a “chance” to be better than them, he 100% is right now.

Baylor is a rookie that is going to have trouble defending anyone in the NBA right now. He’s a bring green light for the offense to attack. Springer’s offensive game is close to nonexistent.
 
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Auger34

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Both Kornet/X are more valuable to the Celtic's roster due to KP's fragility & Al's age. One or both will start a few games for the first few months. Even Queta is more important to the Celtics roster than Walker.

Walker's an excellent Exhibit 10 contract. It gives Brad options (insurance) between now & opening night depending on what happens with Walsh, Springer & Baylor.

Walker is a substantially better offensive player than those 3 so he has that going for him. Then again, the 10th man would never be a go-to offensive player on the Celtics & why they may opt for Springer instead for roster construction.

I'd guess there is a 25% chance he is on the Celtics roster to open the season and less than 10% he sees close to 1000 minutes for Boston this year.
He’s a substantially better defender than Baylor right now. Like night and day better. Baylor’s issue is that he’s not close to an NBA level defender right now.

Walsh wasn’t even that good in Portland last year. He’s a massive project.

Springer is good defensively and not good at all on offense.

The bigs are more important than Walker to the roster because of KP and Al.

I think a few people are really underrating Walker. He’s a legit rotation piece. At this point, he’s basically what we are dreaming on Walsh and Scheierman becoming
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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I think a few people are really underrating Walker. He’s a legit rotation piece. At this point, he’s basically what we are dreaming on Walsh and Scheierman becoming
He’s a legit rotation piece on a team that when fully healthy won’t need a rotation piece. Plus, he’s not a long-term piece because he’s not really re-signable if he shows much.

I think he’s insurance against injury. If the Cs stay healthy through the pre-season, he’s not going to make the roster because keeping the roster spot open (and slightly minimizing the tax) I would think is more important. And if he doesn’t have interest from another team, maybe he goes to ME.

Maybe if he shows he really can play defense they’ll keep him but he’d have to play DWhite level defense for that to happen I would think. Which is not IMO very likely to happen.
 

the moops

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He’s a legit rotation piece on a team that when fully healthy won’t need a rotation piece.
There are always injuries and always minutes available due to rest. Last year Boston had 1612 minutes for the likes of Brissett, Svi, Walsh, Peterson, Banton, Stevens, Davidson crew. Walker could very well take the majority of those minutes
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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There are always injuries and always minutes available due to rest. Last year Boston had 1612 minutes for the likes of Brissett, Svi, Walsh, Peterson, Banton, Stevens, Davidson crew. Walker could very well take the majority of those minutes
Sure, we all know there will be bench minutes available, particularly early on while KP is out and assuming JT and Jrue and DW get extra rest given the shortened off-season due to playoffs and Olympics.

The question is how much the Cs view those minutes. I'd argue that over the long-term, it's probably better to force feed Springer, Walsh, and Baylor those minutes unless they are non-competitive because if the Cs can develop any one of those, it will really help the Cs long-term. Walker has almost no long-term value to the Cs.

I just think the roster spot is too valuable compared to maximizing the 4th guard/wing minutes.
 

mcpickl

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This should be true for the playoffs, but those 6 guys missed a combined 45 games last year and I'd take the over this year (considering there were no major injuries and half that group played in the olympics and could really use the rest). Brissett played 630 minutes last year, and Svi/Banton/Stevens combined for 706. Not all of that is garbage time, there will definitely be real rotation minutes available in the regular season for at least one non-big outside the top 8. I'm sure they'd prefer a bigger perimeter player (ideally this would be Walsh but he hasn't shown anything in the last 15 months that leads me to believe he's ready for anything other than garbage time), but Walker is easily the best non-big outside the top 8 and if he's on the roster (big if), I think he'll get reasonable time.

It's true he's older than the likes or Walsh/Baylor/Springer, but he's still just 25 and has flashed more offensive potential than any of them, enough so that he singlehandedly swung a 2nd round playoff game. Development purposes are one thing, but if the team is looking to the future, the 2025 playoffs are far more important than anything after that (meaning Walker being on a one year prove-it deal doesn't mean the team will automatically prioritize other players development over his, even if their rights are under team control for longer), and I see it as far more likely that Walker can contribute next spring than any of the other young guys.
The odds of any of these guys playing a single meaningful minute in the 2025 playoffs is so remote IMO, that I wouldn't even figure it in.

The regular season should mean nearly nothing to the Celtics. I'd be surprised if any of those non-rotation minutes, which is what I'd consider any minutes those guys get, would go to Walker over the guys they have rights to going forward.

They need to find out if Springer can get to a rotation level player by this years deadline, otherwise they likely have to dump him to save Wyc, or Irv I guess, cash. Secondarily, they need to find out if Baylor and/or Walsh can step into a rotation role in 2025-26, and force feeding them minutes would be helpful i that goal.

Walker is young, but he's had lots of opportunity to play and hasn't shown much improvement. The guy has gone from his rookie deal, to signing a one year deal at the mini-MLE, to signing one year at the minimum, to signing an exhibit 10 camp deal after Ron Harper Jr. and Tristan Enaruna.

Maybe the whole league is wrong on him, but it seems unlikely to me.
 

chilidawg

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The odds of any of these guys playing a single meaningful minute in the 2025 playoffs is so remote IMO, that I wouldn't even figure it in.

The regular season should mean nearly nothing to the Celtics. I'd be surprised if any of those non-rotation minutes, which is what I'd consider any minutes those guys get, would go to Walker over the guys they have rights to going forward.

They need to find out if Springer can get to a rotation level player by this years deadline, otherwise they likely have to dump him to save Wyc, or Irv I guess, cash. Secondarily, they need to find out if Baylor and/or Walsh can step into a rotation role in 2025-26, and force feeding them minutes would be helpful i that goal.

Walker is young, but he's had lots of opportunity to play and hasn't shown much improvement. The guy has gone from his rookie deal, to signing a one year deal at the mini-MLE, to signing one year at the minimum, to signing an exhibit 10 camp deal after Ron Harper Jr. and Tristan Enaruna.

Maybe the whole league is wrong on him, but it seems unlikely to me.
If Walker is a better player he absolutely ought to get minutes over Springer et al, evaluation be damned. 24-25 is all about getting another ring imo, so early season minutes need to be about developing the core that's going to play in the playoffs. One of the Walker/Springer/BS/Walsh crew will get some meaningful minutes, so we need to find out who amongst them is best suited to winning.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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If Walker is a better player he absolutely ought to get minutes over Springer et al, evaluation be damned. 24-25 is all about getting another ring imo, so early season minutes need to be about developing the core that's going to play in the playoffs. One of the Walker/Springer/BS/Walsh crew will get some meaningful minutes, so we need to find out who amongst them is best suited to winning.
Brisset got 19 total minutes against DAL and 21 total minutes against IND. By memory, at least some of those minutes were while playing a big role. So I'm not sure the 4th wing/guard necessarily has to get meaningful minutes in a playoff series assuming everyone is healthy.
 

brendan f

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The chances of him being better than Kornet (no, not as useful but better) are so much higher than him being worse than Baylor and Springer. It’s really not even close. I don’t know why but the entire tenor of this post kind of bothers me. Maybe it’s the supreme confidence with the first sentence (specifically Kornet being better than Walker, not the useful thing) while hedging on the second sentence, which is even more obvious than the first sentence
I apologize if the tone came off as arrogant. Kornet had a better year least year than Walker has ever had. He was extremely efficient. Maybe he falls off a cliff at age 29, but even if he's not quite as good as he was last year, he provides great value given their need at the position.

I don't think it can be underscored enough the type of contract Walker is on. These are contracts usually given to guys who aren't deemed good enough for a 2-way. If you look at other players right now on Exhibit 10s I doubt you would recognize a single other name. 29 other teams had a chance to sign Walker to a real contract, and they didn't. So either every team in the NBA is out of their minds, or he's not as good as you think he is.

Scheierman is a rookie but only two years younger than Walker. It's not absurd to think that even if his defense is weak, he'll be a better player. Stevens seems relatively enamored by Springer and the team liked what they saw of him enough in one summer league game to shut him down.

Walker has a tough road for minutes. Even if you think he's good, he's going to have to beat out guys that might have a real future on the team just to get off the bench..
 
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HomeRunBaker

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Sure, we all know there will be bench minutes available, particularly early on while KP is out and assuming JT and Jrue and DW get extra rest given the shortened off-season due to playoffs and Olympics.

The question is how much the Cs view those minutes. I'd argue that over the long-term, it's probably better to force feed Springer, Walsh, and Baylor those minutes unless they are non-competitive because if the Cs can develop any one of those, it will really help the Cs long-term. Walker has almost no long-term value to the Cs.

I just think the roster spot is too valuable compared to maximizing the 4th guard/wing minutes.
Next year isn’t about long-term though. The thing with Walker is about fit and picking up the defensive schemes and not about who he’s better than. Those minutes will have Springer and Walkers name on them as Baylor doesn’t appear to be ready to slow the game down yet and I don’t even know why Walsh is even in the conversation for minutes based on what we’ve seen this far. Why is Kornet in a conversation about our minutes at 1/2 when his will be about frontcourt matchups?
 

benhogan

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If Walker is a better player he absolutely ought to get minutes over Springer et al, evaluation be damned. 24-25 is all about getting another ring imo, so early season minutes need to be about developing the core that's going to play in the playoffs. One of the Walker/Springer/BS/Walsh crew will get some meaningful minutes, so we need to find out who amongst them is best suited to winning.
I guess it depends on how you define a "better player"?

When you get to the deep bench, defense matters more to these Celtics. These guys are role players. The C's don't need a veteran bench oven, with Walker, taking shots over Boston's TOP8 players.

Players who get points on middling NBA teams aren't as helpful as elite defenders like Springer & Tillman.

Hopefully, Jaden spent the off-season on his C&S 3pt shot.
At Tenn, Springer 20/46 from 3 (43%) + 81/100 from FTs
So far in his NBA career, 12/53 from 3 (22%) + 41/50 from FTs

I don’t even know why Walsh is even in the conversation for minutes based on what we’ve seen this far.
Gosh, I hope Jordan is not under consideration for minutes. I keep hearing about elite defensive potential but see clumsy footwork & out of synch body control. Baylor is older and much further along than Walsh. Even the 2-way kid from Gonzaga looked better than Jordan at SL.

If Brad could move Walsh for a future 2nd, open up a TOP14 roster spot, and sign Walker I'd be down with that.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Next year isn’t about long-term though. The thing with Walker is about fit and picking up the defensive schemes and not about who he’s better than. Those minutes will have Springer and Walkers name on them as Baylor doesn’t appear to be ready to slow the game down yet and I don’t even know why Walsh is even in the conversation for minutes based on what we’ve seen this far. Why is Kornet in a conversation about our minutes at 1/2 when his will be about frontcourt matchups?
If next year wasn't at least somewhat about long-term, POBOBS wouldn't have picked up Jaden Springer from PHI and helping PHI open up cap space plus spending an extra at least $7M in luxury tax payments.

The minutes you're talking about - regular season minutes that are to be divvied up among the end of the bench players - don't really matter that much to BOS this year. Also, in the playoffs, assuming everyone is healthy, there's not going to be a spot for Walker or Springer. (Not sure what the Kornet remark was referring to as I didn't mention Kornet in my post.)

Maybe BOS will as BenHogan suggests jettison Walsh (but he is still super young) or if Springer regresses, BOS will trade Springer to open up a spot for Walker but I think BOS will give Springer every chance to succeed since they love his defense and BOS isn't going to be able to acquire a guy like him (or with his salary) again if they jettison Springer not getting anything in return.

POBOBS has been keeping the 15th roster spot open "just in case" for (IIRC) the last couple of years. Maybe this year he sees Walker as good as anything else that might become available and he feels that Springer plus a pick can be used to get reinforcements in case of an injury. But Walker would really have to show something - particularly on the defensive end - for this sequence of events to happen IMO.
 

benhogan

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POBOBS has been keeping the 15th roster spot open "just in case" for (IIRC) the last couple of years. Maybe this year he sees Walker as good as anything else that might become available and he feels that Springer plus a pick can be used to get reinforcements in case of an injury. But Walker would really have to show something - particularly on the defensive end - for this sequence of events to happen IMO.
With new CBA rules making rosters less flexible, do you think it helps to keep the 15th spot open for as long as possible?

Brad waited until the last week of the regular season to put Queta on the 15. And he used that leverage to get Q to sign a multi-year minimum deal light on guaranteed $$$

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2024/04/celtics-reward-two-way-player-with-final-spot-on-15-man-roster.html

We usually have a few moving pieces to a roster to debate around here but it does feel like Brad/Zarren have created the roster they wanted earlier this summer.
 
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wade boggs chicken dinner

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With new CBA rules making rosters less flexible, do you think if it helps to keep the 15th spot open for as long as possible?
Seems like it does. I mean if someone god forbid got hurt, having an open roster spot might help rather than having to jettison someone by adding draft equity plus taking the $8M+ payroll (plus tax) hit.

Springer at $4M plus tax comes out to something like $15M this year (cite) and Walker is something like $8M with tax; I'm skeptical that BOS is going to spend $23M on two guys who will at best be the 7th/8th guard/wings. What's the point?

Plus, if Walker gets cut, where is he going? If there was a better situation, he would have signed there already. Maybe the $75K or so bonus is still meaningful to him and he reports to ME and basically continues to be an insurance policy for the Cs but not at a $8M payroll hit.

Yeah, maybe something opens up on another team during the pre-season so the Cs have to decide whether to keep him or lose him but there aren't a lot of teams that have a need, a roster spot, AND the payroll flexibility to sign a guy like him even if someone goes down with an injury.
 

mcpickl

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If Walker is a better player he absolutely ought to get minutes over Springer et al, evaluation be damned. 24-25 is all about getting another ring imo, so early season minutes need to be about developing the core that's going to play in the playoffs. One of the Walker/Springer/BS/Walsh crew will get some meaningful minutes, so we need to find out who amongst them is best suited to winning.
None of them are getting meaningful minutes as part of your developed core that's going to play in the playoffs.

You're talking about guys that are outside of their top 10 players.

If any of them had to play, that means 2 of their top 6 non-bigs are injured. Unless it happens to be exactly Hauser and Pritchard as the two that got hurt, they are very unlikely to be a championship threat anyway.

I could see prioritizing playing the better player in the regular season over development if the better player were actually good. But is Lonnie Walker good? Or just currently better than their young players that could use development. I think it's the latter.

Brisset got 19 total minutes against DAL and 21 total minutes against IND. By memory, at least some of those minutes were while playing a big role. So I'm not sure the 4th wing/guard necessarily has to get meaningful minutes in a playoff series assuming everyone is healthy.
Brissett played 9 minutes (plus 3 more in garbage time) in game 2 vs Indiana when KP was out and Kornet left early, and 8 minutes in game 3 when they were both still out.

Every other minute he played in the other three playoff series were in garbage time.
 

mcpickl

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With new CBA rules making rosters less flexible, do you think it helps to keep the 15th spot open for as long as possible?

Brad waited until the last week of the regular season to put Queta on the 15. And he used that leverage to get Q to sign a multi-year minimum deal light on guaranteed $$$

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2024/04/celtics-reward-two-way-player-with-final-spot-on-15-man-roster.html

We usually have a few moving pieces to a roster to debate around here but it does feel like Brad/Zarren have created the roster they wanted earlier this summer.
Keeping a full roster seems unlikely to me.

One new wrinkle in the new CBA for second apron teams that isn't as big a deal as some of the others, is that those teams can't send out cash in trades. In the past, since there is no pro-rated tax on players you trade away, a team could duck the tax by just paying a team to take a contract off your books. The Celtics did this with Dalano Banton last year. They just paid Portland cash, along with a fake second rounder that will never convey. This season to make that move they'd actually have to give up some pick/player of value to duck the tax.

I think unless one of these Exhibit 10 guys really knock their socks off in camp, it's much more likely they just leave the spot open to not have to worry about having to dump a guy later.
 

chilidawg

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Fun training camp piece about Walker, saying all the right things:

“Obviously, my free agency hasn’t gone as planned and whatnot,” Walker told reporters Wednesday. “So, Brad Stevens, he’s given me an opportunity with the E10 to kind of prove myself and show my capabilities offensively, defensively, off the court, [and] being a great teammate. So, I’m just really excited and grateful to be here, and I’m just going to work to the best of my capabilities.”

“It was a clear viewpoint as to why you guys are the 2024 world champions,” Walker explained. “The competitiveness, the effort, the intensity. This is one of my favorite training camps [that] I’ve been to. So, I’m really happy to be here and just be around such great talent.”

And Mazzulla is a full on psycho:

“You don’t know where your conversation might take you. He kind of reminds me of my head coach back in high school,” Walker revealed. “Like I said yesterday, one of our first conversations— I love boxing, so I was like, ‘did you see the Canelo fight?’ He was like, ‘I don’t watch pillow fights.’ I was like, ‘Okay. Alright. There we are. That makes more complete sense.’”


https://www.celticsblog.com/2024/9/25/24254394/boston-celtics-lonnie-walker-iv-training-camp-joe-mazzulla-brad-stevens
 

Eddie Jurak

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The deadline for adding Walker to the roster is 5 PM today. If they do not add him, I predict he will become a Knick.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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The deadline for adding Walker to the roster is 5 PM today. If they do not add him, I predict he will become a Knick.
Sounds like NYK will be keeping Shamet as their latest press release says his shoulder will be re-evaluated at a later date (why re-evaluate if he's not on the team?). If that is correct, NYK will not be able to sign LW4 . They only have room for 1 minimum contract.

https://www.postingandtoasting.com/2024/10/19/24274131/knicks-hint-at-landry-shamets-future-in-positive-injury-update
 

PedroKsBambino

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I’m in the minority who expected Springer to keep the slot instead of Walker.

Time will tell if that is a good decision or not—I like Walker but don’t see the sliver of upside impact here others do.
 

Cellar-Door

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I’m in the minority who expected Springer to keep the slot instead of Walker.

Time will tell if that is a good decision or not—I like Walker but don’t see the sliver of upside impact here others do.
Yeah it honestly doesn't make sense to take the huge tax hit for a guy who won't be make the rotation without multiple in juries
 

benhogan

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it does feel like the new CBA is transaction-chilling

Walker or Springer is a non-event but I did have a greater appreciation of Lonnie after listening to his mature approach to FA
 

Everetts Dinosaurs

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it does feel like the new CBA is transaction-chilling

Walker or Springer is a non-event but I did have a greater appreciation of Lonnie after listening to his mature approach to FA
I think it’s chilling to a very specific category of the market, and Lonnie was in it: depth pieces asking for more than the minimums.

I think Brandon Ingram will wind himself in the other “no zone” of the market: guys that were once traditionally getting max deals but aren’t good enough to be a #1 or good #2 option. Levine is lucky he signed his deal before the new CBA or he’d be there too; instead the bulls are stuck with a terrible contract.

I really liked the Lonnie Walker experience on the court and off. Hoping for the best for him (on a team that is not a threat to us).
 

LA_33

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I suspect that they still might end up with a roster spot for Walker later.

If they want to dump Springer for tax purposes (meaning they don’t find an above-minimum trade using him prior to the deadline) it will be easier to do that salary-dump in February, when the receiving team only has to pay ~$2m in actual cash outlay, rather than the full $4m now.

I don’t see any obvious places Walker is going to get picked up by a good team in the meantime, so he may take the Ex.10 salary bonus in Maine, and be available to the C’s if they dump Springer later.
 

ALiveH

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He would've been a useful deep bench player for us but would have cost us >$10M even on a vet min deal with the tax multiplier. I wonder if this signals that ownership is getting sensitive to costs.
 

Euclis20

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Yeah it honestly doesn't make sense to take the huge tax hit for a guy who won't be make the rotation without multiple in juries
I totally get the logistical difficulties involved in keeping him on the roster, but I think he'd be the 2nd guard off the bench and just one injury (to white, holiday or pritchard) away from real rotation minutes. Outside of the top 8, who is the perimeter player that deserves minutes over walker? Ideally it would be Walsh, but I'm not ready to count on him just yet.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Folks, LW4 said in his initial interviews that he was willing to do anything, including playing in the G-League. I'm pretty sure POBOBS told LW4 that there was a pretty good chance he would have to play in the G-League.

POBOBS really values that roster spot. I mean I'll never say never but the overwhelming likelihood was that unless there was an injury, LW4 was going to play in the G-League while BOS and the rest of the league sorts out which teams need an upgrade and have the cap room to do so.
 

Euclis20

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Aug 3, 2004
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He would've been a useful deep bench player for us but would have cost us >$10M even on a vet min deal with the tax multiplier. I wonder if this signals that ownership is getting sensitive to costs.
I'd love to think this is more about preserving the roster spot than the additional cost (and if walker does go to Maine there's a shot he's back on the roster late in the year).
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Dec 24, 2002
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Yeah Lonnie Walker's market isn't $10+ mm/annum so it makes no business or basketball sense to pay for him to ride the deep bench.

It will be fun to read the comments when he shows out against the Cs in some random late January game.
 

mcpickl

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Jul 23, 2007
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I totally get the logistical difficulties involved in keeping him on the roster, but I think he'd be the 2nd guard off the bench and just one injury (to white, holiday or pritchard) away from real rotation minutes. Outside of the top 8, who is the perimeter player that deserves minutes over walker? Ideally it would be Walsh, but I'm not ready to count on him just yet.
Depends what deserves means to you.

Who outside the top 8 is a better perimeter player than him right now? Maybe nobody.

But should that be the deciding factor? The regular season minutes outside of their rotation guys should mean very little this season in terms of winning/losing. Both in that players impact on the W/L, and in if the Celtics should care that much about the regular season W/L even if injury forced him into the back of the rotation.

They need to get Springer those non-rotation minutes in the first half to see if they need to dump him by the deadline. Then they have Walsh and Scheierman on long-term deals. Those scrap minutes would be much better served going to those guys than Walker in my opinion.

If you go back to last year, what impact did Brissett/Banton/Svi/Lamar Stevens really make in the Celtics winning a title or not? Walker would be in the same spot this year, except further down the depth chart and fighting for minutes with prospects they didn't have, or in Walsh case wasn't ready, last season.
 

Euclis20

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Depends what deserves means to you.

Who outside the top 8 is a better perimeter player than him right now? Maybe nobody.

But should that be the deciding factor? The regular season minutes outside of their rotation guys should mean very little this season in terms of winning/losing. Both in that players impact on the W/L, and in if the Celtics should care that much about the regular season W/L even if injury forced him into the back of the rotation.

They need to get Springer those non-rotation minutes in the first half to see if they need to dump him by the deadline. Then they have Walsh and Scheierman on long-term deals. Those scrap minutes would be much better served going to those guys than Walker in my opinion.

If you go back to last year, what impact did Brissett/Banton/Svi/Lamar Stevens really make in the Celtics winning a title or not? Walker would be in the same spot this year, except further down the depth chart and fighting for minutes with prospects they didn't have, or in Walsh case wasn't ready, last season.
This is all true, but if you're really down on springer (like me), there isn't a point to force feeding him minutes. Guys like walsh and scheierman are obviously more important long term than walker, but this season (particularly the playoffs) is far more important than 2-3 years down the road. I don't see any realistic scenario in which any of those guys are better than walker by the spring, and even though he wouldn't have been needed this past season, that doesn't mean the only 3 guards ahead of him will all be healthy again.
 

benhogan

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Nov 2, 2007
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Folks, LW4 said in his initial interviews that he was willing to do anything, including playing in the G-League. I'm pretty sure POBOBS told LW4 that there was a pretty good chance he would have to play in the G-League.

POBOBS really values that roster spot. I mean I'll never say never but the overwhelming likelihood was that unless there was an injury, LW4 was going to play in the G-League while BOS and the rest of the league sorts out which teams need an upgrade and have the cap room to do so.
I suspect an NBA team will step forward and offer Walker a contract, right? or do you believe he'll go to Maine?

I'm just a hair curious on how LW4 would play within Mazzulla Ball? He may be better/more efficient surrounded by Celtics, drive-n-kicking, or spot-up shooting from 3.

Brad/Zarren probably have 6-moves mapped out already, so not concerned in the least.
 

TripleOT

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Jul 4, 2007
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Springer is probably gone after this season, I would think, unless he is willing to play for the minimum. I guess no other team wanted him. If LW4 clears waivers, do the Cs bring him back and put him on the 15 man roster, and move Springer at the deadline, where another team is willing to eat a third of his salary as the cost of getting a second round pick from Boston.

The Celtics had an incredible record last season when one of the Jays didn’t play, 7-1 when JT didn’t play, and a ridiculous 12-0 when JB didn’t play (by an average of 18.8 ppg without JB). Maybe they have enough on this roster to cover if either Jay has to miss some games. I thought Walker would be good insurance if one of the Jays were not available for some games in the playoffs.
 

pjheff

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Jan 4, 2003
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Springer is probably gone after this season, I would think, unless he is willing to play for the minimum. I guess no other team wanted him. If LW4 clears waivers, do the Cs bring him back and put him on the 15 man roster, and move Springer at the deadline, where another team is willing to eat a third of his salary as the cost of getting a second round pick from Boston.
Is it anything more than Walker cost too much for someone who isn’t going to play, while Springer has a potentially useful contract for trade purposes?
 

Auger34

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Apr 23, 2010
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Interesting. Would have really preferred getting rid of Springer (who I’d bet a shit ton of money on just being completely useless) but I am guessing there and to be pick stapled on him to get rid of him
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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This is all true, but if you're really down on springer (like me), there isn't a point to force feeding him minutes. Guys like walsh and scheierman are obviously more important long term than walker, but this season (particularly the playoffs) is far more important than 2-3 years down the road. I don't see any realistic scenario in which any of those guys are better than walker by the spring, and even though he wouldn't have been needed this past season, that doesn't mean the only 3 guards ahead of him will all be healthy again.
Lonnie Walker isn't getting non-blowout playoff minutes for this team unless a bunch of guys are out.

I like Walker, but he's a fringe roster guy, you don't pay what he would cost for that. The guys on the roster can bring basically the same (or maybe more) value in the regular season, with the benefit of more long-term upside. If you have a bunch of serious injury you can sign someone for depth (maybe even Lonnie Walker) later in the year.
 

mcpickl

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Jul 23, 2007
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This is all true, but if you're really down on springer (like me), there isn't a point to force feeding him minutes. Guys like walsh and scheierman are obviously more important long term than walker, but this season (particularly the playoffs) is far more important than 2-3 years down the road. I don't see any realistic scenario in which any of those guys are better than walker by the spring, and even though he wouldn't have been needed this past season, that doesn't mean the only 3 guards ahead of him will all be healthy again.
I agree. This season is more important than 2-3 seasons down the road. But the odds of Walker having an impact on winning/losing this season is really small. I think it's near zero. I don't see any realistic scenario where any of Walker/Walsh/Scheierman play any meaningful playoff minutes. If it got to the point any of them are playing, outside of Walsh and/or Scheierman making a huge in-season leap, it would surely mean the roster above them has been pretty decimated by injury and their title chances would be out the window anyway.

I mean, we've been arguing about this guy since he signed and he was still available late into the off-season for a non-guaranteed camp deal. Unless the entire league is wrong on the guy, I think he might be a tick overrated on this board.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Mar 26, 2005
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I suspect an NBA team will step forward and offer Walker a contract, right? or do you believe he'll go to Maine?

I'm just a hair curious on how LW4 would play within Mazzulla Ball? He may be better/more efficient surrounded by Celtics, drive-n-kicking, or spot-up shooting from 3.

Brad/Zarren probably have 6-moves mapped out already, so not concerned in the least.
I'm not sure which NBA teams have need / roster spot / cap space to sign him but any NBA team who wanted him could have signed him this summer. I can't think of anything that would have really changed this calculus. There are a fair # of vet FAs available - LW4, Brissy, Fultz, Justim Holiday, Danael House, RoCo, Crowder, Shamet (injured), TJ Warren, etc. - not sure any of these are going to get a contract until injuries start to happen.

BTW, if LW4 goes to Maine, you'll be able to watch him in Mazzulla-ball-lite. :)