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magicdoc1

2018 Official Offseason Thread

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Despite being somewhat on the shorter side (6-foot-2), Rozier’s combination of strength and length (among 134 point guards listed at 6-foot-3 or shorter at the NBA combine, Rozier’s plus-7.75-inch wingspan differential ranks seventh overall), he can play alongside almost any other guard Boston has. He can work off-ball next to Irving, as the primary ball-handler alongside Smart or Brown, in a group with all three of those players, or none of them at all. That versatility means he should still have a sizable role, but it’s going to be difficult for him to showcase the full breadth of his skills if he’s not starting, playing heavy minutes, or working with the ball in his hands all the time. It’s difficult to argue that the Celtics would be best served by him doing any of those things. Irving should obviously start. There are several players who are likely to have a stronger on-court impact and so should be in line for minutes ahead of him. And the Celtics are better off with most of those players — probably all of them except Smart — having the ball in their hands than they are with Rozier having it.

All of this makes Rozier’s place in the league right now fascinating. He’s an important piece of one of the NBA’s best teams but mostly because he’s fungible and not pedigreed enough to really make a stink if he’s not used more often. He’s versatile enough to play with nearly any combination of players but not necessarily quite good enough to merit being bumped up in the pecking order ahead of any one of them. He can start, but if he’s starting then that likely means something’s gone wrong. He’s one heck of a Kyrie insurance policy in case the starter goes down again, but he’s also better than a “break glass in case of emergency” type player. He’s a valuable trade piece because of his potential and the fact that Boston has enough perimeter depth to withstand the loss of any one but player but due to his rookie-scale salary he would likely need to be attached to someone else in order to bring back a player for whom he’d be worth dealing.

For this season, Brad Stevens can probably make it work. He’s an excellent coach who gets the best out of all of his players. and this version of his team is stacked with star talent and starter-quality depth, Rozier included. The Celtics are the favorites to make it out of the East and they should be the conference’s best team during the regular season, in large part because they should almost never have to put negative-value players on the floor. This is a group that has not won together yet and if they all put it in their minds that the collective sacrifice will be worth it in pursuit of their goal, they have the best shot of any team in the East — and maybe any team, period — of dethroning the Warriors.

But what happens next summer? Irving is a free agent, but Rozier is as well. It seems obvious the Celtics will prioritize keeping Irving, though whether he stays is likely up to Kyrie more than it is the Celtics. Rozier should have plenty of suitors given that around half the league should have max cap space; and teams are always looking for young, starter-caliber point guards. (Considering multiple teams have already come calling for him over the past year, it seems highly likely that he’ll be in line for a sizable deal next offseason, whether from Boston or some other team.) Unless the Celtics trade Smart between now and next summer — which seems unlikely — he might not even be the first guard off the bench for the Celtics over the long-term if he decides to re-sign there. That’s a much more difficult sell on a multi-year deal than it is on the final season of his rookie contract before he hits restricted free agency.

The best case scenario for the Celtics probably involves Rozier playing so well that he becomes prohibitively expensive for them to re-sign next summer but good enough that a team has its sights so set on him that it’s willing to engage in a sign-and-trade next offseason. Even that brings complications, though, and complications often cause deals to collapse. Given how much faith the Celtics have shown in Rozier over the years and how that faith has been rewarded in the last year or so, it seems strange to believe that we’re heading into his last season with the team. But because of Boston’s roster dynamics, Rozier’s combination of youth and skill, and the looming free agency market next summer, that might be exactly where we’re headed.

https://fansided.com/2018/09/24/terry-rozier-trade-free-agent-boston-celtics/

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8 minutes ago, magicdoc1 said:

Another guy who gets the trade wrong. The trade looks terrible if you (erroneously) think the magic traded a top 3 pick to move up for Payton. 

Doesn't look as bad when you realize we actually traded what turned out to be the 26th pick in 2018. 

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We likely wouldn't have drafted Saric if we were going to keep the pick.

And Gordon is better than Saric and has more potential than Saric, while Isaac also has potential to be much better than Saric. (They are all very different players, I know).

So was it really that bad of a trade, when we needed a PG and Payton looked like he had potential? If you look at the next five picks they were:

Zach LaVine

TJ Warren

Adreian Payne

Jusuf Nurkic

James Young

Are any of them really moving the needle for this team much?

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2 minutes ago, Odin said:

We likely wouldn't have drafted Saric if we were going to keep the pick.

And Gordon is better than Saric and has more potential than Saric, while Isaac also has potential to be much better than Saric. (They are all very different players, I know).

So was it really that bad of a trade, when we needed a PG and Payton looked like he had potential? If you look at the next five picks they were:

Zach LaVine

TJ Warren

Adreian Payne

Jusuf Nurkic

James Young

Are any of them really moving the needle for this team much?

No but Nikola Jokic was available at 41 and we could've just taken him at 10.  Big missed opportunity there.  Dumb franchise.  (this is sarcasm)

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Just now, Odin said:

We likely wouldn't have drafted Saric if we were going to keep the pick.

And Gordon is better than Saric and has more potential than Saric, while Isaac also has potential to be much better than Saric. (They are all very different players, I know).

So was it really that bad of a trade, when we needed a PG and Payton looked like he had potential? If you look at the next five picks they were:

Zach LaVine

TJ Warren

Adreian Payne

Jusuf Nurkic

James Young

Are any of them really moving the needle for this team much?

It would have been nice to have Zach Lavine for team dunking asthetics until we realized he couldn't play point guard and eventually traded him. 

I think if Payton was gone and the Philly trade never materialized we would have picked Tyler Ennis. 

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10 minutes ago, ?4thewin said:

It would have been nice to have Zach Lavine for team dunking asthetics until we realized he couldn't play point guard and eventually traded him. 

I think if Payton was gone and the Philly trade never materialized we would have picked Tyler Ennis. 

Yeah, I was thinking of going down 10 picks, but the point is still the same. Ennis isn't really any better than Payton. For the next ten picks, they would likely be at most be a slight improvement on the squad. The best might be Gary Harris, but I don't think there is much difference between him and Fournier.

Gordon/LaVine dunk-offs in the middle of games would be pretty sweet though.

11 minutes ago, ML6 said:

No but Nikola Jokic was available at 41 and we could've just taken him at 10.  Big missed opportunity there.  Dumb franchise.  (this is sarcasm)

Haha, yeah. Why can't the team always pick the sleeper that lots of teams missed?

2013- Giannis

2014- Gordon, Jokic

2015- Delon Wright? (Does this draft really have any sleepers that were really missed?)

2016- Murray

2017- Mitchell (or just stick with Isaac).

 

BOOM. Championship. (Probably not but our management would love this team. Length everywhere).

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Speaking of Jokic, a totally random hypothetical just hit me.

Would you rather have current & future Jokic or current & future Bamba?

 

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