[Forsberg] The Path, Part I: Projecting a summer of ‘small tweaks’ for Celtics
Regular season in the NBA is overrated. Playoffs are what separates the contenders from pretenders and it’s clear the Celtics have real issues a small tweak isn’t going to fix. Namely needing a legitimate starting center and a more consistent third option. I don’t think any of the young guys are gonna develop into anything close to that so they need to really gauge the trade market to see if there’s an upgrade available.
I agree about what we need. It might just take us 2 off-seasons to really complete the team. You can get the big this year, maybe Myles Turner or John Collins. It’s likely just that will get you to the tax line. Next year we can go over and use all the tradeable salaries we’ll have to get that 3rd option
Or get that 3rd option this off-season and the longer term big next off-season
Turner is the last thing we want. Rebounding is such a huge emphasis with Joe.
Turner is terrible.
And Collins is a loser
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Collins has seemingly bounced back.
He had a couple of years in purgatory because of a freaky finger injury.
The injury completely tanked his 3PT shooting, and without a 3PT shot he’s hard to play at PF and too small to be a full time C.
He’s since recovered and seems to be playing a lot better.
I agree with you and even if we try, usually it’s hard to achieve as it’s hard to get a good center, and it’s even harder to get a good 3rd option. Though, it would be great if we somehow land a good center who can be our 3rd option as well, but it’s rare nowadays or it will cost us a lot of assets. I think we should aim 1-2 years from now, while we still develop the young guys and upcoming draft picks this season. Personally, I think we should aim for 3rd option this off-season, because the market this summer will likely revolve big man who can stop Wemby and may be Chet, so may be a good 3rd option and train Amari Williams, Garza even more.
Center, sure. But you aren’t going to get a better 3rd option scorer than Pritchard
Pritchard is an elite 3rd option what??. He’s great of the catch and shot and can self create. This season he was +2.8rts on creation and +4.4 on spacing. In the postseason he jumped to a ridiculous +5.8 on creation
Yeah that’s what I am saying
Oops my bad. Pretend I replied to the other guy
We need rim pressure, it’s hard to be a consistent team in the nba without rim pressure.
I think Hugo does keep developing and maybe Baylor too but I think they almost need an overhaul. Not just from the fact they fell short this season, but also the bar is rising. Like we are behind the thunder and the spurs.
What makes you think Hugo Walsh or Baylor can’t be a third option given the opportunity? They are very young still especially Hugo and has shown real flashes of potential and electricity
He has shown incredible value, but he hasn’t shown jack scoring
Kind of hard to with limited minutes and JB not elevating you
We actually need a better 2nd option
Hope you guys are ready for another season of staying under the 1st apron
Yup, small tweaks will get us to the second round, maybe.
Ngl, I’m a first year fan of celtics so i’m not in a hurry for a title. Don’t get me wrong, I want to win like everyone or more.
If another season of Young people developing and being under the apron means a banger for 27-28, I say let’s go. Only one champion. Maybe for you long time fans being conference champion or finalist mean something, for me as European, mean nothing. Go champion or nothing. When I was a soccer fan I never went hey we got to semifinals of the champions league x years in a row, for example.
I’m not trying to be disrespectful, just explaining my point of view.
What you have to understand is a lot of Celtics fans live in Boston or proximity to Boston in the New England area of the US, and for relatively young people, Boston championships have been happening their entire life. In the 4 major American sports (US Football, Basketball, Baseball, Hockey) since 2000, Boston has won 13 championships and their longest drought was 2020-2023. If we don’t win next year we’re approaching another 4 year “drought” which when you’re spoiled with championships every other year, it comparatively seems like failure. Boston fans under the age of 30-40 are not always that patient.
Boston sports culture is extremely critical because of this, but we’re also a passionate bunch with a rich history. There’s a lot of Celtics fans so you’re always going to see a wide variety of opinions, and so there’s always going to be the level-headed people like yourself who are okay with another year of developing and building towards something, and there’s always going to be less patient people who may not necessarily understand salary cap restrictions and rules who think the Celtics are just being cheap or making bad decisions and they only aren’t winning because of decision makers.
Also this is just an observation, but I think people celebrate all the deep playoff runs we’ve been on because it is really hard to win in the NBA. We’re in an era where there have been 8 different champions in a row which has never happened. To constantly be in the mix to be contending is rare, and if everyone is just winning 1 championship, we’ve kind of been the best team in the NBA this era. That counts for something.
Talent often wins in the NBA and pretty much every multiple-time champion has an MVP on their roster in their prime. While Tatum and Brown are great, they have never been the best player in the world. It would be a pretty much unprecedented accomplishment to win 2 and the fact that we’re even in a position to consider that is a remarkable achievement.
Thanks, this is a very good information that helps me better understand what I got into.
A better understanding not only of the team but also the country is important, if you mean to be a fan of course. Thanks mate!
Some of us lived through an earlier era of normal (even cursed almost) level Boston fandom where you really learned how amazing & comparatively rare it is just to have competitive fun teams & it shows on this sub
Lotta profoundly entitled lack of perspective on here, esp lately
Only fan base that’s literally happy to chuck a year of the Js so the new ownership group sees bigger profits. Eliminated in the first round fever…catch it!
peabrain
Luxury tax - when will people understand the difference
Honestly the suggestions offered here just aren’t it. They’re sentimental not competitive.
The Wendell Carter Jr shout is the one I’m most interested in. He’s a legit starter who I’d feel okay trusting in the playoffs.
The tweaks mentioned by Forsberg are not labeled as “it”. They are labeled “small tweaks”.
but when you flame out in the second, and then first round in consecutive seasons, small tweaks aren’t going to cut it.
Man I love Rob but you CANNOT give him the MLE. It’s one of our few tools to add a real impact player to the team (excluding a major JB or DW trade). Just way too risky based on his health.
A healthy Timelord worth probably 30 a year. A healthy Zinger probably worth 30 a year.
Can we give them 15 each and coordinate their injuries?
But in seriousness tho , idk that an MLE player can produce real playoffs impact. Those who do are usually underpaid. The last underpaid impact center was Zubac.
Right now there’s almost half a dozen mid-sized guards who are 24-28 years old and averaging 15-20 ppg. They can all beat a defender off the dribble and they’re all ~40% from deep. All of these guards would help us punish bigs who just want to camp the paint (Embiid, Wemby, Towns/Robinson, Jokic, etc.)
Whether it’s their own market value or their team’s current cap situation, all the reporting suggests they’re hoping for roughly 15m/y this free agency.
Ayo Dosunmu
Anfernee Simons
Quentin Grimes
Coby White
Collin Sexton
Now maybe the reporting on these guards is completely wrong, maybe they’ll sign 20-30m contracts, but if we’re using the 15m MLE then we should be trying to get into this potential league-wide sale on guards.
Getting a big man is obviously important, but I think that’s part of a different conversation than the MLE. The big man is probably a trade using players, picks, and/or the TPE.
“The combo of Queta and Williams III gives you legitimate 1-2 punch at center” no it absolutely does not.
It gives you a legitimate 2-3 punch though!
You’d have to guarantee me that Timelord can be 100% healthy and able to play 25 MPG come playoff time and I’d be willing to buy in a little bit. But we know that likely isn’t realistic.
Love rob williams but are we sure he’ll stay healthy? What happens when Queta can’t stay out of foul trouble again in the post season? Queta turns 27 in a month, he’s not some young up and comer. What he’s been is amazing and more than we could have hoped but are we sure he’ll just stop the fouling in the biggest games? Can’t count how many times on Cs focused pods people just say “oh he’ll be better with that. You simply just have to stop fouling so much, don’t see why he can’t”.
Is rob worth the mid level?? Genuinely asking, if he is that seems so so surprising, 1 season of less than 60 games is enough to trust him to that level? The mid level is huge for us this offseason, it has to be a total hit.
He might be the best Center on the market with the ability to switch on defense, which would give us the option of a very good different look on that side.
Hard to see us going big on a drop defensive big when we already have Queta for cheap, so it’s either Rob or an offensive minded Center.
Ya I know what rob can do, he’s amazing. If someone pays him 15 mil then that’s great for him and he should take it, I don’t think it should be the Celtics. As great as Queta was, he’s not a sure fire thing so getting some to back him up who’s even less of a sure thing due to injuries feels precarious.
How are we winning a championship with small tweeks? I feel if we take next year off too we might as well pack it in with this core group.
From Chris Forsberg:
While we believe all options should be on the table for the Celtics this summer, is there still a case for a quieter summer?
For Part 1 of our annual “The Path” series, we’re examining an offseason where the Celtics don’t overreact to an early playoff demise and how that might give the team the best long-term chance to get back to the title stage.
Our wish list would include:
1. Sign center Robert Williams III utilizing the $15.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception.
Williams III played in 59 games last season, even as Portland delicately managed his minutes. He showed well in the postseason, even while jousting with Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in the first round.
The combo of Queta and Williams III gives you a legitimate 1-2 punch at the center spot with Luka Garza there to eat up leftover minutes.
2. Trade up in the 2026 NBA Draft to select Santa Clara forward Allen Graves.
Utilize available assets to navigate the draft board with the goal of adding Allen Graves with a first-round pick and home-growing the next power forward on your roster.
We were already intrigued by the Draymond Green comps, then Graves said he’s been crushing tape of Naz Reid and Al Horford. Wow we’re sold this is the guy for Boston.
3. Consider high-upside trades utilizing a portion of the Anfernee Simons traded player exception.
The Celtics likely would be hard-capped at the first apron if they use the non-taxpayer MLE and can’t spend too richly if that is utilized. But they should be ambitious hunting a big guard or an established power forward to beef up the roster.
We’re calling Orlando to check on Wendell Carter Jr. given the Magic’s bloated cap sheet (though that would likely mean sitting out a full midlevel splurge). Can you tempt Detroit with some shooting in a quest to trade for Isaiah Stewart?
Read more here.
Nah. This is not the way. Nostalgia should not affect how Brad make offseason moves.
“Trade-up” followed by “consider high upside trades” notably exclude what, exactly, the Cs should give up in a trade. #27, #40 might still not get them high enough to get Graves. #27 plus next year’s first would be an overpay to get up into the high teens. And each uses up assets for the “high upside trade” Forsberg wants, also.
I’m guessing once they identify which young wings they want to give more time to, that frees up the rest as trade bait.
small tweaks? we want blockbuster trades!!!!!!
I agree, we need to bring back TL
TIME LORRRRDDDDD
Trey Murphy is the best player realistically available that fits into our TPE. He would be great as a third option and would improve our offense. That would still leave us with the need for a big though
The main reasons we lost to the sixers really are three things
Our big rotation being poor.
No reliable #3 scorer who can get you a guaranteed 17-20ppg
Tatum coming off an Achilles injury.
Tatum should be fully healthy, so realistically you need to target the top two issues. Who knows KP should be cheap, maybe a guy like anfernee is a target. Also maybe white rounds back to form. Guys like KP or RWiii aren’t long term solutions but they are cheaper solutions that can be managed during the regular season.
I mean we won 57 with Garza/queta. This is about the post season.
You also have added improvement of Queta, Walsh, Hugo, Baylor. I mean who projected those guys before last season to be legit NBA roleplayers.
I don’t think we are as far away as people on this board think. A 57 win team with no center rotation and a 70-80% Tatum for only 20 games.
Small tweaks would leave most of my interest for this season behind. Developing role players rarely develops into anything, and its trades that result in championship progress.
The Path is laughable. The real path: trade all of it and build like OKC with multiple years of1st round picks. The Js are aging out. The window has been closed by Wemby AND OKC. Frankly, you can’t beat the Knicks and Brunson with the Js. Who says no?
This genuinely might be the dumbest thing I have read today
oof, back to the kiddie table for you, nephew
Sure. Sure. Green teamers. Weeeeeeeeeeeeee. You and Scala Weinie. Softserv and JB gonna beat Wemby. Right.
Sure, just build like OKC. Just trade for a team’s future MVP and 5 years of first round picks, then tank a little, hit on every draft, and develop bench nobodies into quality rotation players. Most before their 5th year in the league. Should be easy enough.