The Celtics season got off to a compelling start on Wednesday night in New York thanks to some stellar play from Kristaps Porzingis and nice moves from Joe Mazzulla in crunch time. Let’s dive into some first impressions of this group in this edition of the mailbag. If you have questions about the Celtics or NBA, free agency or more email brobb@masslive.com or tweet @briantrobb
Brian,
At his season ending press conference, Brad Stevens talked about “small tweaks” to the roster. Wyc subsequently said this week of what he told Stevens after the season: I just said, ‘We’re not bringing back the same team.’ It’s been two seasons in a row of really good play but inconsistencies and they showed in the Finals two years ago and then in the conference finals last year. It just felt inconsistent and I said, I just want to change the mix so that there’s just a freshness, a fresh approach, so we made some changes this summer.”
That sounds like the changes to the team this summer were a lot more than a matter of being opportunistic with Porzingis and Holiday becoming available. Rather, it seems that Stevens and Wyc were not aligned at the end of the season. Do you agree and do you see that as a potential issue going forward? — Sean S
I think some of the language here was a matter of semantics. Brad Stevens probably was not going to publicize that he was thinking about bigger changes at the beginning of the summer since that doesn’t really serve him well in trade talks. Additionally, I don’t think he could have foreseen Jrue Holiday becoming available as far back as June. It’s a lot easier to admit to that mindset now by Wyc when the work is done since there’s no harm there. The guess here is everyone was on the same page to some degree. Boston clearly had the option of bringing everyone back on the roster after this year. That was not going to happen after the way last year’s postseason unfolded. Instead, Boston pushed some chips into the middle for some bigger upgrades for the present.
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HI Brian, Looking forward to the year and more of your coverage! By paving the way for the Celts to get Jrue, did they actually help Boston more than they helped themselves adding Dame? — Brian N
That’s going to be a potential massive storyline through the regular season and postseason. Dame certainly played his part in the Bucks season opening win against the 76ers but it is fair to wonder whether that type of production will overshadow the defensive/intangible gains Holiday will give the Celtics this year. Holiday is a superior version of Marcus Smart in several different categories so that’s a gamble the Bucks knew they were making when they moved him for Holiday since Boston had the assets lined up to get him. If Holiday ends up being the guy that can slow down Lillard in a playoff series like he did with the Pelicans five years ago, that could be the story of the season.
Hi Brian,
I love your always-illuminating Celtics Mailbag. In the early 1980s, the Celtics acquired Dennis Johnson, a top-notch defender, for the express purpose of stopping Andrew Toney, the splendid offensive guard for Philly. How similar, in this regard, is the trade for Jrue Holiday, a defensive standout, to stymie Damian Lillard of the Bucks? Thank you, Paul F
Thanks for the kind words Paul. That’s not the first time I’ve heard that comparison and I think it’s right on the mark in some degrees. Boston’s roster this summer had a pretty glaring hole when it came to defensive versatility after the Marcus Smart trade and bringing aboard Holiday solves a lot of those issues in theory. The fact that Johnson didn’t have to play a major offensive role most nights is similar to the path Holiday has here too.
Thinking ahead a bit …Is there a path for C’s to obtain center Nic Claxton from the Nets? I think he would be a great fit next to Tatum and KP. — Mike
In theory, Claxton is gettable but there are a number of obstacles in the way. He makes $9.6 million this season in a contract year at age 24 and that’s a number that will be challenging for Boston to match in a trade without moving a key bench place. If you don’t want to move any player in Boston’s top-6, it’s hard to find enough salary to make the trade matching rules work under the new CBA. Any deal on that front would have to start with Payton Pritchard and include a couple other minimum salaries. Moving Pritchard would create a hole in the bench backcourt and Boston would potentially need to sweeten the deal with draft picks in that scenario. Weighing the risk vs. reward of that shift in roster construction would be the big question to a deal like that. Claxton is a nice weapon for the regular season but would he be a guy that can play meaningful minutes for a contender in the playoffs with his offensive limitations?
when do we worry about jaylen brown? — M
Can you explain why so many people seem so negative about Jaylen Brown, even though he’s always played hard for the Celtics, always improved year over year, and seems to have had a reasonable game against the Knicks in everything but scoring last night? Cause I don’t get it. — Celtics Karma
The Jaylen Brown debate in a nutshell! His new contract clearly is putting a critical high on him from a lot of Celtics fans out of the gate and his fit within the offense was clunky on Wednesday night with the new weapons around him. With that said, it was one game and Brown has defied expectations with important gains each year in several areas of his game. There will be a learning curve for Boston’s new starters and Brown will have to find his spots and show far more willingness to share the ball at times. One game is way too early to panic at this point.
do you think Brogdon is on the blazers in three months? that roster stinks — Meng5weng
I’d say close to no chance he finishes the year there. The Blazers will try to build up his trade value again and snag about draft pick or two for him. He’ll need to prove he can stay healthy for potential suitors after last year’s rough finish.
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