The Celtics are headed for a long homestand in Boston after a quiet week following a loss in the in-season tournament quarterfinals. Let’s dive into some questions about the team in this week’s mailbag along with some trade talk. If you have questions about the Celtics or NBA, free agency or more email brobb@masslive.com or tweet @briantrobb
Why hasn’t Jordan Walsh gotten some time with the big club? His defense, particularly on-ball, would have been helpful with injuries they’ve had early this season. — Chris B
This was always going to be a developmental year for him. He showed some promising signs in Summer League but at 19 years old, he wasn’t going to be ready to contribute to a contender right away. The Celtics want him developing his offensive game in Portland and that’s where he will spend the majority of the year.
What do you think the realistic chances are of nabbing Norman Powell at the deadline? Clips are overloaded and he would be a great fit running our 2nd unit. — Frank B
He would be a great fit but I’d put it at no shot due to this contract. It’s hard to foresee any trade for the Celtics for a player making over $10 million with the team’s salary limitations for trade matching. If you want a player like Norm Powell, you would have to trade one of your top 6 guys and I don’t think that makes the Celtics a better team at this point. Lower priced contracts that could fit into the Grant Williams TPE are the far more realistic scenario for the next couple of months.
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I think we should start horford and take d white off the bench. Trade kornet and jd davidson and a 2nd for konchar. — JT
Perhaps in some matchups but don’t really see the need for starting Horford at this point. I think Celtics are much better off controlling his minutes off the bench and giving those extra minutes to White with the starters. Grizz are probably going to want more than a second round pick for Konchar.
Serious question, Brian. In the next media scrum with Tatum, can you please ask him what is up with his free throw shooting? He’s under 80% now and while that is still pretty good, it’s a noticeable drop from both last season and career %. Is his wrist bothering him? Thank you in advance on behalf of Celtic nation. — Andy
It’s hard to get worked up about his free throw percentage for me after just 20 games. He’s still just five percentage points under his career average and 80 percent is still pretty great. Will check in with him about it regardless.
Watching the Pacers go at Luke Kornet in the third quarter was painful! Do you see the Celtics pulling off any trades for a third center or even sending cookies to Blake Griffin for Christmas to try and have him return to the team? —John L
If Blake does return, don’t see it happening until after the trade deadline. At that point, rosters will be more settled and the C’s may hold an open roster spot or two for the buyout/free agent market. If it’s not Griffin, I do expect the Celtics to be active in trade talks for other bigs so there would be less of a reliance on Kornet if injuries hit the frontcourt in the playoffs.
Did Brad make a mistake by not extending Derrick White when he was eligible earlier this year? White’s camp seemed to indicate he was interested in extending and they certainly know the CBA rules that would have limited the annual salary to what seemed like a deal for the Celts. Worried that in future negotiations he’ll demand more and price himself out of what the Celts can do within team payroll limits. Am I off-base? —Steve
It’s certainly a fair consideration. Based on how this season is going, it’s also fair to wonder whether you would prefer Derrick White over Jrue Holiday for the long term if Boston only had to choose one. Holiday is eligible for an extension in March so it will be interesting to see what type of deal he is offered if he continues having a down offensive year. With White, there was less urgency to get the deal done in the moment for Boston with two years still left heading into this year. The Celtics can revisit those talks this summer and while the price may have gone up, they will also have a better idea of what they want to do with other parts of the roster by that point. That should make it easier to figure out their financial limitations with him rather than overextend themselves too early with a bigger deal last summer.
