Celtics Mailbag: Will Boston make room for Summer League standout?

The Celtics are wrapping up Summer League in Las Vegas after a mixed bag of performances from a host of NBA talent. Boston has been quiet so far with any additional moves thus far since their original free agency deals but the roster is worth keeping an eye on as the dust settles. Let’s talk about the roster, potential additions and more in this week’s mailbag.

“Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet and Al Horford have all departed Boston this summer, leaving Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman and Luka Garza as the team’s only true bigs on the 15-man roster.”

Brian, with all due respect, how can anyone possibly consider Xavier Tillman an NBA

Big? The man is 6 foot 6 or 6 foot 7 at most. The same height as Jaylen Brown.

I may not be an NBA insider or a basketball genius, but Tillman is an NBA Tweener. He’s Brandon Bass. He may be many things, but an NBA Big is not one of them. And, there’s a reason we practically got him for free. — Dave in Bangor

Ha, I see your point, Dave, but I categorize “bigs” by the position they play. Despite his size, Tillman has played 43 percent of his minutes in his career at center. He’s played exclusively power forward or center during his time in Boston. He doesn’t look like a true big but that’s what the Celtics ask of him when he’s on the floor. If I’m categorizing guys as guards, wings and bigs, Tillman is going to fall in the big category despite having the height of a wing.

Instead of a hard salary cap, could the NBA move to a system where all player contracts are based on a fixed percentage of the salary cap instead of a set dollar amount? As league revenues grow and the cap increases, player salaries would rise as well. I’m sure there are probably reasons why that wouldn’t make sense, but I’m curious for your thoughts — Josh F

It’s a good idea, Josh, but I don’t think we will ever see a full transformation to that from a reporting standpoint even though plenty of teams plan out their cap situations by looking at percentage of the cap for players in their deal. Signing for 35 percent of the cap does not have the same buzz among fans as hearing someone landed a five-year deal worth $300 million.

Hello Brian. Who gets a crack at making the regular rotation amongst Summer Leaguers? The obvious answer is Walsh, Baylor & Hugo, but I wonder about Shulga & Norris. Joe could go with a rotation of 10 vets, Simons White Brown Hauser Queta, PP Niang Tillman Minott Garza, but that’d be harsh — CsFanMan66

I think one of the young wings (Walsh, Scheierman, Gonzalez) will be in the hunt for minutes with a strong training camp against the likes of Josh Minott. All of those guys have varying strengths so I think a lot will depend on whether Joe Mazzulla needs to lean into more offense (Scheierman) or defense (Walsh, Gonzalez, Minott) with this bench group. Minott has the experience advantage over everyone but he won’t have the continuity that Walsh or Scheierman has coming into Boston’s system. It will make for a fun preseason to see who sticks out from that pack. I expect there to be some fluctuation in that group within the rotation all year as Mazzulla may opt for different guys based on different matchups.

Elsewhere, it’s difficult to see a role for anyone else on the roster out of the gate. Shulga has been a steady guard but he isn’t hitting shots from anywhere on the floor. Norris is 25 and has only been solid in Las Vegas, not stellar. Part of me wonders whether the team goes in a different direction with his two-way roster spot. Amari Williams probably has the biggest chance to make an impact given the state of Boston’s big man depth chart, but other more seasoned bigs (Charles Bassey, Kenneth Lofton Jr.) have made a bigger impact in Vegas than him. He’s going to have to improve his finishing around the basket to make a push for rotation minutes.

Which of Brad Stevens draft picks since he took over in 2021 is most likely to step up into a large role this coming year? Who needs to but might not be the most likely? — Michael D

Jordan Walsh and/or Baylor Scheierman are the guys to watch on this front. It’s the third year in the league for Walsh and given the state of Boston’s bench, it’s going to be sink or swim time for him with his contract not being fully guaranteed for the year. He’s put together a solid Summer League but the offensive production (hitting open shots) needs to translate in camp for him to carve out a role. Scheierman shook off a miserable start to his rookie year in Boston to make some real contributions in March last year during the regular season. Joe Mazzulla is going to need his playmaking as a passer off the bench (as well as his rebounding) especially if Payton Pritchard is promoted into the starting five. I’d rank Scheierman as the most likely to step into the larger role, but Walsh needs to since his contract status is more shaky moving forward.

BRobb, isn’t it possible that the league is underestimating the core talent Boston has even with the loses this offseason? Brown, White, Pritchard, and Simons aren’t C players. This core will keep them in the Eastern Conference hunt. — Jon R

There is certainly some optimism within the team from people I’ve spoken to that this group will surprise some people this year. The case for it is simple. A lot of these guys have always done well with more opportunity. There’s plenty of continuity still on the roster among the team’s top players (despite their losses). Simons could certainly be dangerous in this system from an offensive standpoint. All of this hinges around Queta, Luka Garza and company playing respectable minutes at center for 48 minutes a night but Queta did have a few moments on that front early in the season last year before getting buried by Porzingis’ return to the floor. One injury makes the case go away quickly but this could be a fun scrappy group to watch if they play to their strengths and get some help from their supporting cast.

They going to sign Bassey? — Ronny B

In order to sign Bassey could the Celtics cut Davison’s unguaranteed contract then under the second apron they could send Tillman to a second team with only cash as compensation? — Paul D

They won’t be signing Bassey without doing something like Paul D suggested. Boston’s current tax situation makes it likely they carry 14 players heading into next season so even cutting Davison outright won’t necessarily open up a spot for Bassey. Moving Tillman with cash (to cover his salary and as a sweetener) is a potential option but probably something Boston could balk at that during this part of the offseason. The team is likely going to continue to try to move off bigger salaries (Niang, Simons) so keeping some cash as potential sweetener in those type of deals is probably a priority over using it to move Tillman at this juncture. Also, packaging Tillman as a throw-in with a bigger trade is probably a more appealing option as well if team wants to move on from him.

Bassey has had a nice summer league and could bring good competition to training camp. However, he’s still a fifth year player in Summer League and his skillset is fairly similar to Neemias Queta at this point. Unless the team clears some money and a couple roster spots open up, hard to see Bassey getting anything more than a non-guaranteed invite to camp.