This is going to be interesting I think. I think the Celtics will absolutely offer him this, but I think there's a legit chance he says no and bets on himself. His role is going to be much bigger this year.

I’ve always thought Walsh was a player where you could see why people were intrigued by him, but the actual role was a little harder to picture.

At this point, I think it’s getting clearer. He probably doesn’t need to become much more of a scorer. But I do think he can get really good at all the stuff that keeps role players on the floor: cutting, screening, defending, making quick decisions, maximizing JT’s abilities, etc. Maybe even more so than some of the other young guys.

Walshy’s always had the tools. Now we get to see if they can actually turn into trust and minutes.

I like the name, because its clear Queta and Garza both came in and upped their games after joining the Celtics. They were both open minded and willing to grow.

Hopefully Mitchell grows a bit in the mental game, and Cenac and Williams develop too.

This is mostly for the cap nerds and super premature to discuss trading a guy who hasn't even made his Celtic debut yet, but I always like to think about the big picture and given there's already plenty of talk about eventually "flipping" Paul George as an expiring, I thought it would be mildly interesting to discuss the idea of trading MItchell Robinson.

Say sometime between December-Feb the team ultimately decides Sam Hauser and Mitchell Robinson are expendable. In Sam's case, maybe because you got guys like Baylor, Walsh and Hugo eating his minutes. In Robinson's case, maybe Amari Williams or Chris Cenac is showing signs and you're thinking Queta and Garza can hold it down. Or maybe, you're just thinking "both of these guys are good, but not untouchable in the grand scheme of things"

Hauser ($10,848,215) + Robinson ($15,044,000) = $25,892,215

As of December 15th, Boston would be able to trade them together and as as a non apron team sending out under 29 mil, they'd be able to take back $125% + $250k This means that technically they could take back as much as 33.39 mil in a trade and stay under the 1st apron.

However, even though they are sitting 10.2 mil under the first apron, they'd be super unlikely to take on an additional 7.5 mil in salary, because it would push them into the tax. Boston is currently only $1,705,594 under the luxury tax and more than likely will not cross that line this season.

That said, it also means that if Boston were to trade those two guys, they'd be able to take back another 1.7 mi ($27,597,809 total), but the sight catch is they'd still need to have money available to fill the empty roster spot with a min contract ($1,357,763). For instance, converting Amari Williams or Dillion Mitchell. This is prorated so essentially if they signed one on December 15th, it's gonna be a $920,782 hit (can only take back $26,677,027 in a Hauser/Robinson trade). If they waited until Feb 5th to make a trade, they could stretch it out a bit longer with a 14 day grace period of holding only 14 roster spots and then sign a min guy on Feb 19th for $405,768... essentially meaning Boston could take back $27,192,041 in a Hauser/Robinson trade on Feb 5th.

Why is that mildly interesting and why Feb 5th instead of the Feb 11th trade deadline?

Well, because on Feb 5th 2026, we traded Anfernee Simons for Nikola Vucevic and as part of that deal we generated that 27.6 mil TPE we have until Feb 5th 2027 to use. That also means we could make a deal, use the TPE to absorb salary, and generate new TPEs with a new 1 year expiration clock.

So to give you a hypothetical example:

• Feb 5th 2027: Boston trades Hauser (10.8 mil) + Robinson (15 mil) along with picks (not including the Clippers 1st) for a total of 25.9 mil outgoing to the Pelicans for Trey Murphy III (27 mil incoming)
• Pelicans are already 4 mil under luxury tax, but in this case they are sending out more salary (27 mil) than they are receiving (25.9 mil), so from their perspective this deal works fine from a cap standpoint.
• However, Boston actually utilizes their Simons 27.6 mil TPE to absorb the incoming Trey Murphy salary. In the process, because the TPE is used to absorb Murphy, Boston then generates a 10.8 mil TPE (via Hauser) and 15 mil TPE (via Robinson) Boston would have a year to use. This hypothetically could prove important as they target 2027-28 season as the year they push back into the aprons.
• This still leaves Boston with enough luxury tax space (roughly 597.8k) to convert Amari Williams to a min contract (515k prorated on Feb 5th or 405k prorated on Feb 19th) and remain under the luxury tax.

...

To expand on the example above a bit, while I know there's hope from fans that next Summer we'll move Paul George's expiring + the Clippers 1st for the next available star, it's unclear who that is. Jokic isn't happening. Booker? Apron-fearing Knicks moving Karl Towns would be funny in the same way Brown to Philly was hilarious. More likely, I think we just have a great season and then convince Paul George to opt out of his final year (56.5 mil) to instead sign a guaranteed 3 year deal paying him something like 80 mil. That would put his 2027-28 salary at around 25.1 mil. 2028 draft class might be great so I could see us just hanging onto the Clippers pick.

Boston could then be looking at a 2027-28 roster of: Tatum (62.7 mil), George (25.1 mil), White (32.6 mil), Murphy (29 mil), Queta (12 mil), Pritchard (8.3 mil), Harper (3.3 mil), Cenac (3.1 mil), Hugo (3 mil), Baylor (4.9 mil), Walsh (5 mil), Amari (2.6 mil), Boston 2027 1st rounder around 25th pick assuming it wasn't included in the Murphy trade (3.4 mil) = 13 players under contract for 195 mil total. They need a minimum of 14, but could go as high as 15. At this point, Boston is ready to spend money to get up into apron territory. They'd still remain under the luxury line (around 213 mil) and 1st apron (222 mil). So they could then utilize those two TPEs (10.8 Hauser TPE and 15 mil Robinson TPE) to find a couple more key players and still stay under the 1st apron hard cap. Purely as an example, sending a pick to the Blazers to take Rob Williams' 14.5 mil and using the Mitchell TPE to absorb his salary, then sending a pick to take on another guy making under 10 (Marcus Smart, Luke Kornet, Bradley Beal, Al Horford as examples) using the Hauser TPE to absorb their money. Even using the full TPEs, the Hypothetical 15 man roster comes in just under the 1st apron at 220.8 mil.

Assuming they did all of that while keeping the 2028 Clippers 1st, Summer 2028 would also be spicy.

TL;DR: Some cap ideas to think about over the next 12 months of team building

Just something I’ve been thinking about, I feel the only way this build ends in real championship contention is if both Tatum gets back to or near his previous form, and we add a star next to him sometime in the next 1-3 years. Who do we think that player could be?

The way I see it, there’s two ways you could acquire this player. You could either decide you know something other teams don’t, and buy low on a guy who isn’t a star at the time of the trade but you’re projecting grows into one, or you trade for an established star. First method is a lot riskier but costs less and likely pays off more since this player is probably younger, second option is safer but more expensive. I’ll give my top 2 options for each scenario.

Scenario 1: buy low on a future star

Anthony black- I’m absolutely in love with his playstyle and who he is as a player. A cerebral, athletic, defensive connector who’s shown serious signs of the shooting being in there at a good enough level. I just think he’s a brilliant player and couldn’t possibly be in a worse situation in Orlando. I’d overpay for him right now, I think he’s gonna be a 20/6/6 kind of guy.

Ryan Rollins- still only 23 years old, two straight years being 40+% from 3, despite his off court struggles from awhile ago pretty smart player. Potential to be a great volume shooter, who defends and does a little of everything. Minny has such a deep guard crunch they might let him go for cheap.

Honorable mention: Keyshawn George- really interesting player, wizards have a ton of wing talent around him, maybe he gets marginalized? I think he’s got a really high ceiling and plays very intelligent winning basketball

Scenario 2: pay a price for an established star

Devin booker- this phoenix thing is ultimately going nowhere, booker is in the middle of his prime right now, and would fit our team beautifully. I’m certain he’d cost a lot, but man the fit would be incredible, definitely my top option.

Brandon miller- there’s a chance he finds himself in a Jalen duren situation next summer if he wants more than Charlotte will offer.. and kon breaks out as a number one option. Could be a scenario where they’ll do a sign and trade around picks and players. Miller projects as basically a young Paul George style player

Honorable mention: Chet holmgren- maybe OKC gets a lot out of sorber/mara/ihart, wants to further their ever growing asset pool and loosen their cap sheet, and Chet is on the chopping block. I think he’d fit in Boston super well on both ends

Any of these intriguing to you? Any names I missed?

BOSTON — Internally, the Celtics’ brass believes, with the exception of the 2023-24 edition, this is their “most well-balanced and deepest” roster of the Jayson Tatum era.

They’ve heard the noise: They’re a regular-season wins machine. But without Jaylen Brown, they’re not equipped for the postseason. They’d agree with the first part of that sentiment, permitting health, but they’ll push back on any notion they’re not built for the playoffs.

You see, they view that 2024 championship campaign as an exception to a rule that said the Tatum-and-Brown Celtics struggled down the stretch of close playoff games over much of their nine years together. Every year but 2024 suddenly springs to mind.

In theory, at least, removing Brown from the equation and replacing him with Paul George, who better understands his role as Tatum’s complement, should improve the late-game offensive woes, so long as Tatum can trust this team they built around him.

Of course, the C’s brass didn’t say as much publicly. It’s just something we learned at media day. Though their president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens, did tell us, “You do have to have that depth piece to be good. The way the game is played — how much ground you have to cover — how versatile you have to be up and down a roster is really important,” and in fewer words, “I do think we have a group that can do that.”

“I do think we have a team that can score in different ways,” added Stevens. “When I was coaching, I always thought the hardest teams to prepare for were teams that could beat you 1) on a matchup, 2) in pick-and-roll and 3) in movement, and they can bounce to any of those three categories throughout the game if you’re taking one away or if they’re struggling in one, and I think that we’re going to be able to do some of that.

“So, it’ll be fun to watch, fun to see it come together.”

Yes, Brad. Yes, it will. Or let’s hope it will be. Hope is a good thing.

Not sure if this is common knowledge or has already been addressed, but is Jay King still writing about the Celtics for The Athletic?

I’ve been off social media and Celtics podcasts for a minute but noticed there was no content from Jay on Celtics Media Day and no Celtics articles at all since August 3.

I’ve enjoyed Jay’s work since his MassLive days and he was one of the primary reasons I subscribed to The Athletic. If the Celtics lack a permanent beat writer, I’d prefer to invest my money in the Globe or BSJ.

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Looking forward to this season hoping everyone stays healthy 🙏🏿

Didn’t see any questions about these topics from the reporters at media day. I haven’t followed all the coverage tho. Did anyone see if we got answers to:

1. is Payton pritchard planning to sign the extension this October if the team offers

2. has Paul George started discussions around a new contract with the team if he declines his player option for 2027-28

did they get asked this, I did not see

I don’t think Tatum’s answer was surprising at all, which is kind of why I liked it.

He’s probably the most unassuming superstar in the league. People have always tried to bait him into the Tatum vs. Brown narrative, and he basically never gave anyone anything. Now Jaylen is gone, the team is clearly built around him, and he still answers the question the exact same way:

“I understand the roles that we all play on this team. Everybody’s role is different. That’s what makes us a team.”

Honestly, I think Celtics fans probably take that part of him for granted a little. There’s so much superstar drama around the league all the time with guys like Kyrie, Ja, Harden, etc., and Tatum has basically spent his whole career being incredibly low-maintenance and saying the least provocative thing possible.

At this point I’m less interested in whether he’ll ever call it “his team” and more interested in finally seeing what it actually looks like when it very clearly is. I’m just ready to watch it play out.