Extrapolation Sport

It has been well documented now the impact that Brad Stevens has had in New England, since leaving his position as head coach to take Danny Ainge’s role as General Manager in 2021.

His first move as President of Basketball Operations was an aggressive remodel, first getting Ime Udoka in as head coach and trading Kemba Walker to bring back Al Horford.

Stevens has quickly become known to make ‘heist’ trades over his tenure, notably picking up Derrick White from the Spurs and Kriptas Porzingis in multi-team trade.

Now, the Celtics sit at a cross-roads, with them now falling under the first apron and having cap space to buyout players, they have room on their roster to pursue players.

This came after aggresively trading away their Championship team including Jrue Holiday, Kriptas Porzingis, Al Horford, Luke Kornet and now more recently Anfernee Simons, Chris Boucher, Josh Minott and Xavier Tillman. This cuts their projected salary and luxury tax from $540m in June, to $186.5m as of February 6th.

The C’s now have two open roster spots, leaving them room for flexibility in the buyout markets over the next few weeks.

With Vucevic coming in and rumours of Tatum returning following his Achilles injury, Brad Stevens could push to sign players for playoffs with an unassuming active roster having them sitting as high as third in the Eastern Conference.

Who could Brad Stevens target as potential buyout candidates?

Cam Thomas is an obvious shout, offering consistent offense off the bench. Averaging 15.6 points in 24 games for the Nets this season, Thomas has a 43.5FG% across his career.

Questions would be asked of his acceptance to be a potential seventh option off the bench, with opportunity to drop lower in the pecking order if Jason Tatum does return this season.

Sentiment surrounds the rumour with queries over his defence and attitude both needing to mature before joining a team coached by Joe Mazulla.

Khris Middleton is yet to be bought out at this point, but could be an attractive candidate with his proven ability to provide consistent scoring from the bench.

Averaging a career 38.5% from outside of the arc, he can create his own shots and doesn’t need to have to have the ball in his hand to be effective.

Middleton has proved his is a winner, in a 2021 Championship with the Bucks. An already tested road for the Celtics, who picked up Jrue Holiday to take them to their own ring in 2024.

Mike Conley would be the ultimate veteran addition, who has very well respected across the league with 19 years and 108 playoff appearances in his career.

Conley remains a strong defensive player and has sunk 38.7% of his threes in his career and since his departure from the Timberwolves, has had advocates such as Anthony Edwards publicly stating they would want him back.

Timberwolves traded him for cash considerations, but he has since been waived by the Hornets and available. Ant said after their win against the Raptors: “Mike’s my guy, he’s like an OG to me, hopefully we can get him back. I don’t really know how it goes, but I keep hearing he can come back, so hopefully he will and hopefully he sees this. We want you back Mike. He knows we miss him.”

Lonzo Ball would give the C’s some much needed size at guard as he stands 6-foot-5. A decent defender, good rebounder and underrated playmaking skills make him a good asset for the team.

He is not however, a strong shooter, shooting just 27.2% of his 3-pointers this year. Given the way Mazulla has his team playing, this could be a huge issue going forward and may put them off the idea.

Lonzo’s athleticism and efficiency has taken a nosedive at Cleveland as he battled injuries since his surgery that kept him out for 2-and-a-half years. But at his best, he is a lockdown perimeter defender and high-level facilitator, his skillset is not in question.

Georges Niang could make an unpopular return to the Celtics too, with a short stint in Massachusetts being heavily critiqued by the Boston fanbase after he grabbed Jaylen Brown’s knee in a 2023 playoff game.

Niang hasn’t played this year, battling a foot injury, but when we last saw him, he was a productive backup forward, adding floor spacing and positional defence to TD Garden’s frontcourt.

Averaging a respectable 39.9% from three across his career, his move to Memphis in the Jaren Jackson Jr trade to make up salaries may not work, and we could see him waived in the future.

Several other names surround the Boston front office, and much suspense surrounds the potential moves, with the Timberwolves also having two spaces on their roster that needs filling.

Known for trading at lows and letting go at peaks and getting plenty of value out of his trades, this new era at Boston is certainly exciting as the C’s look to build before the playoffs.