Celtics 2025-2026 Discussion

Real fan 02 · 2026-05-04T13:06:19-0400

Zuma said:
Hauser’s biggest value was shooting 3’s and spreading the floor. If he can no longer so that at a high level…then he does not provide much value. He is a defensive liability.

White can be replaced to a degree with Baylor and Hugo as they will have another year in the league.

And Walsh to defensively...

Zuma · 2026-05-04T13:17:26-0400

Real fan 02 said:
And Walsh to defensively...

I was going to add him but I feel he is an offensive liability. IMO Baylor is a more complete player…Hugo could be.

Real fan 02 · 2026-05-04T13:26:24-0400

Zuma said:
I was going to add him but I feel he is an offensive liability. IMO Baylor is a more complete player…Hugo could be.

I like Baylor he plays tenacious and has that sweet lefty jumper.. Walsh is one of those scrappy, physical guys that every team needs.. Hugo another big Guard who plays with high energy.. all of these guys got significant growth last season and It will help them next season on beyond.

Ice_Ice_Brady · 2026-05-04T14:04:24-0400

Zuma said:
White can be replaced to a degree with Baylor and Hugo as they will have another year in the league.

No

aluminum seats · 2026-05-04T14:10:24-0400

Get Giannis, anyone can go except Tatum. Raise #19.

JoeSixPat · 2026-05-04T14:17:01-0400

Real fan 02 said:
Brad is going to have to account for the Vuvacic trade gone wrong.. I'm sure Brad is going to find a way to attain a big man.. would be good to have Amari Williams who's already on the roster to become a player.. otherwise it's gotta be some sort of a trade.. multiple teams can always get involved when cap is an issue.

Nah, he'd be getting more heat if he "went for it" this season and stuck them with being much weaker next season

It was worth a shot but Vooch just wasn't up to the task. When they traded for him he had pretty good numbers but whether it was him coming off an injury or just age, he never came close to having that same impact here (much like others on the team went cold during the playoffs)

There was a pretty short list of players with contracts that fit with the space they had and there was no way they were going to trigger the luxury tax this year or next

One can't even make the case that they should have kept Simmons because that would leave them without the ability to use his trade exception to secure a top tier center.

Anyone who thought that Steven's long term answer at Center was a 35 year old Vooch was kidding themselves. Now we reset the luxury tax AND can bring someone in on Simmon's trade exception next season AND get some good value from bringing someone in at Vooch's $21 million (by the rules I don't think you can combine Simmons and Vooch

JoeSixPat · 2026-05-04T14:21:23-0400

Ice_Ice_Brady said:
The Celtics are still in good position. That is if you have realistic expectations about an NBA franchise in 2026. They have two core players locked up for a long time both of whom are in their prime, play well together, and clearly are capable of winning a championship with the right supporting cast. It would be easy to look at the Thunder and think this is the norm, but that team had a series of opportunities that other teams do not.

I think the Celtics have a good core with Tatumm, White, and Brown. I don’t know why people think trading Sam Hauser will really do anything. They would just get some mid draft pick or similar three point specialist in return. Hauser is not the problem here. His salary is not a huge cap hit. He matches well with the team. While he doesn’t have a great defense, he is okay and he rarely turns the ball over. I’m concerned about White’s shooting this season, but he is such a phenomenal player that it would be insane to try to trade him and unless they are really going in another direction with youth. Look at the impact White had in game seven; he is capable of doing things on both ends of the court, especially defense.

The guy I would try to trade is Payton Pritchard. I love the guy, but it is so hard to win in the NBA without having two way players. Offensively he’s great. Defensively he’s a liability; unfortunately this is just his DNA. He just can’t be a great defender. If they could get a good draft pick or two for him or a player I think that is the way to go. He’ll probably command a pretty big contract and he’s one of these guys where it’s kind of counterintuitive, but I suspect the team can be better without him at least relative to what he will cost

I think that Queta actually still has a lot of potential although sometimes he’s frustrating to watch. No he’s not going to be an all NBA player, but I do think he can be a very solid contributor for a few years.

The Celtics are just kind of back to the norm which is, besides their incredible championship team, they have this challenge of how you build a champion around Tatum and Brown. Now before we get mad about this, just remember 31 other NBA franchisees are trying to answer the same questions. Look at what the result has been teams have superstars like Giannis, Jokic, and Luka and are getting at best one championship sometimes zero.

I'm sure they'll listen to all offers if there's a serious big man available - but they're not often available, and while having Pritchard on a $7 million contract makes him very desireable, he's probably more desirable to us in terms of fielding a strong team next year.

Hauser could also be considered trade bait as his $10 million isn't bad - but between the two I'd keep Pritchard

Queta as you say does a lot well, but I just don't quite see his body type maturing into the type of C we need. Great guy to come off the bench and take serious minutes if they wind up getting an older C in the offseason too (though not too old as they will want to position themselves for a few years of contending

Ice_Ice_Brady · 2026-05-04T14:44:20-0400

aluminum seats said:
Get Giannis, anyone can go except Tatum. Raise #19.

Giannis is a whiny flopping loser. They don’t need another JT or JB type of playmaker.

They need a better big man and a Time Machine back five years when Jrue Holiday was in his prime. But if they can’t get a Time Machine, they need another elite defender who can shoot and handle the ball. Doesn’t need to be a superstar scorer. Just like Jrue.

Marcus Smart would be a better fit on this team than on the teams when he played here. He is kind of the type of player that they’re missing. The thing is he would need to largely defer on offense to white white is a better player, but smart has the type of defense and passing skills that they’re missing. Right now white is really the only guy who provides intangibles and glue.

JoeSixPat · 2026-05-04T14:57:00-0400

Ice_Ice_Brady said:
Giannis is a whiny flopping loser. They don’t need another JT or JB type of playmaker.

They need a better big man and a Time Machine back five years when Jrue Holiday was in his prime. But if they can’t get a Time Machine, they need another elite defender who can shoot and handle the ball. Doesn’t need to be a superstar scorer. Just like Jrue.

Marcus Smart would be a better fit on this team than on the teams when he played here. He is kind of the type of player that they’re missing. The thing is he would need to largely defer on offense to white white is a better player, but smart has the type of defense and passing skills that they’re missing. Right now white is really the only guy who provides intangibles and glue.

White could also be on the tradeable list, although I hope not as he I expect he will return to form. Smart has a player option with the Lakers but was getting very little so he could opt for free agency and sign here.

Uptown · 2026-05-04T15:10:04-0400

Get Giannis
Bring Udoka back
Reacquire Simons/Jrue/TimeLord/Smart
Or get a real PG like Lonzo Ball who can also shoot & play elite D.

bresna · 2026-05-04T15:16:36-0400

Uptown said:
Get Giannis
Bring Udoka back
Reacquire Simons/Jrue/TimeLord/Smart
Or get a real PG like Lonzo Ball who can also shoot & play elite D.

Is it April 1st??

Ice_Ice_Brady · 2026-05-04T16:01:19-0400

There is no way that the Celtics are trading Derrick White. They are very high on analytics and advanced stats. Even with a down shooting year, White is still an excellent player. I would bet on a number retirement before I bet on a trade.

It would be beyond stupid to trade him. And for people who don’t think that being an elite guy with good advanced stats and intangibles matters, ask the Nuggets how they feel about parting ways with KCP.. they have never been the same since then, and it would be a similar story with the Celtics and White.

Uptown · 2026-05-04T16:50:22-0400

bresna said:
Is it April 1st??

I didn’t mean acquire or reacquire all of those players. More like an “either-or” situation. However, they should try to trade for Giannis, get their coach back & get an actual PG.

bakes781 · 2026-05-04T17:07:41-0400

I know most people want to blame Mazzula but I think that's too easy. They had open 3 pt shots and they missed everyone late.

Ice_Ice_Brady · 2026-05-04T17:57:41-0400

bakes781 said:
I know most people want to blame Mazzula but I think that's too easy. They had open 3 pt shots and they missed everyone late.

They lost two blowouts and then by 9 points. How is that on the head coach? Timing and tuning the lineups isn’t a factor with those margins. Unless Mazzula was planning to suit up and dominate, I think he is a non factor in this series loss.

Thelonious · 2026-05-04T19:08:16-0400

I've heard a bit more of Mazzoula's post game talk. The guy is full of ****. He's a ******** artist...period. He just spouts hippydippy horseshit recycled from old Oprah shows, and once he discerned that 3 is a bigger number than 2, he evidently ceased to think further about the sport he "coaches." He's a joke. We see that, right? Can we get a little honesty here? Huh?

P,S. Just listened to Brown's postgame nonsense. He's full of **** too. I guess that's the team culture. Brilliant.

RobertWeathers · 2026-05-04T19:21:32-0400

Ice_Ice_Brady said:
They lost two blowouts and then by 9 points. How is that on the head coach? Timing and tuning the lineups isn’t a factor with those margins. Unless Mazzula was planning to suit up and dominate, I think he is a non factor in this series loss.

Yep. Mazz is running the offense with the players he has.

If they want to be more diversified on O and improve on the 2pt game inside 15ft they need those kind of players.

LightSkinSmurf · 2026-05-04T20:09:49-0400

Uptown said:
Get Giannis
Bring Udoka back
Reacquire Simons/Jrue/TimeLord/Smart
Or get a real PG like Lonzo Ball who can also shoot & play elite D.

Why would you want this? I'm all for Giannis for obvious reasons. Guy is a legit MVP caliber player. Regardless of how you feel about his game that is indisputable. If he is available you gotta go for it. Him and Tatum have dynasty potential. Or at least multiple championship potential. As the frontrunners. Should be an interesting offseason.

JoeSixPat · 2026-05-04T20:56:32-0400

Well we can pass the time trying to figure out which Centers might be trade candidates - basically anyone with a salary under $27 mil as that's the Simmons trade exception

We should keep in mind that we don't need a C who can score 20 points a night - but someone who can be more physical against some physical opponents and give us a high percentage 2 when we need it.

None of the names I've seen wow me - John Collins and Nic Claxton have been mentioned - although even someone like Day'Ron Sharpe could serve as a physical presence on the cheap if they could work a trade.

Uptown · 2026-05-04T21:22:51-0400

LightSkinSmurf said:
Why would you want this? I'm all for Giannis for obvious reasons. Guy is a legit MVP caliber player. Regardless of how you feel about his game that is indisputable. If he is available you gotta go for it. Him and Tatum have dynasty potential. Or at least multiple championship potential. As the frontrunners. Should be an interesting offseason.

Udoka is a way better coach than Mazzulla. Who cares who he was ****ing. Players respected him. Same as Vrabel.

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