Celtics 2025-2026 Discussion

[RobertWeathers]

Enjoy the ride. It has sucked hind tit so far.

Lamenting the loss of a 2 way player is no way to go through life.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Lamenting the loss of a 2 way player is no way to go through life.

Let's review Brad Stevens 2025 off-season moves, plus a bit of history.

We traded Smart, RW III, Brogdan, Holiday, and Porzingis for Simons and Niang and a 2nd round pick. You might have missed the news.

We allowed Luke Kornet to walk and replaced him with Luka Garza. You must have missed those FA transactions.

We have not signed Al Horford. We released JD Davison. Again, maybe you missed those moves?

Brad Stevens with his only two first round draft picks (since 2021) chose Baylor Scheierman (who was trash at this years Vegas Summer League) and Hugo Gonzalez (who was trash at this years Summer League). Maybe you missed the Summer League?

With all of the moves above, the Celtics are still over the first apron so we will not be signing any FAs of significance.

The Celtics have their own draft picks, but no extra high picks like we got from Brooklyn in 2013.

The championship in 2024 was a lot of fun. Tatum, Brown, and White alone are not winning another championship. There are no significant FAs arriving and Brad's 1st round drafting has proven to be junk.

I enjoyed the 2024 championship but I thought Brad and Wyc were setting up the Celtics for the longer term, not a short term run. My mistake, I admit it. I got excited thinking we would be competitive for a championship for longer than one year. I have to face and deal with my idiocy.

Enjoy the ride.

 

[bresna]

Let's review Brad Stevens 2025 off-season moves, plus a bit of history.

We traded Smart, RW III, Brogdan, Holiday, and Porzingis for Simons and Niang and a 2nd round pick. You might have missed the news.

???

Smart, RW III & Brogdan?

 

[bresna]

Let's review Brad Stevens 2025 off-season moves, plus a bit of history.

We allowed Luke Kornet to walk and replaced him with Luka Garza. You must have missed those FA transactions.

This was another dumb move in my opinion. Kornet was a really good defender. Garza is not. And the two are far from a swap when you look at the stats sheet.
Kornet in 2025:
GP--MIN--PTS--FG%--REB--AST--STL
73--18.6---6.0----66.8---5.3----1.6---.5

Garza in 2025
GP--MIN--PTS--FG%--REB--AST--STL
39---5.6----3.5---49.5--- 1.4----.3-----.2

The biggest difference is those rebounds.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

???

Smart, RW III & Brogdan?

Yes we traded Smart for Porzi and then Porzi for Niang. So we lost Smart and Porzi and ended up with Niang. If Porzi can only fetch Niang, then Smart for Porzi was not a good trade.

And so on .......

 

[borisman]

Yes we traded Smart for Porzi and then Porzi for Niang. So we lost Smart and Porzi and ended up with Niang. If Porzi can only fetch Niang, then Smart for Porzi was not a good trade.

And so on .......

The end result of the first trades for Porzingis and Holiday resulted in a World Championship.
Due to Tatum getting injured there was no hope for a repeat run.
The second end result was to get under the apron, which was only logical, due to Tatum being out for most, if not all, of next season.
There's no point in paying penalties and luxury tax if the C's weren't going to be a contender. Porzingis hasn't been healthy so that was a reason for salary dump for nothing player like Niang, whom I hate with a passion.
It's going to come around again when we take on a player, like a Porzingis, and give up not equal value in return next season. You can book it. We still have a trade exemption as well so that will be easier to get a more valuable piece and resetting the luxury tax penalties had to happen at the expense of a lesser return in trade. It's the way of the NBA sometimes.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

The end result of the first trades for Porzingis and Holiday resulted in a World Championship.
Due to Tatum getting injured there was no hope for a repeat run.
The second end result was to get under the apron, which was only logical, due to Tatum being out for most, if not all, of next season.
There's no point in paying penalties and luxury tax if the C's weren't going to be a contender. Porzingis hasn't been healthy so that was a reason for salary dump for nothing player like Niang, whom I hate with a passion.
It's going to come around again when we take on a player, like a Porzingis, and give up not equal value in return next season. You can book it. We still have a trade exemption as well so that will be easier to get a more valuable piece and resetting the luxury tax penalties had to happen at the expense of a lesser return in trade. It's the way of the NBA sometimes.

Any team runs out of players to give up if the drafts suck. Who are we going to give up? We have not developed any good young players.

 

[captain stone]

captain, what makes you think this team won't contend after Tatum comes back and the C's add a good front court player to go along with Brown and White for '26-'27. I'm pretty sure Tatum could be back by the end this coming season, if the team chooses to let him play, so I don't see his future health being an issue. Those three + any other additions will make this a team a strong contender in the East. You can bet on Brad adding a quality big man sooner than later (by the start of next season the latest).

Where's the good front-court player coming from?

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Let's review Brad Stevens 2025 off-season moves, plus a bit of history.

We traded Smart, RW III, Brogdan, Holiday, and Porzingis for Simons and Niang and a 2nd round pick. You might have missed the news.

We allowed Luke Kornet to walk and replaced him with Luka Garza. You must have missed those FA transactions.

We have not signed Al Horford. We released JD Davison. Again, maybe you missed those moves?

Brad Stevens with his only two first round draft picks (since 2021) chose Baylor Scheierman (who was trash at this years Vegas Summer League) and Hugo Gonzalez (who was trash at this years Summer League). Maybe you missed the Summer League?

With all of the moves above, the Celtics are still over the first apron so we will not be signing any FAs of significance.

The Celtics have their own draft picks, but no extra high picks like we got from Brooklyn in 2013.

The championship in 2024 was a lot of fun. Tatum, Brown, and White alone are not winning another championship. There are no significant FAs arriving and Brad's 1st round drafting has proven to be junk.

I enjoyed the 2024 championship but I thought Brad and Wyc were setting up the Celtics for the longer term, not a short term run. My mistake, I admit it. I got excited thinking we would be competitive for a championship for longer than one year. I have to face and deal with my idiocy.

Enjoy the ride.

Come on man, really? You’re usually a level headed guy.

You get that drafting at the end of the first round is unlikely to yield anyone of value right? And your last point, you understand that losing a top 3 player to a devastating injury wasn’t in the team’s plans, yes?

Celtics are doing what they need to do. They’re conceding the 2025-26 season, which they must since they have no realistic options, and trying to position themselves for 2026-27 when they’ll have Tatum returning with as much financial flexibility as they can.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Come on man, really? You’re usually a level headed guy.

You get that drafting at the end of the first round is unlikely to yield anyone of value right? And your last point, you understand that losing a top 3 player to a devastating injury wasn’t in the team’s plans, yes?

Celtics are doing what they need to do. They’re conceding the 2025-26 season, which they must since they have no realistic options, and trying to position themselves for 2026-27 when they’ll have Tatum returning with as much financial flexibility as they can.

Ice: We have to draft and develop players. We have not done that since Pritchard. Financial flexibility to head back over the 2nd Apron?

What players are we going to trade to get starters? Simons? If we trade our draft picks we are stuck long term. The new FA deals have such high values it really limits any team who are not drafting and developing. I don't see your plan other than "returning with as much financial flexibility as they can". Sorry, Ice, that is not a plan. I think the new league structure is a bit different than you understand. Things going forward are not like they were historically.

What is the long term plan? Fall back for a year and then start oscillating above and below the 2nd Apron year after year? Does not seem like a winning strategy to me. Help me out. What is the long term plan?

 

[borisman]

Any team runs out of players to give up if the drafts suck. Who are we going to give up? We have not developed any good young players.

It's tough to get plug and play rotation guys picking in the 30 range. The Scheierman pick was a head scratcher for me because I wanted Filipowski. This year as well I wanted a big man like Kalkbrenner and/or Fleming. Hugo looks athletic, active, good defender and very good passer. Can't shoot well right now but the C's have a good program to develop shooters. Not yet working for Baylor and this is a big year for him but difference here is Hugo is much younger so he can still be molded. It's way to early to sound alarm on Hugo though.

 

[borisman]

Where's the good front-court player coming from?

We'll have to wait and see. And this year, unlike last, we can sign a buy-out player by being under the tax. We also still have the mid-level slot if we choose to use it. It's still a work in progress. I'm sure Brad has a plan and he's done a good job as a whole. I still hate the Niang deal.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

It's tough to get plug and play rotation guys picking in the 30 range. The Scheierman pick was a head scratcher for me because I wanted Filipowski. This year as well I wanted a big man like Kalkbrenner and/or Fleming. Hugo looks athletic, active, good defender and very good passer. Can't shoot well right now but the C's have a good program to develop shooters. Not yet working for Baylor and this is a big year for him but difference here is Hugo is much younger so he can still be molded. It's way to early to sound alarm on Hugo though.

I agree, but what is the long term plan? We have two guys with over $300M contracts. We will sneak under the 2nd Apron this year. Without Tatum 2026 is not a championship year. Next year (2026 - 2027) we try to sign a center to go back above the 2nd Apron? How long can we stay above the 2nd Apron? Our long term plan is to outspend the rest of the league while we oscillate above and below the 2nd Apron? I love Pritchard and Hauser, but I don't think developing them is the long term solution. I don't see any draft picks significantly contributing any time soon.

I don't see the long term plan. Ice is mad at me.

 

[rochrist]

Yes we traded Smart for Porzi and then Porzi for Niang. So we lost Smart and Porzi and ended up with Niang. If Porzi can only fetch Niang, then Smart for Porzi was not a good trade.

And so on .......

You say we lost Smart as though that were a bad thing.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

You say we lost Smart as though that were a bad thing.

Not at all. At the time I thought it was a good trade. Turned out Porzi is only worth Niang. No matter what you think of Smart, I have him rated much higher than Niang.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Let's review Brad Stevens 2025 off-season moves, plus a bit of history.

We traded Smart, RW III, Brogdan, Holiday, and Porzingis for Simons and Niang and a 2nd round pick. You might have missed the news.

We allowed Luke Kornet to walk and replaced him with Luka Garza. You must have missed those FA transactions.

We have not signed Al Horford. We released JD Davison. Again, maybe you missed those moves?

Brad Stevens with his only two first round draft picks (since 2021) chose Baylor Scheierman (who was trash at this years Vegas Summer League) and Hugo Gonzalez (who was trash at this years Summer League). Maybe you missed the Summer League?

With all of the moves above, the Celtics are still over the first apron so we will not be signing any FAs of significance.

The Celtics have their own draft picks, but no extra high picks like we got from Brooklyn in 2013.

The championship in 2024 was a lot of fun. Tatum, Brown, and White alone are not winning another championship. There are no significant FAs arriving and Brad's 1st round drafting has proven to be junk.

I enjoyed the 2024 championship but I thought Brad and Wyc were setting up the Celtics for the longer term, not a short term run. My mistake, I admit it. I got excited thinking we would be competitive for a championship for longer than one year. I have to face and deal with my idiocy.

Enjoy the ride.

Sorry but you've lost it.

 

[rochrist]

Not at all. At the time I thought it was a good trade. Turned out Porzi is only worth Niang. No matter what you think of Smart, I have him rated much higher than Niang.

Frankly, at this point I'd rather have NIang. At least he's liable to recognize his place in the pecking order.

 

[UrbanCowboy]

It's a bit like where the Pats were when Brady left. Retool or rebuild? I don't think there is a definitive correct answer ... except in hindsight. I'm more of a rebuild guy, and I'd tear the C's down to the studs and start over, but I can see the retool case. [part of this is I just don't see Brown as a max guy]

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Sorry but you've lost it.

Probably

 

[RobertWeathers]

Probably

Happens to all of us