The Celtics made their second move of free agency on Tuesday, agreeing to a two-year deal with former Wolves forward Josh Minott, a league source confirmed to MassLive. The move adds another 6-foot-8 wing to the roster amid an offseason of change, with three Boston rotation players already out the door and more likely to follow. The second year of the deal for Minott is a team option per Michael Scotto of Hoopshype.
Minott is only 22-years-old despite spending three years in the league already with Minnesota, having averaged 2.6 points and 1.0 rebounds per game as a deep bench reserve in spot minutes. His presence though fills up Boston’s roster for the moment with 15 players and also puts their entire payroll back above the second apron for now unofficially.
More moves are a certainty to come for Boston in the coming days and weeks for that reason. Let’s take a look at where the roster stands now and what to watch for as Brad Stevens continues to retool the roster in a transition season.
Celtics payroll
Jayson Tatum: $54.1 million
Jaylen Brown: $53.1 million
Derrick White: $28.1 million
Anfernee Simons: $27.6 million
Sam Hauser: $10 million
Georges Niang: $8.2 million
Payton Pritchard: $7.2 million
Luka Garza: 2.6 million
Baylor Scheierman: $2.6 million
Josh Minott: $2.5 million
Hugo Gonzalez: $2.5 million
Xavier Tillman: $2.5 million
Neemias Queta: $2.3 million
Jordan Walsh: $2.2 million (non-guaranteed)
JD Davison: $2.2 million (team option)
Total: $208 million to 15 players
Luxury tax line: $187.8 million
First apron: $195.9 million
Second apron: $207.8 million
Celtics depth chart
Guards (4): White, Pritchard, Simons, Davison (non-guaranteed)
Forwards (8): Brown, Hauser, Niang, Scheuermann, Walsh (non-guaranteed), Minott, Gonzalez, Tatum (injured)
Bigs (3): Queta, Tillman, Garza
Two-ways (3): Miles Norris, Max Shulga, Amari Williams
Free agents: Al Horford, Torrey Craig
Analysis: This is obviously far from a complete roster for multiple reasons. To begin, that’s just not a competitive center depth chart as composed for a team that certainly has aspirations of making the playoffs next year even with Jayson Tatum sidelined. Boston is trying to find some diamonds in the rough by agreeing to deals with Luka Garza and Minott, locking them up for minimum deals for the next two years with the hopes they will grow within the system and produce like guys such as Sam Hauser or Luke Kornet on cheap deals originally.
The bigger thing to watch though are the financials. The Celtics are still roughly $20.1 million over the luxury tax line, and it makes no sense to be that deep in the tax with this type of roster construction and Tatum expected to miss the entire season, especially for a repeater tax team. Boston has to dump more salary, and they need to start doing it sooner than later since dumping $20 million during the season will not be an easy lift with multiple avenues to move money likely to dry up.
The obvious path to dumping payroll will be using a combination of Anfernee Simons, Georges Niang and Sam Hauser to make the necessary cuts. Two of the three will likely need to go out in deals, unless Boston opts for a blockbuster swap involving one of their core players (Jaylen Brown/Derrick White) that also trims some money. The latter path remains unlikely barring a monster offer from some suitor, but it’s still worth monitoring in the coming weeks as Boston deconstructs a large chunk of their title roster.
Other areas of the roster also remain in flux. There are some non-guaranteed deals (JD Davison, Jordan Walsh) at the bottom of the roster that could be outright cut for cost savings and other cheap players (Xavier Tillman) may not be part of the plan either. More moves are coming per sources, it’s just a matter of when not if at this juncture as the Celtics navigate their first roster reset of the decade.
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