Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics
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Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics
After a flurry of moves ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline, the Boston Celtics have three open roster spots.
Brad Stevens waved goodbye to Chris Boucher, Xavier Tillman Sr. and Josh Minott in three individual cost-cutting moves. The end result saw Boston duck under the tax line. Now, Stevens will face the difficult task of rounding out the roster without going back into the tax.
During a Feb. 6 news conference, Boston’s President of Basketball Operations detailed the type of player he will be looking for on the buyout market.
“I would say that what will be looking for, will not be somebody that we’re going to ask to come in and, you know, be a part of the everyday rotation when we’re fully healthy,” Stevens said. “But we also need people who can come in, accept that and be ready to help us move this thing down the hill and forward.”
Essentially, the Celtics are looking for depth in the buyout market. Therefore, anyone they acquire shouldn’t be expected to emerge as a key piece of the rotation, which probably means Cam Thomas is out of the equation.
Stevens Urges Celtics Fans To Be Patient
When speaking with NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg after his news conference, Brad Stevens explained the need for patience as the Celtics continue retooling the roster.
“I told a couple of our guys last summer, I told both Jaylen and Jayson, ‘hey, as we navigate this and go from where we were in the second apron at that time, there’s going to be a lot like, why did you do that? Or why did you do this?'” Stevens said. “And I said, ‘just trust that we’re going to do the very best we can to be as good as we possibly can be, and keep surrounding ourselves with great people, and at the same time, give ourselves the best opportunity to win now and later.'”
Stevens continued.
“And I think that’s all you can try to do. It’s really complicated. I think all the time, and I said this up in the press conference today, when I was coaching, I was right next to it. I had the office right next to it, and I had no idea how complicated it was. And some of those spreadsheets that you mentioned earlier might better illustrate that for people.”
For a large portion of the fanbase, trading away Anfernee Simons likely raised some of those questions. However, when looking at the flexibility that trade created, you can see it was done with the future in mind.
Celtics Need To Thread The Needle
Boston is currently $842,000 under the luxury tax line. Stevens will likely lean on 10-day contracts in the coming weeks, as the team waits for the pro-rated salaries to continue decreasing. Adding three new talents while staying under the luxury tax will be a difficult task.
Yet, given all of the work Stevens and the front office put in to getting below the tax line, it’s clear they have no intention of going back over that threshold this season. As such, there could be a lot of short-term stays in Boston over the next few weeks.