Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens discussed Monday the challenges facing the franchise in the offseason.
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens discussed Monday the challenges facing the franchise in the offseason.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens refused to address what lies ahead for the franchise in terms of ducking under the daunted second apron and the salary dumps that may be mandatory for its long-term health.
Instead, he offered hope, reluctant to admit the Celtics will be taking a step back with Jayson Tatum likely out next season for the entire year with a ruptured Achilles’. Just moments before his postmortem media session began Monday, two draft prospects completed their workouts and jumped into an SUV headed back to their hotel.
As bitter as the Celtics may be about losing to the rival Knicks, 4-2, in the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals and watching New York fans celebrate the series win as if Studio 54 had reopened, the Celtics have to move on, they have to prepare for the future.
The draft is in a month. Free agency begins June 30. Summer league is in six weeks. The season opener is in five months. There’s little time to lament blowing the first two games of the Knicks series or why Kristaps Porzingis couldn’t shake his virus or what if the Celtics weren’t so ice cold on 3-pointers in Game 1.
Instead, Stevens has to ensure the Celtics don’t slip back into the neighborhood of the league’s have-nots. His job is to help the Celtics remain competitive in the Eastern Conference, compensate for Tatum’s absence and cultivate lower-priced prospects who can eventually become mainstays.
It’s an arduous position for Stevens because it’s his most difficult challenge as a GM because of the new salary cap restrictions.
A couple of years ago, Stevens was able to acquire Porzingis and Jrue Holiday and sign both to extensions to extend the Celtics’ championship window. Now keeping those two will be exponentially more costly and not likely to help the Celtics get back to the NBA Finals.
Stevens, however, expressed confidence this current roster, even without Tatum, is capable of competing. How competitive? Get back to him on that.
“The way you say it is the North Star is to have a championship contender,” Stevens said. “And so you have to do what’s best to give yourself the best opportunity to do that when you can do that. We have to look at it and decide how feasible it is at any given year and make sure we’re’ making the decisions accordingly.
“We have a lot of good players. We’re in a unique situation. They’re all under contract and there are several basketball penalties that will come with that amount of salary. We just have to weigh it all and make those decisions and again I’ll have more clarity when we talk and go through it.”
Right now, the Celtics don’t have clarity. There’s still in the mourning stage of losing to the Knicks and losing their best player in the process. And Stevens has to assess his options as the NBA is expected to change considerably in the next few weeks.
The league will be paying very close attention to a meeting between Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks regarding his future. And if the Bucks decide to move Antetokounmpo to a title contender, such repercussions could impact the Celtics. Just think back to two years ago when the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard from the Trail Blazers for a defensive-minded swingman who suddenly became available. Stevens jumped on the opportunity to nab Holiday and the Celtics won a championship as a result.
There is not likely going to be such a fruitful acquisition this offseason but Stevens is definitely trying to devise ways to improve his roster without increasing payroll.
“I’ll never put a ceiling on a group of players,” Stevens said. “Some years you put a group together that you think has a better chance than others. But we’ll see how it all looks. But my goal is always and will always be to try to best position us to compete for championships.”
Stevens, of course, made no promises. He made no proclamations because the second apron is so difficult to maneuver. The Celtics are likely to part with a player who is popular and doesn’t necessarily want to go. But that’s the basketball business.
It’s up to Stevens to find rising players and prospects capable of filling key roles in coming years. He downplayed draft combine interviews with likely No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, a Maine native, and Texas guard Tre Johnson, also tabbed as a lottery pick.
The way Stevens reasoned, if the Celtics didn’t talk to those guys in Chicago, there was little chance of getting them to Boston for a draft workout, especially when they have picks Nos. 28 and 32. But why in the world would they even talk to the 18-year-old Flagg if there was not even a sliver of hope of making a major move to get a lottery pick?
Stevens has to cover all of his options and there could be some intriguing moves made on draft night June 25 that could impact the Celtics’ future. The good news for Celtics faithful is Stevens is the man to trust when shaping the franchise’s future and how to slide out of the second apron but still remain a playoff-caliber team.
Stevens said he’ll know more about his master plan after the draft, but the process of reshaping the roster, saving money and getting younger begins now and the Celtics have no choice but to wipe away their tears and get to work.
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.