Latest news with #BannerNo.19
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Matt Vautour: Is Brad Stevens a genius? Celtics President about to put legacy on line
Brad Stevens' genius is about to be tested. Amidst the devastation from Jayson Tatum's injury and disappointment in how badly Boston played against the Knicks, the biggest cause for optimism around Boston is the unwavering belief in the Celtics President of Basketball Operations ability to make smart moves. Advertisement The way the once-promising 2024-25 season ended lessened the pressure on Stevens in the short term. If the Celtics had lived up to expectations and won their second straight NBA title, there would have been huge pressure to keep as much of the band together to attempt a three-peat. But Tatum's expected absence for much, if not all, of the 2025-26 season, combined with the embarrassing loss to New York, should allow Stevens to make decisions without the same fear of immediate backlash. But the grace period won't last long. Banner No. 19 will become a goal and then an expectation very quickly, especially with a new owner who doesn't have a ring of his own yet. Advertisement Stevens' challenge is tricky. Through trades, he'll need to at least get the team's salary commitments under the second apron for 2025-26 to avoid huge luxury tax penalties and roster restrictions in the future. At the same time, he'll try to create a roster that is younger, but still equipped to contend when Tatum returns. That's not an easy minefield to tiptoe through. The Celtics' dynastic history has been built on smart trades. In 1956, Red Auerbach traded Ed MacCauley to the St. Louis Hawks for the No. 2 pick in the draft, which they used to draft Bill Russell. That deal led to 11 Celtics titles, while St. Louis no longer has an NBA franchise. Auerbach struck again in 1980 when he traded the No. 1 overall pick to the Warriors, who coveted Joe Barry Carroll, for the rights to Robert Parish and a draft pick that became Kevin McHale. That led to three more Celtics titles and enshrinement for Parish and McHale, while Carroll needs to pay $25 (with a senior discount) to visit the Naismith Hall of Fame. Advertisement Danny Ainge made two huge trades in 2007 to get Ray Allen from Seattle and Kevin Garnett from Minnesota which directly led to the 2008 Championship. Ainge then traded Paul Pierce and Garnett to Brooklyn in a 2013 deal that brought the Celtics the draft choices that led to Jaylen Brown and Tatum. That deal and Stevens' trades to get Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis last year helped secure the 2024 title. But those successes shouldn't be an urgent indication to make moves. Last year's championship was also built on Ainge's good fortune that nobody took him on his 2015 attempt to trade four first-round picks to move up to get Justise Winslow, who was the third-leading scorer on the G-League's Wisconsin Herd last year. Stevens has to decide if his best path is trying to work the edges to keep this championship window open or being aggressive in hopes of opening the next window. Tatum doesn't turn 28 until March, making him young enough to be a pillar in either plan. Advertisement Still, both are risky and require Stevens to make a lot of educated guesses. If he tries to keep as much of the current roster intact as possible while getting under the second apron, Tatum could return to a team that isn't good enough to contend and isn't bad enough to draft stars. That would look a lot like what the Milwaukee Bucks are currently facing. But if Tatum comes back in the middle of a slowly developing rebuild, that hasn't produced new stars, the Celtics would be similarly set back. Stevens has to guess the best answer to lots of questions, including the following big ones: Are the Celtics counting on/hoping for Jayson Tatum to be back for any meaningful contributions in 2025-26 or not? Do they keep Derrick White? He'd be their second-best player going into next season. A team centered around Brown and White is probably enough to at least contend for a playoff spot next year. But he'll turn 31 in July. That's not old-old, but his skills and trade value are both likely to decline — or at least start to — by the time Tatum is back. Will Jaylen Brown still be at his peak when Tatum comes back? Can the Celtics get someone—or a package of someones—who will be better than Brown will be whenever Tatum returns? If Stevens guesses right and leads the Celtics to Banner 19, he'll probably be headed to the Hall of Fame. Advertisement But the difference between being a genius and a scapegoat can be just one bad move. More Celtics content Read the original article on MassLive.
Boston Globe
17-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Celtics lost more than just a series to the Knicks; they lost some hope for the future, too.
Advertisement Instead of raising Banner No. 19 the Celtics are faced with razing their team. Instead of confetti raining down on them to signal the end of their season it feels like the sky is falling. Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens brought back everyone except Oshae Brissett from 2023-24 NBA champions. That will not be the case in 2025. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Advertisement That total all-in payroll cost would be the largest in NBA history. It already would've been a tough bill to swallow So, there is an opportunity cost to not cashing in on this opportunity to win another title. Kristaps Porziņgis (right) is due $30.7 million in the final year of his contract. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff 'We set a goal out. At the end of the day, we didn't achieve that goal,' said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla. 'But it shouldn't take away from the mind-set and the effort that the players put in. … I thought they gave it everything they had throughout the season. 'Obviously, we didn't achieve that, but you can't take away from what they did. This is the price you pay for trying to go after something.' The Celtics are about to pay the price for success by having to sell off pieces to avoid being above the prohibitive second apron, set at $207.8 million for next season. With Tatum and Jaylen Brown on supermax contracts, the Celtics, who were above the second apron this season, already sport approximately $230 million in salary commitments for 2025. That's well above the base luxury tax line of $187 million. Center Kristaps Porziņgis, severely limited this postseason by a persistent and mysterious respiratory illness, and venerable guard Jrue Holiday figure to be on the chopping block. Porziņģis is due $30.7 million in the final year of his contract. Holiday will earn $32.4 million in the second year of the four-year $135 million extension he signed last spring. Advertisement Despite being annihilated by the Knicks, the true grim reaper for the Green is the NBA collective bargaining agreement, which penalizes franchises such as the Celtics who assemble All-Star-laden rosters and invest heavily in winning championships. It's a shame the league and its owners want to disband dynasties and punish the pursuit of greatness. The Parquet Postmortem examination will show the cause of premature death for this dynasty interrupted will be the NBA CBA with Tatum's injury as a contributing factor. The Boston Basketball epoch that brought Banner 18 demanded more than getting obliterated in front of the glitterati at MSG in a no-contest that was over at halftime with the Celtics trailing by 27. It was worthy of a proper send off, a Viking funeral. Instead, it got an embarrassing coda reminiscent of the famous quote from former Knick Michael Ray Richardson — 'The ship be sinking,' — the third-largest playoff margin of defeat in Celtics history. Ugh. Perhaps, this was the basketball gods expressing their ire, humbling the Celtics for worshipping the false idol of unabashed 3-pointers and for perverting the game with the intentional fouling free-throw-phobic Knicks center Mitchell Robinson. The consequences of the loss stared the Celtics players and coaches in the face as unflinchingly as a Knicks team that rallied from three double-digit, second-half deficits in the series and put six players in double figures in the clincher. It likely was the last time this group of ring-bearers would be together. 'Our group, we had a bunch of great days together. Just, we didn't win in the end,' said Brown. Advertisement The hope is that Game 6 wasn't a preview of coming attractions next season if the Celtics execute But he fouled out with 2 minutes and 50 seconds left in a disastrous third quarter, finishing with 20 points but the same number of fouls (six) as his individual numbers of rebounds and assists, as well as seven of Boston's 15 turnovers. The Tandem is the dual-powered engine of the Celtics success. But Brown projects to be a solo act for much of, if not all of, next season while Tatum recuperates. Brown expressed the end of this era is merely hitting the pause button on chasing championships, not exiting out of the picture. 'I know Boston, it looks gloomy now with JT being out and us kind of ending the year,' said Brown. 'But it's a lot to look forward to, and I want the city to feel excited about that. This is not the end. I'm looking forward to what's next.' But what's next isn't as promising as what just passed. It's all right to mourn, Celtics fans. You lost more than just a series Friday night. Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
