With all of the tampering sanctions being imposed, how were the Boston Celtics affected this offseason
Tampering has been a well-known entity since the dawn of free agency back in the 1980’s. That being said, it has been obvious and borderline obnoxious the past couple of seasons…and the Boston Celtics in particular have been in the thick of it all.
If you look at this past offseason, the view is of a tampered wasteland of NBA free agent malpractice. Teams, including the Boston Celtics, already had their filthy paws on free agents before the free agency moratorium kicked off at 6 P.M. on June 30th.
Now coincidentally, this was the first offseason that had that official start time to free agency. Also coincidentally, deals were announced before then.
The league noticed. On Friday, the league announced that the NBA’s board of governor’s were able to unanimously pass new sanctions aimed to punish teams guilty of violating new tampering laws. According to Adam Silver, tampering isn’t going to be swept under the rug like it has been. What does that mean for the Boston Celtics?
"“The ultimate goal here is to ensure compliance and to ensure that there’s that appropriate tension that exists at the team. So there is sort of a significant threat that if a team doesn’t comply, that there will be consequences.”"
Well, it’s a double-edged sword.
On one hand, Boston was spurned by Kyrie Irving this past offseason after a tumultuous year. Like someone in an unhappy relationship, Irving handled the Celtics’ dysfunction by speaking to opposing teams’ players. Specifically, Irving was having conversations with Spencer Dinwiddie of the Brooklyn Nets.
Where the tampering comes in you may ask? Well, those texts started in December…in the middle of the season. Add onto that Al Horford‘s supposed under-the-table agreement with the Philadelphia 76ers done a week in advance, and it’s clear tampering took it’s toll on Boston.
Now while it is easy to play the victim card and say the Boston Celtics were wronged, let’s not put the carriage before the horse. Danny Ainge may be just as guilty as the Brooklyn Nets and Irving.
Danny Ainge on when he found out Kyrie Irving would not be returning: "I had a pretty good idea in March or April. Not for sure, though. But I was obviously thinking of moving in a different direction at that point, thinking about different options."
— Nicole Yang (@nicolecyang) July 17, 2019
Apparently, Ainge knew about Irving leaving well in advance. The writing was most certainly all over the wall with the locker-room falling apart. With that in mind, it seemed as though the Kemba Walker deal came together pretty quickly.
Marc Stein initially reported the Boston Celtics interest in Walker on June 25th, after the Charlotte Hornets and Walker stalled and eventually buried extension talks earlier in the week.
The Celtics, I'm told, are emerging as a stealth suitor for Charlotte Hornets free agent Kemba Walker
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 25, 2019
By June 29th, a deal was in place. Is it possible that Ainge had Walker, widely regarded as the second best point guard of 2019 free agency, tabbed as his replacement well in advance. The Houdini certainly doesn’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility that Walker could have had Boston in mind as a backup in the event Charlotte didn’t offer him a super-max deal.
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Ultimately, the Boston Celtics both benefitted from and were damaged by tampering. If Commissioner Adam Silver does get his way, however, this will be the last off-season with high-profile tampering cases.