Boston Celtics: 3 free agent replacements for current underwhelming bench players

Amir Johnson

Next up, we have a man who, if convinced to come back to the NBA, could help bolster the team’s front court rotation in Amir Johnson. Many of you probably remember Johnson from his two-year stint with the Boston Celtics from 2015-2017.

Familiarity with coach Brad Stevens’ system is a major reason as to why we believe it could be beneficial to bring him aboard as the regular season starts to wind down, and the postseason rapidly approaches.

During his stint with the organization, Johnson proved to be quite a solid role player. Through 159 games (153 starts) the, then, 28/ 29 year old put up averages of 6.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and just a hair under a block per game on 58 percent shooting from the field and 34 percent shooting from 3 in 21 minutes of action.

I get that he hasn’t suited up since last season (signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers), and he may not even want to continue his playing career (his Wikipedia page already says “former NBA player”), but at the very least Danny Ainge should consider looking into gauging his interest of making a comeback with the C’s.

Potential replacement for: Vincent Poirier 

To say the least, Vincent Poirier has been an afterthought for the Boston Celtics in 2019-20. Suiting up for 21 games, the first year French big has managed to average a mere 5.4 minutes while putting up 1.9 points and 1.6 boards per game.

Coach Stevens has shown he would rather overwork the likes of Daniel Theis and Enes Kanter instead of throwing Poirier more minutes because, frankly, he has shown him no reason that he deserves them. Sure, we could argue that he’s still getting used to the NBA — played in European leagues for the entirety of his 10 year professional career prior to signing with the Celtics — but, frankly, the C’s need production now. 

They don’t play him, and Boston could use any help they can in their front court and off the bench. Johnson replacing Poirier would bring this team more firepower in the front court, defensive prowess and a familiar veteran presence to this very young Celtics squad.