Boston Celtics: 3 free agents Cs should still pursue this offseason

Ersan Ilyasova

Per the Milwaukee Bucks, Ersan Ilyasova is now a free agent:

"The Milwaukee Bucks have requested waivers on forward Ersan Ilyasova. Ilyasova played in 63 games (8 starts) with the Bucks last season and averaged 6.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 15.7 minutes per game. He signed with Milwaukee prior to the 2018-19 season, marking his third stint with the team, and appeared in 130 games while averaging 6.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest over the last two seasons. Throughout his career, Ilyasova’s played in 583 games (272 starts) with the Bucks during nine seasons (2006-07, 2009-15, 2018-20) and holds career averages of 9.8 points and 5.7 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game as a Buck."

Ilyasova can capably play the 4, but the Turkish big man can be especially useful as a small-ball stretch-5 in Brad Stevens’ rotation. The stretch big was a fine role player on a Milwaukee Bucks team that dominated the league until the Walt Disney World bubble in Lake Buena Vista.

Like Korver, though, he was a casualty of Milwaukee shifting their roster building to younger and more athletic. The Cs are already quite young and athletic, with the additions of Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard–as well as the already existing core of Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum.

There’s room for Ilyasova to shift his shade of good land green to the most traditional green in sports.