Sometimes, a player’s presence doesn’t need to be profound to make a huge impact. The Boston Celtics know this firsthand.
P.J. Brown, Brian Scalabrine, and Sam Cassell were not big-minute getters for the 2008 NBA Champion Cs. Ask any Celtics fan what they’d think about removing any one of them from that squad and you will not get many–if any–takers.
Boston no longer adds those kinds of veterans, though…unless Jeff Teague was expected to fill that role. In which case, Danny Ainge doesn’t have the same magic touch as he used to.
That said, all it takes is one big acquisition to turn the tide. In 2020-21, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many teams are adding extra bodies to the roster to brace for not only the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocols but for the potential injuries brought on by the shortened season as well.
Bit players could be en vogue again after the Los Angeles Lakers’ deep bench helped propel them to the NBA Championship down in the Lake Buena Vista bubble on Walt Disney World’s Wide World of Sports complex.
Even the current day Brooklyn Nets are showing that the art of the role player is not lost, adding LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin as veteran roster stabilizers.
Hardwood Houdini would love to see such a swing from Ainge, because this roster feels like one set to undergo major changes in the offseason anyway.
If Moritz Wagner or Luke Kornet prove unplayable and unworthy of an offseason contract commitment, particularly after a string of more DNP-CDs than not, then the Cs should roll the dice on these two veterans for a 10-day contract: