Boston Celtics MLE target #3: Bobby Portis
Bobby Portis has played well enough to earn a starting center role on one of the league’s 30 teams, but his current team, the Milwaukee Bucks, isn’t one of them. With Brook Lopez entrenched on a multi-year deal and Giannis Antetokounmpo oftentimes doing his best work at the 5, Portis doesn’t have a direct line to the starting gig in the Cream City.
In the Bucks’ four-game dismantling of the Miami Heat, Portis dropped double-digit scoring totals three of the four wins. He made 6/13 of his 3-pointers and made 17/29 of his attempts overall. While his impact is a bit more muted against the Brooklyn Nets in the second round of the postseason, he has shown capable of providing tertiary offense as a floor-spacing center.
His toughness could make up for the lack of a true enforcer in the paint and could be especially useful if Marcus Smart ends up on the chopping block. Portis famously got into it with his then-Chicago Bulls teammate Nikola Mirotic back in 2017 and was on the better end of their altercation:
This has been three years in the making, a source said. Mirotic has broken bones in his face, apparently instigated, and Portis punched him
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) October 17, 2017
Portis has been a sparkplug for the different teams he has ended up on, most recently igniting the MSG crowd in what became another lost season in the Big Apple in 2019-20. While he is a great fit for the current-day Bucks, he may want more than they can offer him.
Enter an MLE offer from the new Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens.