This year’s free agency period has seen quite a few noteworthy moves made by various teams across the association. Unfortunately for the shamrock faithful, the Boston Celtics have not been one of them.
To date, the biggest move made by Brad Stevens and co. was the reunion of former Celtics — no, unfortunately not Isaiah Thomas –, Enes Kanter, who inked a one-year deal with the franchise earlier this week.
Heading into the 2021 NBA offseason, we all knew that it would be difficult for the Cs to make noise on the open market what with their lacking salary space and the fact that they were already knocking on the door of the luxury tax. Even still, however, we expected a bit more action than what has transpired.
Because of this, the Houdini’s feelings about this year’s free agency period have grown a bit stale and, apparently, so, too, have Bleacher Report’s as their NBA writing staff went about and deemed them one of this offseason’s biggest losers.
Citing their dormant status as the main reason for their placement in the losers category, writer, Dan Favale, believes that, despite the other moves made via trade earlier in the summer, more roster bolstering could be useful as the Boston Celtics approach next year’s campaign:
"Few are criticizing Boston for any of its moves. The status of Kemba’s left knee remains in question, and the buyout he brokered with the Oklahoma City Thunder was never a plausible option for the Celtics. They don’t have the timeline required to ferry two seasons’ worth of star-sized dead money. Guaranteeing Fournier three seasons at nearly $20 million a pop is hardly a no-brainer.Acquiring Richardson’s expiring contract is a nifty flier on a player who, prior to leaving Miami, could hit threes, make the occasional off-the-bounce jumper and defend four positions. The Celtics have the makings of a defensive terror with him, Dunn, Horford, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum.To what end, though? The Celtics are currently at a severe offensive-creation deficit. They effectively condensed their big-man rotation by shipping out Brown and Thompson, but their best passer is now Horford or Smart. They were already reliant on banging in difficult jumpers to get by on offense. That dependence has only increased.And for what? In the name of ducking the tax (for now)? Cleaner books in advance of 2022 free agency? Maybe the Celtics have an unforeseen move in them or a devout belief in some of their youngsters finally hitting. For the time being, their offseason is meh at best—and “meh” just isn’t good enough for a team that just finished seventh in an Eastern Conference scheduled to be even deeper next year."
Now, while there’s still time for the Boston Celtics to make some moves to better their placement within the league’s projections for 2021-22, until they do so they’ll continue to be viewed as one of the biggest losers from this year’s free agency period.