Boston Celtics: 3 things the Cs roster needs in order to contend
By Chris Conte
The Boston Celtics have made three trades, exercised one draft pick, and singed one player.
Between those three actions, Brad Stevens has added Al Horford, Josh Richardson, Kris Dunn, Bruno Fernando, Enes Kanter, and the draft and stash Frenchman, Juhann Begarin. That’s not a bad haul since most of the guys the Cs sent out weren’t great fits.
In comparison, the Boston Celtics have lost Kemba Walker, Tristan Thompson, Evan Fournier, Moses Brown, and the 16th pick in the draft to acquire all those players or make room for them.
However, the Cs have yet to face the problems that handicapped them last season head-on this summer, and it’s going to put them on a dark path this upcoming season.
Passing, ball handling, and perimeter shooting
Last season, Boston’s offense without Jayson Tatum was putrid because of the lack of ball-handling depth the Cs had.
Once they got Evan Fournier at the deadline and Kemba Walker’s knee began to turn the corner, the team looked much better, but both those guys are on the Knicks now.
On top of their ball-handling woes, the Cs lacked good perimeter shooting outside of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, which, again, was resolved once Fournier was brought in and Walker got healthy, but both of those guys are gone.
The Boston Celtics can’t go into next season without addressing these three critical issues with their roster unless they plan on punting the season and wasting a year of the Jays’ young primes.
The Boston Celtics need to improve their passing.
In Ime Udoka’s first-ever press conference with the Boston Celtics, he pointed out the 2020-21 Celtics lack of ball movement. It was both a joke and a subtle hint about what he wanted to instill in this 2021-22 team, but given how the Cs offseason is going, Udoka is in for an uphill battle to instill his ball movement tactics.
Horford was an excellent pick-up to increase their ball movement, but he alone cannot possibly bring the Cs from the bottom 10 to the top 10 in assists per game.
The same goes for Richardson, as the two combined are not enough to reinstall the Celtics’ old way of moving the ball from side to side and generating the best possible shot. The Cs need to get better passers to have a more efficient and less dependent offense on Jayson Tatum.
Notable targets that could help the Celtics include Joe Ingles, Kyle Anderson, and Larry Nance on the trade market.
Both Ingles and Anderson are expiring and have contracts which the Cs can match, and Larry Nance’s value is at its lowest.
In free agency, Andre Iguodala and Paul Millsap would contribute a fair bit. Both are veterans who won’t be looking for much and will play within their role.