Boston Celtics: The signing of Garrison Mathews and what it means for Cs

This summer, the Boston Celtics have made it clear that they’re willing to make some roster adjustments if it means said moves will help position themselves for a more successful campaign than the one they had last season.

From smaller acquisitions like the signing of Enes Kanter in free agency to the more sizeable ones like the one that saw Kemba Walker traded away to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for big man Al Horford, rookie President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, has certainly not been shy about making any roster additions during his first few months in action.

Friday morning, the C’s offseason transactions trend continued as it was announced that the franchise would be signing soon-to-be third-year veteran wing, Garrison Mathews to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract, per Shams Charania.

After a four-year collegiate stint at Lipscomb University, Mathew went unselected back in 2019 NBA Draft, ultimately fighting his way through Summer Leagues and training camp to earn himself a two-way roster spot on the Washington Wizards.

During his tenure with the franchise, the shooting guard played in 82 games over his two-year run where he would post averages of 5.5 points on 39 percent shooting from deep.

Having a clear need for shooting within their rotation, the signing of the 24-year-old long-range marksmen is a rather smart, low-cost move for Stevens and co. to have made. We here at the Houdini have been advocates for a potential signing of Mathews for quite some time now, with our very own Chris Conte claiming such a move to be a “no-risk, extremely high reward scenario.”

"He’s on the younger side, which means he has some upside the Cs could unlock, but he’s also proven himself in the last two seasons with the Washington Wizards.He’s a capable team defender and a natural off-ball shooter, two things the Celtics desperately need to add to their depth chart."

Now, with the Boston Celtics signing the wing, their training camp roster has hit a total count of 21 players.

With the fact that regular season rosters are only allowed to hold up to 15 players at once, obviously, roster cuts will have to be made, and the addition of Garrison Mathews makes the odds of guys like Luke Kornet and Theo Pinson staying in tow come October 20th’s tip-off against the New York Knicks less likely.