Boston Celtics: 3 offseason moves Cs could ultimately regret

When it comes to the offseason of 2021, not many teams were as active as the Boston Celtics were.

The goal was for the shamrocks to revamp and re-tool their rotation so that they can, in turn, position themselves for a more successful run this season than what they had endured last year.

Based on the looks of things, it would appear as though the front office’s mission has been accomplished, as they’ve gone about and bolstered many areas on the roster that were once perceived as weak: the backcourt rotation, center depth, second unit scoring, etc.

However, though we at HH have viewed the C’s offseason moves as being overall positive for the franchise moving forward, it’s within reason to believe that, at least for a few of these transactions, Brad Stevens and co. may look back on them with a bit of regret.

Here are 3, in particular, the Boston Celtics could wind up second-guessing themselves on:

Potential Boston Celtics regret No. 1) Passing on Sharife Cooper

When the Boston Celtics made the deal that landed Al Horford, they, unfortunately, had to part ways with their No. 16 overall selection in July’s draft in the process.

Though a disappointment to some, for a first-rounder is always viewed as a valuable commodity, we at the site were still rather comfortable with the fact that the Cs held onto their second-round pick, as there were a few promising prospects that we believed would be available for the taking once they were on the board at pick No. 45.

Headlining this crop of ballers was Auburn standout freshman, Sharife Cooper, who we absolutely believed to be a player worth taking a gamble on at this point in the night, for his production during his one and done season with the Tigers (20.2 points, 8.1 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game) was truly impressive and the Cs desperately needed more talent at their point guard position.

Much to our enjoyment, the 20-year-old was, in fact, available once Brad Stevens and co. found themselves on the clock.

Much to our displeasure, however, they ultimately decided to take a draft-and-stash two-guard prospect, Juhann Begarin, out of France, leaving Cooper on the board who was then taken three picks later by the Atlanta Hawks.

Immediately, we believed passing on the talented youngster could be perceived as an unnecessary move, and after seeing his Summer League performance, this mindset still sits soundly at the forefront of our minds.

Now yes, we understand that the Summer League is a time where the majority of talent will not be activated to any actual NBA rosters, but there are some who take the opportunity to show out and showcase their skills to have them stick out amongst the rest of the crowd.

Sharife Cooper was one of those players.

In 27.6 minutes per game, the rookie put up 14.8 points and 7.3 assists on 46 percent shooting from the floor and 33 percent shooting from deep while hitting numerous clutch shots throughout the tournament including a buzzer-beating game-winning triple against the Indiana Pacers.

Now yes, again, we’re well aware that this was predominantly against G League talents and that his performances were certainly not flawless (averaged five turnovers a game and shot less than 70 percent from the charity stripe), but he showed enough for us to believe that the point guard desperate Cs may have made the wrong move by passing on him in the draft, for his shortcomings seem to be rather fixable with proper tutolage.

At pick 45, no one truly expects much from the talent pool remaining, but Sharife Cooper was viewed by many as a first-round talent who could find himself going in the second.