The Boston Celtics are going to be major players on the buyout market and could be enticed by bringing back some former players, many of whom were featured in the Brad Stevens coaching era.
Now, he is the main guy calling the shots and constructing this puzzle of a team.
Right now, the C’s sit sixth in the Eastern Conference standings, up by a hair over the Toronto Raptors.
Toronto looks locked in, Philly and Brooklyn are retooling their squads after their major blockbuster trades, and keeping the current momentum could mean the difference between the play-in and playoffs.
One evident weakness on this Boston Celtics team is back-end depth on their bench, which has been one of the weakest second units in all of basketball.
It is time to bolster that unit and give yourself the ability to go 10-11 deep if the need arises.
Historically, teams with weak benches do not go on deep playoff runs, much less vie for an NBA Championship.
It’s all about that next man up mentality and the end of the pine, as it stands, is as shallow as a kiddie pool.
The goal of filling out the remainder of the three open roster spots should coincide with having injury insurance. Say an older Al Horford or injury-prone Marcus Smart succumbs to a suit on the sidelines, there needs to be another line of reserves in this Army.
This is why Stevens needs to be a heavy buyer for the C’s post-trade deadline. He should consider a cast of former shamrocks to fill these remaining slots.
Here are 3 former Boston Celtics players that need to come back to the team:
Former Boston Celtics player No. 1) Greg Monroe
It has been a minute since big man, Greg Monroe, donned green and white for the Boston Celtics.
He was a very serviceable backup center for them en route to game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals back in 2018.
Moose, as they call him, has been retooling his game to survive in the NBA.
Once a back to the basket center resembling the traditional bigs of leagues past, now more of a complete player desperate to remain in the game of basketball.
The 10-year veteran is in the midst of a comeback of sorts after a string of multiple 10-day contracts of the COVID hardship variety with Minnesota, Washington, and now Milwaukee.
The former lottery pick will soon be done with his latest stint that began a week ago.
The Bucks’ addition of Serge Ibaka, the eventual return of Brook Lopez looming, and the rise of Bobby Portis make Monroe incredibly unlikely to remain with the team.
Making him one of the hotter free agent names to grace the market in hopes of filling out a playoff team’s bench.
Why not Boston?
Brad Stevens is incredibly familiar with his playstyle and what he brings to the table as a player from his 37 game stint with the Celtics back in the 2017-18 season.
The 6-11 center offers a high basketball IQ, a decade worth of playing experience, and injury insurance behind the Celts lead bigs.
We are over a month removed from seeing him up close and personal, when he came off a plane and dropped 11 points, nine rebounds, and six assists en route to the Timberwolves’ upset over Boston.
One area of the game that the veteran has seemed to add is his silky playmaking touch out of the post. Also, in many games, he seems to be a positive in plus-minus when it comes to the defensively post more than not.
Greg Monroe is absolutely worth a look as a third-string backup center for the Celtics. You can never have enough reinforcements should a key player go down.