We are now just over a month into the 2022 NBA offseason and, already, it appears that the Boston Celtics will be coming away from this stage as absolute winners.
Starting off their summer with a bang, on the first full day of this year’s free agency period Brad Stevens and co. managed to snag one of the most highly coveted available veteran talents on the market, as they agreed, in principle, to a two-year deal with scoring forward, Danilo Gallinari, thus instantly strengthening their putrid second-unit offense in the process.
Shortly after that, the front office once again pulled off another surprising transaction, as they managed to acquire seasoned guard, Malcolm Brogdon via trade with the Indiana Pacers, all while giving up no key members of their core in the process.
With these two additions, one could easily make the argument that this new-look roster that they’ve constructed is already more menacing than the one they were rolling out in 2021-22 which, considering they were able to make it all the way to the NBA Finals, is saying a lot.
However, the objective for the C’s decision-makers should not be to try and solely set their sights on making their rotation better than it was last year but, rather, to make it the best that it can possibly be heading into this year.
Without a doubt, the Boston Celtics are already off to a hot start with their offseason maneuvering, but even they understand that there are still a few areas on their depth chart that could still use for some bolstering, one spot, in particular, being out on the wing.
Recent comments made by coach Ime Udoka indicate that the ball club could still be in the market to add on a player that could come aboard and back up the likes of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown; a player who, specifically, can ‘add shooting.’
Now, considering the fact that the majority of this year’s top-billed free agent talents have already been scooped up by rival teams across the league, their pickings at this point to try and address this area of need are undoubtedly slim.
That said, this is not to suggest that, of the remaining bunch on the market, they can’t still find someone of value to help strengthen this long-barren area of their rotation.
In fact, should their desire to add more wing depth be legitimate (as it should be), we at HH believe that an ideal option for them to strongly consider would be veteran, Jeremy Lamb.
Throughout his 10-year NBA career, the 30-year-old wing has established himself as being a consistent and efficient scoring threat for a team to have come off the pine. Now, even though this may be an aspect of their scheme that the Boston Celtics have already addressed with the additions of both Gallinari and Brogdon, it’s still something that a team can never have enough of.
Since 2018, Lamb has boasted solid averages of 11.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, a steal, and half a block per game on 35 percent shooting from deep, even converting at a 40.6 percent clip from this range in 2020-21.
Even during this past campaign, despite not seeing all that many opportunities due to finding himself on the roster of two tanking teams (the Pacers and Kings), he still went on to put up impressive per-75 possession averages of 15.9 points, six rebounds, and 3.2 assists.
Despite being 30 years old, the wing is still a crafty shot-maker who can create looks when in isolation sets while also showing the ability to work off-ball in catch-and-shoot scenarios (boasted a 62.2 effective field goal percentage on such shots in 2020-21, which was the last time he was a consistent part of a rotation).
At this point in time, there aren’t many better options out there to consider than Jeremy Lamb and, should the Boston Celtics truly wish to bolster their wing depth while on a budget, they should strongly consider snatching him up off the market.