Boston Celtics: Derrick Favors, Hassan Whiteside not on radar

MassLive’s Brian Robb shut down the idea of the Boston Celtics pursuing either Derrick Favors or Hassan Whiteside during his latest Celtics Mailbag, adding that the current bench big-man platoon of Luke Kornet, Noah Vonleh, and Blake Griffin could suffice for the rest of the season.

The Houdini recently made the case for Favors to be signed with the $3.2 million disabled player exception — the amount being calculated as half of Danilo Gallinari’s salary for the 2022-23 season — but Robb doesn’t see the center, who was recently released by the Houston Rockets, as a potential option. According to Robb, the 31-year-old hasn’t looked like he has much left in the tank the past several seasons.

Neither does he find the 33-year-old previously undrafted free agent Whiteside, who most recently backed up Rudy Gobert on the Utah Jazz during the 2021-22 season, to be a good enough team defender to fit in Joe Mazzulla’s schemes.

The Boston Celtics not interested in other free agent centers either

MassLive’s Brian Robb has shut down the idea of the Boston Celtics signing other similar pivots to Derrick Favors and Hassan Whiteside before. Over the summer, even before Robert Williams III became injured, the likes of Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins, and LaMarcus Aldridge were all mentioned.

Unfortunately, basketball mortality has set in for all three former All-NBA First/Second Teamers, and a team with championship expectations may not even have a role for them any longer. Howard and Aldridge were most recently on the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers, and those two franchises are hardly contenders. Even the Denver Nuggets didn’t qualify as such when DeMarcus Cousins played in the Mile High City in 2021-22.

Luke Kornet, Noah Vonleh, and Blake Griffin have all helped the Cs reach a 8-3 record through 11 games, and fans will have to accept that they are the group Joe Mazzulla will be rolling with to get Boston through this season’s opening stretch until Robert Williams III returns to the floor.