The Boston Celtics are getting major in-house contributions from many of their perimeter players right now, with Derrick White turning in an Eastern Conference Player of the Week stretch and Sam Hauser returning to his floor-stretching ways.
That likely means the Cs are looking for someone not looking for a big role — they already have a talented Payton Pritchard yearning for one while stashed as a reserve — in their next addition via the buyout market or their G-League affiliate Maine Celtics.
NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg laid out who the Boston Celtics may be looking for to fill the vacant roster spot created by the Noah Vonleh trade to the Spurs on January 5 with a player with a similar profile to Blake Griffin — aka a vibes guy who will make spot starts but will remain a positive locker room presence regardless:
"“At this point, I think I’d be OK with the Celtics using that final roster spot to either, 1) reward a player who’s been grinding in Maine with a late-season call-up to be part of the postseason fun, or 2) add anyone who can simply contribute to the positive vibes and be a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency body.”"
Why the Boston Celtics missed out on first wave of wings on buyout market
The Celtics weren’t able to come to terms with any of the first wave of wings to hit the buyout market, but that may have been by design. Knowing Boston couldn’t offer any veteran a chance to contribute and earn a higher salary on their next contract, Brad Stevens and co. may not have gotten into advanced talks with any of them. The role any incoming vet would play is that of a floor-stretcher, and Hauser is covering that role well with double-digit outputs the last five games — four of which were Celtics wins.
Knowing that the Cs are looking for someone willing to fit in, it’s questionable whether or not current buyout market targets like Will Barton is worth pursuing.