Boston Celtics could play impending free agent more in postseason
The Boston Celtics could play impending restricted free agent Grant Williams more in the postseason than he has been playing of late according to MassLive’s Brian Robb, who revealed as much while answering a reader’s question about how short No. 12’s leash will be in the playoffs.
“To be honest, I think we will be seeing more of Grant in the postseason than we have for much of the regular season,” Robb prefaced before saying, “His defensive strengths come to the forefront more when switching schemes and stopping key bigs are needed since Boston’s alternative options on that front can be exposed quickly.”
Robb doesn’t believe Williams’ minutes should be yo-yoed, but rather Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla should be looking to build his confidence in the playoffs. “In my mind, the team should be doing everything to build up his confidence right now rather than jerking around his minutes since the alternatives on this roster are not appealing for the playoffs,” Robb wrote.
The Boston Celtics have backup options if Grant Williams prices himself out of town
It’s possible that Williams has already priced himself off the Celtics roster because of the contract offers he turned down ahead of the 2022-23 season. At more than $15 million per year, Williams might not be worth the cost he’d bring in luxury tax since there’s already a $2 million luxury tax bill, even with a raising salary cap, for next season.
Should the Cs opt not to bring back Williams, there are luckily already backup plans in place. One such backup plan is Mike Muscala, who the front office acquired at the trade deadline. While Muscala has largely played a reserve role since being dealt by OKC to Boston, and he’s struggled from the floor in March after a hot-shooting February, his career 38% shooting from beyond the arc shows this could be a phase.
Other than Muscala, the Boston Celtics could target someone like Naz Reid with the taxpayer’s mid-level exception. Reid isn’t much a long-range shooter, but he’s an old-school pure power forward who could help the C’s rebounding, which has been crushed post-All-Star break.