B/R's Boston Celtics free agency re-grade may be too generous

Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes re-graded the Boston Celtics' 2023 offseason free agency signings, giving the C's front office a B- for their efforts -- and for reasons to be explained later, that's far too generous. First, though, let's take a look at Hughes' assessment of Brad Stevens' third offseason as President of Basketball Operations.

"The Boston Celtics did more than their share of transacting over the summer, but the most consequential moves were in the trade and extension departments. Of the new players whom Boston signed, Oshae Brissett currently comes closest to being a rotation piece," Hughes prefaced before saying, "But he only appeared in eight of the Celtics' first 20 games. Kristaps Porzingis' calf injury could open up some minutes in the frontcourt, but Brissett might not be the one to benefit. He's 1-of-9 from three and has three times as many fouls as field goals on the season. With that said, it was still a nice piece of business by Boston to land a 25-year-old combo forward for $4.6 million over two years.

"Banton and Mykhailiuk are firmly set as the Celtics' 11th and 12th men. Neither seems likely to climb over Payton Pritchard, Luke Kornet, Sam Hauser or even Brissett in the pecking order, which should be the expectation for guys on dirt-cheap deals."

Boston Celtics free agent signings failed to complement top six

Whether it was the non-guaranteed additions of Oshae Brissett, Lamar Stevens, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Dalano Banton, or the re-signing of Payton Pritchard -- which was not included in Hughes's exercise --, Stevens failed to complement the team's top six of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford with a single playable bench piece in the postseason as things stand now.

Realistically, these players could snap out of it and provide the team a spark midseason, a period that marked the beginning of the end for Boston during the 2022-23 season. As of now, though? They're not even reaching a B- standard. Even at a minimum contract value for most of these players, a modicum of on-court value off the bench would justify that grade.

And since this re-grade was published on December 6, they were simply too forgiving of the Celtics. When is that ever the case?