Los Boston Celtics they made two big moves to bolster their bench and 2023 NBA Championship hopes this week and managed to do both without giving up a host of draft assets or key players in their 2022 NBA Finals appearance.
The Celtics managed to land a long-time team goal on the $6.5 million mid-level contributor or “mini” exception on former Atlanta Hawks forward, Danilo Gallinari.
The 13-year veteran has lost some of the mobility that allowed him to play wing earlier in his career, but has relied on his shot and size to expand his ability to impact winning at the NBA level by reinventing himself as a big man. . And at 6-foot-10, Gallinari has the size to resist all but the strongest forward players.
Still, it’s a bit of a defensive problem, but with the Celtics returning the best defense in the NBA in the second half of the 2021-22 season, hiding it in the regular season shouldn’t be difficult and will give Boston another option. in the playoffs even if it will be more of a liability in a seven-game series.
Could the Celtics have found a better option to help at the mini MLE price point? There were (and are) perhaps sexier candidates like TJ Warren o Montrezl Harrell, but there are also entrenched concerns with both about future availability for very different reasons.
The Boston Celtics floundered in the 2022 NBA Finals when their stars lost their legs after a grueling road to the biggest stage in the league, compounded by constant turnovers, poor late decision-making and a lack of help from their team. development bank.
To remedy that, team president Brad Stevens traded a big deep rotation into Daniel Theis, a promising young winger at Aaron Nesmith and a trio of reserves who only play in the garbage time in Nick Stauskas, Malik Fitts and John Morgan, plus a top. 12 protected 2023 first-round picks.
Given that the team likely would have tried to move away from Theis after Gallinari’s signing, adding a player in Brogdon sized 6-foot-5 to play point guard to a small forward in some lineups gives Boston tons of options. to work. with tactically.
The 29-year-old player brings established maturity and leadership to the team along with high-level plays and shooting and despite persistent and recurring injury issues, it should help to reinforce the Celtics’ need for a high-level game that allows them to rest. stars wings Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum more.
It also gives them a lot of rotation options to spell to Marcus Smart, who is often injured Derrick White, which sometimes shoots coldly. The fact that the Celtics were able to make this trade without parting with Grant Williams o Payton Pritchard nor multiple firsts makes the trade even more impressive for Boston.
Injury concerns and the size of Brogdon’s current contract (about $67 million over 3 seasons) are the only things preventing a perfect assessment of the Celtics’ trade for the Pacers’ floor general, but we still see this as a brilliant deal. They got a basse on the verge of stardom without shedding a major player from their rotation.
–
