The Boston Celtics were one win away from the NBA Finals. What is next for this squad and will Jaylen Brown stay long-term?
What is the next for the Boston Celtics after losing in the Eastern Conference Finals? How can this team improve and will they keep Jaylen Brown? Will they keep their rookie head coach and how will they fill out their bench going forward?
For a team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals, a lot of people have very bleak outlooks on the Boston Celtics. But they face an offseason of huge decisions.
The Celtics likely have to either trade or decide to pay Jaylen Brown this summer, after he qualified for a supermax extension that could run five years and total $295 million. After a poor postseason, their head coach may be on the hot seat. Boston is also going to be facing changes in other smaller parts of their rotation, including Grant Williams possibly leaving in restricted free agency.
Celtics offseason priorities: 3. Deciding on Jaylen Brown dilemma
Jaylen Brown goes into next season on the final year of his current contract, having made himself eligible for a supermax extension by making the All-NBA second team last year. One could assume that he will go not take a discount due to the fact that his first extension with the Celtics was a bit of a discount, given his rapid development.
Having a contract situation drag out toward the season would be horrible for the Celtics. This would make it very hard for Boston to win a title due to the constant media questions about whether Brown is staying or not. It is time for Boston to commit to this situation or get assets for him in a trade. Brown is gonna face a lot of criticism for his play but they need to keep him if they think they can't supply Jayson Tatum with another star.
The Celtics have all of their own tradable picks after this year's draft but they don't exactly have a huge war chest. If Boston chooses to go down the trade Brown route, they would need to get an All-NBA player in return or something that could easily turn into an All-NBA player.
Jayson Tatum doesn't have that many years left on his deal. The Celtics need to continually support Tatum with All-NBA talent or he may decide he wants out as well. They are in a very tricky situation with Brown. How they handle it will be the difference between winning a title and trading away their franchise player in Tatum.
Celtics offseason priorities: 2. Keep Joe Mazzulla or bring in a veteran coach
After Ima Udoka dismissal's, the coach situation in Boston was always going to be weird. Joe Mazzulla was a great coach in the first half of the season but started to struggle after the All-Star break.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, Mazzulla failed to call timeouts when the Celtics could have used them. After Miami was able to go on huge runs in the series, the first-year coach decided to let the Celtics figure it out on the floor. His time management, refusal to disrupt MIami's momentum with timeouts and lack of any real tactical adjustments were a big problem.
However, replacing him with another young coach might not be the answer. The worst thing that the Celtics could do is hire a new rookie head coach who will need to take his lumps like Mazzulla. The best thing that Boston could do is support Mazzulla with more veteran assistant coaches who could help compensate for his shortcomings while he continues to grow.
Celtics offseason priorities: 1. Trade their first-round pick for a veteran
Even if the Celtics do not trade Jaylen Brown, it might make sense to add to their core by trading for an experienced veteran player like they've done the last two years by adding Derrick White at the deadline two years ago and adding Malcolm Brogdon last offseason. They could use Danilo Gallinari's expiring contract as filler in any deal. Adding Payton Pritchard to the equation would allow the Celtics to trade for an even larger salary than they could do with just Gallinari.
Also, the Celtics might lose a depth piece due to Grant Williams' contract demands. The young player's stock is lower than it was last season but a team may bite and try to take away talent from one of the best teams in the league.
Still, they could get back a rotation piece by trading one of their future first-round picks along with those filler salaries. They could also use Williams as part of a sign-and-trade to get a lower-valued role player. If the Celtics are able to do these three things, they may be still playing in the Finals rather than watching like the rest of us.
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