Top Offseason Priorities for the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics' 2014-15 season reached its conclusion on Sunday via a first-round sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the team did make significant progress in year two of the team’s rebuild. Winning 24 of the last 36 regular-season games helped propel the underdog squad, fueled by the midseason additions of Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko, into the No. 7 seed in the East.

The Celtics didn’t have the horses to hang with LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the team’s first-round series. If team president of basketball operations Danny Ainge wants Boston to compete on that level, he’s going to have to make some significant moves to the roster this summer. 

What should be Ainge’s top priorities heading into the offseason?

All statistical and salary information provided by Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted. 

Find a Rim-Protecting Big Man

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Most teams in the NBA could use some help in this area heading into the offseason, and the Celtics sit atop that list. Boston finished last in the league in blocked shots this season, averaging a paltry 3.6 per game. The Cavs exposed this reality throughout their first-round victory, driving into the paint with success, while also dominating an undersized front line on the offensive glass.

None of Boston’s young big man prospects (Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller) project to be adequate rim protectors, so Ainge must look outside of the organization for some help.

The free agency market could be one way to fill the hole.

Several notable big men will be available that could help in that department, including Omer Asik, Tyson Chandler, Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan and Robin Lopez.

There will be several suitors for all of these players, and it may be tough to entice any of them to join a rebuilding team in Boston as opposed to a contender. The Celtics would also need to renounce the rights to a number of free agents to open up the necessary salary-cap space to make any of these bigger names a significant offer.

The Celtics' best option in this department may come via the draft. A pair of shot-blocking big men is expected to be available in the lottery in 7'0'' Kentucky center Willie Cauley-Stein and 6'11'' Texas center Myles Turner, according to DraftExpress.com  

The Celtics won’t be able to snag either with their No. 17 overall pick in the first round, but Ainge has a stockpile of future first-round selections he could use to move up in the draft.

Decide Which Role Players Are Keepers

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The Celtics enter the offseason with 11 players signed for the 2015-16 season. Here’s a breakdown by position:

Guards: Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, Isaiah Thomas, James Young, Phil Pressey (non-guaranteed), Chris Babb (non-guaranteed)

Forwards/centers: Evan Turner, Gerald Wallace, Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller

The four key members of the backcourt are all signed through at least the 2017-18 season (Bradley, Smart, Young, Thomas), so that area of the roster appears to be set, barring any trades, for the foreseeable future.

The team’s frontcourt remains a bigger question mark for Ainge. Sullinger, Olynyk and Zeller all showed flashes of success this season, but each could serve as potential trade chips for a bigger name in a trade if combined with some of Boston’s draft picks.

Sullinger battled weight and health issues during his season that earned him criticism from Ainge. Meanwhile, Olynyk did not take a significant step forward on either side of the court in his second season.  

More roster space will need to be cleared to make room for free agents and draft additions, so Ainge should try to get some value in a deal for the big men whom he doesn’t see as part of the team’s future. 

Bring Back Midseason Additions

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Four members of the 2014-15 Celtics are set to become free agents this summer. 

Restricted free agents: Jae Crowder, Luigi Datome 

Unrestricted free agents: Brandon Bass, Jonas Jerebko

Out of the free-agent options, Crowder and Jerebko both thrived in Brad Stevens’ system upon arriving during the season in Boston, providing solid shooting and defensive versatility that proved valuable during the late-season turnaround. Ainge has already expressed his desire to bring back Crowder, and the team controls his rights in restricted free agency, making a return likely.

Stevens has called Datome the best shooter on the team, so Datome could also be welcomed back if he's willing to accept a supporting role. Bass is approaching 30, so it's hard to envision the team bringing him back in a crowded young frontcourt.  

Utilize the Trade Exceptions

Josh Reynolds/Associated Press

Ainge executed 11 trades involving 25 players since the start of the 2014-15 NBA calendar year (July 1). With these moves, he acquired an assortment of players and future draft picks, but he also added two sizable trade exceptions to his arsenal.

The first one came via the Rajon Rondo trade to the Dallas Mavericks which brought Boston Jae Crowder, Brandan Wright, Jameer Nelson and a future protected first-round pick. The Celtics used older trade exceptions to absorb the contracts of all three players acquired in that deal, which allowed them to create a new $12.9 million exception (Rondo’s salary) upon completing the transaction.

The same situation repeated itself in February, when the team dealt Tayshaun Prince to the Detroit Pistons for Jonas Jerebko and Gigi Datome. The salaries of the two new additions were absorbed into leftover trade exceptions, giving the Celtics a sizable new one for Prince’s salary ($7.7 million).

These exceptions are a couple of the largest in the league and should prove valuable in Ainge’s wheeling and dealing this summer. The Celtics have two first-round draft picks in 2015 and at least two more in 2016, including an unprotected Brooklyn Nets first-round pick.

Those draft picks, combined with the exceptions, will allow the Celtics to explore a number of sign-and-trade scenarios with prospective free agents that might into fit into limited salary cap space. Ainge could agree to a $10 million per year salary with a free agent, and then send the free agent’s original team a future draft pick or two to convince them to conduct a sign-and-trade. Such a move would be possible thanks to the Celtics’ ability to absorb the salary in its trade exception.

Boston’s creative front office has done a wonderful job putting together crafty trades to give it these kinds of opportunities. This summer, they should take advantage of it.

Be Aggressive on the Free-Agent Market

Mark Duncan/Associated Press

The salary cap is set to rise to potentially $89 million in the summer of the 2016-17 season, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, due to the increased revenues that will kick in that season via the NBA’s new $24 billion TV deal. That would be a $22 million increase from next season’s $67.1 million projected salary-cap number.

Those staggering figures mean this upcoming season will likely be the last one for teams to lock up players on long-term deals with the smaller cap number in play. Some players may opt to weigh against signing a multi-year deal in hopes of landing a bigger payday in the summer of 2016.

However, the Celtics must be aggressive in pursuing the big names that prefer the long-term security now instead of the increased cash.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported last weekend that Kevin Love may have some interest in joining Boston if he elects to become a free agent this summer. If the power forward or any other potential star becomes available, the Celtics must pounce aggressively.

Boston has already locked up some role players on long-term deals (Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas), giving the team ample salary-cap flexibility in the future to chase bigger names. The time to fight aggressively for those players is now. Many won't have interest in Boston, but Ainge should pursue all possible avenues. 

Otherwise, the challenge will just increase in future seasons. The franchise will likely have to fend off a host of new teams in 2016 fighting for marquee free agents with significant salary-cap space, thanks to the expected cap jump.