Ranking Celtics' Priorities for 2024 NBA Free Agency
It could be a while before the Boston Celtics officially enter the 2024 NBA offseason.
The front office is surely in offseason mode already, though.
Not that there's much work to be done. Certainly not in free agency, where the Celtics won't have many holes to fill or money to help fill them. There are a few items on the to-do list, though, so let's address them in order of importance.
3. Scan for Clearance Depth of Any Kind
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Once Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and his staff make the no-brainer decision to pick up Sam Hauser's $2.1 million team option, per Spotrac, they can focus on finding more diamonds in the rough.
Hauser was once an undrafted free agent who spent much of his first season with the Shamrocks on a two-way contract. Now, the 6'8" sharpshooter is a key part of this rotation and Boston's third-most used reserve this postseason.
Of course, if finding Hauser types were easy, all pricey rosters would be balanced out by bargain-rate contributors. Chances are, the Celtics will take multiple fliers and few, if any, will actually pan out.
Still, that's all a part of the process of handling an expensive core under this collective bargaining agreement. The back half of Boston's bench will be mostly populated by players making next to nothing (relatively speaking, of course), so if the Celtics fill a few of those spots with capable contributors of any kind, that will be a win.
2. Await Oshae Brissett's Decision
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If Oshae Brissett wants to run it back with Boston, he can.
The energizing hustler holds a $2.5 million player option for next season, per Spotrac. The Celtics surely wouldn't mind seeing him pick that up.
They don't have a ton of depth behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown at the forward spots, and Brissett adds his own twist to the position group. If they need a pick-me-up, he happens to be the personification of exactly that. Whether crashing the glass, laying out for a loose ball or cutting behind an inattentive defender, he'll turn his full-throttle approach into momentum-boosting moments.
There isn't much else to his offensive game, so it's not like Boston would be lost without him, but his impact-to-pay-rate ratio works out in its favor.
1. Choose a Backup Big
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All season-long, there's been a focus on Boston's backup bigs. That isn't going to change this offseason.
While Kristaps Porziņģis mostly managed to avoid the injury bug over the 82-game marathon, his good fortune ran out in the playoffs. A calf strain forced him out of the team's fourth postseason outing, and he hasn't been seen since. While it sounds like he's progressing with his rehab, it's unclear when he'll be back. Throw in the fact that Al Horford is closing in on his 38th birthday, and the Celtics' need for insurance policies at the center position are pretty obvious.
What's maybe less obvious is where that insurance will come from. Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman both have unrestricted free agency awaiting them. While there's a chance Boston brings back both, there's probably a better one that an outside suitor lures at least one of them away.
Kornet has done a good job of using his 7'2" frame to control the interior. Tillman hasn't had a ton of run since landing in Boston at the deadline, but when his number has been called, he's used his defensive versatility to make an impact. Both are worth having around, and both would leave a hole in this rotation if they signed elsewhere.
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