Note: I will miss Keith Smith on this blog for many reasons, but he will be clearly missed on days when we have questions about Celtics. With that, he found a new full-time home crook And we couldn’t be happier for him. We will also be rounding up the articles he happily writes there. Just don’t forget to click! Lots of good info and analysis (as you would expect)!
Now that the team has traded Marcus Smart from Kristaps Porzingis, the next immediate question is what to do with restricted free agent Grant Williams.
Keith Smith talks about this decision on Spottrack:
As for the rest of the roster, the Celtics are up against a super taxing streak. This means they essentially re-sign Grant Williams, move him in a tag and trade or lose him for nothing. Even if Williams leaves town, Boston may not find wiggle room to use the $5 million in MLE taxpayer money.
Given the downward pressure the new CBA is putting on teams like the Celtics, many assumed the team (one way or another) would have to move on from Grant. Especially after the team just traded for a big guy.
However, I’m not sure if this is the cut and dry. There is a path to keeping Grant in Boston, but it comes at a cost.
There is a school of thought that says the Celtics should re-sign Williams and let tomorrow’s problems be tomorrow’s problems. That’s absolutely true, given that Boston is the title contender at the moment. But eventually the bill comes due. As long as Brad Stephens and his crew know they can’t delay it forever, and have a long-term plan, there’s no reason why they can’t bring Williams back this season.
This “bill” may include the need to use a capital project in order to get rid of next summer’s paycheck. We’re talking about a casual event where a lot of teams might be desperate to get off the payroll, which could put the Celtics at a disadvantage from a leverage standpoint.
With that said, the Celtics must operate with a winning perspective now. They’ve already indicated that they intend to give Jaylen Brown the superpower. This puts them on the path to being taxpayers anyway. Maybe you bite the bullet and pay the price down the road.
The team will already be under a lot of pressure to win next season. If things go sideways, the team will have some very difficult decisions about the future of the franchise.
Of course, the willingness to foot that bill has a lot to do with the immediate effective cost that Grant charges in the free agent market. We’ve already heard of several teams who are more than willing to give him the above-average exception. How far that goes will have a lot to say with the Celtics’ decision.
There are still plenty of options for Brad Stevens and the Celtics. Is the team willing to pay it all with Grant and see the ‘bill’ down the line? Are they moving on from Brogdon’s salary instead? Who and what team can return in trades? Lots and lots of questions still to be answered. We should start getting some answers here in a few days as the Williams market develops.