The Boston Celtics made a lot of changes during the offseason, mostly for cap purposes. Jrue Holiday was jettisoned to Portland, while Kristaps Porzingis was shipped off to Atlanta.
Luke Kornet left for a bigger payday in San Antonio, while Al Horford today plays for the Golden State. A lot of key pieces from the Celtics’ 2024 championship are today gone.
Despite all of the roster turnover, NBA GMs believe that Brad Stevens did one of the best jobs in the NBA this summer, according to a recent poll.
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According to an NBA survey of GMs around the league, multiple executives thought that the Celtics had the best offseason of any NBA team. They finished fifth in that category, receiving 3 percent of the vote.
The Hawks led the list, getting 53 percent of the vote, followed by Houston with 27 percent. The Nuggets finished third with 10 percent, and fourth was Orlando with 7 percent.
Boston only added one person this offseason who is firmly in the rotation, and that was Anfernee Simons in the Jrue Holiday trade. Luka Garza might be the backup center, but that’s not a guarantee.
Despite that fact, GMs still seem to love what the Celtics did. Perhaps they were impressed that Boston was able to shed as much salary as they were, even though they are still in the luxury tax as of today.
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Even though the season is just a couple of weeks away, the Celtics might not be done making moves. Stevens might still try to get under the luxury tax completely before the year starts.
It looks like they will have to hold on to Simons until the trade deadline, but Sam Hauser would certainly garner plenty of interest if he were dangled in a trade.
Sending Hauser out the door would free Boston up enough to slide under the luxury tax. If they were ever going to be under the tax, this would be the year to do it.
Regardless, the Celtics are being appreciated by executives from other teams in the league. Stevens will certainly be active in the middle of the year, too.
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