As you’ll scroll down my Celtics list of offseason moves that I would make, understand I’m making these moves out of a place of love for the Boston Celtics and a place of thinking that the Celtics can be better than their 58 regular season wins and losing to the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

I understand fully that these are radical changes that I’m proposing. There is precedent for the level of roster turnover for the Boston Celtics from one season to the next. The Celtics only brought back four players from their 2017 Eastern Conference Finals series loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Those players were Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier. The notable players traded or not re-signed were Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, Amir Johnson and Kelly Olynyk.

During the 2017 NBA offseason the Celtics drafted Jayson Tatum, signed Gordon Hayward and Aron Baynes, and traded for Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris.

That was trader Danny at his best. Until the pieces didn’t fit on the basketball court which is a story for another day.

• Keep Jayson Tatum

  

  (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

• After thinking about the idea and actually workshopping ideas to move on from Jayson Tatum, I realized I hated all of them in the story I wrote last week. So I’m not trading Jayson Tatum, even if Tatum has a similar attitude of Carmelo Anthony or Kevin Durant. If I’m Wyc Grousbeck or Brad Stevens, and you should thank god I’m not, Jayson Tatum, if he’s not already, is a part of every conversation about every transaction that I even think about making. It’s a stars league and if Jayson Tatum is my superstar, if Tatum is the Celtics number one franchise player and I’m about to sign him to an NBA Super Max contract of five years, $318 million dollars next off season, I make sure that I’m supporting and getting input from Tatum on everything, especially roster composition.

• Trade Jaylen Brown

  

  (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

• Why trade Jaylen Brown this offseason?

  If I’m running the Celtics, I just can’t offer Jaylen Brown the biggest contract in NBA history.

  There’s just a vibe that I have about the Celtics signing Jaylen Brown to an NBA Supermax contract, the largest contract in NBA history, worth five years, $295 million dollars this offseason that makes me feel like it instantly becomes the worst contract in NBA history.

  I know Jaylen Brown’s resume, I know the talent that Jaylen Brown has, I know Jaylen Brown made the All NBA Team, and I would have voted for him to make the All NBA Team but I just feel like Jaylen Brown isn’t the right fit as the number two star next to Jayson Tatum. There’s just something missing and I’m starting to have my doubts if Brown makes Tatum a better player, which I believe the number two star on an NBA has to do either on offense or on defense. If I understand these NBA advanced stats correctly, in this year’s postseason Jaylen Brown made 161 passes to Jayson Tatum and only 9 of those registered as assists. NINE of one hundred sixty one. Those 9 assists would rank 5th on the list of Jaylen Brown post season assists. What am I trading Jaylen Brown for? Keep reading.

• Trade Marcus Smart

  

  (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

• I feel like the Marcus Smart era in Boston needs to end to fully make the Boston Celtics Jayson Tatum’s team. I’m not sorry for crossing sports but a few years ago the Boston Bruins had to let their captain Zdeno Chára leave as a free agent so that Charlie McAvoy could lead the Bruins defensive core without worry of being undercut by a long time veteran leader. Smart was the first player drafted by the Celtics while Brad Stevens was the head coach a year before Jaylen Brown was drafted and two years before Jayson Tatum was drafted. With Brown and Smart both traded, it becomes Jayson Tatum’s team. I’m sure Marcus Smart has more winning plays left in his NBA career but for me, I’d rather see them made while watching NBA league pass for some S Bag Western Conference franchise.

• Trade Malcolm Brogdon

  

  (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

• While Malcolm Brogdon was an excellent 6th man for the Celtics during the regular season and he gave Jaylen Brown an ally in the locker room, I didn’t love his postseason. I know he was hurt, I hate his $22.5 million dollar contract going forward and feel like I can use that money in a better way, as you’ll see below.

• Let Grant Williams Leave as a Free Agent

  

  (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

• Grant Williams is reportedly looking for a massive pay increase to as much as $20 million dollars per season and I’m just not paying that much for Grant Williams. If Grant Williams wanted to stay for $4.5 million dollars per season, yeah, I’d keep him and he can be the Celtics 8th or 9th man and spot start when needed during the regular season. Grant is a good role player and if a team like Orlando wants to pay him more than $5 million dollars per season, good, get that cake Grant.

• If you’re still with me on these Celtics moves I’d make, you’ll realize after moving on from Jaylen Brown, Malcolm Brogodon, Marcus Smart and Grant Williams the Celtics have Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Derrick White and Robert Williams as their core players. I’m sure someone who knows more about the NBA salary cap than I do is going to flag me for cap violations when I start to add players to the Celtics roster. I still believe in any sport cap space can be maneuvered in a number of different ways, it’s just about figuring out the loop holes.

• Add Rajon Rondo to the Coaching Staff

  

• LeBron James is amongst many NBA superstar players who have called Rajon Rondo one of the smartest players in the NBA. My hope is that would translate into being an outstanding assistant coach and maybe lead Rajon Rondo to be a head coach in the NBA one day should he choose to pursue that career. Adding Rajon Rondo, who is only a year removed from being an active player in the NBA, could attract another NBA Superstar and former teammate such as Trae Young or have better on court intel on active players. Assuming Rondo doesn’t lose his cool and break locker room monitors, adding Rajon Rondo to the Celtics coaching staff would check a lot of boxes both short and long term. It would be a perfect fit for the Boston Celtics.

• Great Rondo nugget from Brian Scalabrine in upcoming 2008 Celtics documentary. Talk about being locked in on the scouting report!! pic.twitter.com/A2TVruybQB

  — Chris Richardson (@CRich4) June 1, 2018

• Trade for Bradley Beal

  

  Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

• 

• The first move I’d make is to bring Bradley Beal to the Boston Celtics to team up with his friend Jayson Tatum. Bradley Beal is four years older than Jayson Tatum and they grew up together in St. Louis. Beal and Tatum attended the same middle and high school just a few years apart. Tatum once called Bradley Beal the big brother that he never had. My hope is that this long time friendship would translate to the basketball court and Tatum and Beal playing together would bring them up to a new level and be the two faces of the Celtics getting banner 18.

  Jaylen Brown and Malcolm Brogdon being dealt together and going to Houston makes sense to me. Brown is reunited with former Celtics head coach and new Rockets head coach Ime Udoka. Brogdon is being paid NBA starter money and is an efficient offensive player and can be an elite level defensive player, who I believe would fit perfectly with how Ime Udoka wants to play. If the Rockets add James Harden to that mix, the Rockets are a contender for the NBA Finals in one offseason.

  The Wizards getting the Rockets young players allows them to reset their franchise and build towards their first winning season since 2016-2017.

• Acquire Jerami Grant

  

  Hometown: Portland, Oregon
  Current Team: Detroit Pistons

• A few years ago at the NBA trade deadline forward Jerami Grant was rumored to be a trade target of the Boston Celtics. At that deadline, the Pistons retained Grant only to trade him to his hometown Portland Trail Blazers during the offseason. Jerami Grant will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. I think, and you’ll correct me if I’m wrong, the Celtics could make a move with Portland and part of that deal would be sending Grant Williams to Portland in a double sign and trade. You’ll remember a similar move in 2019 with the Celtics acquiring point guard Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Hornets acquiring point guard Terry Rozier. Maybe the new CBA doesn’t allow for a similar move but until we see the paperwork for this new CBA, I’ll assume a move that was legal in 2019 would be legal in the 2023 NBA offseason.

  For those who don’t know, Jerami Grant is a 6″8″ forward who was on the gold medal winning 2020 Team USA men’s basketball team with Jayson Tatum. This past season Grant played 63 games with Portland setting a career high in minutes per game with 35, he averaged 20 points per game, shooting 40% from three and 81% from the free throw line.

  I consider Grant a “Tatum guy” and I think he’d fit in perfectly with my new look Boston Celtics.

• Now I’ve turned Jaylen Brown, Malcolm Brogodon, Marcus Smart and Grant Williams into Bradley Beal and Jerami Grant which I’m sure you hate but I’m here for being bold. Here’s another both idea for role players.

  34 year old point guard Patrick Beverley is first on my list. I’ve always liked how Patrick Beverley has played in the league for years and he would add a lot of grit and attitude to the Celtics that I think they need. My worry is Patrick Beverley on the court is finished but hopefully he has one good season left to help the Celtics.

  Big man Dwight Powell was a member of the Boston Celtics during his age 23 seasons but was dealt to the Dallas Mavs on December 18, 2014 with Rajon Rondo for a package that included Jae Crowder. Powell has spent 9 seasons with the Mavs and feels like he could be the perfect 15-20 minute per night big to rotate with Al Horford and Robert Williams.

• To recap, I’ve turned Jaylen Brown, Malcolm Brogodon, Marcus Smart and Grant Williams into Bradley Beal, Jerami Grant, Patrick Beverley and Dwight Powell and I think the salary cap math is close enough to make it work. I didn’t need NBA2K to help with this roster but it might have helped.

  My Celtics roster would look something like this.

  Ball Handlers:
  Derrick White
  Patrick Beverley

  Wings:
  Jayson Tatum
  Bradley Beal
  Jerami Grant

  Bigs:
  Rob Williams
  Al Horford
  Dwight Powell

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