[ad_1]
Brad Stevens’ first front office-era Celtics free agent signing was a bit of a surprise. The team have agreed to terms with former center Enes Kanter on a one-year contract for the veteran’s minimum, according to multiple league sources.
Kanter’s signature itself is a perfectly defensible movement in the present. Kanter is reaching career highs in both field goal percentage (60.5%) and rebounds per game (11.4) while playing all 72 games last year for Portland. It’s a solid production for a player who has had to settle for the veteran’s minimum, but that salary reflects a cross that is a huge handicap on defense against most opponents.
Kanter’s return to Boston, however, is also a perfect example of how a cycle of free agents and trade misfires over the past two seasons has returned to bite the Celtics, especially when it comes to center position. .
The revolving door in downtown Boston began two offseason ago as Kyrie Irving and Al Horford prepared to go free agency in the summer of 2019. The Celtics decided to clear an additional salary cap margin in the evening. of the draft by trading the No.24 overall pick to cede Aron Baynes’ modest salary ($ 5.1 million) to the Phoenix Suns for a worst first-round pick in 2020 (which ended up being No.30 overall Bucks).
Baynes’ swap was a proactive move to help clear the salary cap space needed for another possible mistake (Kemba Walker’s maximum four-year contract). After that, the Celtics replaced Baynes with Enes Kanter for a two-year chamber-level deal (roughly $ 5 million per year). Kanter was a solid bench player for most of the regular season, but was largely benched during the team’s playoffs until the Eastern Conference Finals due to his defensive limitations.
Things went from bad to worse for Boston on the center front during the 2020 offseason. Once again, the Celtics decided they wanted to upgrade to Kanter’s center after opting for the second year of his contract for $ 5 million. In order to create some ceiling flexibility, the Celtics dumped Kanter with the No.30 overall pick on the night of the Memphis Grizzlies Draft for two second-round picks.
Once again, this decision turned out to be a bad choice in retrospect on several fronts. For starters, the Blazers eventually ended up agreeing to Kanter’s $ 5 million deal with Memphis a day later for dropping Mario Hezonja’s contract, which turned into a three-team deal. This left Boston demoted from a No. 30 first-round pick to future second-round picks for no good reason other than not having room for another rookie on the roster and avoiding a bit of silver.
We all know the story from here. Memphis selected a productive rookie ranked 30th overall from Desmond Bane (second-team All Rookie honors). Meanwhile, the Celtics used their mid-level exception ($ 9million) on a new center to Tristan Thompson on a two-year contract that proved ill-suited for the team last year as the Thompson’s game was waning from its heyday. There is no guarantee the Celtics would have drafted Bane if they had retained the pick, but the need to sign another center by trading Kanter limited some of Boston’s trade options last season with the exception of the traded player. Gordon Hayward. The team dealt with a hard cap created using the full intermediate level on Thompson.
To his credit, one of Brad Stevens’ first moves at the front office was to admit Thompson’s mistake and send him packing in a three-way trade with Sacramento and Atlanta that still remains unofficial. League sources tell MassLive there is a possibility that the deal will be extended in the coming days if any of the teams involved find other moves they want to incorporate into the deal.
That brings us full circle with Kanter’s signing on Wednesday to replace Thompson. Kanter is an imperfect center but he was a player Boston probably should have kept in the first place, which would have allowed the Celtics to target a larger area of need (wing or point guard) with their mid-level exception last season in the a loved one’s place in Thompson.
In the present, Kanter should provide solid depth behind a pair of injury-prone crosses to Al Horford and Robert Williams and there is no harm in bringing in the 29-year-old on a minimum veteran contract. However, his return to Boston is a reminder of just how bad the Celtics have gone in the past 24 months between degrading draft assets and signing non-performing free agents.
Stevens is not responsible for these mistakes, but he has to live with the repairs after Danny Ainge left him in a tight spot after his retirement.
Kanter likely won’t have much of an impact on next season’s roster overall, but his presence will serve as a reminder of plans that have gone awry for this franchise over the past 24 months.
[ad_2]
Source link