The Celtics have been very busy this offseason with Brad Stevens making swift moves to reassemble the majority of his roster for a title repeat. With Summer League on the horizon and a couple of potential roster openings still remaining along with the future owners of the team, there’s plenty of ground to cover still so let’s get to a jam-packed mailbag. If you have questions about the Celtics or NBA , email brobb@masslive.
com or tweet @briantrobb Hi Brian, Current ownership has said that they will pay for competitive teams and championships. Do you have any sense of how much extra the team pulls in by going deep into the playoffs? (Thinking gate, concessions, memorabilia, etc.).
Either way it maybe be a drop in the bucket with the upcoming tax bill. Thanks. —Andy It’s a fascinating question but unlike salaries, we don’t get to see the inner workings of the organization from a financial standpoint.
I do know the Celtics do not make any money from concessions at the Garden (Bruins keep that money as part of their deal for renting it). However, it’s fair to assume that every additional playoff home game is worth several millions in added revenue, with the totals going up during each round as the ticket prices go up. Winning a title is clearly great for merchandise sales as well but the extend of which, we probably won’t ever know.
All of that stuff would help ease the blow of a big tax bill but certainly wouldn’t be enough to counteract a historic one that’s looming next year for Boston. Brian, Do you think the Celtics front office has any second thoughts on trading for Jaden Springer? Is his 4 million a year contract worth it when adding in the luxury tax with that salary? I assume his salary could be a trade matching tool for a veteran on a minimum contract during the upcoming season if need be. Thanks, — Jeff Springer’s situation is definitely a fascinating one.
Celtics gave up a decent second round pick for him (early 40s) and now he’s playing in Summer League as a fourth year player, a very unusual situation for a player who was playing rotation minutes with the 76ers last year. However, the wing sees the writing on the wall on this team and knows he needs to do what this coaching staff wants if he wants a chance at minutes next year on nights when they are shorthanded. Ultimately, Springer at this point is probably acquired just as much to be that trade chip.
It’s not a very useful one since Boston won’t be able to take back more than his modest salary and can’t aggregate him but it could him Boston land someone at the minimum or a little bit above at the trade deadline, giving them a little more flexibility than just having minimum guys filling out the end of the bench. BRobb, A lot of attention (rightfully so) has been focused on the Celtics potential luxury tax payments after next season and the increasing repeater taxes thereafter. I’ve seen some estimates that this could mean a combined payroll and luxury tax bill of about $438M.
Obviously that is a lot in a nutshell, but this also doesn’t figure in the fact that each team will be seeing approximately $113M in additional TV revenue over the next 11 years starting at that same time based on the 11 year $76B worth of deals announced by The Athletic among others. Assuming that money is split 51-49 to the players/owners, that means the actual unfunded portion of that payroll and luxury tax bill is actually $325M before you add in all the other typical sources of revenue from a team (e.g.
tickets, merchandise, etc). While we have no way of knowing exactly what those numbers look like since the data is private, knocking off about a quarter of that total is not a bad start and should make the financial consequences a lot less dire than just seeing the $438M in a bubble. Furthermore, with expansion of potentially two new expansion teams sometime after that, if we assume conservatively that the cost of acquiring a new team is around $3B, that could mean another $6B to the 30 teams that would not need to be split with the players.
That would result in another $200M in fees going to each team which could help in a future year. If it lines up to be paid in the year after the new TV deals kick in (e.g.
in the 2026-27 after the new tv deals kick in for the 2025-2026 season), that could work out extremely well to keep this core team together for a 4 year window which is about the typical window for teams to remain contenders consistently. At that point, Al and Jrue are likely gone and you’ll need to figure out something anyway to reload. Am I missing anything here? Thanks, Matt It’s certainly an optimistic viewpoint.
Expansion will probably be a drawn out situation for when those payments arrive while the TV deal will probably help sooner. There’s also the team building component/restriction to being above the second apron that will factor in as well. If the Celtics win back-to-back titles and new ownership is in place, perhaps they swallow a monstrous tax bill for a chance at history.
However, the common refrain from people around the league is an expectation that the Celtics will need to start shedding some secondary talent due to the price tags. The aggression of other East teams this offseason speaks to that. Brian - thanks for the great reporting on the C’s.
As far as I know , Aleksej Pokuševski is still available. Poku is 7 feet, handles the ball like a guard and can block shots and bury a 3. Yes, he’s still a project - but at 22 yrs old, why not on your final roster spot? — Mike S Kinda random but what are the odds of a Gordon Hayward reunion.
Not sure if there’s much of a market for him i wonder if he’d want to come back for a true title run — Kim The 15th roster spot will remain open for awhile is my estimation. There’s a case to be made that it should be filled from the star this year with Porzingis’ injury but the flexibility and cost savings it provides from a tax perspective will be significant. If it does get filled, Poku would not be on the list at this point.
He’s a developmental project but one that is far too expensive when the tax implications are factored in. I’d guess he finds a two-way contract somewhere if he stays in the NBA. Hayward is probably taking his time to figure out just exactly where he could have a meaningful role somewhere off the bench after a rough campaign in Oklahoma City.
He will get a chance somewhere for the minimum but can’t see that place being Boston at this point if he wants to play given the presence of Sam Hauser and drafting of Baylor Scheierman. Do you think Celtics will add another big? I have no faith in KP staying healthy and we saw in playoffs for the most part they just used Al after the 2nd round and none of the guys they resigned. — Browner I do think they will ultimately add one more but probably not until during the season.
Kornet, Tillman and Queta played well enough in those roles last year where they deserve first crack at those minutes, especially during the regular season. At that point, Brad Stevens and the front office can better assess how it looks after a couple of months. If there’s a drop-off from that trio, the Celtics have the draft picks to bring in some cheap help.
Ultimately, there is going to be a lot of pressure on that group though since the onus will need to be on keeping Al Horford’s minutes down and Porzingis healthy once he returns. Finding a spot contributor on a two-way (Anton Watson?) would be helpful on that front. With the penalties the second apron brings are we likely looking at the last seasons of Hauser and Pritchard in Green? Seems like a S&T with Hauser for non-guaranteed contracts & picks with Baylor Scheierman taking that spot is in the future.
— Adam A Pritchard feels pretty safe for awhile with this group since he’s on an affordable long term deal and trimming his salary only makes a slight dent in a costly tax bill. Hauser’s next contract will be significantly bigger than Pritchard (who arguably took a team-friendly deal last fall), so I’d say he’s in bigger danger of a being a second apron casualty. Ultimately, moving on from a starter while keeping the affordable bench supporting cast in place could be how this problem is dealt with next summer.
In your opinion, do the Celtics need to make any major changes this offseason? Or just need to tweak a little here and there to the roster? — Ed H Hard to justify any major changes after how well last season went. The path to the NBA Finals will be tougher in the East this year with all the upgrades made in New York and Philadelphia but the Celtics are doing the best they can with their cap limitations. Bringing back everyone on cheap prices is the best course of action when the team didn’t have access to the mid-level and there’s no reason at all to shake up the rotation with a trade.
The Celtics will have a chance to make in-season adjustments but running it back is the right choice without any appealing alternatives. Hello Brian. What do they do with the 15th spot? Oshae? Svi? Open? Who needs to impress most in Vegas SL? Will Brown ever be invited to Teams USA in the future after his complaints of Nike? Other than some awkwardness, is there even anything to smooth over with him & the others? — Truthfastino My bet is they keep the 15th spot open although bringing back Oshae if he can’t find more playing time elsewhere would certainly be welcomed.
I’ll be keeping a close eye on the rookies in Summer League. A versatile big who can shoot could be a need early in the season with Watson with Porzingis out of the fold so Summer League could be an indicator of whether he will have a realistic chance to fight for those spot bench minutes. Scheierman will be stuck behind Hauser in the depth chart but if he plays well enough, maybe he gets a chance in some smaller lineups.
Brown’s future with Team USA is certainly a big question mark in the wake of these tweets. He declined to comment publicly at the ESPYs about it so it will be interesting to see if he pulls back after the slight to keep the door open for both sides down the line. I don’t foresee any big issues with him and White over the long-term but Brown probably owes him an apology for how he overshadowed his honor.
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