The Boston Celtics were recently rated to have had the fifth-best offseason in the NBA by The Athletic senior writer David Aldridge. That is by most accounts a lower ranking than many assessments of what the Celtics did with their 2022 offseason, but still among the league’s very best.
Having lost prized signing Danilo Gallinari to an ACL tear may play a significant role in the drop compared to earlier assessments, but Boston still has starter-caliber reserve point guard Malcolm Brogdon on the roster as well as a bevy of potential third bigs in Mfiondu Kabengele, Noah Vonleh, and Bruno Caboclo. The team also may have found a diamond in the rough in JD Davison, their sole draft pick this season at No. 53.
Let’s see what Aldridge had to say about the Celtics’ offseason.
“Getting better minutes on the ball than the Celtics got in the finals from Marcus Smart was key, and acquiring Brogdon should shore that up,” suggests Aldridge.
“This isn’t a criticism of Smart, who is as vital to Boston as Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown; it’s just a recognition of his limitations as a playmaker. He’s a scorer with the ball.”
“Brogdon can score but is much more impactful as a team’s quarterback,” continued Aldridge. “The two of them could actually be terrific together in smaller-ball lineups with Brown at the three.”
“Brogdon will only enhance Boston’s best-in-the-league defense. But losing Gallinari, who tore his ACL playing for the Italian national team late last month, for much, if not all, of the season will be a huge blow. Boston was really counting on him to provide some pop off the bench.”
“If Boston does, as is rumored, sign Carmelo Anthony before camp to replace Gallinari, that would make sense,” he adds.
We aren’t so sure that Anthony will don the green and white this season, but even if the Athletic analyst isn’t dinging the Cs for losing Gallinari, this is a defensible assessment of Boston’s offseason moves.
And while it is not quite clear what rubric Aldridge is putting into the equation here to assess the Celtics, if one removes the Gallo deal from the equation, it is very much on par for what the team was able to do that will be able to get on the court in 2022-23.
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