Adding Some Age
After having several discussions with seasoned Celtics fans, one point of interest that came up repeatedly was the Celtics bench. The Celtics boasted a roster whose average age was 25, which is amazing given what they were able to do in this playoff run. Especially when you consider that they were without Gordon Hayward for over two-thirds of this postseason.
The one thing that seemed fairly obvious, however, was that Brad could only trust his bench so much. We saw quite a few games where many of the younger players never saw the floor. Fans would see stretches where Grant Williams got some playing time, with a flash of Robert Williams if Theis was in foul trouble, but overwhelmingly, Brad Wanamaker and the Williams’ were the only bench contributors this post season.
One thing that the 2008 championship Celtics had was a strong veteran presence. Their bench included seasoned players like James Posey, Sam Cassell, and PJ Brown, who came out of retirement to add some stability. Short of Brad Wanamaker, and scarce sightings of Enes Kanter, the Celtics had to look for big contributions from the rookies while Hayward was at home rehabbing his ankle.
Although there were times where they contributed solid minutes (i.e. Grant Williams in game 7 vs. Toronto) we saw very little from Romeo Langford, Carsen Edwards, or Tremont Waters. They’ll need to get some serious playing time in the regular season to help earn some trust from Brad Stevens, but until that happens, they’re simply taking up space on a long bench. A long bench full of players waiting for their number to be called.
It’s always been frustrating seeing veteran players sign with contending teams other than Boston. Watching players like Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins, Jamal Crawford, and even Carmelo Anthony go to other teams for pennies on the dollar becomes disheartening after a while. I’m not trying to say that these specific players would be the right fit for Boston (although Boogie Cousins has always been on my personal wish list), it’s just disheartening to watch.
What I am saying is that it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to see the Celtics potentially move some of their assets to add some depth to the bench. The playoffs showed that the Celtics didn’t have many options to help reel things in when they started going off the rails in big moments. People forget, this was Kemba Walker’s first deep playoff run. He was more of a rookie than Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
There were noticeable times when the Celtics had trouble stopping the bleeding. Having that veteran who can come in and calm things down is essential. We saw it with Andre Iguodala in the series against Miami. This offseason could pay dividends to a team that was probably a player or two away from giving Celtics fans our first Lakers vs. Celtics finals in over a decade.
