Category: Sports News

Phoenix didn’t have a first-round pick on draft night. They bought one.

To get Koa Peat at No. 30, the Suns sent their own No. 47 back into a four-team knot with the Knicks, Mavericks, and Lakers, and attached two future second-round picks — 2029 and 2033 — to close it. That’s a real toll for a player who, seven months earlier, looked like one of the safest bets in the draft.

Trace the arc, and the price tag starts to make sense as a story rather than a stat line. In November, Peat dropped 30 points on defending national champion Florida in his college debut and was being talked about as a top-14 lock. By June, ESPN handed Phoenix a D for the pick (tied for second worst in the entire draft) while CBS Sports’ Adam Finkelstein handed out an A- and predicted a decade-plus career. Two credentialed evaluators, same player, same 48 hours. That’s not a disagreement about box scores. It’s a disagreement about whether the league still has room for what Koa Peat actually is.

What he is, is a bully (in the nicest possible way). The question is whether that’s still a job title in this league.

The Frame Nobody Argues About

Start with what nobody contests, because for a divisive prospect, it’s unusually uniform. Peat measured 6’7″ barefoot at the combine (6’8″ in shoes), 245 pounds, with a 6’11.25″ wingspan and an 8’8″ standing reach, numbers that, paired with a bloodline that includes an NFL offensive lineman brother in Andrus Peat, produce a frame scouts keep calling “NBA-ready” before they’ve said anything else about him. Finkelstein’s post-draft line was basically a thesis statement: strength, physicality, and readiness to play through contact right now, jump shot notwithstanding.

The résumé backs it up, and it’s not projection. It’s a paper trail. Four straight Arizona state titles. Four USA Basketball gold medals. A Final Four run in his only college season, on an Arizona team that finished 36-3, the best record in program history, with Peat named West Regional Most Outstanding Player. Suns GM Brian Gregory leaned on exactly this after the draft, framing the pick around makeup and work ethic rather than a finished offensive game.

That’s also, not coincidentally, the exact résumé that turned Paul Millsap into a four-time All-Star out of the back half of a draft, and made Carlos Boozer a leading man in Utah and Chicago despite never being the shape of player front offices say they’re building around anymore. Which is the real premise here: the league’s stylistic pendulum has swung hard away from Peat’s archetype over the last decade, and his rookie year is an early test of whether it’s swung back far enough to make room again.

The Shot Everyone Keeps Talking About

Here’s where the room actually splits. Peat shot 35.0% from three at Arizona on 20 attempts, seven makes, across a full season. 7 makes? You could fluke 7 makes. The more honest tell at that sample size is free-throw shooting, and his 62.3% mark there is the number that’s been flashing yellow all along.

Then, instead of protecting that number, Peat’s camp did the opposite of what fringe-lottery prospects usually do in a pre-draft process: he rebuilt the shot from scratch. After the Final Four, he hired shooting coach Chris Johnson and reworked his mechanics — lower release, more arc — and unveiled the new version for the first time in NBA Draft Combine shooting drills, mandated under the league’s collective bargaining agreement, in front of every team in the league. It did not go smoothly. Peat shot 24% in the spot-up drill, 28% in the three-point star drill, 40% in side-mid-side, finding rhythm only off the dribble (50%) and at the line (70%). The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie reported that evaluators were less bothered by the misses than by the mechanics themselves — a shot that looked, in his framing, still under construction rather than simply cold.

Sit with how unusual that sequence is. Most prospects on the bubble play it safe in May — low-volume catch-and-shoot reps, nothing that risks moving the needle backward. Peat’s camp instead bet that a public rebuild, staged in the highest-stakes evaluation window of his career, was worth the downside of looking worse on tape than he actually is.

Read one way, that’s the kind of aggressive self-improvement plan player-development staffs love to inherit. Read the other way, it’s a tell that the old shot was unsalvageable enough that starting over was the only real option. Peat’s own explanation to CBS Sports split the difference: he described trying to “shoot the ball the same way every time” and, on the three specifically, “bringing it down a little bit lower” for more arc — a description that matches exactly what evaluators saw, even if the results hadn’t caught up yet.

Reading “Undersized” Correctly

The headline critique: undersized four, limited handle, a below-the-rim athlete, is fair. It’s also being used to answer a question it was never built to answer.

Block rate and vertical rim protection measure length and verticality. Peat was never going to win that test, and he doesn’t need to, because his defensive value was never supposed to come from help-side shot-blocking. It comes from strength at the point of contact and switchability that shows up in matchup data more than box scores — guarding a wing on a switch without getting hunted, banging with a bigger four in the post without losing the physical argument outright. Even the sceptical scouting reports kept circling back to the same word for his defense: versatile.

The real swing question is processing speed against NBA pace, and nothing in his résumé actually tests it. Late rotations, foul trouble against craftier post scorers, split-second discipline against NBA shot creators — that’s an experience gap, not a talent gap, and it’s the kind of gap a strong development environment closes with reps. It’s also precisely the stress test that four state titles and a stack of gold medals, for all they prove about makeup, cannot simulate.

The Comp Spectrum

Floor — early Carlos Boozer / Taj Gibson. If the jumper never becomes a real weapon and the athletic profile caps where it looks now, this is the outcome: a below-the-rim four who earns everything through post position and offensive rebounding. Still useful — a high-motor rotation piece who out-competes more talented players for loose possessions — just not a closing-lineup fixture on a good team.

Median, best fit — Paul Millsap. The comp worth sitting with longest, because it’s less about ceiling or floor than about a stylistic archetype that’s already proven durable in exactly this body. Millsap was never long, never a plus vertical athlete. What he was, for over a decade, was a strength-and-touch scorer who punished mismatches from the mid-post, rebounded above his size, and defended through anticipation rather than length — guessing right a half-second before the play developed instead of recovering with athleticism after the fact. If Peat’s shot lands anywhere between respectable and unspectacular, and his defensive processing catches NBA speed over a year or two, Millsap is about as close a stylistic match as recent history offers.

Ceiling — Draymond Green. The reach comp, and it should be treated as one. The connective tissue: an undersized four substituting brain for length, plus a passing feel that already grades above position average — Peat posted 2.6 assists per game as a college freshman, unusual production for his size and role. The Draymond outcome needs the playmaking to scale into real offensive initiation and the defense to scale into legitimate multi-position switching at NBA physicality, at the same time. Low probability for almost anyone. Worth naming anyway, because it’s the shape of bet the Suns are actually making by spending three second-round picks to move up for a player who fell all the way to 30.

Where He Actually Fits in Phoenix

The organizational logic is straightforward, even if the roster math is messier in year one. Phoenix leaned on Dillon Brooks and Royce O’Neale at the four for most of last season, played small most nights, and got exposed on size in a first-round sweep at the hands of Oklahoma City. Peat answers that specific problem directly: an actual power forward who can defend post-ups without conceding size on a roster that’s been thin at exactly that.

The traffic is real, though. Ryan Dunn and Rasheer Fleming — both still finding their NBA footing, both barely in the rotation down last season’s stretch — occupy adjacent lanes, something Gregory acknowledged himself after the draft. None of the three is a plus shooter yet. All three profile as high-motor, defense-first forwards still figuring out what they are. How much Jordan Ott is actually willing to play bigger — something Phoenix mostly avoided last season, even against a Thunder team that punished them for it — will decide how much runway any of the three gets, Peat included.

The Actual Bet

Strip away the report-card noise, and the pick reads as a single wager: that competitive processing and physical readiness are scarcer and more predictable than shooting touch at 19, and that shooting touch is the one variable in Peat’s profile most likely to move with patient, targeted development. Teams have been burned betting on jumpers that never arrived before. They’ve also spent the better part of a decade underrating exactly this archetype — the strength-first, feel-over-length four — in a league that occasionally overcorrects into smallball for its own sake.

Millsap is the version of this bet that pays off quietly, over years, in a jersey nobody outside Phoenix is thinking hard about. Early Boozer or Gibson is the version where the shot stalls and Peat becomes a useful reserve instead of a building block. Either way, the sample that actually answers the question — NBA reps, not combine drills or high school gold medals — starts this fall. Everything before it, reworked shot included, is still just scouting.

One thing you won’t be able to account for… is the smarts. That Koa will bring in spades.

“He’s really good. “I must say, strong, big brain, vocal. Kind of has everything on the floor. He’s really smart for his age. I think that he’s a great add-on.” — Rasheer Fleming

Jazz fans could not have asked for anything more than what we have seen during the first two games of the Salt Lake City Summer League. On day one, Ace Bailey looked both huge and improved. On day two, Cody Williams flashed confidence and capabilities beyond what we have seen during his first two seasons. And on both days, Darryn Peterson has been electric – spectacular shotmaking and better than expected playmaking combine to paint the picture of the birth of a star.

Not to dampen any enthusiasm for the team’s final outing in the 2026 Salt Lake City Summer League, but, according to Sarah Todd, we will not be seeing any of the Jazz’s July Big Three in their against the Thunder.

This is not to say that there’s nothing to watch for. Three players who have not been ruled out have stood out to me so far, and each should have bigger roles without Darryn, Ace, and Cody taking shots and playmaking opportunities.

Players to Watch

1. Blake Hinson

Hinson began proving himself at the end of last year (to the extent that we couldn’t play him and accomplish our tanking-centric goals), and the Jazz have rewarded him with a two-way contract heading into the 2026-2027 season. That confidence has been rewarded thus far in Salt Lake City Summer League. While he’s not putting up double-take worthy numbers (11 points per game on pedestrian efficiency), he has popped off the screen during his playing time. Reports that he has lost weight and gained muscle over the summer appear accurate, and he’s moving around the court with pace and force. I attended the Jazz game on Saturday versus the Hawks, and my friend, introduced to Hinson’s game for the first time, gave him the nickname of “the trebuchet”, for two reasons – his confidence from downtown, and the reckless abandon that he threw himself into the action while fighting for rebounds. While the nickname may not have much staying power, Blake Hinson might. He will likely be the #1 option for the Jazz against Oklahoma City, and a Utah win may depend on the efficacy of Hinson’s explosive shooting.

2. Jaxon Kohler

The hometown kid! Kohler attended American Fork High School before heading East to attend Michigan State University, and showed out in front of his day-ones on Monday verses Memphis. He poured in 11 points (including a three-pointer), grabbed 7 rebounds, and played impressive defense against talented and ginormous youngster, Cameron Boozer. Thurl Bailey correctly referred to him as a “true energy big”, which he’ll need to be if he wants to gain ground in his uphill battle to make the big leagues. It’s true, it’ll be a tough translation for the not-too-athletic, not-too-long Kohler to carve out a spot in the NBA, but huge humans who know where to be, play hard, and can hit three pointers sometimes just make it all work. Kohler has a chance to make a name for himself in the post against OKC and their lottery-selected Giant Aday Mara (assuming that he plays). In particular, keep an eye out for his jump shot looks – that’s the ultimate X-Factor for his NBA transition.

3. Justin Harmon

Harmon has been chugging along on the Salt Lake City Stars for the past two years, and has quietly starred for the Jazz’s Summer League Team in their first two games. He’s a well-built 190 pounds at 6’4, and has been a clear positive on both ends of the court so far. He got three steals in the first game, and 2 blocks in the second, always moving and using his athleticism to make his presence felt defensively. On offense, he’s impressed me with his physicality and aggression, bullying his way into the paint, especially in the first game against Atlanta. I’m not sure there’s something here outside of Summer League – the jump shot has been inconsistent throughout his career, and he’s a bit too poor of a playmaker for someone that small – but he may be able to take a path to the league similar to the one walked by Elijah Harkless, as a bulldog defender who succeeds with physicality. I’m interested to see how he performs as a primary ball handler without Peterson or Williams to take the ball up the court.

How to Watch the Salt Lake City Summer League?

Who: Utah Jazz vs Oklahoma City Thunder

When: Tuesday, July 7th | 7:00 MT

Where: Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, UT

How to watch: Prime Video, ESPNU, League Pass, KJZZ, Jazz+

Celtics owner Bill Chisholm puts all his trust in Brad Stevens originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

New Owner Syndrome is a very real thing, and we’ve seen plenty of billionaires make the sort of impulsive decisions that set their organizations back immeasurably. What’s ironic is that new Boston Celtics owner Bill Chisholm is seemingly doing the exact opposite, essentially putting all of his faith in president of basketball operations Brad Stevens to chart a path back to long-term title contention.

And yet there are still those who want to cry foul amid Boston’s admittedly jarring roster overhaul.

If you’re displeased about all of the talent that has gone out the door over the past two summers, we get it. The Celtics have had to make painful decisions about roster construction, first pivoting off key members of the championship core last summer, then trading Jaylen Brown for a questionable return last week. Stockpiling talent and raising banners is a lot more fun than trying to figure out how to navigate a restrictive new collective bargaining agreement designed to make it difficult for teams to stay atop the mountain.

But at a time when it would be easy to demand more immediate return on a $6 billion investment, Chisholm is allowing the Celtics to navigate the short-term pains that might afford the team the longest window to be a true championship contender. The team is steamrolling towards an opportunity to splurge next summer but has had to navigate sometimes unsavory choices to give themselves the best opportunity to maximize that moment when it arrives.

“I know people feel like, ‘Oh, there must be a smoking gun somewhere around the money.’ That’s just not what this is about,” Chisholm said at Monday’s press conference. “I can say it — and I’ll keep saying it — but I’ll also prove it to you. When we have the opportunity, we’re going to [spend]. And we’ve given ourselves the flexibility to do it now. So it’s fine to keep asking the question because I know we have to prove it. And we will.”

Even a few years ago, a team could simply open its checkbook and build a contender. But the latest CBA put in guardrails that don’t just punish teams financially for sustained spending, they basically cripple teams in terms of roster building. The NBA has entered a parity era.

The teardown of the 2024 championship roster in the summer of 2025 was happening regardless of who owned the Boston Celtics at that point. Boston got ahead of the new CBA in the summer of 2023, trading for Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, the two highest-paid players on the team at a time before Jayson Tatum and Brown’s supermax extensions kicked in. Everyone knew the team had two seasons before the CBA taxman came knocking.

If Boston had repeated as champions in 2025, there could have been some consideration to lingering in the tax. But Tatum’s Achilles rupture — along with Porzingis’ health woes and a disappointing second-round exit — sealed the decision to start navigating some less desirable roster changes. We can certainly debate whether the Celtics should have been more willing to pay Luke Kornet’s next contract, particularly given how unexpectedly competitive the team was last season. But Boston clearly made the decision to get its finances in order and this roster overhaul was set in motion.

Yes, the Celtics saved $350+ million as part of the roster teardown. They went from a projected 2025-26 salary of $540 million with its title core intact and finished just below the $188 million tax line. The biggest gain wasn’t the financial savings but the ability to eventually reset the repeater tax penalties that were making the team prohibitively expensive in that moment.

If you want to quibble about last summer’s roster moves, you might suggest that Boston should have been more willing to move off Brown at that point. Maybe the trade packages would have been more enticing and Boston could have navigated a legitimate gap year, which could have also delivered a lottery player in a deep draft.

Instead, the Celtics waited until this summer to rip the Band-Aid with Brown.

Do we believe the Celtics could have gotten more in a Brown trade package? Absolutely. If we have one gripe it’s that Boston seemingly moved quickly to get a deal done early in the offseason when we’re not certain time would have diminished the return.

What really hurt the Celtics, though, were inflated expectations.

The expected return for Brown ballooned when Boston’s flirtation with Giannis Antetokounmpo became public. Even if you didn’t want the Celtics to push all in to get Antetokounmpo, you were conditioned to believe a top 10 player might be obtained in any Brown deal. That largely ignores that Boston would have had to include multiple first-round picks and young talent to entice Milwaukee to take its offer.

The expected return for Brown got further inflated when an older Kawhi Leonard and a much younger Walker Kessler each recouped two unprotected first-round picks and additional swaps as part of their hauls. It was reasonable, then, to expect that Brown, at age 29 and coming off a top six finish in MVP voting, would fetch a greater ransom.

It didn’t happen. Blame the contract. Blame the analytics. Blame Boston’s unwillingness to wait out the process. It’s fair to scrutinize whether the team could have better navigated the process.

But we don’t quite understand the argument against ownership here. The Celtics, whether they traded for Antetokounmpo or George or any other superstar, were still paying $50+ million in any star acquisition. George, with a player option in 2027-28, has more available avenues to build the next iteration of this team, whether that’s flipping his deal in a quest for Tatum’s next running mate or trying to entice him to decline next year’s option in favor of a lower-money, longer-term extension.

That’s why “optionality” became the buzzword on Monday.

What’s clear from Stevens’ explanation is that this wasn’t just about Brown’s money or the total roster cost. It was about the amount of usage the Tatum/Brown combo consumed under this current roster construct, and certainly a reflection that the team believed it simply could no longer be a championship-level team with that combo.

The Celtics could have further slashed spending this year while waiting for the repeater penalties to reset. Instead, they signed Mitchell Robinson utilizing the midlevel exception. Boston is still lingering above the luxury tax line, and Chisholm noted that Stevens still has the green light to spend this year if it can improve the team.

There are limits to what Boston can spend this summer, particularly if the ultimate goal is to reset the repeater penalties. The Celtics are already hard-capped at the first apron after using the MLE. They could still flip George — and their new bounty of picks — if a new disgruntled star emerged on the market. But the plan for now is to evaluate how this team looks as currently constructed and ponder in-season options. The most likely outcome is ducking the tax again in order to set up a bigger splurge in the summer of 2027.

We’ve dubbed it the slingshot. Two years of pain points will allow Stevens the sort of flexibility to best build a true title contender. Boston had no clear path to tinkering on the margins around a Tatum/Brown core. Stevens’ challenge is putting the best possible pieces alongside Tatum.

That process has already started. The Celtics, having leaned heavier on player development in recent years, are locking up in-house talent. They’ve already inked starting center Neemias Queta to a long-term extension. Payton Pritchard could get his own extension later this summer. Ron Harper Jr. got a new deal this offseason as well. There is a lot of hope for what Hugo Gonzalez and Baylor Scheierman, still on their rookie deals, can contribute moving forward.

Stevens noted how recent champions like Oklahoma City and New York built deep rosters with diversified salaries. Those teams will soon feel the wrath of the second apron, with New York already letting Robinson walk after its title season.

Why does resetting the repeater matter? The Celtics can stomach, say, a $200 million roster in both the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons without fear of both basketball and tax penalties. Unlike the summer of 2025, every dollar won’t count 4.5-times as much given their recent spending. The Celtics still have to be braced to work themselves back down in the summer of 2029, but that’s just the new cycle under this CBA. Two years up, two years down — if you’re lucky.

Two years is an eternity in the NBA, anyhow. Two years ago, the Celtics were on duck boats. Now, only two of their top six players remain under contract in Tatum and Derrick White.

Stevens admitted none of this stuff is fun for fans. No one wants to trade established superstars like Brown for optionality. But there is a new set of rules the NBA is operating under. You either navigate the CBA or get steamrolled by it.

Stevens and Chisholm are betting on the team’s braintrust. They are betting that other teams will be forced into second-apron binds that might allow an opportunistic team like Boston to pounce.

Chisholm has promised to spend when the time is right. The time has not been right in either of his first two years at the helm. If the team doesn’t splurge next summer, we can all cry foul. Save your private equity conspiracy theories until then.

In Boston, we demand accountability. On Monday, at basically the very first moment that Stevens and Chisholm could tackle questions about the controversial Brown swap, the two parked themselves at a podium in the Auerbach Center and answered questions for 45 minutes.

We fully expect some will read this and decry how we’re pushing the team’s agenda. Take the time to study the CBA and you’ll recognize that there are few savory pathways to building a title contender.

We’re not even certain the Celtics made the right choice in moving Brown. But we at least understand the reasoning. As Stevens made clear on Monday, only time will tell if they’ve chosen the right path.

Chisholm noted it comes down to “trusting our process.” That’s maybe not the best choice of phrase after a deal involving the Philadelphia 76ers.

But one thing is certain: He’s putting all his trust in Brad Stevens. Celtics fans might have to do the same.

In Monday night’s NBA Summer League play, former Duke star Cameron Boozer continues to impress.

He finished the game against Utah with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, hit 4-5 on his threes, and shot 6-9 overall, and did that in 27 minutes.

In a related note, former BC big man Quentin Post has signed an offer sheet with Memphis for a 3-year, $30 million dollar deal. Mike Dunleavy and Golden State can match it if they do so by 11:59 Tuesday night.

In the other Summer League game of note, San Antonio played the L.A. Lakers, and while Maliq Brown didn’t have a big offensive game, L.A.’s starters shot a collective 14-30, and the frontcourt combined for 5-19, and our guess is that Brown had something to do with that.

• Cameron Boozer Highlights vs. Utah Jazz
• Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer in a gladiator match at SLC Summer League
• Cali Classic, Game 3: Spurs Coach Corliss Williamson, Tarris Reed Jr., Maliq Brown
• Maliq Brown rocks the rim

Go to the DBR Boards to find Blue Healer Auctions || Drop us a line

Six years ago I saw a photo of Donald Sutherland and thought, “Man, he looks a lot like Gregg Popovich.” Thought it would make a good Open Thread, so I wrote it up as:

I never, ever, in a million years thought to myself “Jesse Eisenberg is the perfect choice.” Yet, the Oscar nominee has expressed an interest in portraying the greatest coach in NBA history.

“I just find him to be the most fascinating person on the planet,” Eisenberg stated. “Here’s this tough coach who cries sometimes and talks about the plight of America, and yet he’s also this terrifying figure who can be so mean to journalists. People like that are fascinating because, on the one hand, they’re known to be very nasty, and on the other hand they’re these bleeding hearts.”

Admittedly, Eisenberg believes he would be “low on the list” for consideration of the role if one were to ever materialize.

Okay, so Eisenberg is notn the first choice to portray Pop. Who could be?

Austin restauranteur Gerald Stone is a spitting image.

But if a true actor is dessired, the best option is Clive Owen.

Owen, known for his dashing good looks, has gone gray as of late. His look in the top photo melded with the beard in the lower shot with a little Hollywood magic supplies a spitting image of the iconic coach. Can the English actor pull off Pop’s tone and timbre? We’ll have to cast and see.

How about other NBA coaches? I still contend Jim Carrey is a dead ringer for Rick Carlisle.

Are there any other NBA Coaches who have a an actor on deck awaiting the casting call?

I took a break from writing this and now must go off road fr0m basketball to say the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team head coach Mauricio Pochettino could only be played by Russell Crowe.

Have some fun with this today.

Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.

Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.

Stevens stresses ‘optionality' after Brown trade; Forsberg, Curran react originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

On Monday, Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens sat alongside team owner Bill Chisholm as they addressed the unpopular decision to trade Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Celtics shipped Brown to Philly last Wednesday in exchange for 36-year-old veteran Paul George, two first-round draft picks, and two second-rounders. The deal was widely considered to be lopsided in the Sixers’ favor, especially since it doesn’t do much to help Boston financially over the next two seasons. George is set to make $54.1 million next season and has a $56.6 million player option for 2027-28.

While Stevens understands the uproar, he’s looking at the trade through a long-term lens. Throughout the press conference, he used the word “optionality” to explain why he believes the move will help the organization in the future.

“I think when you use the term ‘optionality’, you’re talking about just length of contract and assets,” Stevens said. “So that’s where the increased optionality comes from.”

Brown’s max contract is set to run through 2028-29, so that’s at least one fewer season of two Celtics players taking up roughly 70 percent of the salary cap.

But why send him to the Eastern Conference rival that ousted you in the first round of this year’s NBA playoffs?

“If I was being honest, if that exact deal came from a team out west and you were comparing the two, then you’d probably take the team out west, but that’s not the way it was working,” Stevens said.

There were plenty of other takeaways from Stevens and Chisholm’s press conference, but Stevens’ “optionality” explanation was chief among them. Chris Forsberg and Tom E. Curran shared their instant reactions to Stevens’ remarks during the latest edition of the Celtics Talk Podcast.

“They were going to perpetually tread water because of the finances,” Curran said. “So when the trade was made, I understood that they weren’t trading for Paul George and picks. The number one, banner headline on the marquee is ‘flexibility.'”

Forsberg also came away from the press conference with a better understanding of what Stevens & Co. are trying to accomplish.

“As it started to digest… I was like, ‘OK, I can see the vision,'” Forsberg said. “It’s certainly not the most robust trade return, and get why people were frustrated by that, but the Celtics essentially got to the point where they just need some flexibility to put this thing back together. I think Brad came in trying to stress that.”

Also in the episode:

• How are you feeling after hearing Brad Stevens and Bill Chisholm?
• Why was there a disconnect between Jaylen Brown and Brad Stevens about the trade conversations?
• Bill Chisholm says the Celtics’ moves are not being driven by money
• How are you feeling if you’re Jayson Tatum?

Watch the full episode of the Celtics Talk Podcast below:

Shouts out to the World Cup organizers for placing Spain’s games all at 9 p.m. in my time zone, which is definitely better than having to wake up at 2:30 a.m. to watch the Knicks play. On to your daily links and notes.

• The Knicks announced the new deals for Landry Shamet, Mo Diawara, and Jose Alvarado after the moratorium ended on Monday, as well as making the Andre Drummond signing official. I’ll have more on those contracts and the details revealed afterward, so keep an eye on the front page.
• The NY Daily News’s Kris Winfield made a case that Diawara may have to become a real rotation player next season as the only true backup wing-forward with size on the roster behind Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby.
• The New York Post’s Jared Schwartz broke down the Drummond-Mitch changes and the world the Knicks will be entering next season. We all know the similarities (big O-board boys!), so here’s a bit on the differences:

“Drummond, on the other hand, is a much more one-dimensional defender. He is solid when matched up against bigs, but he is not someone the Knicks will want checking guards and wings. He is not as agile or mobile as Robinson. Drummond has developed into a competent enough one at this point, (and) has recently emerged as someone who can knock down the occasional 3-pointer, especially from the corners.”

• The Athletic’s John Hollinger placed the Knicks alone in “Tier 1A” among contenders for the 2027 NBA title, only behind the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder in Tier 1. Given Hollinger’s predictions age as well as milk, make of that what you wish. Tiny excerpt:

“Re-climbing that mountain will be hard, and (the Knicks) won’t necessarily get the same breaks. Still, these would be your on-paper favorites in the East in any playoff tournament, even if they might not enter it as the top seed.”

• Former P&T scribe Lee Escobedo jumped on the Knicks-LBJ silliness and made it very clear the Knicks “should say no to LeBron James.” Fair points all around, but for a min deal, I’m still all-in. Obviously, it’s not happening.
• James, for one, won’t be meeting any suitors this time. Chris Haynes with the report, Rich Paul with the public and hidden work. (As if there is something to work on, as it’s a given that Cleveland is the final destination from the minute he joined LA back in 2018).
• Speaking of old people and horrible franchises, the Kings waived DeMar DeRozan on Monday. With the Warriors out of the LBJ picture (no, literally), ESPN’s Anthony Slater is reporting there is a Dubs interest in DeMDeR. Same as with James, I’d be delighted to have DeRozan clad in Knicks threads as long as he accepts the vet min and comes off the bench carrying a mid-range flamethrower.
• Rich Paul keeps popping up (s/o Muruju for bringing it to my attention), and he’s now defending (?) Knicks owner James Dolan and his second-apron mandate. We’ve had our fair share of discussions about it in the comments sections for the past three weeks, but you can always keep talking about it below.
• The Nuggets are expected to waive Jonas Valanciunas on Wednesday, saving $8 million and allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent. I covered the news, possibilities, and Lakers/Knicks links to the veteran yesterday, so feel free to join the discussion in the comments section as we’re staying relevant.
• Brad Stevens finally spoke about the infamous Jaylen Brown trade to Philadelphia, saying the Celtics “lost a lot of sleep” over the decision but wanted to “stay good” while adding “optionality.” Just for context, the Celtics traded for Paul George’s not-honerous-at-all $54.1 + $56.5 million deal for this and next season, which definitely adds flexibility to the Beantown books.
• Golden nugget in a piece published on ESPN yesterday involving two franchises fighting for who finishes worse in the standings and cripples its future the most this summer: “I mean, the guy got traded for less than Walker Kessler. That’s baffling to me.”
• Another good one on the Lake Show, per Vincent Goodwill via B/R, following the ridiculous Kessler trade:

“Despite a busy week of moves for the Los Angeles Lakers and general manager Rob Pelinka to kick off free agency, not everyone in the NBA is impressed with what they have done for their roster. On the latest episode of The Hoop Collective Podcast (starts at 25:45 mark), ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill explained one rival GM asked if Pelinka was ‘trying to get fired’ in the wake of the Lakers’ moves.“

• OAKAAK Mario Hezonja is exploring an NBA comeback as he nears a July 20 deadline to leave Real Madrid. He is under contract through 2029 but has an NBA exit clause and a buyout around the standard $850,000 mark. Would you pay that for He-Man?
• Spain beat Portugal 1-0 at the World Cup.

You can follow Antonio on Twitter at @chapulana.

With the Jaylen Brown trade to the Philadelphia 76ers becoming official, the Boston Celtics will play their first season without the 2024 NBA Finals MVP for the first time in a decade. President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens and majority owner Bill Chisholm held a press conference at the Auerbach Center to discuss everything pertaining the trade with one of a million questions on the mind of many Celtics fans: what is the next move now?

One word that Brad Stevens used throughout to describe the roster was “optionality.” When asked if this newfound flexibility could mean flipping the draft picks they received in the Brown trade to possibly get another player, Stevens didn’t seem to have his heart set on making another move. He said: “I don’t anticipate anything in the very near term. I think that we do like the team we have. We might be able to add to it, but at the end of the day, we like the group we have…we’re cognizant that we have a lot of work to do.”

This is a very interesting response from Stevens given the fact that a lot of people were of the mindset this trade was to build up assets to move for a guy like Trey Murphy III later in the offseason. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Celtics won’t make more moves this summer, but if we take what Stevens says at face value, the roster is all but complete going into the 2026-2027 season. With them being seemingly set in stone, I think we should breakdown the team currently constructed to see if we can get a glimpse into the future of next season.

Starting 5 Options

The biggest thing about the Boston Celtics moving forward this season is the play of Jayson Tatum. He is going to be the engine that makes this team go and Stevens has a similar thought to that sentiment, saying, “it will be on Jayson to continue to grow individually and accentuate the people that are around him now.”

Tatum is going into his first full season coming off of a torn Achilles. In the limited time he played last season, he looked similar to the All-NBA version of himself. There is certainly risk of injury with Tatum, but he has never been one to willingly sit out games. He will be in charge of the bulk of the scoring for the team and it wouldn’t surprise me if he is able to break his own Celtics record of points in a season with over 30.1 points per game and compete for the MVP this season.

The rest of the starting lineup mainstays will most likely be made up of Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, and the newly acquired Paul George. Reports have said the Celtics think that Pritchard will make a “Jalen Brunson” type leap with the new opportunities given to him with Brown traded. I think it will be interesting to see if Pritchard becomes that legitimate number 2 option behind Tatum and if he can take the leap to being the main ball handler on the roster, it will make the Celtics a dangerous offensive team. Although we did see him play well coming off the bench at the end of last season, it feels like Pritchard will be the starting point guard as of now.

Derrick White had an abysmal shooting season last year, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be able to bounce back from it. He was a 39% three-point shooter in the prior three seasons with the Celtics and it feels like he will be more comfortable being next to Jayson Tatum again. With George and Pritchard in the mix, he won’t necessarily be tasked to be the second option for the Celtics like he was last season which should lead to more efficient production.

When it comes to Paul George, I don’t think Boston will be expecting him to play like his younger years in Indiana, his MVP-level play in Oklahoma City, or even his second option play in Los Angeles. I see him fitting in well as another shooter for Boston, seemingly filling the Sam Hauser role in the starting lineup, with the potential to turn the clock back once in a whle. He will most likely finish with similar numbers to his last year in Philadelphia at around 17 points per game with the opportunity for more.

The only real question mark about the starting lineup is the starting center position. This is a two-man race between Neemias Queta and Mitchell Robinson. Queta was the starting center last season for Boston and just signed a 4-year, $56 million contract extension while Robinson is coming off a championship with the New York Knicks and signed a 3-year, $47.4 million contract. Both players have similar games on the court, so we could see Joe Mazzulla interchanging them throughout the season depending on the matchup, but I think Queta will get the edge early, just due to experience in the system.

Bench Chaos

One thing about Boston’s bench is that they will not be short on heart and hustle. The Celtics have a mix of veterans like Sam Hauser and the newly signed Robinson and Mike Conley Jr. along with a ton of young guys looking to make a name for themselves in Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh, Luka Garza, Ron Harper Jr., and Chris Cenac Jr.

It will be interesting to see how Sam Hauser continues to fit into the roster. Last season was the first year he didn’t shoot 40% from three in his career, but even in a “down year,” he shot 39%. He seems more suited for a bench role to provide shooting versus being in the starting lineup like he was last season. Robinson (if he is coming off the bench) will provide defense and rebounding that the Celtics were desperately lacking season while Conley should provide some guard depth behind Pritchard and a mentor presence to the young guys.

Out of the group of young players the Celtics have on their roster I think the one that is going to get the biggest run this season is Baylor Scheierman. Scheierman played some really great basketball in his second season in Boston, shooting 40% from three and provided some solid defense.

Hugo Gonzalez is another guy who it looks to take another leap after an exhilarating rookie year where we saw hustle and defense at times that mimicked Marcus Smart. The offense will be a big question for Gonzalez in Year 2, but with the way he has been playing for Spain in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, it looks like the Celtics could have another gem on their hands.

The rest of the pieces on the bench seemed to be a mixed bag of question marks. Jordan Walsh had a breakout season where he was in the starting lineup for a big stretch of the year but towards the end of the year fell out of the rotation. Similar to Gonzalez, his defense is no doubt elite but will he be able to crack the rotation with a crowded wing group in front of him? Luka Garza was a solid backup center for the Celtics who was able to provide good minutes for Boston who is most likely going to be a good third center option. Ron Harper Jr. is another guy broke out in limited minutes for the Celtics on a two-way contract before signing a 4 year, $13.7 million contract to return to Boston this offseason. He will be another solid addition to the guard depth the Celtics have built. Boston’s 2026 first round pick Chris Cenac Jr. could also see a little bit of time with the big club as well but I feel like he will spend most of his season in the Maine Celtics developmental machine.

Identity

Boston is going to have to establish a new identity with Jaylen Brown no longer on the team, but I can see them being a similar team to the one we saw last season. The Celtics will be built on the back of their defense with Jayson Tatum being main source of offense. Boston’s defense will no doubt be insane in the starting lineup alone with Pritchard/White/George/Tatum/Queta all being good to great defenders while the bench will come in and cause chaos with their defensive energy. On offense, we will most likely see the Celtics continue their style of a barrage of three pointers will potentially focusing on shooting a high percentage at the rim.

It will certainly be a new reality for the Celtics without Brown but this team is still talented on both sides of the ball with a top 5-10 player in the NBA in Tatum. If I had to make a projection for this next season it would be 50+ wins with a top 3-4 record in the Eastern Conference. To quote Bill Chisholm from today’s press conference: “the mandate is to win” and with this roster, there is a great chance we see Boston win a lot of games in the 2026-2027 season.

When you think about the Cleveland Cavaliers’ biggest needs, the first thing that comes to mind is more playable size, specifically on the wings. 

So you can imagine the confusion from reporters and the fanbase that came with the second round selection of Meleek Thomas. 

But, there is one need that felt overlooked at times with this Cleveland team and it was a Ty Jerome-sized hole on their bench.

Jerome was absolutely sensational in the lone full season he suited up for, as he was a finalist for Sixth Man of the Year and arguably had the most efficient season for a reserve across the league. He did flame out in the playoffs, but the Cavs were better off with having his production off the bench.

No one could really replicate that efficient scoring and playmaking for Cleveland last year. Jaylon Tyson took a huge step, but had an inconsistent second half of the season and was dreadful in the playoffs. Sam Merrill also showed improvement, but he is more of a movement shooter. Neither of them were the self-creators that Jerome was.

So, it is not hard to see why the Cavs chose Thomas. 

Thomas has all the traits that both Koby Altman and Kenny Atkinson have come to love in their guards. He is a great movement shooter, he rarely turns the ball over, and has a high motor on both ends of the floor. 

He also showed that he can play either guard position at Arkansas, as his numbers skyrocketed when he was without his running mate Darius Acuff Jr. He shot an absurd 51% from three-point range, and his turnover rate, which was already low, was even lower when he was the primary ball handler.

The thing with Thomas is that he showed in college that he can create off the bounce, specifically on jumpers. His release does have to get a tad quicker, but his shooting should translate to the league right away.

Where he does have to develop though, is his playmaking and ability to play point guard. He showed flashes of that in college, but with Acuff dominating the ball, Thomas was not able to showcase his full potential there. The Cavs are going to have him play a lot more point in Summer League, so that should help speed up the process.

Thomas likely won’t become a key year one rotation player, as it is very hard for rookies to become key contributors on a team with title aspirations. But, he can absolutely develop into the long-term shot-creating guard that Cleveland needs off the bench.