The Celtics Still Have One Glaring Roster Issue And I Have No Clue How Brad Stevens Solves It

Chris Schwegler. Getty Images.

So far this offseason we've seen Brad check off a number of boxes on his to-do list.

1. Unloaded Kemba's contract while keeping future 1sts

2. Used the remaining Hayward TPE money

3. Improved their perimeter defense (in theory)

4. Sured up their big man rotation with

All while maintaining future cap flexibility for the summer of 2022. That's all fine and good, but one of the biggest glaring issues for this roster still exists and it's starting to make me a little concerned. While I do think the addition of Kris Dunn will help from a depth perspective if he's healthy, but that's a big if. He also really only impacts things as a defender/passer. What you get from him offensively is going to be a bonus. While we wait for that trade to become official, for the sake of this blog lets assume it goes through. That means this is the Celts point guard rotation as of now

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Marcus Smart

Payton Pritchard

Kris Dunn 

Carsen Edwards

Yam Madar

To put it simply, that's still very much a position of need. It's why you heard they were in on guys like Patty Mills only to see him go to the Nets, because why wouldn't he? What makes things difficult for Brad is he can only give someone a 1 year deal or a 1+1 deal with a team option for Year 2. He's not going to mess up his cap flexbility for a bench point guard piece, but at the same time his roster desperately needs to add someone in that position. Even if you think someone like Romeo can potentially play some point guard, that's such an unknown there's no way you can bank on that. Josh Richardson can handle the ball, but he doesn't help you from an offensive standpoint. Looking at the available list of options, it's getting pretty thin

The best names at the moment are Dennis Schroder or Reggie Jackson, but I consider those two options to be pipe dreams. They are going to get more money than the league minimum Brad can offer. There's always the possibility that maybe they could find a way to trade for this player, but keeping in mind they don't want to tie up money past this year, here are the current expiring PG options

Looking at the lower salary guys, who interests you? Maybe Jalen Brunson, but why would the Mavs give him up since he's a rotation player for them? I consider that unlikely. So if we go back to the current free agent list if we rule out Schroder/Jackson, who the hell is even left. Dante Exum is intriguing given his size, but he's offensively limited and an injury concern just like Dunn. That doesn't exactly solve your issue. George Hill is heading back to the Bucks. If you're looking for someone who could potentially be able to shoot the ball, Ryan Arcidiacono is a career 37% three point shooter. I'm not doing the Jeff Teague experience again. If you're looking at a guy who will most likely take a minimum deal, that dude is Brad Wanamaker. I don't think we can look past his familiarity with Brad and this team, but I don't exactly love that option either. Maybe you take a flier on Mike James who showed some flashes at a Net last year? That's not great but at least you know he can score. Maybe an Avery Bradley return to go full circle. 

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You can see how this is a bit of an issue. At this point, does it make the most sense to just toss a spot to Isaiah and see if he has anything left? Especially if you can't get Jackson/Schroder, they need some sort of offensive infusion outside of Pritchard. We all just witnessed what not having legit point guard depth did for this roster when Kemba couldn't play. You're one Smart injury away from being pretty screwed. After you get past Smart, you have a combination of smaller guards who will be targeted defensively or a bigger guard that brings nothing offensively who has injury concerns. It's the one positional group this roster doesn't really have any depth in, and that's a problem.

I don't know what Brad has up his sleeve, it's pretty clear none of these guys that are "big" names are willing to take a 1 year deal when there are better options out there, but the Celts cannot enter next season with that guard rotation and just hope for the best. They really need to add to it, and this is an issue that dates back to last year's trade deadline honestly.