The 2025-26 season was an eventful one. It started with low, gap-year expectations, turned into a Cinderella story, then flipped into high expectations, and ultimately finished with a disappointing finish. We’ve had some time to reflect and ponder the future. Everyone has their preference of what Brad Stevens should do with the roster this offseason. Everything from blockbuster trades to standing pat and everything in between.
For the purpose of this exercise, let’s think through what it would look
like to mostly run the same roster back.
Note that it has already been reported that Nikola Vucevic is unlikely to return (we hardly knew ya!). So the team will most likely be looking to add another big man to shore up the rotation. They have some money to spend, but the free agent centers are either unrealistic (Isaiah Hartenstein, Mitchell Robinson) or available for a reason (Robert Williams, Nikola Vucevic). So in this scenario the Celtics could simply take a flyer on someone that they think is undervalued and needs a new home. They’ve found gold in recent past by taking a chance on Luke Kornet, Neemias Queta, and (to an extent) Luka Garza. They could (and probably should) be on the market for the next diamond in the rough. For the sake of discussion, we’ll make up a replacement-level player that is somewhere between Queta and Garza in terms of production.
I think the team also needs some additional depth at the point guard position (or “ball handler” if you prefer). Here again, there are low cost options available that the team could pursue at reasonable cost.
Oh yeah, and it nearly slipped my mind that we have two draft picks that could be used on a big and a guard. So it could be as easy as that.
If you are asking about the MLE and TPEs that we’ve been discussing for most of the offseason, I’ll point out that you can split up the MLE to bring in lower cost centers and guards. You can also wait on the TPE (it doesn’t expire until just before the next trade deadline). In addition, Stevens could use some of his cap flexibility to extend Queta beyond his current contract. They could decline the team option, and sign him to a long term deal with a higher year-one starting figure.
So the end result is as follows:
- Starters: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Neemias Queta
- Rotation: Sam Hauser, Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, Luka Garza, Ron Harper Jr.
- TBD or Deep Rotation: replacement level big, replacement level guard, Amari Williams, etc.
If this is generally what the roster looks like on opening day, how would you feel about the offseason? Discuss in the comments below.
