Celtics boss Brad Stevens explains his trade deadline moves, as well as Jayson Tatum’s recovery and possible return
“And Nikola is a good player,” Stevens said. “He’s been a good player for a long time. Obviously, the shooting and scoring get a lot of attention. The passing is a big factor for us, and it’s something we really like in bigs. So, it’s just something that gives us another look, and I think our two guys that have played the majority of the minutes at that position have been outstanding, so we’re excited to have all three of them and see how it all fits together.”
Get Starting Point
Vucevic, 35, is averaging 16.9 points and 9 rebounds while shooting 37.6 percent from the 3-point line. He entered Friday night’s contest against the Heat 3:02 into the contest after Queta picked up two early fouls.
⋅ The Celtics on Thursday also traded end-of-bench players Josh Minott, Chris Boucher, and Xavier Tillman, while receiving only two-way-contract player John Tonje in return. Boston converted center Amari Williams’s two-way contract to a standard NBA deal, but that still left the team with three empty roster spots. The Celtics will have to fill two within the next two weeks to get their roster to the league minimum of 14 players.
Stevens said the Celtics “feel really good” about two-way-contract players Tonje, Ron Harper Jr., and Max Shulga. Harper thrived in a starting role in the upset win over the Rockets on Wednesday, and Stevens seemed to hint that these players will have opportunities to earn promotions.
“With that said, I think the biggest thing is seeing how this all looks,” Stevens said. “We’ll ultimately fill a roster spot with at least one more ballhandler and then see how the rest of the needs play themselves out.”
⋅ Of course, no trade deadline deal would be as impactful as the return of Tatum, the Celtics’ superstar forward.
Stevens said Thursday’s moves were unrelated to Tatum’s possible return, although he could make up for some of the scoring punch lost with Simons’s departure. Stevens had no real update on Tatum’s progress, other than making it clear that he will not be back on the court soon.
“He’s hit a lot of the thresholds,” Stevens said. “He’s doing more and more and will continue to do more and more. He’s still got a ways to go.”
During a recent podcast appearance Tatum, for the first time, acknowledged that he was having doubts about whether he should play this season, partly because he did not want to disturb the team’s success so late in the season.
“The best time for Jayson Tatum to come back is when he’s 110 percent healthy, he’s fully cleared by everybody that matters in that decision, and he’s got great peace of mind and he’s ready to do it,” Stevens said. “That’s it. That’s the objective and that’s what we’re going to stick with.”
Stevens was asked if he planned to reiterate to Tatum that his return would be a positive rather than a potential hindrance.
“If he needs it, I’ll tell him every day, because every team, you know, all 30 of us, would be way, way, way better with him on your team,” he said.
⋅ With Thursday’s moves, the Celtics dipped below the luxury-tax threshold. But Stevens said that was not a directive from first-year lead governor Bill Chisholm.
“The directive was always just see what we can do with the team,” Stevens said. “After the Vuc trade, then we saw that as an opportunity [to dip below the tax line]. But next year if there’s something we look at and we say we’ve got to take advantage of it right now, then we’re going to try to take advantage of it. Bill’s been really clear with that. The tax, for me, was that there was an opportunity with two days left before the trade deadline we didn’t necessarily think would be there.”
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.
