Getty T.J. Warren
With the two remaining roster spots they have left, the Boston Celtics have some options to consider for who will get the last spots. If the Celtics want more scoring along the wing, The Athletic’s Jay King explained why T.J. Warren could be worth a flyer.
“T.J. Warren had a down season after dealing with serious injury issues but has long been able to put the ball in the basket,” King wrote.
Warren spent the 2022-23 season with the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns. In 42 games combined with the two teams, Warren averaged 7.5 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 48.9% from the field and 32.8% from three.
Those numbers are a far cry from what he was during his days with the Indiana Pacers. Warren averaged as many as 19.8 points per game while shooting 53.6% from the field and 40.9% from three during the 2019-20 season. He only played four more games before missing the rest of the 2020-21 season and the 2021-22 season due to stress fractures in his foot.
Warren may never return to the player he was with the Pacers, but he is 29 years old and may have simply needed to shake off the trust. The Celtics had interest in Warren last offseason, as reported by NBA Insider Jake Fischer (back when he was with Bleacher Report), but they signed Danilo Gallinari instead.
Frank Kaminsky Floated as Kristaps Porzingis Insurance
Despite Kristaps Porzingis’ talent, he also arrived in Boston with a reputation for being injury-prone. With Porzingis being an injury risk, NESN’s Keagan Siefel floated former lottery pick Frank Kaminsky as a possible free agent target to aid the Celtics’ frontcourt.
“Frank Kaminsky might not necessarily be a sexy name (in more ways than one), but he feels like the kind of guy who could be added at some point over the later portion of training camp.
“The 30-year-old shot 39.4% from three-point range in 2023, and at 7-feet tall, he can guard the forward and center positions. Like we said, no one is going to jump for joy if this is the signing, but he’s more than capable of filling in minutes.”
Kaminsky has a career three-point percentage of 34.9% and would fit the mold of the stretch bigs that the Celtics have brought in over the last several years.
Drew Gooden Likes Kristaps Porzingis Trade
While talking with Bally Sports’ Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, former NBA player Drew Gooden explained why he believed the Celtics trading for Porzingis would be beneficiary for the team despite what they had to trade to get Porzingis.
“I like Porzingis in Boston because they didn’t have to give up too many pieces,” Gooden told Robinson. “I know Marcus Smart was a huge, huge, huge emotional piece I would say that you cannot probably replace, but when you get a guy like Porzingis that ultimately can play alongside Jaylen (Brown), and…(Jayson) Tatum. I say they’re going to be a tough team to beat in the East.”
The Celtics are coming off their fifth Eastern Conference Finals appearance in the last seven years and have added one of the league’s most prominent stretch bigs at the cost of losing one of their best defenders. The Celtics believe Porzingis was worth getting rid of their longes-tenured player.