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The Boston Celtics kicked off their 2023 offseason with a major move that brought aboard former All-Star big man Kristaps Porzingis by way of a multi-team blockbuster.
With this transaction, the hope is that the club has now added that long-awaited third cog to pair alongside cornerstones Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to, in turn, better their odds of attaining banner number 18. When discussing during his introductory press conference if this was a motivating factor heading into 2023-24, Porzingis responded with a rather jubilant message.
“It’s the most exciting feeling you can get. The idea of that, that’s what made [coming to the Celtics] super easy and it made my complete and favorite option to come here to Boston. That fire that I got from that idea is gonna gas me up for the rest of the summer and for my time being here,” Kristaps Porzingis said.
The arrival of Porzingis provides the Celtics with an elite-level front-court presence who can be slotted in at either the four or five due to his tremendous size (7-foot-3), rim-protecting abilities (2.9 blocks per 100 possessions for his career), and inside-out scoring prowess (career 19.6 point per game scorer).
On top of this, considering he’s still just 27 years old, he could prove to be the perfect long-term replacement option for Al Horford.
Celtics Fans Worried About Kristaps Porzingis Offseason Plan
When healthy, Kristaps Prozingis has proven to be one of the top big men in the NBA today.
However, staying healthy has proven to be a relatively challenging task for him to accomplish since entering the league back in 2015, and, since 2020-21, he’s played in just 159 out of a potential total of 236 regular season games.
Because of his injury concerns, it makes complete sense that Celtics fans have gone on to voice their concerns regarding the 27-year-old’s decision to represent his home country Latvia in this summer’s FIBA World Cup.
Barstool Sports’ Dan Greenberg would respond to the news on his personal Twitter account by posting the popular GIF of Jordan Peele sweating.
Another fan tweeted that the multi-team blockbuster that landed the Celtics Porzingis should be canceled “instantly” if the club’s big man winds up sustaining some sort of injury during the tournament.
Celtics fans unfortunately are familiar with a newcomer sustaining a serious ailment whilst participating in World Cup festivities, as their noteworthy free agent signee from last season Danilo Gallinari wound up tearing his ACL during the qualifiers and ended up missing the entire 2022-23 campaign as a result.
Pacers Could Pursue Grant Williams
Thursday morning, the Celtics agreed to tender Grant Williams a qualifying offer, thus making him a restricted free agent this summer.
Though the forward has acknowledged that he’s more than willing to return to Boston, Masslive’s Brian Robb suggests that the club could have some competition in pursuing his services, as he noted that the Indiana Pacers are emerging as a ‘team to watch’ this summer.
“This is a team to watch on the Williams front league sources tell MassLive,” Robb wrote. “There are ingredients for a sign-and-trade that work under the BYC restrictions with a couple of smaller salaries in Smith or Jackson the C’s could be interested in. Boston could just try to get a second round pick and a TPE to use later this season from the Pacers for not matching an offer.”
Since being drafted by the Celtics back in 2020, Grant Williams has established himself as one of the better 3&D forwards in the entire league.
This past season proved to arguably be his best, as he went on to post per-game averages of 8.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while cashing in on 39.5% of his shot attempts from beyond the arc through 79 outings.
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