Getty Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla.
Already this offseason, the Boston Celtics have opted to shake things up in a major way, as they struck on a multi-team blockbuster that landed them former All-Star big man Kristaps Porzingis. Now, with several months remaining until the start of the 2023-24 campaign, one can only assume that more moves will wind up being made.
To Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey, Brad Stevens and company should look to prioritize addressing their wing depth and defensive versatility and suggests that Phoenix Suns veteran Torrey Craig should be a “top target” for the C’s in free agency.
“There’s a good chance the Boston Celtics will be a luxury tax-paying team in 2023-24, which makes potential targets in free agency far less glamorous. And that’s fine. Boston already made a huge splash when it acquired Kristaps Porziņģis in a trade. Now, it should be looking to fill out the rotation with wings (presumably on minimum contracts) who can fit into a sometimes positionless scheme with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Torrey Craig is a multipositional defender in that salary range who shot 39.5 percent from deep in 2022-23,” Bailey wrote.
Craig has been linked as a possible option for the Celtics for quite some time, with Masslive’s Brian Robb suggesting back at around the trade deadline that the front office should have considered pursuing his services.
Now, slated to be available on the open market, Bailey believes that the idea of attaining the 3&D wing on a low-cost contract could be a logical next move for Boston to make.
Through 79 games played with the Suns in 2022-23, Torrey Craig went on to post averages of 7.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and just shy of a block while shooting 45.6% from the field and 39.5% from deep.
Brad Stevens Discusses Marcus Smart’s Impact on Celtics
The decision to include long-tenured Celtics guard Marcus Smart in the Kristaps Porzingis trade was not an easy one for the front office to make, and Brad Stevens made this completely apparent during a recent press conference.
Talking to reporters Thursday evening, while visibly emotional, Boston’s president of basketball operations acknowledged that trading the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year was “hard,” and issued a heartfelt analysis of the impact that Smart had on the organization during his nine-year stay.
“As I told him, when he got here we were 25-57 the year before. The greatest legacy that you can leave is to be someplace and it’s better off because you were there and I think everybody here feels that way,” Brad Stevens said of Marcus Smart. “He will always be appreciated and thought of so fondly here for any number of reasons… We’re all really grateful to have had Marcus in our life for as long as we have.”
“We’re all really grateful to have had Marcus in our life for as long as we have”
An emotional Brad Stevens talks about the difficult decision to trade Marcus Smart
Stevens would cap off his salute to Marcus Smart by stating that while it may have been painful to part ways with the veteran, ultimately, he believes he’ll have “a huge impact on that really good Memphis team.”
Marcus Smart ‘Still Trying to Process’ Celtics Trade
According to a report by Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe following the blockbuster transaction, it was revealed that Marcus Smart “was completely shocked” when hearing he was being traded from the Celtics and that he “is still trying to process it.”
“Marcus loves Boston. He thought he was going to retire there. He wanted to retire there,” Himmelsbach wrote.
New: Sources said Marcus Smart was completely shocked by last night’s trade and is still trying to process it today.
“Marcus loves Boston. He thought he was going to retire there. He wanted to retire there.”
Marcus Smart finishes his Celtics career with three All-Defensive team selections, per-game averages of 10.6 points, 4.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.6 steals, and, in 2022, became the first guard since Gary Payton in 1996 to win the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award.