Brad Stevens wants veteran help, not more youngsters

As evidenced by Brad Stevens’ decision to draft another stash-eligible player in the form of 19-year-old wing Juhann Begarin, the Celtics’ needs are more immediate than anything another young player can provide.

Instead, Stevens is looking to improve this roster in ways that only veteran additions can help.

“We need to be mindful of our near- and long-term views, and at the same time add hopefully an edge and some experience to our team,” said the Celtics’ new president of basketball operations.

“When I say experience, I mean just the savvy of someone who has been through it before that will help everybody around our guys better. That’s an important thing for our team as we move forward. The fit is important, What people bring to the table from those attributes is important. That’s what we’re looking at.”

Stevens’ first step is to likely re-sign Evan Fournier — a priority helped by having his Bird rights — once free agency starts on Monday.

Though Stevens hasn’t said where he needs the help, a veteran point guard who can help Fournier tie together the bench unit is a strong possibility. Ime Udoka has, for example, a long history with Patty Mills, the 10-year veteran who can leave San Antonio this summer as an unrestricted free agent.

And to make changes and bring in the right “fit,” as he calls it, for the lineup, then Stevens likely hasn’t stopped dealing. But the last thing he clearly needs at the moment is another young player taking up a roster spot. That inexperienced weight often hurt the Celtics last season when it was time for the bench to produce.

“I think we can,” he said of maintaining flexibility while also adding help. “That will be the challenge over the next couple of weeks. We have a good foundation. We know who we are building this thing around and we know what we are trying to accomplish. At the same time, we have to make sure we are making continuous forward strides and it’s really important that we bring in the right people that can help accentuate each other.”

‘Very moving tribute’

The NBA had a winning moment on draft night when the league posthumously drafted Terrence Clarke, the Boston native and Kentucky freshman who died in a car crash in Los Angeles. His mother, Osmine, sister and brother were all greeted on the Barclays Center stage by commissioner Adam Silver. Clarke had grown close to a number of Celtics, including Jayson Tatum.

“I thought it was very nice. It was a very moving tribute,” said Stevens. “I thought it was obviously very emotional seeing his mom and family there. It was really nice but really sad. I can’t imagine being a parent in that circumstance. I said the night he passed, he is a Boston kid, so he means a great deal to us, and that was a great honor to him and a nice celebration of a time he had worked for his whole life. But really, really heartbreaking to see the emotions from his family and to know he wasn’t there on a night he had always dreamed of. That’s really hard.”

Another addition

After drafting Begarin, the Celtics completed their night by signing one of the best shooters in college basketball last season, Virginia senior Sam Hauser. He shot 41.7% from downtown last season, and is the team’s latest two-way player. He’s likely filling the two-way slot last occupied by point guard Tremont Waters, who appears ready to try his luck in a new organization. Tacko Fall, the Celtics’ other two-way player of the last two years, and someone who has expressed a desire to return, can sign one more two-way contract.

Though it’s unclear if Begarin will join the Celtics next week for the Las Vegas Summer League, last year’s stash player — Yam Madar — will be on the roster.

The team, coached by Celtics assistant Joe Mazzulla, will also include Romeo Langford, Aaron Nesmith, Payton Pritchard, Carsen Edwards and Moses Brown, with more additions to come.

“Quite a few of our guys will be at practice. A lot of our guys have been in the gym doing individual work over the last few weeks and this week even more,” said Stevens. “That should be fun seeing a lot of those guys play, and for a lot of those guys to get reps. Joe Mazzulla will coach it, and it’s an important couple of weeks for us.”

(BREAK)

Though Stevens is admittedly still putting his management team together, he denied reports that he is about to hire a general manager, with Landry Fields, the assistant Atlanta GM, getting specific mention.

“I told everybody here I was first and foremost most cognizant of the people that change was affecting. Namely my coaching staff. Secondly we were going to hire a coach. And third we were going to try to navigate this summer from a standpoint of managing a team and a roster and adding to (it),” said Stevens. “At that point in time, over those few months and the months that now follow, I’ll have had plenty of time to evaluate kind of where we stand and what our needs are.

“But I have not reached out to anybody. So anything that’s been said about me reaching out would not be true. I don’t know if people make assumptions or whatever the case may be, but I have not reached out to anybody. We’ll sit down and figure out exactly what our needs are and what we need to do from here, we’ll move appropriately. But we’ve got good people that have put in a lot of hard work in the front office in the last couple of months. And it’s been a lot of time — and not enough time — to properly evaluate and determine our next steps with regard to that. I think there’s clearly some small tweaks and things that we can do just as far as additives, but as far as reaching out to GMs or anything like that, I haven’t done any of that.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2WFHsw3