Should The Boston Celtics Target DeMar DeRozan Or Bradley Beal

Adam: [00:00:00] Could the Celtics sign DeMar DeRozan to the 15th and final roster spot? Bleach Report seem to think so. They recently put Boston as the number one landing spot for DeRozan during free agency, so we're gonna talk about it. Welcome back to another episode of the Celtics Chronicle with me, your boy, Adam Taylor.

As usual, I'm joined by my homie, compadre, co-host in crime, Mr. Mike Webber. What's popping, Mike?

Mike: What's up, Adam? How we doing, bro?

Adam: I'm living, man. I'm living. This Dillon Mitchell stuff's throwing me for a loop. We covered it a little bit yesterday, myself and Tim. There's gonna be more coming out. I don't wanna kind of waste any time on that today, and I know it's not waste, but right now it's all ifs, buts, and maybes, so just leave it aside.

So I kinda wanna focus on this. We're a few, probably about a week and a half late to this as well, but it's the off-season, so you know. Um, recently, I'll say recently, a week and a half ago, maybe a bit longer, Bleach Report put out DeMar DeRozan a- as being somebody where Boston could potentially pick him up on a veteran minimum.

Obviously, [00:01:00] he's got interest from the Miami Heat and a few other teams around the NBA. I've-- I see the vision in terms of tertiary play-making. He can get buckets. He fills some of that mid-range void that has been left behind by allowing Jay- well, by trading Jaylen Brown, and he's gonna come in on a vet minimum.

You could do a lot worse as a vet minimum addition than DeMar DeRozan. You really, genuinely could. I'm not sold on it, though. I feel like part of the reason Jaylen Brown was traded outside of his contract and the impending extension and then whatever other reasons you wanna throw in there was because, and I keep going back to this report just after he was traded from The Athletic, where he went off script quite a bit, and I think that off script was s- shoot- taking so many attempts in the mid-range, or at least a portion of being off script was the amount of mid-range he took.

So then bringing in a guy that lives almost exclusively there, that doesn't make a ton of sense for me personally

Mike: Yeah, I, uh, [00:02:00] I, I have to say, I- the version I recall that makes me appeal to this is his stint that he had with the Spurs. He had that stint with the Spurs when they were kind of, kind of... They weren't there yet. They weren't... This is not the Wemby dominant championship level Spurs. But he had that pocket of time when he played with the Spurs post-Raptors, where I was like, "I kinda like this version of him.

He seems like he's a leader in the team, he's doing okay, he's efficient." Um, he still wasn't shooting three pointers. He still was taking a lot of mid-range. Um, and I wouldn't n- I would never coin him as an elite defender either. I'm not, like, I'm not gonna lie to, in the spirit of transparency, I'm not a huge DeMar DeRozan fan.

I do respect a lot of the work he's done, uh, as a, um, advocate for mental health and stuff like that. He's definitely somebody who the locker rooms respect in the NBA as a voice that's been heard. In that regard, I think the world of him. But as far as a fit, uh, I, and I know I'm not gonna dive into, I think my feelings about Dillon Mitchell with our crew, and anybody who's ever listened to me talk about it are, are on record.

So I'm a bit of a, I'm in denial [00:03:00] currently, hoping that, that he, that there's no possibility for DeMar DeRozan to come to the Celtics possibly, because they wanna keep, uh, some of the younger guys. But having said that, I don't, I'm not, I'm not in love with the idea, Adam. I, I think, um, if, it depends on his priority.

Is he happy being, uh, playing 60 games and, and being a leader off on the bench and getting some shots up here and there, kinda like Anfernee Simons had to adjust when he came in? Um, I do like the idea of him filling, like Mike Conley's coming in and filling a little bit of that veteran vibe with Paul George.

But my thing is, what's the role? Is his priority getting buckets up like it has been the last few years? Then he's probably heading to the Heat, right? But if, if, if it's about championship and, and culture and, and fit, I mean, and I mean vibes, I don't mean, like, shooting wise, 'cause the mid-range thing is not necessarily Joe's bag.

To me, I'm not a huge, huge fan of this, but I could be sold on it. I could be sold on it

Adam: I think one of the first things I've looked at, and I've got the numbers in front of me right now, is he-- DeMar [00:04:00] DeRozan has not been a bench player since pretty much his entire time in the NBA. In his rookie season, he played s- he started 65 of his 77 games. Since then, he's been a starter in pretty much every-- well, almost exclusively for every season he's played since.

Even this past year at 36, he started all 77 games he suited up for Sacramento. The year before that in Sac, started all 77 of the 77 he played. Now, so I think some of this would come down to are you willing to take a bench role? You've been a starter in the NBA for 17 years. You're coming into your age 37 season.

If you still feel like you can be a starter, Miami is the place for you right now. Now, d- I don't think the fit for DeMar DeRozan with Miami is very good anyway. That's a story for them to deal with, the people that cover the Heat. Personally, I think that they need shooters around Giannis. The last thing you wanna do is add another interior to midi- mid-level scorer br- around a guy that needs the spacing to get downhill.[00:05:00]

Cool. That's for them. I think in Boston, the spacing's there for somebody like DeRozan to thrive, but I do w- question whether he'd be willing to accept that bench role. If you started in the NBA for all but-- Okay, look at it this way. He's played in 1,264 regular season games. He started 1,252

Mike: Yeah, shout out to him by the way for being incredibly

durable. Super durable.

Adam: and like having a 17-year NBA career is incredible. It's so rare. But my point being is, are you willing to accept that bench role? If the answer's yes, then maybe there's a world where this could work because he definitely does give you some other stuff outside of scoring, right? He's a solid playmaker.

He can play make really well. Rebounding is not really gonna be there, but you've got your bigs, you've got Jayson Tatum, you're fine. Do I think it's a great fit? Not necessarily. I think it's a counterproductive fit for the way the Celtics are trying to play, especially with their possession maxing. But having [00:06:00] a wrinkle that can go and attack in a different way to everybody else on the roster is always valuable because sometimes teams are gonna take away the three-point shot.

Sometimes it's just not going to be there, and I trust DeMar DeRozan to create a shot for himself as a self-creator in the mid-range more than I trust someone like Sam Hauser to go and do that. So there is a world where I think this could work as a 15th man on a vet minimum. Again, though, if opportunities are elsewhere where you can continue to be a starter in the league now, and it's not like the Celtics have an opportunity to be like, "Hey, you can come and contend for a ring with us," because I just don't think they're there this season, it does become a bit more of a question

Mike: It's staggering what you just said. He's only not started 12 games his whole career, and, and averaged 34 and a half minutes for his career. He's never averaged less than 30 minutes a game other than his rookie year. So I don't... I mean, and look, the dude's a professional foul baiter, by the way. I'm not trying to

Adam: Yeah, I mean, it is what it is, right?

Mike: Yeah, I'm, I... And not in a slanderous term. I envy that. Like, I'm watching our team and I'm like, man, it would be [00:07:00] really great if, you know, I don't know, Tatum could get that whistle, you know? Um, but... A- and he doesn't, um, but that's a whole different conversation. But it's... I don't know that if I'm him, even at the age of 36, after averaging 32 minutes a game and starting 99.9% of my career, I don't know that he's at that point.

DeMar, if I'm wrong, you have my, my permission to tell me that. And if, Brad, kudos to you if you can convince him. I guess there's also a sales pitch of, hey, we are gonna have some load management going on with Paul and Tatum, so there is gonna be a void to fill. But I mean, if we were to sit here and power rank all our wings and shooters and where we wanna see and who, how they're gonna play, do I wanna see Hugo play less?

Do I wanna see Ron Harper Jr. not play at all after making a commitment to him? Do I wanna see Jordan Walsh not get in there? Hell no

Adam: And this is a bigger part of the issue for me, right? It's yes, what you bring can be valuable to the way this team play, but every minute you play is a minute of developmental time somebody else is giving up. And I think [00:08:00] that's a huge part of this whole story, right? And I wanna touch on Bradley Beal in this episode too, and the Bradley Beal free agency, and we'll get there.

But part of me feels like this is why if you were gonna go for one of these two veterans, Bradley Beal could potentially be someone that makes more sense because he can slide down into a guard role, whereas DeRozan really cannot do that and you don't want him to. And I think that when I'm looking at this, I want Hugo to play as many minutes as physically possible.

I want him to be force-fed some pick and roll actions. I want him to be force-fed moments where he needs to create for himself, and I want him to be put in situations where he's hella uncomfortable. Jordan Walsh has said multiple times now, including the interview he had with Chris Forsberg over on NBC Boston recently, I think that was yesterday that that came out, and this-- You'll be watching this on Wednesday, so it was Monday when that came out, is, you know, he's been working on being better in the areas where the Celtics often took him off the floor.

He's like: "Oh, well, you took me off the floor in situations like this. Let me [00:09:00] improve there so now I'm an option for you in those situations." To then be like: "Oh, well, all that work you put in and that contract extension, that's great, but you're gonna ride the bench 'cause we just added DeRozan," it doesn't fit.

The Celtics are getting younger. They're getting more athletic, sans Paul George obviously. But DeRozan doesn't fit that. So that I think you really hit on a really good point there, and it was a point we, we were definitely gonna circle to, but I'm glad that you got it in early. I would much rather just lean on the young wings.

I think the wing spot is the most loaded on the team. Adding another one makes very limited sense for me.

Mike: Yeah, I mean, I j- like I said, and we didn't even mention Baylor Scheierman, who I think

Adam: So that boy Baila, the dude

Mike: That's my guy. I mean, and, and, and this... And, and like you said about Walsh, by the way, I'd like to give him credit. That, that was-- I think we talked about that during the Summer League game recap at one point, that Walsh, even before Forsberg's article, that, um, Walsh said like, "Hey, our..."

Kinda like with Chris Cenac Jr. saying, "They told me find out why I was drafted 27th and [00:10:00] work on that." Kinda like I love that messaging from the Celtics. It's like, "Hey, hey, Walsh, we're gonna give you an extension, but bro, you got work to do. Hey, hey, Harper, we loved what you did last year, but there's still more growth."

And we didn't even mention Baylor, who I think maybe is positioned of all the guys to make the biggest jump offensively next year, uh, as far as stats and putting up numbers. So

I'm

Adam: coming into his third year, Baylor is, and t- players generally take their biggest leap in their third year as long as they've had the playing time to do so. So I'm expecting a big year from Scheierman. I think that he's gonna give you a lot of the tertiary creation that we're talking about off the bench that would've potentially gone to DeMar DeRozan.

I'm a big Baylor Scheierman guy just 'cause of the versatility in his game. I think he really showed, I was literally getting there, literally showed some incredible defense last season. So yeah, for those reasons, for me, while I can then see it, I don't see the Celtics as a landing spot for DeMar DeRozan.

I understand why some might, and I understand the allure of adding a guy who's obviously a big name [00:11:00] within the league, but that's just not where the Celtics are right now. And for me, I'd much rather the young guys. And I'd rather keep the-- like potentially keep that roster spot open for flexibility

Mike: But if we're gonna talk about a vet who I think is now positioned to take a look and be like, "Okay," like, "I'm not that guy anymore," it's gotta be Beal, right?

Adam: so go ahead.

Mike: Beal, yeah, I mean, I, I think back to the team, w- the o- I always think of the Olynyk game, the Kelly Olynyk Washington Wizards game. I always think of that series.

And, um, that, that was a fun run, right? But, um, I think back to those teams when him and John Wall were together, and I always felt, and this is just observationally, there could be analytics that prove me wrong, I always felt that that team, that Wizards team played better when Brad was the facilitator and Wall played mor- played more off-guard.

To me, that's just a pers- I think, I think Brad is an underrated, uh, playmaker for others. I think, I just think he's got that skill, and I [00:12:00] think kinda like Mike Conley vibes, like where it's like, okay... And, and obviously we can't discredit the obvious connection. I think the dude babysat Jayson Tatum, so. But I think, um, and, and sorry if that's not true, but I'm pretty sure that was the, like, they b- they're

Adam: They were friends, yeah. That-- like Bradley Beal was picking Tatum up when Tatum was in high school and taking him to play ball and like, I don't think he babysat him, but they were, they were like...

Mike: Yeah, that's what I mean, like they're tight,

Adam: Yeah, he was-- There's been stories that I've read and I've watched podcasts and I've listened to, like, podcasts and Tatum's like: "Dude, he used to come and pick me up at my house and take me and train me.

Even when he was in the NBA, he was still turning up." So I think that from a friendship standpoint, yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Mike: Let's add the second-best player ever from St. Louis

Adam: I think you might as well just make Nelly the re- the, uh, arena announcer for the year at this point. Uh, what I will say is Beal has also rarely came off the bench. 807 career games, 758 as a starter.

So again, it's barely any. Obviously, you have the injury concerns with [00:13:00] Beal. I do think that you can make room within that guard rotation a lot easier than you can within the wing, like the forward rotation. You can put Beal at the two and you can play him as an off-guard. He can create, he can score from all three levels, fits the three-point catch-and-shoot game you'd want.

Gives you a little bit of a guy that can scale his usage, can work as a low-usage guy, can work as a high-usage guy, is used to playing next to ball-dominant dudes. I mean, he spent multiple years next to John Wall. I think in terms of fit, and if you're balancing this as Beal versus DeRozan, Beal's a, a way better fit for Boston in my opinion.

Do I still-- do I think he's a guy the Celtics should go after? I'm torn. I think that, again, there's enough young talent on this team that you don't really need it. I do feel though, that having another guard that can handle the rock, that can run some offense for you, that can come off the bench, ease a little bit of pressure on that guard rotation and just give you some more depth, I think that's key right now.

I [00:14:00] still feel like if you look at the guard rotation, it's Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Mike Conley Jr. You can argue that Scheierman can play there too. Cool, I'm there. I know

Mike: Tatum obviously fills, uh, compensates

Adam: Yeah, Tatum gives you that point, that point forward. I know people are saying that Hugo can give you some minutes as a, as a primary ball handler too.

But just having the depth there and the experience that if you are in a game that's important and you need a win, if maybe you're overachieving throughout the season and it's gonna be a tight Eastern Conference, so down the stretch maybe there's two games that splits you from a home court advantage and not.

Having someone like Bradley Beal to lean on that's been there and done that gives you a little bit more of an advantage as to say if you had to lean on Hugo in his second year in the league. So I can see the value there. Now this isn't me saying they should go and sign him. I could just-- I'd be far less upset if it was Brad Beal than if it was DeMar DeRozan

Mike: Yeah, if you're, if you're Brad Beal and winning is your priority, the team with arguably the most consistent floor in making the playoffs has been the Celtics, right? I mean, how many [00:15:00] consecutive years they made the playoffs. And he seems to be chasing that post Wizards, right? On the Suns, on the Clippers, and obviously broke his hip last year.

God bless him for that. That's terrible. Um, but I don't know. I'm a, I'm a soft pass on Brad if, if, if I have any say, which I don't, but, um, I'm a soft pass on that. I would rather see, uh... I like the Celtics death match strategy of like, "Okay, we're leaving the spot open. Let's see who earns it." You know, whether that's Milos Uzan

Adam: I think those guys are all going on two-ways. I think Uzan goes on a two-way. I think if Dillon Mitchell stays, he goes on a two-way. But I get what you're saying. I think the flexibility of having that 15th spot open is the most important thing right now. What I will say as well is none of us know what Brad Beal looks like post-hip injury, and we've seen what a hip injury can do to guys if you just look back to how Isaiah Thomas came back after that.

And now obviously the situations were different. Thomas played hurt and he played through that pain barrier. Now [00:16:00] obviously, probably, most likely, potentially, any other word you wanna throw in there, had an impact on the way he was after the recovery. Beal didn't play hurt, so maybe it's different there.

Sports medicine's obviously progressed in that time too. I know it weren't that long ago, but the way the world's moving at the minute, things are going out of date every six days. Um, so I do think that not knowing what he looks like in terms of, uh, as an on-court contributor is again another thing, right?

I think that's an important distinction there. But you are right, I like the idea of keeping that 15th spot open, not only because, as you put it, the death match, but also because, you know, we can sign somebody at any given time. There's always room for us to add right now. We don't have much money, but, you know, the-- if we wanna stay under the tax, but there's always room for us to add

Mike: And look, recent, recent precedence shows you the development system works. Having the carrot to dangle works. And I, and I like to see that prem- that premise of, "Hey, dude, if you dominate in Maine and you buy into our [00:17:00] system, you're gonna make an NBA roster

Adam: Yeah, I mean, they've done it multiple years in a row now. Now, just because you sign with the Celtics late in the season from Maine doesn't mean you're gonna guaranteed to stay there. Look at Amari Williams, signed with the Celtics late in the season and he's back on a two-way. Cool. I think that's fine too because you're still getting a taste of what that negotiation period of time is like and what it's like to sign an NBA contract, what it means to be part of a team that's competing, the way the practices look, the way the film st- st- look, um, sorry, the way the film studies look.

There's value in all of it and the fact that so many members of this roster continue to come from the G League through that pipeline, keeping it open does give the younger guys a reason to keep pushing and keep working hard because it's proven that Boston will g- will reward you if you're ready. So that's part of the value too, that you would be taking away from these young dudes if you signed a DeRozan or a Beal.

Mike: And like shout out to Brad. Hope you're feeling better. [00:18:00] Hope the hip's good, man. Uh, we obviously are sending you all the best vibes, but, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm in on the investment and development part

Adam: W- with that, this one's a bit of a shorter episode today just because I want you to touch on this very specific discussion topic because I feel like this finally wraps up the free agency talk and we can start looking forward towards proper off-season talk at this point. Again, we're a little bit late on this one, but it's the off-season so there's never any rush.

Again, if you're new here, make sure you subscribe to the Celtics Chronicle YouTube channel, to the podcast feeds, and to the newsletter. And then if you're in and around the Boston area and you're looking for a band for any of your events, Mike has got you covered. What's the band called, Mike?

Mike: After School Special. Bunch of teachers, man. We're in a great band. Uh, you can see us at Bally's, Mohegan Sun, you name it, all the cool spots. Check it out

Adam: Until next time, y'all. Peace