Biggest question for each of Boston's potential 1st-round playoff opponents

All of them have questions that need to be answered

📰 News & Notes

🏀 Blake Griffin has called time on his career. The former high flyer, who will be best remembered for his time with the ‘Lob City’ Clippers, has called time on his career. Griffin spent the 2022-23 season with the Celtics, making 41 appearances, 16 of them coming as a starter.

Throughout the regular season, the Celtics reportedly extended offers for Griffin to return to the roster for this year’s run at a championship. The veteran batted away those overtures and has now decided that he will not be returning to the NBA. As the Celtics were the last team he suited up for, Griffin essentially retires as a Celtic.

🏀 Jayson Tatum & Jrue Holiday will head to the 2024 Paris Olympics with Team USA Basketball. Both were members of the Tokyo Olympic roster that took home the gold.

Interestingly, there was no spot for Jaylen Brown, who has thrived as a featured scorer for Joe Mazzulla’s team this season. Brown hasn’t been part of the Team USA setup since participating in the 2019 FIBA World Cup. That roster finished seventh.

Kawhi Leonard has reportedly been added to fill the final roster spot.

🏀 Brad Stevens wants to keep Derrick White around. The Celtics President of Basketball Operations held a press conference on Tuesday. He covered a wide-ranging list of topics. However, the most interesting tidbit from his availability was his response about extending Derrick White’s contract.

“I can’t talk about much with things that we’re not allowed to discuss until July 1,” Stevens said. “But Derrick has had an amazing year. Derrick is a huge, huge part of our team and we want him around for as long as we can keep him around.”

White will be entering the final year of his contract next season. He will earn $18.8 million. The Celtics hold his bird rights, which gives them an advantage when discussing a potential extension with the fan-favorite guard.

Shortly after Jrue Holiday’s contract extension, I asked cap expert

Keith Smith

of

The Basketball Bulletin

and Spotrac whether White could potentially be impacted by his teammate’s new deal.

“Retaining White is really a question for Stevens to work out with ownership,” Smith said. “Nothing prevents Boston from signing White to whatever it will take to keep him...beyond massive salary plus tax implications. All these moves are being done with the immediate and the long-term in mind. But there's also a bit of "let tomorrow's problems be tomorrow's problems" at play here. Such is life when you're trying to win a title.”

If you missed it, you can read that full article here.

Jrue Holiday's new contract: How does it impact the Celtics roster construction?

🏀 Stevens also quashed any notion of him returning to the collegiate ranks in the near future.

“I don’t get into the rumor stuff,” Stevens said. “I’ve got a heck of an opportunity here. We’ve been here 11 years now and gotten a chance to see this team do a lot of cool things and go a long way, and our goals have been the same since we moved here. We’d like to get over that hump, so I’ve got plenty enough to do right now rather than think about all that stuff.”

You can watch the full interview here.

🏀 Avery Bradley joins the Utah Jazz’s front office as President of Player Development. The news was initially reported by the Deserter News. He has been around the franchise for the past few months and will now take his first steps into working with a front office. It makes sense that his first role with an organization comes in Utah, where Danny Ainge is currently President of Basketball Operations and former Celtics assistant coach Will Hardy is the man patrolling the sidelines.

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❓Questions for each potential 1st-round opponent

By the time we wake up tomorrow, 50% of the Boston Celtics’ potential first-round matchups will be off the board. Either the Miami Heat or Philadelphia 76ers will be set to face the New York Knicks. One of the Atlanta Hawks or Chicago Bulls will be beginning their off-season. And then there will be two teams fighting it out for the opportunity to play Boston in the opening round.

Each potential opponent comes with a unique system and skillset. They will all pose different issues for the Celtics to figure out and overcome. Some of those systems will be more problematic than others. All of these teams will want to earn the status that would come with derailing Boston’s postseason before it even got started.

However, you’re not a play-in team if you’ve got everything figured out. All four of these rosters have questions that need to be answered. If they can’t provide answers, the Celtics will look to exploit those weaknesses once the postseason begins.

Here are the biggest questions for Boston’s potential first-round opponents (in video format).