Five Biggest Questions Facing the Boston Celtics This Offseason

This is going to be a very important summer for the Boston Celtics. Their two stars are about to wrap up the middle third of their careers, so while there is still time to get another championship with this core, that time is going to run out quickly. They have to hope the lessons they’ve learned this past season can help them build a proper supporting cast around Jaylen Brown and a fully healthy Jayson Tatum at the start of next season. 

Here are the five biggest questions they are facing this offseason:

How much help do Tatum and Brown really need? 

This is a new question that popped up after the playoffs ended, and I think it informs the entire offseason. 

A more accurate way to ask the question might be “are Tatum, Brown, and role players surrounding them enough, or does Boston need a third great player?” Maybe not someone at their level, but someone kind of close who can make this a Big Two-And-A-Half?

If the Celtics believe Tatum and Brown are enough, then they can add some bench scoring, maybe upgrade the center spot, and they’ll be cooking. If the Celtics don’t think they're enough, then they’ll have to start maneuvering for that third guy. 

Now, I can hear you saying to yourself, “isn’t this what Derrick White is supposed to be?” So let’s just add that as another question right now and we can dive into both at the same time. 

Can Derrick White find his borderline All-Star offense again?

If White had been able to hit shots at any kind of reasonable rate, I’d be writing an analysis of Game 1 vs. the Knicks right now. 

White shot 27% from three on 55 attempts, tied with Pritchard for most in the series for the Celtics (Pritchard shot 31%). Just a couple of threes in Game 5 might have been enough to change the course of that game. 

White spent last season doing so much off the dribble that it killed his offense all season long. Theoretically, starting the season fresh next to both Tatum and Brown and being more of a catch-and-shoot player will get him back on track and he’ll be the exact kind of player I was talking about in the last section. 

If he can’t get there, though, then the Celtics have to have some very difficult conversations about White. He turns 32 in July and has about $98 million owed to him over the next three seasons (the final season is a player option). That will be fine if White returns to being a consistent 38-39% three-point shooter. That, paired with his playmaking and defense answers that first question perfectly. 

If he can’t, then the first question comes back into play in a big way, and the Celtics will have more remaking of their roster ahead than we might expect. 

Is Neemias Queta an 82-game player, or a 16-game player?

So much of what Boston was able to accomplish during the regular season, and not accomplish in the playoffs, was because of Queta. 

Make no mistake, he’s proven himself to be a major contributor to this team. But the playoffs have raised a question about what they can count on from him when May rolls around. 

The optimistic view is that he was simply limited by foul trouble, and when he had some consistent minutes on the floor, he was still pretty good against the Sixers. The pessimistic view is that given the chance to game plan against the Celtics, teams don’t have to worry too much about Queta beating them offensively. 

When he’s disciplined, he’s great at setting screens and defending the rim. When he’s not, he’ll be called for illegal screens and he’ll chase blocks, leaving openings for offensive rebounds. He has a whole summer to work on these things and come back with the necessary improvements to be even better next year. 

Does that mean he’ll be good enough to start in the playoffs next season or will the Celtics need to find a starting center and move Queta to the bench?

Is one of their “team option” guys good enough to be a starter? 

The Celtics hold team options on Baylor Scheierman, Neemias Queta, Jordan Walsh, Amari Williams, Max Shulga, Ron Harper Jr., and Dalano Banton.

Queta, Scheierman, and Walsh are locks to be picked up. Since we already covered Queta, this question is mostly about Scheierman and Walsh. 

I’ll do something more on mapping out potential offseason moves in a later piece, but I’m wondering if Sam Hauser is back next season, especially if Scheierman is good enough to start. If Walsh can nail down a more consistent three-point shot, he’ll have a chance to usurp Hauser as well. 

Moving Hauser’s nearly $11 million could be part of a bringing in additional help through the $27 million traded player exception while still staying under the tax. But if neither Scheierman nor Walsh can ascend, making that kind of move would be a lot more painful. 

Speaking of which …

Can they build a legitimate contender and reset the repeater tax at the same time?

The goal is to win now, but if they can win now and stay under the tax for one more season, then the repeater tax is reset. That means the Celtics can essentially spend the rest of their Tatum and Brown window paying the normal tax rate, which means spending more on players and sending less to the other teams in the league. 

This isn’t about being cheap next season. It’s about being a bit more freewheeling the following seasons. But if the Celtics are stuck and need to make a move that puts them over the tax line this upcoming season, they should be ready to spend if they have to. 

This is why the other questions are so important. If Queta is good enough to start the next playoff run, and if Scheierman or Walsh can be a full-time starter, and if White can get back to his old self, then a lot of what Boston needs will already be on the roster. That means they’ll be able to upgrade the roster without going overboard with their spending.