NBA News: Boston Celtics Focused On Long-Term Growth With Offseason Moves

The Boston Celtics are treading water this offseason, and it may be for the best.

In case you missed it, Brad Stevens was promoted to the Celtics’ president of basketball operations after Danny Ainge announced that he was retiring, shortly after their first-round exit to the Brooklyn Nets.

When the move was announced, many Celtics fans were in favor of the move as they saw Stevens had the mind for it and they trusted him with it throughout this offseason.

The Celtics have not made any splashy signings or moves (apart from the Kemba Walker trade) and they are all the better for it.

The Walker trade allowed them some sense of financial flexibility as they owed him $73 million but like Kyrie Irving before him, he suffered an injury-riddled time in Boston and had only played 43 games last season thanks to a nagging knee injury.

He’s now the New York Knicks’ problem after the Oklahoma City Thunder traded him a couple of weeks ago.

Back in Boston, they were particularly quiet this offseason as Stevens is still trying to get a grasp of his front-office role.

They have since brought back Enes Kanter for another go-around, Dennis Schroder finally had a team when he signed a one-year, $5.9 million deal, enlisted undrafted prospect Sam Hauser to a two-way deal, and Marcus Smart re-upped with the organization on a four-year, $77 million deal.

The Celtics also made trades this offseason to acquire Al Horford (Walker trade with the Thunder), Josh Richardson from the Dallas Mavericks, and Atlanta’s Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando in two separate deals.

The Eastern Conference has only gotten stronger in recent years, and with Boston struggling to find their identity and compete for a title, this may be the best-case scenario for them.

Last week, it was reported that new head coach Ime Udoka will have the final and only say when it comes to the players’ roles and minutes.

Udoka has since revealed that his main plan for Boston stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum is for them to become playmakers.

“We got two elite scorers — I want to help them be playmakers,” Udoka said. “Got a ton of great shooters so we want to play more team basketball. Obviously, have a defensive mindset and a lot of different things because we can go big, small in a lot of different ways.”

Tatum and Brown both reached career-highs in assists per game last season, with 4.3 and 3.4 respectively, but both are still young enough–23 and 24 respectively–to develop a passer’s mentality along the way.

Boston hopes that Tatum learned a lot from his time with Team USA at the Olympics when it comes to playing team basketball as the Celtics are loaded with good shooters.

An NBA title should be far from their minds as Stevens and the rest of the front office figure out a way to create a roster that will take advantage of both Brown and Tatum’s ability to score, especially finding a big man that fits their timetable.

The Celtics are going nowhere as they continue to find their footing in the East, but Udoka seems to have an idea of how he’ll be able to bring this team together.

Moreover, they will need to address that first before they even think of beating the likes of the Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks.