The Boston Celtics did not sign an All-Star free agent this summer. They were also unable to package enough picks to move up in the draft and land their man. From that perspective, things were a bit frustrating.
But all in all the Celtics still had a really solid offseason, bringing in Amir Johnson and David Lee and retaining Jonas Jerebko and Jae Crowder. Here's a reasonable take from NBA.com's David Aldridge, who placed Boston 11th in his ranking of every team's summer:
"Ainge stuck to the script for a couple of years of trying to build through the Draft, but after not getting high enough in the first round to get impact players, he sped up the process, turning over half of the roster -- starting with signing Johnson from Toronto and getting Lee from the NBA champs. Lee insists he's more than cool with the move, which will at least get him out of dry dock. Both he and Johnson should help the Celtics' frontcourt, which will help coach Brad Stevens, who got Boston to play outstanding team defense the second half of last season. But Boston is extremely guard heavy, currently needing to split time between Isaiah Thomas, Avery Johnson, Marcus Smart, James Young and the team's two first-rounders. Still need to see if taking Rozier higher than just about any other team had him rated will work out, but Mickey shows signs of being a second-round steal."
Boston will roll it back another year, and they took care of considerable weaknesses in the frontcourt. They had no rim protection last season, but Johnson should help plug that hole. And players like Isaiah Thomas, Jerebko and Crowder have an entire training camp to get acclimated with Brad Stevens' system.
The Celtics snuck up on some teams last year. They won't have the element of surprise this time around.
(h/t: NBA)
