Two months into this season, Josh Minott seemed like an amazing discover for the Celtics.
Six weeks later, he was shipped to one of many NBA’s worst groups in a trade-deadline wage dump.
Minott, who fell out of Boston’s rotation in late December and was traded on Feb. 5, returned to TD Backyard on Friday for the primary time as a member of the Brooklyn Nets. It additionally was simply the younger wing’s second recreation along with his new membership, as Brooklyn initially assigned him to the G League earlier than recalling him earlier this week.
Going from early-season starter on a championship contender to deep reserve on a lottery-bound also-ran can’t have been straightforward for Minott, however Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez mentioned the 23-year-old has dealt with the transfer like knowledgeable.
“Nice character,” Fernandez mentioned earlier than Friday’s recreation. “You can say that he’s been a teammate within the group for a very long time the way in which he simply blended in instantly. He knew what we had been about. I sat down with him in my workplace. Typically you are feeling prefer it’s going to be a fast dialog, and abruptly we had been speaking for like, 20, 30, minutes. And it was good to get to know this man.
“The truth of the NBA generally, you recognize, there’s trades, and it could be bizarre. But it surely’s a part of it, and he’s carried out an excellent job simply attempting to instantly be a part of it.”
Signed to a veteran minimal contract over the summer time, Minott noticed motion in 28 of the Celtics’ first 29 video games, beginning 10 and showcasing attractive three-and-D potential. However he finally fell behind Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez on Boston’s depth chart, then missed most of January with an ankle harm. He made simply 5 appearances after Christmas, all in rubbish time. The Celtics traded him for money concerns.
After the commerce, Minott made three appearances with the Lengthy Island Nets earlier than lastly making his Brooklyn debut on Thursday. He performed the ultimate 5 minutes of a 126-110 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, tallying one help and two steals.
“He performed in Lengthy Island and did an excellent job,” mentioned Fernandez, whose younger group entered Friday with a 15-43 document and a six-game dropping streak. “We wanted him to be in recreation form, and I feel he took benefit of these minutes, and now he’s able to play right here. So (I’m) very pleased with him and attempting to assist him develop and see what we’ve acquired.”
Agent wowed by Mazzulla
In a piece for HoopsHype this week, longtime NBA agent Bernie Lee lavished reward on Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who blew Lee away throughout a free agent assembly final summer time.
After the Celtics misplaced Jayson Tatum to harm and almost half of their rotation to trades and free company, Lee anticipated them to “take the chance to decrease payroll, backside out, and chase a High 3 draft choose in what we will all see is a transformational draft” — aka tank. Then he sat down with Mazzulla.
“I, like everybody else, assumed they might do the identical factor,” Lee wrote. “When free company started, they requested a gathering with a shopper I had on the time who had underperformed for years and was going to be on a vastly decreased contract, with the thought that if he may show he was wholesome, his worth would return. I checked out it as an excellent alternative for either side, however I additionally had my eyes open and anticipated within the assembly to be advised of a special directive than competing for a championship in 2025–2026.
“That was till our assembly started at 6:01 p.m. on July 1st. I’ve carried out this agent factor for over 20 years, and I’ve participated in numerous free-agent conferences for gamers of all ranges, and I can truthfully inform you I’ve by no means in my complete profession been extra impressed with a coach than I used to be with Joe Mazzulla.”
(Lee didn’t establish the participant. Actual GM’s list of his current and former clients contains one who matches that description: former New York Knicks large man Treasured Achiuwa, who ended up signing a tryout contract with Miami and now could be with Sacramento.)
Of their 20-minute assembly, Lee wrote, the agent “rapidly realized that (Mazzulla) was a human being who creates his personal actuality.”
“If I or anybody else thought for a second that he was an individual who didn’t take a look at what the Celtics had been dealing with this 12 months as a possibility versus an impossibility, then it in all probability defined why I look ahead to a dwelling and he’s the person within the area,” Lee continued. “… If anybody requested Joe to do something aside from compete just like the world was about to finish, they might in all probability solely get the possibility to ask him as soon as. Quick-forward 58 video games, and never surprising to me, Joe was proper.
“If I’m fortunate sufficient to do that one other 20-plus years, I extremely doubt I’ll ever see one other midstream pivot with this quantity of success, and most significantly, a bunch that was constructed by way of adversity versus giving in to it.”
The Celtics entered Friday’s recreation with the second-best document within the Jap Convention (38-20) and fourth-best within the NBA.
Roster strikes coming?
The tip of the Celtics’ bench may look completely different after they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.
The 10-day contracts that depth guards Dalano Banton and John Tonje signed final Thursday are set to run out this weekend. Gamers are allowed to enroll to 2 10-day offers with the identical group, so Boston may select to re-up each.
The Celtics additionally may decide to go away the roster spots vacant for now — NBA guidelines allow groups to roster fewer than 14 standard-contract gamers for as much as 28 days in a given season, and the C’s have 14 of these days remaining — or carry in numerous gamers to fill them. They’ve two gamers on two-way offers (Ron Harper Jr. and Max Shulga) that may very well be transformed to 10-day or full-season contracts.
Regardless, don’t anticipate any splashy additions. Boston should be considered with its signings to keep away from wading again into the NBA’s luxurious tax, which it escaped by buying and selling away Minott, Xavier Tillman and Chris Boucher earlier this month.
Banton and Tonje entered Friday with 13 complete minutes performed for the Celtics, all in rubbish time.
Off the rim
With Boston starting a stretch of 4 house video games in eight days, all eyes are on Tatum, who reportedly has been fully participating in scrimmages with teammates as he seemingly nears the top of his Achilles rehab. The Celtics star mentioned months in the past that his first recreation again can be at TD Backyard. He didn’t go well with up towards Brooklyn — the Celtics had been at full power in any other case — however we’ll be intently monitoring the harm report forward of Sunday’s recreation towards Philadelphia, subsequent Wednesday’s towards Charlotte and subsequent Friday’s towards Dallas.
