Boston Celtics 2017-2018 Media Day

[Conroy]

GM Roy: Another 'rebuilding' season in the books, and another step towards progress has been taken. There isn't a whole lot to be said about last year. We didn't win very many games, we had 3 rookies make the all-rookie teams, and ended up with the #3 pick in the draft. I would also like to thank Kenneth Faried for being the upmost professional during his time here. He knew he wasn't part of the future plans yet came in and worked everyday. He was moved in the offseason for 2 first round draft picks, and a few players that will stick around.

We spent most of the draft morning expecting to move the pick which ended up falling through. We then made what appears to be an unpopular decision going with Tyler Ulis. We don't care if it was popular or not, Tyler has the skills and athleticism to become one of the best scorers we've had here in Boston and he won't be a slouch out there defending the perimeter either. RFA came and as usual was a disappointment here in Boston...one day it will go our way. Elfrid Payton was the exact PG we were looking for a floor general who played defense. But $14.5M was just a little too much for us to spend. We obviously had the cap space, and as soon as we executed the sign and trade we had seller's remorse. But at the end of the day we just felt like it was too much money. We threw out some max offers to UFA's but Carlos Boozer remains the only UFA in the history of SLOE in 29 seasons to turn down a super max to sign a regular max, no we still aren't bitter about that moving on...

We hope this is the last year of 'growing' overall we had a great Training Camp, I haven't had a chance to dive into it yet, I know D'Angelo lost his blue potential but increased his actual ratings, with a little extra training he should get back on track. I think I saw KAT had the best overall TC of any player...gotta love that.

I'll now open it up to questions.

[JNR]

GWR: What has to happen for you to take a more hands-on approach similar to the 90s decade that saw you as one of the most dominant GMs?

[garbageman]

Do you feel like the Celtics have all the pieces needed to compete once your roster has developed a little further or is there still a position that's a question mark for the future?

[IamQuailman]

When does this team turn the corner? You have quite a few star-level players, do you need another season or two to marinate?

[trillotto]

With a near-absurd amount of cap space available, and young-but-not-ready talent, it's safe to assume long-term bad money is a no-go. But what will you do to get the most out of that cap flexibility? Would the team take on expiring contracts and/or veterans who might bridge the gap until the youth movement is ready?

[WigNosy]

Your signing of Isaias Stumpf seems to have flown completely under the radar - you have him on an extremely modest contract and he put up 19 ppg in the preseason. Do you feel you have something with him or is this a case of big stats on a rebuilding team (or, "pulling a Brian Stark")?

[Conroy]

GWR: What has to happen for you to take a more hands-on approach similar to the 90s decade that saw you as one of the most dominant GMs?

It's on me, even when the team is bad I should tinker with lineups see who works well together and who doesn't. I will say I absolutely was involved in trade talks all through the year last year, I paid attention to the standings, I was following stats, I probably visited the college index more than the pbsl one until the rookie class was imported. But to be fully engaged back like in the 90s the team has to be competitive, which we hope we will be within the next season or two.

[Conroy]

Do you feel like the Celtics have all the pieces needed to compete once your roster has developed a little further or is there still a position that's a question mark for the future?

I really like the pieces we have, I'm quite amazed we have a full roster of 15 players and are still $35M under the cap. The roster is in a pretty good place, I feel like KAT can be that #1 option leader type player, but we are still missing pieces that we will continue to add via all 3 avenues possible, Draft, Free Agency, and trades.

[Conroy]

With a near-absurd amount of cap space available, and young-but-not-ready talent, it's safe to assume long-term bad money is a no-go. But what will you do to get the most out of that cap flexibility? Would the team take on expiring contracts and/or veterans who might bridge the gap until the youth movement is ready?

Yeah I'll explore it, that's why I'm pretty optimistic. This roster is extremly flexible, I have cap space and contracts to match a lot of different types of salaries, I have 7 first round draft picks. Right now the plan is to stay patient, but that is always something I've struggled with.

[ballsohard]

When do you think this Celtics team can make the playoffs again?

[Conroy]

Your signing of Isaias Stumpf seems to have flown completely under the radar - you have him on an extremely modest contract and he put up 19 ppg in the preseason. Do you feel you have something with him or is this a case of big stats on a rebuilding team (or, "pulling a Brian Stark")?

Yeah we were pretty high on him in UFA, we also may or may not have assumed he was a little taller given his SF position designation. Yeah he's putting up big stats on a rebuilding team but he also contributed nicely last year on a 60 plus win team averaging 13ppg. We are thrilled right now he averaged 50% FG%, 87% FT%, and 39% 3PT%. But when some guards took a step back in TC, it was nice to see Stumpf and Fisher take a big step forward.

[Xist2Inspire]

What is the one thing that you feel absolutely has to happen in order for this season to be considered a success?

[Conroy]

When do you think this Celtics team can make the playoffs again?

I'd say we are at least 2 years out. The problem for us getting back to the playoffs is two-fold. A.) we are not a very good team right now and have a lot of growing to do. B.) There seems to be at least 10 teams in the East ahead of us at the moment. With only 8 playoff spots the math is not in our favor.

[Conroy]

What is the one thing that you feel absolutely has to happen in order for this season to be considered a success?

We show improvement. Maybe not in the win-loss column, but definitely in the point differential column (we were worst last year), and some individual improvement.