The Boston Celtics had themselves one of the best offseasons in the NBA by most accounts until the injury to veteran forward Danilo Gallinari knocked the Celtics down a peg in the estimation of some with an ACL tear that should have him out until at least the postseason if not longer.
But now that the same doubters have had a shot at seeing the other major addition to the roster — former Indiana Pacers point guard Malcolm Brogdon — as well as big men Blake Griffin and Noah Vonleh, the assessment of the team’s offseason has trended back up.
One such assessment seeing the Celtics’ offseason additions in a positive light is Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz, who grades the Celtics a solid “B” for the players they picked up.
Despite being forced into going smaller to begin the season while Robert Williams III recovers from knee surgery, the Boston Celtics have committed to keeping Brogdon as the team’s sixth man,” writes Swartz.
“The veteran point guard has looked solid in his new role, running the second-team offense while trying to pick his spots to score. Brogdon’s 16-point, four-assist effort on opening night helped Boston take down the Philadelphia 76ers. Griffin was an emergency signing following injuries to both Williams and Gallinari … and is only averaging 8.8 minutes per game off the bench. Vonleh, after playing professionally in China last year, has only been used slightly more (12.2 minutes, one start).”
“The Gallinari injury was a huge bummer for a Celtics team that looked like it had been building up a strong bench,” he adds.
“This group has been fine thus far but nothing spectacular,” adds the B/R analyst.
And while Brogdon, Griffin, and Vonleh certainly do not need to be world-beaters, in Brogdon’s case at least, Boston needs a bit more to truly make the team’s offseason something like what they’d hoped it would be.
And once the Virginia alum gets more comfortable coming off of the bench, such a scenario may very well be on the table.
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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire
