NBA Executive Suggests Potential Offseason Target For Celtics

One could argue the Boston Celtics were at their best in the 2021-22 season when the offense was running through Marcus Smart.

An anonymous NBA executive, however, believes the reigning Eastern Conference champions still could stand to improve at the point guard position.

The unnamed exec caught up with ESPN’s Tim Bontemps after the Celtics’ NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors, and he offered rather blunt assessments of Smart and Boston’s bench.

“They have a lot of scrubs,” the executive said of the Celtics’ deeper rotation players.

“(And) they still need a real point guard. I love Marcus, but he needs another person to help him, and it can’t be (Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown) because they dribble too much. They need someone else. If Utah (looks to move) Mike Conley, can you put him in there? Someone like that.”

Conley is owed $22.6 million for the 2022-23 season and has an option year with a base salary of $24.3 million for the 2023-34 campaign. It wouldn’t be overly complicated from a financial standpoint for the Celtics to add Conley, but it’s fair to wonder whether they’d have much interest in a past-his-prime point guard who turns 35 right before the start of next season.

That said, Boston’s current internal options for point guard help don’t yield a ton of optimism. So even if it’s not Conley, we shouldn’t be surprised if Brad Stevens and company add depth to the position this summer.