Brad Stevens’ Boston Celtics Are Fine With No More Major Moves, Thanks

Going back to the failed predraft trade that would have sent point guard Malcolm Brogdon to the Clippers as part of a three-way deal to get Kristaps Porzingis to Boston, the presumption has been that the Celtics are not done fiddling with their roster. Even after keeping Brogdon and instead shipping out Marcus Smart to Memphis for Porzingis, there has been an insistence on the part of team observers and insiders that something more is coming.

Surely, Brad Stevens has an Auerbach-ian trick up his sleeve, a card he’s just waiting patiently to play. Right. Right?

It was reported by MassLive beat man Brian Robb, after the Porzingis deal was finally settled, that the Celtics are “far from done.” In The Athletic, just after Porzingis was introduced, a report noted that Boston was still exploring trades. This week, Globe columnist Chris Gaspar wrote, “I don’t think Stevens is done reconfiguring his roster.” Ex-Celtic star and broadcaster Cedric Maxwell said this week on his podcast that this team still has, “A lot of moveable parts, a lot of questions.”

That’s a fair assessment in light of the team sending away a nine-year veteran like Smart, as well as popular bowling-ball big man Grant Williams. In that context, this does feel like an incomplete summer for Boston.

But consider what the Celtics’ rotation now looks like.

Guards: Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Brogdon, Payton Pritchard.

Forwards: Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis, Oshae Brissett, Sam Hauser.

Centers: Al Horford, Robert Williams, Luke Kornet.

That’s eight deep, when healthy. Brissett should get consistent minutes during the year, with Hauser and Kornet chipping in as injury fill-ins. The backcourt is four deep, solidly, but Dalano Banton could offer some help if needed and rookie Jordan Walsh figures to occasionally see the court as well at one of the wing positions.

The Eastern Conference Did Not Improve

There are, to paraphrase Maxwell, a lot of moveable parts there and a lot of questions for Stevens to consider. But take a look around the Eastern Conference—is there a roster with no questions? Remember, the defending East champs are the Miami Heat, and so far this summer, they’ve seen defections from two of their top rotation players, point guard Gabe Vincent (gone to the Lakers) and shooting guard Max Strus (now with Cleveland), with Josh Richardson and little-used center Thomas Bryant in place of them. The Heat’s summer rests on a happy resolution to the Damian Lillard situation, which is so far from a happy resolution that it is threatening to morph from situation to saga.

Milwaukee got marginally better by adding Malik Beasley, but will miss Jevon Carter. Strus and Georges Niang will improve Cleveland, but not dramatically. And … well, not many other East teams did much to get better in the last three weeks. The Knicks added Donte DiVincenzo, but that’s not going to push them into the East’s upper reaches. Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Atlanta and Toronto (the No. 3, 6, 7 and 9 seeds in last year’s conference standings) all got appreciably worse this summer.

Certainly, there will be better teams in the Western Conference. The Nuggets are the defending champs, and though losing Bruce Brown will sting, they remain the league’s deepest and most balanced team. The Suns are a star-studded wildcard, and the Warriors are right behind them. The Lakers have arguably the best supporting cast around LeBron James and Anthony Davis in their entire five years together in L.A., including the Bubble championship year.

But the Celtics play in the East, and even if their roster appears to be wanting some missing element, it remains, arguably, the most complete roster in the conference. That fact flies in the face of the insistence that, somehow some way, Stevens has more moves up his sleeve.

Maybe. But it’s difficult to see from where these moves would come. The Celtics have room to sign one more player to a veteran’s minimum, and it’s a good bet that is what they do. It’s also a good bet that is all that they do until training camp starts (not counting, of course, a Jaylen Brown extension).

Compared to the rest of the East, they should not need much more.