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Celtics trade scenarios: What I’m hearing about Boston’s interest in Jakob Poeltl

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Entering the season, the Celtics’ rotation of bigs consisted of a 36-year-old Al Horford, an undersized Grant Williams and a revolving door of minimum-salary journeymen. But Robert Williams is back, potentially better than ever, and suddenly the center position doesn’t seem like a big concern.

But The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday the Celtics and Raptors have registered “significant” interest in trading for San Antonio Spurs center Jakob Poeltl, who hits unrestricted free agency this summer.

Poeltl has been the Spurs’ starting center since coming over from Toronto in the Kawhi Leonard trade and has steadily grown into one of the league’s best rim protectors. He doesn’t have shooting range or the foot speed to switch onto guards as bigs in the Celtics system often do, but he’s a force on both ends in the paint.

He’s 27 and making $9.4 million, though Charania reports he will command nearly $20 million in free agency after turning down a four-year, $58 million extension offer. That is slightly above the deal Grant Williams turned down before the season.

Boston has maintained an interest in Poeltl for several seasons now and is continuing to monitor his market, according to team sources who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The sticking point has been, as always, price. San Antonio has made it known to interested parties throughout the league the Spurs want two first-round picks for Poeltl, according to team and league sources, which was the same stance they took on Derrick White last season.

The Celtics were able to acquire White for what ended up being the 25th pick in the most recent draft and a first-overall protected pick swap in 2028. Though Boston lost only one pick in aggregate, that swap is so far into the future the two franchises could plausibly be in polar opposite positions from today.

Netting two firsts for a center on an expiring contract and expecting a big raise seems implausible, but it at least sets the bar high enough for San Antonio to come away with a first-rounder and some change for Poeltl. There is no impetus for the franchise to deal Poeltl, as the Spurs have the financial flexibility to give him a four-year deal and still have spending power.

The Spurs would love to pair Poeltl with vaunted prospect Victor Wembanyama if they win the lottery, and would only move Poetl if they received an offer too good to pass up, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported last weekend. But they currently sit at 12.5 percent odds to win the lottery and know they can’t make decisions at this deadline, presuming they’ll even land in the top three.

Striking a Poeltl deal is tricky from Boston’s perspective because, well, this team doesn’t really need him. The backup center is the ninth or even 10th man in the rotation most nights. He’s a starting-caliber center who is expected to earn more than Rob Williams next season, who has cemented himself as one of the team’s core players. Boston already has to contend with Grant Williams seeking a similar deal as he hits restricted free agency after this season, so how can it justify giving that to Poeltl when he doesn’t have a path to starting or even closing games?

Poeltl is overqualified to be a backup, but his resume in San Antonio is already finished. He can benefit from a demotion in the right situation. There’s nothing he can do at this point to increase his value for free agency starting for the Spurs, and a more limited role on a contender in a major market is his ideal audition stage. He should be willing to accept such a role if it means playing in May and June and showcasing his ability to impact title contention.

Considering Rob Williams’ health track record and Horford’s load management program, there is ample opportunity for Poeltl during the regular season. Horford would likely welcome Poeltl, considering his predilection to play the four and limit his wear and tear with the tread on his career almost gone. Horford is playing 30.5 minutes per game while Luke Kornet has carved out 11.8 of his own. There’s room to get Horford down to the mid-20s and get Poeltl closer to his 26.5, even as Williams’ minutes were finally approaching the 30 mark on the last road trip.

But Kornet has played above his pay grade so far and has fulfilled what the team asks of him. Once they get to the postseason, the backup center is only going to see the floor if someone ahead of him on the depth chart is out.

According to team sources, Celtics management recognizes the possibility Rob Williams could miss games in the playoffs, and replicating Horford’s minutes load from last postseason will be difficult since he isn’t coming off the massive offseason he enjoyed in Oklahoma City in 2021.

There is always the chance Poeltl could be brought in if Boston were to make a more significant move and have an opening in the starting lineup, but Poeltl and Rob Williams can’t play next to each other, and trading Williams doesn’t make sense unless a star is coming back the other way.

This team is sitting comfortably in first place at the moment. It doesn’t need to overthink this, and nothing about Brad Stevens’ tenure indicates he and the front office will. Team personnel could view a potential Poeltl deal as an insurance policy for Williams, rather than part of any type of overhaul to this clearly established eight-man rotation.

Danilo Gallinari would be the likely salary-matching foundation of Boston’s offer, but he can’t be traded back to the Spurs because they waived him this summer after he came over from Atlanta in the Dejounte Murray deal. So Boston would have to shop Gallinari to a third team, who would also need at least a second-round pick for its troubles with Gallinari potentially opting into his player option next season at 35 and coming off an ACL tear.

Though the backup center slot could use an upgrade, it doesn’t solve a problem beyond an injury contingency. There are other areas where Boston could use help. Sam Hauser’s cold streak has made acquiring a veteran sharpshooter plausible. Payton Pritchard has been effective in his occasional opportunities, but Boston could use an explosive pull-up scorer at the point as an option. Boston doesn’t have any wings with length and athleticism beyond its two stars.

These are all luxuries in the rotation, and Boston could use a second-round pick to acquire someone who fits these descriptors for a few minutes a night, but this squad is just about as complete as teams get at this point. The ninth or 10th man in the rotation rarely makes or breaks a title run. They’ll be called upon in moments over the course of the two months it takes to be the last team standing in the playoffs, but the difference on the margins are exactly that: marginal.

Pritchard is playoff-battle tested and at least has passed the mentality check. We’ll see with Hauser, but this is his first season of actual minutes in the league, and he’s a long way from a finished product. If the Celtics were to pick up one of those athletic bench wings like Jalen McDaniels from Charlotte, an impending free agent who Charania reports could be one of several Hornets available, could they trust that he will be any more ready for playoff basketball than Hauser?

Aaron Nesmith and Romeo Langford are clear reminders of how productive young benchwarmers can be when they have the freedom to enjoy plentiful minutes on a team that isn’t competing for a title.

The Celtics can afford to walk away from deals when they’re outbid for this deadline. This summer will be the third consecutive draft in which they’ve punted on the first round, and they need to think about what the bench will look like in a few years if they don’t keep developing quality prospects. Poeltl doesn’t seem to have a future in Boston unless Rob Williams or Al Horford suffer a significant injury.

In all likelihood, a Celtics move at the deadline would resemble a second-round pick for a complementary bench piece. They already invested their firsts to bolster the rotation when they made the White and Brogdon trades in 2022. This team no longer needs reformation.

But, whether it’s Danny Ainge or Brad Stevens at the helm, if the price is right, they’ll listen.

(Photo: Mike Watters / USA Today)



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Jakob Junis Is The Latest Giants Pitching Revival

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Heading into the 2021-22 offseason, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris had the unenviable task of filling not just one or two, but four rotation spots. Each of Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood and Johnny Cueto were free agents. Of the team’s 2021 starters, only Logan Webb was under club control.

Granted, much of that was the front office’s own doing. A generally risk-averse unit, at least insofar as signing free agents to lucrative multi-year commitments, the Giants inked each of Gausman, Wood and DeSclafani to one-year contracts prior to the 2021 season. The continued with a generally risk-averse approach this past offseason, replenishing their rotation for a combined $125MM paid out to Carlos Rodon (two  years, $44MM), DeSclafani (three years, $36MM), Wood (two years, $25MM) and Alex Cobb (two years, $20MM).

Obviously, a $125MM investment is hardly a no-risk proposition, but spreading that number out across four pitchers without committing more than three years in length isn’t exactly working without a net for a team that averaged a $179MM payroll from 2015-19, topped out at $200.5MM in 2018, and has averaged a $152.5MM payroll over the past two seasons.

The quintet of Webb, Rodon, DeSclafani, Wood and Cobb had plenty of potential to be a strong group. It also had plenty of potential to be an injury-plagued unit that created ample headaches for the front office. Each of Rodon, DeSclafani, Wood and Cobb came with lengthy injury histories. Depth beyond that group was needed, and the Giants lacked it in the upper minors.

What followed was a series of sensible additions. Matthew Boyd inked a one-year deal worth $5.2MM, as the Giants hoped the longtime Tigers southpaw would be back from flexor surgery by mid-June. Former Royals righty Jakob Junis put pen to paper on a one-year, $1.75MM contract after being non-tendered by Kansas City. Carlos Martinez, a former All-Star with the Cardinals, signed a minor league contract.

Of all the names in that group, Junis was likely the most anonymous. A 29-year-old righty and former 29th-round pick, he looked the part of a player-development success story for the Royals during his first two seasons before flaming out in his final three years with Kansas City. From 2017-18, Junis gave the Royals 275 1/3 innings of 4.35 ERA ball with a strikeout rate just below the league average, a strong walk rate and slightly below-average ground-ball tendencies. It wasn’t a star-caliber profile by any means, but ask any scout in the world and they’d be thrilled at the notion of unearthing a viable fourth or fifth starter in the 29th round of the draft.

The 2019-21 seasons, however, didn’t pan out as either Junis or the Royals hoped. Although he made what’s still a career-high 31 starts in 2019, his ERA spiked to 5.24 as his walk rate ticked upward and he began to allow increasing amounts of hard contact. Things got even worse in 2020, and by June of 2021, Junis found himself optioned to Triple-A for the first time since 2017. Between that and the 5.36 ERA Junis posted from 2019-21, it wasn’t a surprise that the Royals opted not to tender him a contract, instead setting him out into the free-agent market.

Junis’ one-year deal with the Giants looked like a sensible depth pickup of an experienced arm with one minor league option year remaining, but it’s proven to be far more than that. In 17 games for San Francisco, 14 of them starts, Junis carries a 4.04 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate and a superb 4.7% walk rate. Fielding-independent metrics like FIP (3.83), SIERA (3.72) and xERA (3.85) all feel he’s been a fair bit better than that. For much of the year, he’s sported an ERA in the mid- or low-3.00s, though a recent pair of six-run clunkers have inflated his ERA a bit.

Even with his recent scuffles, though, Junis has been far more than a simple stopgap in the rotation. He’s only averaging about five innings per start — more or less in line with the league average at this point — and has held opponents to three or fewer runs in 13 of his appearances on the season.

The Giants have altered Junis’ pitch selection and done so to good effect; he’s throwing his slider a career-high 51.9% of the time and has yielded only a .210/.255/.359 in the 192 plate appearances that have ended with that pitch. He’s also effectively scrapped his four-seamer and his cutter in favor of a sinker he’s throwing at a 30.6% clip, and while the pitch has still been hit hard, opponents are doing far less damage against the pitch than either of the previous two fastball iterations that Junis was using at a far higher clip.

Junis will probably end up giving the Giants anywhere from a win to two wins above replacement this year — he’s at 1.6 bWAR and 0.9 fWAR at the moment — which is a solid return on their minimal investment in and of itself. But the Giants will also retain Junis’ rights into the 2023 season, as he’s still arbitration-eligible and will finish out the year with five-plus years of service. He’ll be due a raise on this year’s salary, but jumping into the $3MM range for a serviceable fourth starter is nonetheless a bargain.

The Giants already have four starters under contract in 2023 — Webb, Wood, Cobb and DeSclafani — but could very well lose Carlos Rodon to free agency if he turns down his player option (which is a lock, so long as he remains healthy). They’re not going to simply replace Rodon with Junis and call it a day, so the likelihood is that they’ll add an impact starter and enter 2023 with Junis as the sixth or perhaps even seventh starter. That’d land him in the bullpen at the start of the season, likely in a long relief role, but given the injury histories of DeSclafani, Wood and Cobb, there ought to be innings available to him next year.

The Junis pickup obviously isn’t a masterstroke that’s going to alter the course of the franchise for years to come, but he’s quietly been quite valuable for a Giants club that has had its share of pitching injuries — and he’ll continue paying dividends on their investment into the 2023 season. Not a ton has gone right for the Giants this year, but their ability to rehab and, in some cases, reinvent pitchers remains quite strong.

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Indiana Notebook: Chris Olave and Jeremy Ruckert Moving Up Ohio State’s Record Book, Evan Pryor Sees First Extended Playing Time and Trey Leroux, Jakob James Make Offensive Line Debuts

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Two senior playmakers on Ohio State’s offense are closing in on all-time school records for touchdown receptions.

Chris Olave caught his 30th touchdown pass as a Buckeye in Saturday night’s 54-7 win over Indiana to move into a tie with Devin Smith for the second-most touchdown receptions in Ohio State history. He’s now only five touchdown catches from setting a new school record, as David Boston currently holds the mark with 34 career touchdown receptions.

Jeremy Ruckert, meanwhile, caught the 11th and 12th touchdown passes of his Ohio State career in Bloomington to move ahead of John Lumpkin for the second-most touchdown catches by a tight end in Ohio State history. He’s now just one touchdown reception away from tying Jake Stoneburner’s school record of 13 career touchdown catches for a tight end.

While Olave has now caught eight touchdown receptions in seven games this season, including at least one in each of Ohio State’s last four games, Ruckert had his most productive game of the season to date with five catches for 47 yards and two touchdowns against Indiana. It was the fourth two-touchdown game of Ruckert’s Ohio State career – he’s had as many two-touchdown games as he’s had one-touchdown games as a Buckeye – but his five catches were a career-high, while his 47 receiving yards were the second-highest total of his Ohio State career.

Ruckert actually could have had three touchdown receptions against the Hoosiers, but one of them was called back due to an ineligible receiver downfield penalty against Matt Jones. Olave’s touchdown reception came two plays later.

Because Ohio State has a reputation for not throwing the ball to its tight ends regularly, a productive night like Ruckert had on Saturday always generates attention – and subsequent questions about the tight end finally getting his chance to shine. That said, Ruckert told reporters after Saturday’s game that his approach against the Hoosiers was no different than it’s been all year.

“Like I’ve always said since I’ve been here, some days it’s in the run game, some days it’s in the pass game. Whatever it is, just being able to make the plays when your name’s called is the culture here,” Ruckert said. “Some days the game plan’s different than the others, and like I said before, not forcing anything and just playing free, the ball’s gonna come your way.”

Pryor sees extended playing time

During his radio show on the Ohio State Sports Network on Thursday, Ryan Day hinted at the possibility that true freshman running back Evan Pryor could see more playing time against Indiana than he had in previous games.

“Evan has now done some good things in practice, so he’s gonna get some opportunities in the game as well,” Day said.

When Ohio State released its status report for the Indiana game on Saturday afternoon, it became clear why Pryor could see more playing time. Master Teague and Marcus Crowley were both unavailable for Saturday night’s game, leaving just three running backs on the travel roster: TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams and Pryor.

Henderson and Williams played all of the snaps at running back in Saturday’s first half, but Henderson (who had nine carries for 81 yards, one catch for 14 yards and three total touchdowns against Indiana) did not play at all in the second half for precautionary reasons and Williams (who had eight carries for 60 yards and a touchdown) only played on Ohio State’s first two possessions of the second half, giving Pryor for the opportunity to play for the rest of the game.

Pryor had played only 18 snaps as a Buckeye entering Saturday’s game, and his inexperience showed at times against the Hoosiers, like on one play shortly after he entered the game on which he was bull-rushed back into C.J. Stroud on a blitz by Indiana linebacker Micah McFadden, nearly leading to an interception. A couple plays later, though, Pryor effectively picked up a blitz in pass protection on 3rd-and-4 to give Stroud time to complete a downfield pass to Cade Stover for an 18-yard gain.

With the ball in his hands, Pryor ran for 48 yards on 11 carries – highlighted by an 16-yard run – and caught two passes for eight yards after getting just 10 carries (on which he gained 50 yards and a touchdown) in his previous three game appearances for the Buckeyes. And Day was encouraged by what he saw from Pryor in his first extended action.

“I was impressed with the way Evan ran down the stretch, and that’s good,” Day said. “We’re gonna need some of the depth there.”

Evan Pryor played 27 offensive snaps for Ohio State against Indiana.

Day was not asked after the game about why Teague and Crowley were unavailable, so it’s unclear when they will be able to return. Stroud’s postgame comments about the running backs, however, suggested that Crowley’s injury could be the more serious of the two.

“I feel like Miyan did a great job when he was in, when Evan was in he did a great job and of course Trey, he had a great game,” Stroud said. “When you have three great backs like that, and then when we get Teague back, and I feel bad for Crow, but whenever he comes back, we have great backs. So that kind of just makes our job easier.”

RELATED Ohio State’s Offense Maintains Astounding Consistency While Defense Controls Field-Position Battle in Indiana Rout

James, Leroux play first offensive snaps

While Ohio State’s travel roster for the Indiana game mostly consisted of players who had already seen playing time this season, two second-year offensive linemen played the first offensive snaps of their Buckeye careers during the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game.

As has been the case for the past few games, Ohio State used several different offensive line combinations against Indiana. Matt Jones mixed in with the starters at both left and right guard. Early in the first half, Thayer Munford moved to his old position of left tackle and Nicholas Petit-Frere moved to his old position of right tackle with Dawand Jones coming out of the game. With Enokk Vimahi and Harry Miller both unavailable, Dawand Jones later returned to the game at right tackle to play on the second-team offensive line with Josh Fryar at left tackle, Matt Jones at left guard, Toby Wilson at center and Donovan Jackson at right tackle.

Then, on Ohio State’s final possession of the game, Jakob James entered the game at left guard for his first-ever snaps as a Buckeye while Trey Leroux, who played his first-ever snaps as a Buckeye on the field goal team against Maryland, checked in at right guard with Jackson moving outside to right tackle.

Including Leroux and James, 14 different offensive linemen have now played snaps for Ohio State this season. The only scholarship offensive linemen who haven’t yet played at all this season are redshirt freshman Grant Toutant and true freshmen Ben Christman and Zen Michalski.



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