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In a Friday morning appearance on Mut & Callahan on WEEI, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix gave some insight on the Celtics’ offseason, with the departures of Kyrie Irving and Al Horford and the potential signing of Kemba Walker, as Boston tries to replace its losses and remain a contender.
“This is what Boston does,” Mannix said, “they don’t want to take any kind of steps back. Kemba Walker is coming off an All-NBA season, best season of his career, and should still be able to give them at least two years at this level. The only problem with Kemba that I foresee, and it’s a problem with a lot of small guards, guys at that size, they don’t tend to age all that well, their games don’t age all that well. So I think after a couple of years, when that contract is still enormous, Kemba you might be paying more for past performance.”
Mannix is high on Walker, who he believes will be a better fit than Irving in the locker room.
“In a vacuum, they’re better with Kemba Walker,” he said. “Just because the locker room dynamic with Kyrie was just irreparable with that current roster. I think there was a hope that if they could swing a deal for Anthony Davis, change the entire locker room dynamic, that that would entice Kyrie Irving to want to stay, but when Davis went to the Lakers that option went out the window. Kemba Walker is, he’s not the player Kyrie Irving is, I think Kyrie, he’s great, and Kemba’s just a cut below that, but Kemba is an incredible locker room guy. He’s been liked and respected everywhere that he’s played, both in college at UConn and in Charlotte, so you’d say that it’s a good fit.”
On a team that already has several scoring options, with wings in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward each needing shots, Walker could be the right piece to facilitate that scoring in a way that Irving couldn’t quite.
“I just think that Kemba is a little bit more pass-first than Kyrie was,” said Mannix. “Kemba’s a tremendous pick-and-roll player, that’s his bread-and butter and that’s a bread-and-butter play in the NBA, and I think he’s going to be more wiling to cede the offensive responsibility to a Tatum and a Brown if they’re both still around, so I don’t think that’s going to be anywhere near the type of issue that it’s been with Kyrie.
“Everything I know about Kemba, it’s not his MO — this is a guy that has never tasted winning. Kyrie came to Boston with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, and as he said so many times, he’d won a championship. Kemba Walker’s never done that, so whatever Kemba has to do to get the best performance out of his team, I think that’s what he’s going to do.”
Mannix also provided some context on Al Horford’s impending departure, and in his eyes, the big man’s decision to leave Boston was solely a financial one.
“From talking to his people, it never was a toxic relationship,” Mannix said, “it never was Al Horford doesn’t want to be in Boston — Al Horford wants to get paid, and Al Horford is 33 years old, and he knows that this summer has a very summer of 2016-type feel to it where when the dust settles on Durant and Kawhi and some of these top-tier players, there’s going to be money out there. Much more money than the Celtics are willing to come tot the table with in a three-year type of deal that, I’m just guessing, I think would be in that $60-million range.
“I think Al Horford’s got a great chance of getting something close to $90-100 million dollars in a long-term deal, and when you’re looking at the last deal of your career, it’s easy for us to sit here and say ‘Al Horford should want to come back,’ but I wouldn’t leave $40 million on the table if it was out there. It’s all about the dollars for Al Horford.”
Losing Horford — and trading Aron Baynes to open up salary cap room — means the Celtics are short-staffed up front, and in a conference with teams like the Raptors, Sixers and Bucks all boasting top-tier big men, Boston needs to find a replacement, and Mannix floated a name that the Celtics are familiar with.
“When the dust settles, if they can get Kemba Walker signed, they’ll have about $4.5 million, $5 million in that exception,” said Mannix. “I think Robin Lopez could be a factor there, he’s killed Boston the last couple of years so they have a great knowledge base on him so if they could get him for that type of deal, I think he’d make a lot of sense.”
Free agency begins at 6 p.m. Sunday.