Celtics

Celtics’ Wyc Grousbeck expects ‘a very busy July’ but is not ‘demanding changes’

"I am prepared for it, let’s put it that way."

By Tom Westerholm

June 29, 2021

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Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck doesn’t feel the team’s roster needs a shakeup necessarily, but he wants to see more results and expects a “busy July” when free agency gets underway.

Grousbeck, speaking to Felger and Mazz on 98.5, noted that the Celtics don’t have room to sign free agents despite trading Kemba Walker for Al Horford. But as a baseline, the Celtics will need to decide what to do about Evan Fournier — an unrestricted free agent acquired using the valuable trade exception generated by Gordon Hayward’s sign-and-trade — and Robert Williams, who is eligible for an extension of his rookie contract.

While Grousbeck said the Celtics “try very hard” not to talk about future contracts, he acknowledged that the roster is not complete.

“There’s a lot we have to go do,” Grousbeck said. “There’s a lot of potential trades I would imagine, just reading the wires and thinking a little bit and talking a little bit to Brad. There’s a lot of stuff that could happen this summer.

“I don’t really know what the roster is going to look like in August, and it’s going to be a very busy July. But we’re not hard-capped or anything like that, but we’re going to have to be clever.”

The Celtics were hard-capped last season after Danny Ainge signed Tristan Thompson to the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception — a move that limited the Celtics’ flexibility all season with limited results.

Mike Felger pushed back a bit, asking Grousbeck specifically if he expects the team to make trades.

“I am prepared for it, let’s put it that way,” Grousbeck said. “I’m not saying this roster in my view has to change because of X, Y and Z. I’m saying we have a new team president, we have a new head coach, and they are going to spend July figuring out who they want to have and what the roster is going to look like, and I’m going to be supportive as is the rest of ownership.”

“I’m not demanding changes,” Grousbeck added. “I’m not expecting changes. … I want us to get further. It could be these guys, or there might be changes. But it’s not me demanding it or even expecting it.”

As Grousbeck noted, the Celtics will either need to be clever or very aggressive if they want to make big moves due to their cap situation. Brad Stevens repeatedly said at his introductory press conference that building a team that makes sense around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will be the priority. Whatever players remain on the roster — new and old — by the time Stevens has completed his first free agency will have that directive.

Grousbeck, meanwhile, once said “there could be some fireworks” in 2014 before an incredibly uneventful summer. Predicting what exactly the Celtics will do based on Grousbeck’s comments isn’t easy.

To paraphrase Grousbeck: Be prepared for it, let’s put it that way.