It must be the young marshal! The first shot of the Celtics’ tax reduction!

From the start of the 2024-25 season, the Celtics' lineup was basically destined to disintegrate this summer. As the team stopped in the second round of the playoffs and Tatum's Achilles tendon injury was severely injured, it also directly made this matter the most important task for the entire Celtics offseason. But the words are simple, but the reality is not the case.

While media were still expecting the trading idea for the Celtics, the young marshal still adhered to the style of not making a sound and making a splash. He fired the first shot on the eve of the 2025 draft, a very beautiful first shot.

According to "ESPN" reporter Shams, the Celtics and the Trail Blazers reached a deal consensus, and the Celtics sent Holiday, the 18th champion in team history, and exchanged Simmons Jr., with the 2030 Knicks second round and the 2031 second round; in addition, team insiders revealed that the Celtics are expected to sell several main players.

According to salary expert Bobby Max, Simmons' current contract is only 27.7 million yuan left in the 2025-26 season, while Holiday has 2+1 contracts left and the total contract amount exceeds 104 million yuan. After this deal, the Celtics will save 40 million in luxury taxes in the new season, and the team's salary is only about 18 million left from the second-level tyrant line.

According to reporter Jared Wes, Holiday has received a lot of attention from the team, such as the Kings, Raptors, and Mavericks, have also extended olive branches to the Celtics, while the Trail Blazers have only recently joined the ranks of competitive teams. For this young team gradually approaching the playoffs, they are eager to gain Holiday's defensive experience and hope to challenge the playoff goals in the new season. What value can

Simmons Jr. bring to the Celtics?

The report stated that some senior Celtics officials have been very interested in Simmons since he entered the NBA, so after this deal, they will not only not choose to resell in a short period of time, but may very likely regard him as a long-term partner. The subsequent goal is mainly to observe whether he can adapt to the offensive system and evaluate the chemical effect between him and Tatum.

For Simmons, who is about to be 27 years old at the end of October this year, he can no longer be considered a young potential player. After being selected by the Trail Blazers with the 24th pick in the first round of the 2018 draft, his team role is becoming more and more important every year. From the sixth man behind Lillard and McCollum, to the backcourt partner who plays side by side with Lillard, he gradually took on the banner of team offensive after Lillard ran away.

2022-23 season was the first year that Simmons Jr. was promoted. In three years, he averaged 20.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 0.7 steals and 2.2 turnovers per game. He was able to score 3.3 three-pointers in each game, and his three-game shooting percentages were 43.4%, 37.4%, and 90.4%.

Based on the style of play, Simmons Jr. is a very typical double-season player with offense greater than defense. According to the data, although his offensive efficiency in the past three years has +1.7, his defensive efficiency is only -2.1. With the advantages of height and wingspan, combined with physical fitness, Simmons Jr. seems to have the potential to become a big lock in the backcourt defense, but considering that he has been in the NBA for seven years, such expected fantasies seem to be becoming increasingly unrealistic.

From the perspective of offensive choices, nearly half of Simmons' shots came from three-pointers, which is a perfect match for the Celtics and Mazula. Perhaps he can be imagined as Prichard, who has a higher upper limit and a stronger breakthrough explosive power. In short, although the Celtics sacrificed Holiday's defense, their firepower in the backcourt was greatly improved.

Referring to the shooting data of the 2024-25 season, Simmons Jr.'s most commonly selected shooting method is to shoot with a ball, with a shooting proportion of up to 44.5%; while the proportion of receiving jump shots is 27.6%, while the shooting percentage of receiving jump shots and holding jump shots is not much different, at 37.6% and 38.3% respectively.

But if we pull the conditions outside the three-point line, we can find out what the problem is about Simmons Jr. Although the catch jumper can maintain at 37.7%, the ball-holding jumper dropped directly to 34.7%. This data fluctuation is not difficult to understand. After Billups chose to hand over most of the ball to the defender, Simmons, the team's first offensive point, needed to play a lot of singles with the ball, which directly led to a significant increase in his proportion of ball-holding jump shots, but this is obviously not his most suitable offensive weapon.

Correspondingly, Mazula is a coach who pursues three-pointers extremely, but he also requires players to actively pass and find the most suitable shooting opportunities. Judging from the current situation, it is expected that this little defender will usher in a new offensive situation in Boston like Kemba Walker back then, and will also bring some new look to the Celtics, which has few defenders leading the attacking basket system in recent years.

After dealing with Holiday, the Celtics' next shot was targeted at Porzingis, who had a contract of 30.7 million in the remaining year. As of now, media updates, the Celtics have reached a three-party deal with the Nets and the Hawks:

Hawks get Posses and a second round; the Nets get Terence Mann and a 22nd pick from the Hawks in 2025; the Celtics get George Nyan and a second round pick.

After coming to the Celtics two years ago, Posses added the team's 5-out system, but unfortunately, even though the coaching team has taken care of enough in the regular season, it is still difficult to achieve complete health in the playoffs. It is no exaggeration to say that the Celtics' road to winning the championship last year was almost completed without the Pose God, and the defeat to the Knicks this year was also related to his injuries to some extent.

But fortunately, these problems no longer exist now. The Celtics have successfully lifted the trap. While reducing taxes, the Celtics did not even have a draft pick, and even got it back three second rounds. I have to admire the young coach's trading skills..

After Posses and Holiday, the Celtics' next sight should be on Sam Hauser, who is about to start a four-year, 45 million new contract. As players' salary and team salary caps continue to expand, Hauser is about to be promoted to an annual salary of tens of millions in the new season, but his contract number is even lower than that of the full middle class, and he is a cheap and easy-to-use shooting player.

From a personal point of view, the Celtics are now in a dilemma of insufficient depth of flanking rotation, and Hauser should not be the target of the young marshal's operation. As for the rumored Jaylen Brown, Derek White, etc., although they are not considered non-selling products for the team, compared with Boss and Holiday, these two have more expensive salaries, and the second is that the transaction price is not low, so the transaction probability is still not very high.

Of course, just like the evaluation of the young coach, if you don’t make a sound, you will make a big splash. This is Stevens’ style, who knows how to choose his next shot!