The Boston Celtics enter the offseason as NBA champions. The core of the team is built to run it back and Brad Stevens doesn’t want to make many changes to the top of the roster, but he’ll need to add pieces around them this offseason.

It’s going to start feeling complicated for the Celtics to continue building as a second apron team, but they’ve already prepared themselves for Jaylen Brown’s supermax, Jayson Tatum’s supermax, and to re-sign Derrick White up to his own max-contract of $127 million.

Keep in mind that Boston already re-signed Kristaps Porzingis, Jure Holiday, and Payton Pritchard within the season, solidifying the core of this team for the next few years despite it being a hefty price to pay.

Stevens has been keeping a close eye on the future of this team and with consideration to their financial situation in the second apron, he understands that building through the draft is important and he’s hoping to have landed a few players for the future since he’s become GM.

In the last two drafts, Boston has taken three versatile forwards- Jordan Walsh (2023), Baylor Scheierman (2024), and Anton Watson (2024).

Beyond the wing position, the Celtics will need to enhance the center position for now and the future. Porzingis can easily be injured and will likely be more limited moving forward, and Al Horford who’s been amazing but he’s nearing retirement.

Stevens brought back Kornet for another run in 2023-24, found Neemias Queta last summer and then added Xavier Tillman at the trade deadline to add depth behind Porzingis and Horford.

Kornet and Tillman are both expected to hit unrestricted free agency but the Celtics have the Bird Rights to both of them and can likely retain at least one of them.

Queta is a restricted free agent, giving Boston the option to match any offer he receives on the market.

All three players offer a different concept to the team and it’ll come down to who plays the system well enough to help the team. I think if there’s a hierarchy, it would be: Tillman, Queta, Kornet.

Tillman is only 25-years-old and could realistically be the replacement for Horford in a few years. He plays a similar way and offers the Celtics versatility and spacing on both ends of the court.

Queta offers a strong dominant presence in the paint. He can block shots, rebound on both ends, and gives energy to the game. They don’t have a player like him at the position.

Boston doesn’t have the spacing they like to play with when Kornet is on the court because he doesn’t shoot 3-pointers anymore.

If Boston is looking to add a veteran player to the frontcourt, it should be Daniel Theis for a third stint with the Celtics. He plays a similar a way to Horford, who was also brought back by Stevens when he got the job.

Theis can play in the paint or space the floor from behind the arc. He averaged 6.3 points on 53.6 percent shooting from the field and 37.1 percent on 3-pointers in 59 games with the Los Angeles Clippers last season.

It’s worth mentioning that Stevens looked into adding Theis at the deadline last season when he was working his way out of Indiana but it ultimately didn’t work out.

If the Celtics decide not to bring back Kornet, they should look into signing Theis, who has close ties with the core group of the Celtics and was once part of the core in Boston.

Theis started his career being drafted by the Celtics and was coached by Stevens. He was the first to initiate the “seal block”, which gave Tatum the confidence needed to drive more to the hoop.

Theis would likely be open to rejoining the Celtics. There will be plenty of minutes to go around the position with Porzingis missing the start of the season recovering from offseason surgery and Horford needing some running mates alongside him.

It’s worth mentioning that Theis is part of the ownership group that owns the soccer team in Rhode Island, the Rhode Island FC, so being in Boston would make him much closer to his team in Pawtucket.

With Boston being in the financial situation it’s in, they can only offer the veteran minimum in free agency. So with Theis entering his eighth year, he’d be eligible to make a little less than $3 million, per Spotrac’s NBA salary breakdown.

Adding Theis would give Boston depth to the position with three players that can play in a similar way with Horford, Tillman, and Theis on the roster for next season. It also allows the Celtics to get by smoothly in Porzingis’ absence to start the season.

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