After falling just short in the 2022 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, the Boston Celtics weren’t going to rest on their laurels. Instead, Brad Stevens was back to work quickly looking to upgrade any spot on the roster that he could.
The Celtics were lauded for the moves that they made this offseason to further upgrade their roster. They upgraded the backcourt, acquiring Malcolm Brogdon from the Indiana Pacers in exchange for a package of five players and a 2023 first-round draft picks.
Brogdon will complement Marcus Smart at the point guard position. While Payton Pritchard has the skills to be a rotation player, his lack of size is something that was exploited at times in the postseason and Brogdon will help change that. He has the size to defend both backcourt spots and some wing players.
The other move that Stevens made was signing Danilo Gallinari. Gallinari was traded to the San Antonio Spurs from the Atlanta Hawks earlier in the offseason, but he never made it there. The Spurs waived him almost immediately and once he cleared waivers, he opted to sign with the Celtics.
Gallinari was expected to provide the team with some more scoring from the frontcourt. It was something that they were lacking as consistent offensive production beyond Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown was sometimes difficult to come by. That was something Gallinari would help change.
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Unfortunately, he won’t have the opportunity to do so. While playing for Italy in preparation for EuroBasket, Gallinari injured his knee. While it was originally diagnosed as a meniscus injury that would keep him sidelined until November, with everything else in the knee stable and intact, the damage ended up being much worse.
Upon further evaluation, it was revealed that Gallinari had torn the ACL in his knee, the same one that he tore back in 2013. Unless his recovery is as fast as it can be, Gallinari is likely going to be sidelined for the duration of the 2022-23 season.
With that possibility looming, the Celtics need to figure out if there are other options to fill that spot on the roster. One player who should be on their list of targets is Carmelo Anthony.
Anthony would bring a lot of similarities to the table when it comes to what the Celtics were hoping to receive from Gallinari. Like Gallinari, Anthony can provide a scoring punch from the frontcourt.
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In the last few seasons, Anthony has embraced a role coming off the bench and excelled at it. He can heat up in an instant scoring the ball and is still very difficult to stop. Anthony’s game was never predicated on athleticism, as he found success with elite footwork and mechanics. That footwork has gone nowhere, as he can still get a basket in half-court situations against virtually any defender.
His 3-point shooting has also improved as his career has gone on. He has connected on at least 37.5 percent of his 3-point attempts in the last three seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers.
That is an area that the Celtics could use some help in, as they were an average 3-point shooting team last season. While they were eighth in makes and ninth in attempts, they were only 14th in percentage.
Scoring from the frontcourt is the biggest asset that Anthony would bring to Boston in place of Gallinari. During their postseason run, Al Horford was the only frontcourt player to average double-digit points per game; that is something Anthony would be able to do in his sleep even at this stage of his career.
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While he would be a good fit for Boston, the biggest question is whether or not he wants to be there. At this point, Anthony has only been linked to the Lakers and New York Knicks, with Kevin Durant pushing the Brooklyn Nets to sign him as well. Boston hasn’t been mentioned as a landing spot but they could be a match given the unfortunate injury to Gallinari.
