Boston Celtics sign Gabriel

BOSTON – The Boston Celtics announced today that the team has signed center Wenyen Gabriel. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Gabriel (6-9, 205) has played 145 career games (eight starts) over four NBA seasons (2019-23) with the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers, and Sacramento Kings. Last season, Gabriel made 68 appearances (two starts) with the Lakers and averaged 5.5 points and 4.2 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game, while posting a career-best performance. is 59.6%.
Gabriel also played three seasons in the G League and played with the Stockton Kings (2018-2020) and Wisconsin Herd (2021-22), affiliates of the Milwaukee Bucks. He played in 57 career games (21 starts) and averaged 12.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.4 blocks in 22.3 minutes per game.

The Khartoum, Sudan native played two college seasons at Kentucky (2016-2018), where he led the Wildcats to back-to-back SEC tournament championships. He appeared in 75 career games and averaged 5.7 points and 5.1 rebounds in 20.3 minutes per game. During his sophomore season, he led the Wildcats with 40 blocked shots and was second on the team with 42 three-pointers before declaring for the 2018 NBA Draft. Gabriel attended Trinity High School in Manchester, New Hampshire and finished his high school career at Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts

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I posted my season preview post at 9:
:00 AM EST on Sunday. About 3 hours later it became obsolete. Or as some say, OBE (overcoming events). I usually wait until the end of the season to review my preview, but a lot has changed in just one move. So let’s try again, shall we?
Last year’s record:
57-25 (lost in ECF)
Key losses:
Marcus Smart, Robert Williams III, Grant Williams, Malcolm Brogdon, Mike Muscala, Danilo Gallinari
Key additions:
Jrue Holiday , Kristaps Porzingis , Oshae Brissett, Dalano Banton, Jordan Walsh, Lamar Stevens
1. What big moves were made this offseason?

I thought I covered the emotional aspect of saying goodbye to Marcus Smart in my other preview. So I’ll take a moment to say a heartfelt goodbye to Robert Williams III and a big thank you to Malcolm Brogdon, who was as good as we could have asked of him in Boston. . I will really miss cheering on Rob and truly wish him all the best in Portland (this will be an exciting young team to watch going forward).
That said, I’m excited about the Jrue Holiday era in Boston. I can’t help but think this deal wouldn’t have happened if Danny Ainge was at the helm. It’s not that Ainge can’t make meaningful moves. I just feel like he still maintains his view of value over opportunity cost. What the Celtics gave up for Jrue may have been a bit excessive. But sometimes it’s worth paying extra to equip your team at the right time.

opportunity to compete for the championship.
I’m now thinking about the season as a whole instead of arranging the individual moves in sequential order. Brad Stevens replaces Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon with Jrue Holiday (and maybe a few more minutes for Payton Pritchard). I really like Marcus, he’s an upgrade at the starting point and a reasonable downgrade at the save point. Additionally, Stevens released Robert Williams and Grant Williams and replaced them with Kristaps Porzingis. Another consolidation move increases the talent level of the starting position but at the cost of depth.
Both moves make the team more top-heavy in talent and less deep in the 10-12 man rotation. There’s risk there and probably creates a need to add more depth at some point this year. But the upside is extremely high.
Note that there were draft picks acquired (via the Smart trade and draft night trades) and sent out (via the Jrue trade). I won’t say that they are a wash because there are a lot of valuation calculations that my feeble brain can’t process at this moment. But suffice it to say, Brad Stevens often sees first-round picks as a way to land veteran talent and got his money’s worth this summer (and has even more in the bag if he needs to make more movements).
2. What is the group’s greatest strength?

The funny thing is that the Celtics created a lot of questions by trading Marcus Smart. Questions about leadership, ball handling, playstyle and of course defense. With all due respect to Marcus, I think most would consider Holiday better in all of these factors (or at least close enough to call it a draw).
The Celtics can now be a versatile and highly transitioning defense, capable of attacking opposing offenses in a myriad of different ways. They have intelligent bowlers all over the field who can break down opposition defenses and make the right decisions with the ball.
There’s a lot to like here, especially with the top six of Holiday, White, Brown, Tatum, Porzingis and Horford. Expect to see more of this group in the playoffs, and time will tell which additional players will take on larger roles this year (likely Pritchard and Hauser, but another person will definitely be a pleasant surprise).