Marcus Smart: Corona Free as of two days ago. Cleared by Mass Dept of Health. Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and prayers and I’m doing the same for everyone that’s been effected by this. Stay safe and stay together- apart! Much love!
Boston Celtics Rumors
Chris Grenham: Tacko Fall told @60Minutes he “wants to play a leadership role in cleaning up the same sports pipeline he traveled.” Added he plans to continue traveling back to Africa each offseason to talk to players and their families about the U.S. recruitment process.
Gordon Hayward opting in?
Around the league, front-office executives say they expect that Hayward will opt-in. “It’s too much money to pass up,” one general manager told Heavy.com. “He could get a longer deal if that is what he really wants. But I don’t think the Celtics want to give it to him, they have a lot of young guys to pay and the starting (salary) number on whatever the contract is will not be close to $34 million. He can opt in this year and then take a big contract next year. When you look at what he has done since his injury, he has only gotten better. He could get better next year and be ready for the summer of 2021.”
Another front-office executive, from the Western Conference, told Heavy.com that even before the coronavirus forced the NBA into a suspended season, he expected that free-agent conditions will give Hayward an easy decision. The only X-factor is whether Hayward has an agreement in place with the Celtics to opt-out and sign a longer deal. “There wasn’t going to be a whole lot of free-agent money on the market this summer no matter what,” he said. “That was always going to make it difficult to figure out how to opt-out and get paid. He could do that and re-sign with the Celtics and there may already be a handshake deal for something like that. I don’t know for sure but it would not surprise me.
Brad Stevens said when his Boston Celtics meet via conference call, basketball matters are not the top priority. “We’re like the rest of the world,″ the 43-year-old Celtics coach said during a conference call with the media Friday morning. “Basketball has taken a far back seat. I think it’s more important right now we’re a community of co-workers and a community of friends and people that care about each other that get on line and make sure we’re all doing OK. Everyone’s checking in every day individually. I just don’t think it’s appropriate right now to be hammering basketball with our guys.″
Marcus Smart is the lone member of the Celtics whose test came back positive, but according to Stevens, he has shown no symptoms. Smart announced he had the coronavirus on March 19. “I’m just happy that when he tested positive he continued to experience no symptoms and has felt great ever since,″ said Stevens. “We landed from Milwaukee 15 days ago now and he’s been feeling good. I’ve checked in with him as everybody else has very regularly. I’ve seen him on conference calls a few times.
