The 15

By Vinny Jace, Special to the15net dot com:

Jaylen Brown was traded.

Oh, and Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley are here too. Credit to the Celtics front office for not letting the internet distract them and for remembering there were legitimate holes on the roster that needed addressing. Let’s start with the less heralded signings. I prefer to get the least important information out of the way first.

Mike Conley, age 38 and entering his 20th season, recently signed a one-year veteran minimum deal worth $3.8 million. His career is basically Al Horford if he were a point guard: a player who has bounced around the league, appeared on a few deep playoff teams, and is largely respected as a veteran who can steady the ship on off nights. Of course, this is not the Mike Conley of the Grit and Grind Grizzlies. His minutes per game have dropped drastically due to age and injuries. His defense is not what it once was. One does worry that Conley, at this stage, could become a crutch for Joe Mazzulla to turn to when higher-upside, younger options are on the bench—namely Hugo Gonzalez and Baylor Scheierman. The rationale for why that might not happen is that those two are more shooting guards than true point guards. Beyond Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, there wasn’t a viable option to eat up minutes at the position.

The basic stats from his last season in Minnesota don’t look pretty. Playing 18 minutes a night, Conley averaged 4 points and 2 assists while shooting 33% from both the field and three-point line. His box-score plus-minus was -1.3. Conley is the type of player you sign when you need a veteran but can’t afford a superior option. My preferred role for him on this team is to eat up meaningful minutes so the stars don’t have to play as much and to serve as an on-court assistant coach. Now on to the free-agent big man the Celtics recently signed using the full mid-level exception.

Robinson, age 28 and fresh off a title with New York, is now a member of the Celtics on a three-year, $43.7 million deal. Prior to this signing, the Celtics’ big-man rotation was the team’s weakest position. Beyond Neemias Queta, they lacked rim protection and defense. Armed with the full MLE, Brad Stevens was able to sign Robinson away from the New York Knicks after owner James Dolan made it publicly known he did not want to enter the second apron to retain his backup center. Robinson was the lone homegrown success story for the Knicks this past season. Drafted in the second round in 2019, he battled injuries before emerging as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate and a key contributor who helped New York to their most successful run in a quarter-century.

Robinson ranks in the 99th percentile as a roll man in pick-and-roll actions, averaging 1.70 points per possession with an 86% scoring frequency. That’s very good. Queta is a fantastic roll man in his own right, and now Boston has another big who can do the same thing. The main concern with Robinson is his health—he has missed 138 games over the past three years. The Knicks took excellent care of him and got lucky to have him fully healthy and available for the playoffs the last two years, where he protected the rim at an elite level. He gave the Celtics fits in 2025 and guarded Victor Wembanyama better than most. Potentially, he is the ace the Celtics needed. He was the ace for the Knicks. It’s all about how his body holds up. There was bigger news today… we’ll talk about that later.

Vinny Jace is a special contributor to The15net.com.