As Celtics Strive for Banner 18, Brad Stevens Seeks Players Who Will Build Off Foundation Laid Last Year

The Celtics know they have to improve but won't blindly add talent that doesn't fit within their construct.

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The Celtics pulled off one of the most dramatic in-season turnarounds in NBA history, going from below .500, not even qualified for the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, to two wins from winning the NBA title.

Now, they have to figure out how to get over that hump. They're already over the luxury tax for next season, and it would be astonishing if that changes. That hamstrings what they can accomplish in free agency. Also, the Derrick White acquisition leaves Boston without a first-round pick entering Thursday's draft. In a 60 player draft, barring a trade, the Celtics aren't on the clock until the No. 53 overall selection.

But Boston has a bevy of trade exceptions and the $6.3 taxpayer mid-level exception at its disposal. Not all of the former will get utilized. But in particular, the $17.1 million trade exception created in the sign-and-trade that sent Evan Fournier to the Knicks, a TPE the Celtics opted to preserve when acquiring White at the trade deadline, will help Boston's efforts to bolster its roster.

While discussing the role the Celtics' traded player exceptions will have in how they retool the roster, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens expressed, "we have a bunch of them. You balance the cost and what does the player you add bring vs. what does he take away. But we're going through the whole list to find guys who fill what we need and how they'll fit in."

Stevens also conveyed how crucial it is for the Celtics to find players who mesh with their identity and fill needed roles for this team.

"It's not about blindly acquiring talent. It's about fitting a team together. We did a pretty good job of that this year. I think we have an ability to take off running next season, because now we have a foundation and understand who we are as a team."

It helps that as the Celtics look to add to their roster, Stevens says, "We've got the ok (from ownership) to do whatever we need to do."

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