Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder were pitched as locker room-boosting free agent additions for the Boston Celtics to wrap up their offseason with a bow by Chowder and Champions' Cem Yolbulan.
Yolbulan pointed out how neither player is close to their primes anymore, and pitched a ceremonial role for both.
"Crowder is obviously not the player he was at that time," Yolbulan prefaced before saying, "He is 34 years old and has lost a few steps. He only appeared in 50 games for the Milwaukee Bucks last season, playing 23 minutes per game, averaging 6.2 points on 42.2% shooting from the field and 34.9% from three. He is not the strong defender he was in his heyday.
"However, he would be a break-in-case-of-emergency type of veteran for the Celtics, anyway. He would be a good locker-room presence as a mentor while still providing some low-level three-and-D play when needed."
"This would be a signing similar to the Jae Crowder one," Yolbulan said of the five-foot-nine messiah. "Isaiah Thomas can't really contribute to the Celtics on the court anymore but his veteran presence could be valuable for Boston."
Boston Celtics don't need former veterans to return for a locker room boost
The Celtics won the 2023-24 NBA Championship without any help from win-now veterans at the end of their bench. Youngsters Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser, under-30 journeyman Luke Kornet, and midseason acquisition Xavier Tillman Sr. did the trick in the second unit.
In fact, for years, Boston tried to get the job done with those kinds of veteran additions -- think Blake Griffin in 2022-23 and Jeff Teague and Tristan Thompson in 2020-21 -- but finally reached the mountaintop without such a well-traveled hand on their roster.
If anything, Oshae Brissett should be the type of signing the Cs make to round out their books this offseason. Or a Summer League player who looks capable of making immediate contributions to their Banner 19 ambitions.
Veteran additions like Thomas and Crowder may simply be unnecessary at this point in Boston's potential dynasty since the team is now comprised of winners who know what it takes to get to the pinnacle.
