Grading the Boston Celtics' 2015 NBA Free Agency

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Heading into free agency, the Boston Celtics were well-positioned to make some noise. Linked to notable free agents like LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love and Greg Monroe, it looked like the Celtics were finally going to change the long running narrative that the city of Boston was not a popular destination for prized free agents. Only those dreams quickly vanquished upon the start of free agency, and the Celtics had to resort to plan B.

The goal of free agency is to improve the team. When the Celtics season came to an end last year, it was clear what areas the team needed to improve upon — rebounding. The Celtics were crushed on the glass in the postseason, relinquishing countless second-shot opportunities. The Celtics needed a knock-down shooter and they need to improve on rim protection. The Celtics finished last in the NBA in blocked shots last year.

While the Celtics may not have made any franchise-altering moves, the moves they did make addressed at least one of those areas, and helped to improve the team overall.

When assessing their own free agents — the Celtics had two restricted and two unrestricted free agents — priority No. 1 was re-signing Jae Crowder. Crowder came over from the Dallas Mavericks in the trade for Rajon Rondo and posted modest averages of 9.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 24 minutes of play. A spark off the bench, Crowder’s energy and fearlessness on the defensive end made him a good fit in the Celtics’ system.

Crowder won Celtics nation over with his willingness to defend LeBron James in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Entering his first full year with the Celtics and Brad Stevens, Crowder should expect an increased role, as well as increased production.

In a less notable move, the Celtics also retained Jonas Jerebko. Jerebko hustles on both ends of the floor and provides some quality 3-point shooting. He’s another guy who will provide quality minutes off of the bench.

The Celtics didn’t just shore up their bench in free agency though, they also added two potential starters in Amir Johnson and David Lee.

With Brandon Bass an unrestricted free agent, the Celtics chose to replace him with Johnson. Johnson is a better version of Bass. Offensively, he’s an athletic big who can help stretch the defense with his ability to shoot. He can get up and down the floor and his athleticism helps him finish plays at the rim.

Though he’s not the prototypical rim protector, he is an adequate shot blocker and will significantly improve the Celtics defensively. On the glass, Johnson has good leaping ability and will upgrade the Celtics in that area as well. He averaged just over six rebounds per game during his time with the Toronto Raptors. Johnson’s athleticism alone provides an upgrade to the current collection of Celtics’ bigs.

Most recently, the Celtics acquired Lee from the Golden State Warriors. Though Lee’s role diminished last year with the Warriors, he showed he can still produce offensively during his limited time on the floor in the NBA Finals. He’s also only one year removed from averaging 18.5 points and 11.2 rebounds. Lee will be a great asset in the pick and roll and — if he stays the whole year — will likely be the Celtics’ leading rebounder at the end of it.

The one area the team didn’t really address was shooting. They failed to target a strong shooter, choosing to instead rely on the progression of young players like Marcus Smart and James Young, as well as first-round draft pick R.J. Hunter.

By no means was it a perfect free agency, but the bottom line is they were able to improve the team. The versatility of Lee and Johnson significantly improve the frontcourt. The Celtics have also kept their options open next year. Lee has one year remaining on his contract, and both Jerebko and Johnson signed two-year contracts. The second year is not guaranteed for either.

Though they couldn’t quite execute plan A, plan B is worthy of a B-.

Derek McVay is a NBA featured writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @mcvay34, or add him to your network on Google.

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