Boston Celtics: Should Danny Ainge Sign Ty Lawson?

In the past, Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics were interested in Ty Lawson. He was recently bought out by the Houston Rockets and the Celtics have an open roster spot, so should the team sign Lawson?

The Boston Celtics have an open roster spot in the wake of buying out David Lee on Feb. 19. Joe Johnson could have been a possibility to fill the last spot for Boston, but in the end he chose to go to the Miami Heat. The most recently bought out player that could be on the Celtics’ radar is Ty Lawson, who was waived by the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.

In the past, General Manager Danny Ainge has shown interest in the point guard; for Lawson’s career he is averaging 13.3 points, 6.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game, but this year he is having his worst year as a pro.

For the Rockets, he averaged 5.8 points and 3.4 assists per game and shot just 38.2 percent from the field. All of his numbers on the Rockets are career-lows and he still averaged 22.2 minutes per game, so why would any team want to take a risk on the 28-year-old Lawson?

He has off-the-court issues as well to add to his recent struggles on the court, but some team is going to take a risk on signing Lawson.

The Celtics have a pretty crowded backcourt that includes Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, Evan Turner, plus rookies R.J. Hunter and Terry Rozier who do not see the floor very often. So would there be time for Lawson to play if the Celtics took a risk with Lawson?

Lawson’s Value

Lawson’s numbers have been on the decline in recent years, but he still showed that he can be helpful as a point guard during his last year with the Denver Nuggets during the 2014-15 season. He averaged 15.2 points and 9.6 assists per game for a pretty bad Nuggets team.

As previously stated, he has had his off-the-court issues, which is certainly something that teams should take into account, but he can still help out numerous NBA teams as a backup point guard and maybe even a starting point guard.

Now, the Celtics have showed interest in the past for Lawson, but that was at a time before the Celtics really showed that they can compete with some of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics were interested in Lawson when the team did not have Thomas, who has became their star point guard.

They also drafted Rozier in the 2015 NBA Draft to add to a very crowded backcourt.

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If the Celtics wanted Lawson and he agreed to signing a minimum contract with Boston, he would not get much playing time. All of the players that play meaningful minutes for the Celtics in the backcourt would still play over Lawson like Thomas, Bradley, Turner, and Smart.

He would become a second backup point guard behind Smart, and Lawson is not very good on defense, so he would not play ahead of Smart.

Boston should not fill their last roster spot with Lawson because there is no need to take a risk on a player when he is not even going to get time to play. They have plenty of weapons in their backcourt and Lawson does not really add three-point shooting (36.6 career three-point shooter), which is something the Celtics could use.

Overall

Lawson still can help out teams in the NBA with his ability to create his own shot and because he is a gifted passer, but the Celtics do not need him on their roster. Boston is currently one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and they do not need a player like Lawson at all, due to how loaded Boston’s backcourt is.

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At this time last year, the Celtics probably would have given up decent assets and players for Lawson, now the team should not even sign him to a minimum contract.

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