Aron Baynes left Wednesday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns due to a broken hand. How does this injury affect the Boston Celtics?
Boston Celtics center Aron Baynes suffered a broken hand in Wednesday night’s loss to the Phoenix Suns. According to The Athletic‘s Shams Charania, Baynes is expected to undergo surgery and is eyeing a return to the court in a month.
That return date looks to be late January, early February. The injuries continue to pile up for this team once again, but more importantly, it leaves the team with a gaping hole in its frontcourt.
Currently, Al Horford and Guerschon Yabusele are sidelined as well. Horford seems like he’s getting closer to returning, but is still day-to-day with left knee soreness. Yabusele, is battling a nasty ankle sprain that will keep him out of the lineup for a few more weeks.
To make things worse in Wednesday night’s loss to a hot Suns team, they were left without Marcus Morris because he too was battling knee soreness.
Until there are further updates on whether Horford and Morris are able to play Friday night against the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston is looking at having just Robert Williams and Daniel Theis in the frontcourt. The Celtics could also move Semi Ojeleye into a small-ball power forward slot, seeing as how he is a bigger forward at 6’7″ and 241 pounds.
Regardless, the Celtics are left very thin if Morris and Horford are unable to lace them up Friday against a really good Bucks team. Keith Smith of Yahoo! Sports suggests that Boston should consider signing another big on a two-way contract.
Boston has to consider using their open two-way spot to sign a big. Baynes out a month at least and not going to want to push Horford with the knee issues. Just need someone for depth purposes now.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) December 20, 2018
This would not be a bad thing for the team to look into. The current rules only allow teams to sign players who have had four years or less experience to a two-way contract. This sort of limits the team to non-veteran players, depending on which direction they would like to go.
There are a few options for the team to examine, though a lot of the players that were in the league at one point are playing somewhere internationally, which slims the list even more. The Celtics could look at signing Brandon McCoy, Zhou Qi or Isaac Haas.
McCoy is an intriguing option because he had a lot of potential leading up to the 2018 NBA Draft. Entering college at UNLV, he was slated as a five-star recruit and No. 16 on the ESPN’s top 100 recruits. He’s been waived by the Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans in his short career so far.
He’s playing in the G League for the Milwaukee Herd, where he’s seeing averages of 10.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. He may not have the experience needed, but he’s a low-risk, high-reward option if he shows out.
Every basketball fans was aware of Zhou Qi, despite not logging much action for the Houston Rockets. He has NBA experience and could be an option if the Celtics look to add a guy who has been around a winning culture.
Isaac Haas was a phenomenal player for the Purdue Boilermakers. He’s a big guy who shouldn’t have any issues hitting some of the bigger bodies in the NBA, standing in at 7’2″ and 295 pounds.
Haas went undrafted out of college and has spent his time in the G League with the Salt Lake City Stars. Boston could look to add him because he has the frame necessary to go out there and play bully ball. He comes with more experience than most players coming out of college since he played all four years at Purdue.
He hasn’t stood out in the G League yet, but he deserves a look because of his frame and the team’s ability to use him like they do with Baynes. Plus, his experience of playing four years in college should be valuable for Boston.
These are just three players the Celtics could look to add if Horford and Morris are not going to be 100 percent, or if the team wishes to add more depth while Baynes is out for the next month.