Five Reports, One Real Signing: Grading Boston's Offseason…

By the Celtics Nightly Desk · Tuesday, September 29

Of five items logged since September 11, one report carried real substance: Jake Fischer's tip on Devin Carter's interest, tagged at 75 confidence, closed with a signed deal three days later. The other four rumors and transactions, tagged from 29 to 38 confidence, describe players who are no longer with the team or Celtics-specific details no report has yet supplied.

The Carter tip is the rumor that actually graded out.

Fischer flagged interest on September 11 at 75 confidence, the highest mark logged this month, and that report carries a confirmed tag. A second item, titled Devin Carter To Sign With Celtics, followed on September 14 at just 32 confidence and is still logged open — yet Carter's name now appears among Boston's training camp players, corroboration the tag alone doesn't show. Confidence numbers and outcomes do not always move together.

Grill and Morgan were never real rumors to begin with.

Caleb Grill's training camp deal, tagged 38 confidence, and Hank Morgan's signing, tagged 29, both landed in the same stretch and both are already moot. Grill was off the roster within a day of his deal, and Morgan was signed and waived in the same transaction. Low confidence tags, in these two cases, matched outcomes that never amounted to anything.

The September 24 roundup is a placeholder, not a report.

A roundup titled Minor Transactions grouped Boston with six other teams that day and carries a confirmed tag, but nothing in the entry names a player, a contract or a date specific to the Celtics. Confirmed, here, means the roundup ran, not that anything happened in Boston.

The cap sheet leaves room for names, not for deals.

Payroll sits at $203.9M, above the $200.4M tax threshold and closing on an apron limit near $209.0M. That gap is under $6M — not enough room to make a 29-to-38-confidence report worth taking as anything more than a camp tryout.

Did the Celtics actually sign Devin Carter?

The signing report itself is still logged open at 32 confidence, but Carter's name is now among Boston's training camp players, and a separate, confirmed report had flagged Boston's interest three days earlier.

Is Caleb Grill still with the Celtics?

No. His training camp deal, tagged 38 confidence, lasted about a day; Grill is off the roster and not among the players listed for camp.

By the Celtics Nightly Desk, written from the club's data and the reports on file, with every name and number checked against them. How the desks work.