Celtics officially sign Green, Zeller, Brown, Jackson, Bentil

The Celtics made their summer moves official today.

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have signed free agent guard/forward Gerald Green, re-signed center Tyler Zeller and signed 2016 NBA draft picks forward Jaylen Brown, guard Demetrius Jackson and forward Ben Bentil. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.

So what does this mean? Does it mean that trades aren’t possible now? Not exactly. It closes the book on some trade flexibility, but trades are still possible with existing players and future picks.

Draft picks can’t be traded for at least 30 days after they are signed, so Jaylen Brown and the 2nd rounders appear to be here for a while. Also, Tyler Zeller can’t be traded until December 15th at the earliest. He’s still a very movable salary at the trade deadline, and of course he can still be a solid backup center.

My guess is that this closes the door on a Russell Westbrook trade, since they no longer will have the cap space to trade-and-extend him. In theory they could trade for him without an extension, but they would risk him walking away in free agency next summer. So the Celtics wouldn’t want to give up what it would take to get him unless the Thunder are really desperate and give him away for cheap (which they won’t).

It would still be possible to trade for Blake Griffin if matching salaries are sent out. So that’s something you can keep tabs on if you like.

If nothing else happens, the Celtics have already added an All-Star center to the squad that won 48 games this past season. They subtracted Evan Turner and Jared Sullinger and added a few rookies. They still have options headed into the season and draft picks stored up for future use and/or trades. This is a good position to be in. Officially.