Boston Celtics 2014 Offseason Thread

My conspiracy theory on Embiid. Cleveland wants to do the trade with Philly for Young and the #3 pick but they want Embiid and are afraid Milwaukee takes him at #2. Meanwhile, Tellum doesn't want his client in Milwaukee so the 2 conspire to force Milwaukee to either take Embiid without a meeting (and new concerns over a new injury) or pass and take Exum or Parker.

While Embiid would certainly want to go #1, Cleveland may be saying that they are trading the pick either way (ie you're not going #1 bc Philly wants Wiggins). So they say to Tellum/Embiid you can have #2 pick in Milwaukee or #3 pick in Cleveland (and try to convince them that Bron is coming back).

I know it's crazy but hey, it's that time of year. Clearly, I'm getting anxious about this offseason and want it to get going.

I actually thought the same thing about the embiid injury, but then again, I just saw Chad ford say that Bennett's finally in shape, so maybe they don't want another tweener forward, especially given the fact that bennett is likely going to be a better shooter than Thad young, especially from deep. Still, given that gilbert wants to win now, it might make sense to drop down a couple spots, get a quality player in return, and then pick up parker or wiggins, or maybe even exum, who might be more interesting to them than we might imagine, given that kyrie is a score-first pg, and they've had some issues moving the ball around. Exum and waiters would be a killer sub backcourt, and exam and kyrie is pretty attractive on the surface too

On the Love front, I think, given that the "win now" options for Minny give them almost no chance to actually win now, given the strength and depth of the West, they go with our offer at present. I'm also curious if we can put protections on the 1st rounders we got from Brooklyn- depending on the leverage we have/the other offers rumored to be on the table for the wolves, I'd like to put like a top-2 protection on the future Nets pick, or see if we could just send them the better pick between ours and Brooklyn's in 2016, or whenever it is we have the right to swap picks. Overall, I think some combo of olynyk, sully, 3 picks, and maybe a sign-and-trade of bradley gets it done. Probably 2 of those 3 players and some cap filler thrown in if necessary. But by the sound of it, the warriors won't budge on klay thompson, they'd be selling low on Barnes at this stage, and lee's not particularly impressive, the nuggets pieces could make them contend for the 8 seed out west, but without much chance of getting it, and chicago's offering some solid players, but taj gibson probably just about at his ceiling, butler will probably never be an all star, and how much are you going to get out of 16 and 19? If it were me, I'd take sully, 6, 17, and the clips 1st next year over that deal, never mind if we throw in the brooklyn pick. And, per Bill simmons and some others, the bulls are all in on melo right now and I don't think they have the cap space to do both, although amnestying boozer and shipping off some contracts might change the picture a little, I'm not too familiar with their payroll situation

I just saw the it's a fracture foot for Embiid and will have surgery on Friday.... I don't think he would fracture his foot intentionally to avoid Milwaukee

I think now that it's a foot fracture the chances he slides to 6 grow.

I don't think he gets a max extension, or even comes all that close. He can shoot and play defense, but he's a ball stopper, not a great athlete, and not great at creating his own shot. Probably someone who would thrive with rubio, and I could potentially see the TWolves taking a thompson, barnes, lee and a 1st offer, which probably allows them to contend for one of the lower seeds in the west next year and for a few years afterwards, but I still think it's very up in the air, cause the celtics can offer a package with way more upside, just from the picks. I don't think thompson or barnes will ever be more than borderline all stars at the very best for a few seasons, and that would be pretty optimistic in Barnes' case. Sullinger has a few areas it's not hard to imagine him making improvements in (jump shot, conditioning, defense, passing) while for thompson, I think he's much closer to having maxed out his natural talent. Also worth noting that sully put up a better PER than thompson this year, and his per 40 minute numbers are extremely good, he only played about 28 mpg this year. 

I'd put it at 33%. He is not going 1-3 so then it comes to which team takes the risk. I say the Magic take that risk as they keep rebuilding

If he gets the Celtics they'll definitely, no questions asked take him.

As for who I hope for obviously Embiid and I'd be ok with any of the guys you mention.

With the other picks I'm hoping for Nik Staukas (pipe dream I know) Zach Lavine, PJ Harrison formerly of UNC but I haven't dug too deep into the draft so maybe other guys have a better idea.

Ford's latest mock has the C's selecting Embiid and Saric. If we don't get Love and our only route is to keep our picks/collect assets, then this is probably the best scenario on draft night as far as total value goes. Who's ready for tankapalooza 2.0?

A couple other C's related bits:

a) Bulpett reported that the C's latest offer for Love is #6, #17, Olynyk and one of Boston's future picks. If that's true. I agree with Saunders. That's not very appealing (If I'm him, that is). I would think Boston would have to upgrade Olynyk to Sully and their own pick (Love, alone, puts that pick in the teens and Minny, correctly, probably envisions that Boston wouldn't stop there) to either one of Brooklyn's or you'd have to add another pick to it.

b) According to CSNNE.com, Boston is one of a few teams that will be able to get a look at Embiid's medicals following his surgery. This supports the rumor last week (after reports of the injury surfaced) that if Embiid couldn't go at the top of the draft, his agent would try and steer him to Boston or LA.

c) Embiid and Saric would be interesting. Gotta believe you trade Rondo if that's what happens.

And then try to find a word that:

a) Means lose on purpose
b) Rhymes with Mudiay

Steve Kyler (Basketball Insiders) said as much in his chat (that the big hold up is not Klay Thompson but that Minny doesn't want Lee and GS doesn't want Martin).

I guess I'm higher on Sully than Olynyk (but can see others feeling the opposite is true).

Utah supposedly offering Favors, Burks and #5 for #1 and Jarrett Jack. Jazz split on including Burks.

Jazz clearly want Parker.

I should probably stop posting these rumors but . . .

Stein is reporting that Detroit and Sacramento are discussing a deal involving Josh Smith (possibly For Thompson and Williams with Terry being another name mentioned).

I think we can all guess what Sacramento is hoping for here.

Their spacing would be ideal. They'd have a starting 5 (or 4 + whomever plays the 2 if McLemore is part of a Rondo deal) that is capable of missing shots from all over the court.