Boston Celtics 2014 Offseason Thread

The stretch provision sounds nice and all but you're then clogging part of your cap for 3 seasons instead of 1. Danny probably cannot make enough moves next year to make the team a Championship team. Maybe he can, he did it once, but that's unlikely.

It's possible the Celtics land Love via free agency, but you need to stop trying to pretend Boston is "desirable" to NBA free agents. It's not, never has been. You can come up with the laundry list of reasons why it should be, but it's all nonsense until it actually becomes the reality it never has been. We can talk ourselves into Love being different because he's a white guy, but all we're doing is talking ourselves into something that's never been the case before. There's a first for everything but we shouldn't talk about it like it's likely to happen.

Cauley Stein is a junior who's going to lose playing time to the large number of other really good big men on that Kentucky team- its not unrealistic to think that, in a draft heavy on bigs, he would fall to the late 1st. Deandre Jordan is a free agent after next season on a capped out team- they might be able to fit a new deal for him into that team, but I'm really not sure about it. Obviously I'm being optimistic, but that's what we should all be doing I think- it's clear Danny is doing everything he can to make a big deal and accelerate the process- doesn't mean he's going to force anything.

You need to stop thinking that all NBA free agents are looking for the same thing. They're not. Kevin Love isn't Melo, with a wife on reality TV pushing him to a big market. He's not from NY or LA- and he's clearly considering Boston. That has nothing to do with him being white, in my view- its cause he came here for a weekend after making it clear that he wants out of Minnesota, despite having no real reason to be here. Thats the reason I think he's different- although (and I could be wrong here) didn't KG waive a no trade to come to Boston and play with Pierce? That's really not too different from coming here in free agency
And I haven't presented a laundry list of reasons Boston is "desirable" to all free agents, or even a real list of reasons it would be desirable to Love. The point is, Boston is not Cleveland, or Minny, or Detroit. It's a major city, with notoriously devoted fans and one of the 2 most storied franchises in NBA history- its not undesirable, which you seem to be dead set on denying.

Look, I don't really care which path the C's take to rebuilding, the draft or free agency or trades- i'm just constructing a scenario, which I think is plausible, for accelerating that process. I'd put the likelihood of something similar happening somewhere between 5-10%, but it's definitely not impossible. We have the pieces to do all of these things- they may not be likely, but they're certainly possible, and if I were Ainge, that's the scenario I'm trying to make happen, because there aren't any other ways that make sense to build a title contender before Rondo leaves and we have to effectively start from scratch again, albeit with a ton of picks. I'm not saying this is going to happen, but stop telling me it won't, because neither you nor me nor anyone outside of Kevin Love can say that with any certainty until about a year from now. If there's anything I've said that's factually incorrect and you know it, go ahead and tell me, I'd be glad to know it, but otherwise, let me dream, and stop telling me how unlikely it is, cause I know already (except Cauley-Stein falling- did you watch Kentucky this year/have you looked at their incoming recruits? he's losing a lot of minutes this year no matter what, and I doubt he'd go any higher than mid-1st next year anyway unless he adds a jumper and a post game, and that seems unlikely, cause he's shown no signs so far)

I'm back on board the slow build train (mostly, bc I think Love is unattainable, not bc I'm worried about the fit). I would hold onto Rondo to start the season (Rondo/Bradley to start; Smart/Thornton to back up). We've seen a healthy Rondo playing without the Big 3 be a 20ppg scorer for reasonable stretches. If he can build up some value early (pre-deadline ideally since his value may decrease again as you get closer to his free agency).

In the meantime, I'd look for takers for Bogan's salary (with the latter, maybe it's someone looking to get a little more cap room for a complementary player next to their star - get another asset in return). Trading Bass would also free up playing time for Zeller/Sully/KO/ and maybe another big (unless you're going with Vitor).

Draft Picks are great but our "big move" may not happen until some of these young guys step up and become better assets.

Neither Jordan nor Dieng offered the sort of production in their first year that you're suggesting (Jordan played in 53 games and averaged 14.5 mpg; Dieng played in 60 and averaged 13.6 mpg). The only reason Jordan got even that much playing time was that the 08-09 Clippers were one of the worst teams in the league, while Dieng only started getting major playing time when the Timberwolves gave up on the season. The better comp would be someone like Steven Adams, who offered significant production for a playoff contender in his rookie year. But he's the exception, not the rule, and you'd still need a starting-caliber center to complement him, and not a lot of money to spend on one.

I do think they'd need a wing scorer, but a guy like Jeff Green or Afflalo or Deng would be fine enough to fit that role. He doesn't need to be a focal point on offense, just good enough to create some shots when the defense is tilted away from him.

LeBron back to Cleveland. Per SI (directly from LJ's words)

On to the next series of trying to get hints from every word (or lack of word) . . . He didn't say boo about Andrew Wiggins.

Let the next level of speculation begin . . .

By the way, what a terrific way of announcing the move. That article was wonderfully written, and I believed every word of it. You really do get the sense that his connection with the area is genuine and powerful.

Well, Chris Bosh just got $118 million and Jordan freakin' Hill got $9 mil/year.

Suddenly, those bad Celtics contracts look a little more tradable...

One under the radar story is the Nets owner being determined to get the teams net worth up. To do so they have to stay under the tax line in 2015-2016. This jeans they will likely suck that year considering who they are committed to salary wise. Celtics own their 2016 first unprotected. Say hello to a very high pick.

www.spotrac.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/cap/2015/

The have 74M committed to 7 players. Almost 69 of it goes to Lopez (good and young but cannot stay healthy), Williams (will be a shell of himself if he's not already), Joe Johnson (old and in steep decline), Jarrett Jack (was awful last year is older and will suck in 2). The other 3 guys are young with so so upside and non guaranteed contracts. They won't have room to maneuver and won't have picks to trade to add players if they could find a taker for one of those contracts.

I'm treating that 2016 Nets pick like a giant piece of gold if I'm Danny.

He's never been a full-time interior player, but he did show a willingness to play inside when his team needed it in the 2012 and 2013 playoffs. In 2012, his rebounding numbers against Boston and OKC once he came back from injury were one of the underrated storylines of the Heat's first championship.

I kinda like Cleveland. I'll be rooting for them over the Bulls, OKC, GS and Spurs for sure. But what happened with Chris Bosh and Houston? That would've been pretty cool to see Howard, Bosh and Harden all on the same team out there.