2016 Boston Celtics Offseason Thread

They do have incentive to try to improve but by signing young potential break outs not veterans who won't be around by the time they have a chance to be good. Point guards are a different story though so I get signing a guy like Lin.

I'm just not understanding your rationale.  So you don't think they should sign free agents this year and that will make them bottom 3 in league.  So they can have cap space next year??   So what changes next year?  Top tier free agents will want to sign there for so unknown reason?  They know they can't get top tier guys so they will sign the best free agents they can this year and next year.  All while hoping their young players develop.  It's the best and really only play they have.

I really don't understand how you're taking this from what I said. They should sign guys with upside, but they shouldn't throw massive overpays at marginal players, which sounds like what you're suggesting they should do, because they have no meetings with any high level free agents. If they just use all their cap space to get, I don't know, Bazemore at $18-$20m for 4 years, ryan anderson for 4 years at $20m-ish a year on top of Lin, they're pretty much capped out. Does that make them a playoff team? Hell no. Does it restrict their options next year? Yes, obviously. They're way better off going after cheaper deals for guys with upside and using their cap space as an asset to facilitate other teams making deals and taking back assets, so that next year, they can sell free agents on the idea that they'd be playing in Brooklyn for a relatively well-managed team that has the cap space to sign 3 max deals, rather than "hey, come play with Brook Lopez, Kent Bazemore and Jeremy Lin! We're shortsighted and don't know how to run a basketball team!"


They're not going anywhere next year, it's really obvious. They have no shot to be a top 8 team in the East, so why clog their cap long term? Spend to the salary floor, go above it if they can get good deals for players with upside, but who are they going to get that makes them any better than any teams other than Philly (who they probably will already be better than) and maybe LA (but probably not?) I could see the Kings slipping, but the Wolves are going to take a step forward, Bledsoe is healthy and the Suns added Chriss and Bender, LA is a better free agent draw and has Ingram, Randle, and Russell, the Knicks have added some bad looking deals but there's no way they won't be better than Brooklyn next year short of everyone getting hurt, the Nuggets have some good young talent, the Pelicans will have Davis back and won 50+ games 2 years ago...need I go on? Who are they going to be better than? Who are they going to sign that is anything more than a decent bench player on an good team? I can't find any realistic answer to that question 

They have like $55m in space THIS YEAR, and the cap is going to hit somewhere over $110m next year, so Lopez and his $20m shouldn't stop them from adding 2-3 guys close to the max, and Lopez might be dealt. Are you kidding me? Jeremy Lin signing means they're trying to compete? They just traded the only productive player on their team from last year aside from Lopez for the 20th overall pick, they're clearly not trying to compete. I never said they shouldn't sign free agents. What I said was, they aren't going to be able to sign anyone who moves the needle, so they shouldn't throw over pays at marginal players for long term deals because that limits their flexibility. This is not complicated. And Lebron going to Cleveland is not a legitimate example for any other player, because there were obviously a multitude of other factors at work there, and even if it were, it would be much more an example in my favor- Cleveland was a mess for years before he signed because they threw dumb contracts at aging guys like antawn jamison and I forget the other guys who even played for those teams. And that is factually inaccurate- golden state needs to shed salary to pursue Durant. OKC would need to to go after Horford, which is their stated intention. The Celtics might want to clear salary to pursue free agents, and will probably have to if they have any success pursuing their top targets. Atlanta might if it wants to get Horford and Howard (also their stated plan). Houston always does weird things in free agency. Someone always needs to dump a bad contract and is usually willing to pay some kind of price to do it. 

You're still not paying attention to what I'm saying. I'm not claiming that they should be tanking- but they do need to rebuild, and the only team that has been able to go from top-3 pick to playoff contender in recent memory signed Lebron James. That's not a blueprint they can follow, so they need to be smart with cap space. Maybe everyone has it this year, but the number of teams with the flexibility to add 2 max guys next year is going to be limited with the smaller jump in cap and the market being crazy this year. The Nets choices, as I see them, are to either overpay for role players that will make them slightly better in the short term but solve no long term problems and limit future flexibility, or to find bargains where they can, add some good locker room guys and young players, but not tie up long term cap space with guys who might take them from one of the three worst teams to one of the 5 or 6 worst, which is their absolute ceiling this season. You still haven't told me who they're going to be better than or who they're going to sign, and all I've read online is Lin, Jennings and Bazemore, maybe Rondo. If that's it, then they're screwed even if they sign everyone of them. That would leave them with no flexibility and a bunch of mediocre players. You're argument is, they want to be better so they'll be better. That's not how it works. They may improve marginally, but sacrificing longer term flexibility in order to be marginally better this year is really dumb, and every other team near the bottom of the league has more promising young talent on their roster (some way more) and most have just as much cap space as Brooklyn, so when you find a team that actually has a high probability of being worse than Brooklyn next year outside of Philly let me know. I don't know that they'll have any chance at good free agents next year, but I do know that they'll have more of a chance if they can sell the idea that they could sign at least 2 top level guys, which they won't be able to do if they use $40m+ in cap space for the next 3-4 years on Jeremy Lin, Kent Bazemore and Brandon Jennings or similar players. They need the young guys they have to improve and they need to maintain flexibility, find a respected coach and stay the course, not splurge on mediocre players. That's my argument, and if you disagree, fine but please don't put words in my mouth like "they should be trying to sign players that will make them a bottom 3 team in the league," or tell me they're going to move up the standings significantly without demonstrating a path to do it beyond telling me they're going to sign a bunch of mediocre free agents and somehow that will trump the free agents and significant edge in present talent that all of the other teams near the top of last season's lottery have/will be able to add

Al Jefferson to Pacers 3 years 30 million no opt outs. That might be best contract given out this offseason.

4/75 for ET in Portland

Wow, that's a lot more than I expected.

Seems like they found out Parsons went to Memphis and panicked to fill the spot. Doesn't seem like he'd fit next to Lillard and Mcollum either and that's starter money

Why not? Aren't both those guys God shooters? His slashing and mid ranged game should fit well and he may have developed into a good corner three guy.

But that's a lot of money

If I were the Nets I would have been all over Curry at the start of free agency. Made him feel wanted and offered him a deal to try to steal him for a few years at low money. Told him he would get heavy minutes to show what he can do and try to hit a home run.

Buy some Celtic tickets.