Boston Celtics 2016-17 Season Discussion

Another exciting year for the team while the younger kids develop and gain valuable playoff experience with big games.... that's potentially more valuable than a late first round pick..

Sure but with IT, Bradley, Crowder, Smart, Rozier, Brown, Fultz and Hayward (including him bc the discussion is based on how you get the money to sign him) there just wouldn't be enough minutes to go around. You can say "Okay, bye" to Rozier but that doesn't move the needle.

Last year, the minutes breakdown was

IT - 34
AB - 33
JC = 32
MS - 31
JB - 17
TR - 17
GG - 11

And those are in different numbers of games (AB = 55, GG = 47) so some of the individual avgs get inflated as they play more time during injury

Add Fultz and Hayward. Would imagine Hayward gets JC's minutes so that's easy. JC moves to the bench. Say you give him Rozier's minutes plus half of Green's to be around the 20MPG mark. Same with JB (give him the other half and he's around 20). So that leaves Fultz and Rozier to share 17 mpg?

Again, you want to say goodbye to Rozier? Give Fultz his 17. Okay, but you still need more money likely for Hayward.

Meanwhile, I keep hearing Bradley would be the most coveted in the trade market. Is that true? What's the return and, as UMASS asks, does that come with a cap number (meaning you have to find more space for GH).

Point is, it won't be an easy exercise. Cap Space, Minutes, Roster Balance will all come into play. Not just who it is the better player.

That's not quite enough as you'll likely need 10 to get Hayward. Need another 3 and Rozier doesn't cover that.

Already accounted for Green's minutes. Anways the details are less important. The larger point remains that Thomas, Bradley and Smart will all be due significant raises. I'm still going to be shocked if the long-term play is re-sign all 3. I know WE would argue that Smart is odd man but is that really the best play when you consider more than just "who is better".

Bradley's status, perceived value (if you believe the likes of Mannix who says he'd garner the most interest) contrasted with his injury history makes him more of a candidate than you might otherwise think. That's all.

Since there are a lot's of ways to move salary for Hayward, maybe the more interesting question of the offseason is who is the starting big next to Al? Can't see Zizic or Yabu stepping in right away (and, if they are quality backups at best, we should all be happy).

I know they like JaMychal Green at the deadline but how do they get the RFA while maintaining the room to sign GH (and gotta believe Memphis would match most offers). How much would Taj Gibson cost?

Who else would be of interest? Consistent secondary scoring was certainly a concern but we all agree that rebounding is a need to?

www.celticsblog.com/2017/3/3/14792150/boston-celtics-max-free-agent-2017

Just a refresher on the cap situation. If he takes $300,000 less we can keep Bradley and Crowder. Then use them to get a big, maybe a guy like Favors as they would need a SF. That makes more sense then getting more draft picks for Crowder or Bradley. We already have too many, we need more Vets to help us win now. We just would need to balance the roster. It would mean no Yabu though.

Given what they had been saying after he came to the US, I was assuming Yabu to Boston was a lock (of course, what is said by teams should be taken with a grain of salt).

One nitpick of that article is that it mentions the empty roster spot charge but doesn't connect it with the idea that, because of it and Jackson's guarantee, it actually saves money against the cap to keep him. A small but important detail (not that it renders the article useless by any means).

I would trust Mannix's sources 100 times more when it comes to Celts news. I'm not even saying this to throw shade at Ford - Mannix is just very reputable.

There are several other local guys who've said for months the Celts front office loves Fultz, so this is a relatively pointless debate.

It's happening again . . .

It better be Fultz or I'm leaving the bandwagon. He's the best chance this franchise has of getting that top player, with all due respect to Butler and Hayward etc... George I'm on the fence with he's pretty damn special but... still wouldn't trade the one for him.

If you draft Fultz, you shouldn't be keeping around Smart and Bradley both so you should make a decision. If they don't want to comment longterm to Avery then he should be dealt for picks and cap space... assuming Hayward is going to sign here... Rozier should be kept as the 4th guard/developmental guy... he could still take a leap.

So what are you trading Smart for? It makes sense, but can you get anything for him is the question.

Also Brown getting 27 minutes while Crowder gets 20 seems a little off. Unless Brown really makes a big jump next year.

Let's play a scenario where Danny cannot sign Hayward or another max guy... what should he do?

I think you guys know where I stand as far as trading the picks go... I wouldn't trade either Nets pick at this point... I am not giving up the opportunity to potentially draft my own big 3 for a guy like Jimmy Butler (I watched him not compete in that Bulls series - thank you no thank you).

Think about it:

Fultz is compared to Westbrook and Harden

Brown is like a young Butler

Then next years draft is a deep one again but with 4/5 players instead of guards... how perfect is that? Seriously, we can't draw it up any more perfectly. Don't pass on that chance.

As far as free agency goes at that point...

If they cut Zeller and Mickey, and renounce the rights to all FA but KO, I think they should have about 20m in cap space and 3 open roster spots. They might bring back a guy like Amir on a 2 year deal with a team option on the second year... maybe they can get McGee away from Memphis with a big contract offer... maybe Greg Monroe's value will be lower and the Celtics will find value in his defense (pretty good last year) and rebounding combined with his good low post scoring... he can't shoot tho so that lack of range isn't what the Celtics do... second unit guy might be different... or maybe they can trade for Paul George on a one year rental without giving up a Nets pick. Kelly, Smart, our 2018 first and the Clippers or Memphis first. Pacers new regime may want young players and a fresh start.