It's been a while since I've posted but now is as good as a time as any. The C's
are in a bad spot. How do we fix them? Whats the best move?
Every end of the season and trade deadline for the last three years we've heard
the phrase, "blow it up." Well it sounds attractive and exciting but I ask the
same question I ask when teams fire their coach…are you making moves to make
moves or are you really improving your team? In the Celtic's case, blowing it up
makes no sense at all. The reason for this is, what's the end game? KG and Paul
Pierce make too much money for other teams to pay, the Celtics over pay just a
bit because of what they mean to the locker room and the city. However, any
contender would want KG, but at what price? This Blake Griffin nonsense isn't
even worth responding too.
In the case of Paul Pierce I say you keep him. The guy can still score the
basketball, but but he can't be your number one option. I say keep him because
of the loyalty factor, what he's done for the organization, and at a certain
point, a guy earns the right to stick with his team. (similar to Kobe in LA)
Having said that, I don't have to pay him. His contract calls for him to make 15
million next season, with only 5 million guaranteed. That 15 million really is
more 40 million because of the tax, and the Celtic's being repeat offenders.
Paul Pierce certainly isn't worth 40 million so I get the justification in
wanting to rid yourself of that massive bill. However, getting rid of Paul
Pierce gives you no more cap room to make any moves, you're really just shedding
15 million in cap room, 25 million in taxes, and getting the C's under the tax
line going into the 2014-15 season which brings the penalty back to a dollar for
dollar, as opposed to being over the tax for a third season and paying a two for
one rate on the tax….still with me? The tax shit can be confusing, but it breaks
down like this;
its a dollar for dollar tax
the second consecutive year you break the tax it goes to a two dollar per one
dollar you're over
and the third year year it goes to three to one.
Get it? Good.
So this ties Danny Ainge's hands big time here. So how do we improve the team.
Lets look at the options.
OPTION 1.
Well you can look at the glass half full, and say Rondo and Sully come back.
That improves the team greatly. Jason Terry will be more comfortable in the 6th
man roll. Jeff Green gets better by the day. Avery Bradley will actually get to
go through training camp. This is just the natural growth of the team and you
can honestly say given all that, your team will be much better. They are about a
5 seed with that roster unless Jeff Green becomes a super star, which is
doubtful. I think this makes the most sense, it's the lead risky, and this team
has proven that when healthy, in the playoffs, they can do some wild shit.
OPTION 2.
Make some minor trades. Courtney Lee makes about 5 million bucks. This makes him
very tradable although I'm not sure who would want him. I'f I'm Danny Ainge, I'm
gonna call up my good friend Rob who I just endorsed for the GM of the Suns and
say listen Rob, I'm gonna give you Courtney Lee, my first round pick for Beasly
and Kendell Marshall. WHY? Well I'll tell you. Michael Beasly can ball his ass
off. He can really do it all. His problem is off the court and in his head. The
Celtics are the perfect place for this type of player. If Doc and KG can get
this kid in line he can be huge for us now and down the road. It makes him the
backup to Jeff Green, and we can move Paul Pierce over to the 2 spot which takes
him off of the best athletes in the league. It;s a smart move all around.
Kendall Marshall is a poor mans Rondo. He's a passing wizard who can't shoot.
This gives us two young players who help for the future. What did we lose? Lee,
and a mid level pick in the worst draft in recent memory.
OPTION 3.
Trade Avery Bradley. I know, I love him too and defensively we wont get much
better. But His stock is high around the league and I don't see it getting any
higher. The guy will never be a scoring threat, and we need offense. He's
undersized at the 2 guard spot, and has proven he can't play point guard. So
what you have here is a guy who has value, but we can turn him into something
more. What we can turn him into remains to be seen. I'd live to see them bring
in some offense. Maybe make a trade with the Utah Jazz and try and get a
Millsap, Favors, or Jefferson. Any of those three guys will do. To make the
money match we'd need to throw in Lee, a draft pick will probably be needed to
make the deal, and possibly Fab Melo.
OPTION 4.
Try and get Cousins. To do this you'll have to wait for the dust to settle with
the Kings and where they'll be playing and who owns them. But once that happens,
they need just about everything. A package of Avery Bradley and Jeff Green would
be the minimum needed to get a player like this. It's a super risky move because
Demarcus Cousins is an asshole. Again, the Doc Rivers, KG, effect always applies
with the assholes of the league so thats not the worry, my worry is you trade
offense for defense and we lose the depth at the wing spot we really need. But
if this is an option, I say do it. The Celtics need to address the rebounding
issues badly and this would do it for sure. This move would require us to
acquire another wing player to play behind Paul, but thats not as hard to find
as you may think.
OPTION 5.
Trade Paul Pierce. Now, when people hear this they think Clippers. I'm not sure
that makes sense because I really don't want Eric Bledso. He's a baller, but
he's not Rondo. He need to be a starter somewhere else. In fact The Kings would
be a perfect spot for him so don't be surprised to see the Clippers make a run
at Cousins as well. Paul Pierce would need to bring back young players that can
help right now. This is the only way it works. Again, Utah comes to mind with a
Derrick Favors. But really it's a contender that would want Pierce and I just
don't see many of those around the league who have young assets besides Golden
State. With them, I don't see them parting with Harrison Barnes or Klay
Thompson, but both would do the trick. But assuming they would I'd take Barns
and Bogut for Pierce.
OPTION 6
Blow it up and try and get Andrew Wigins. Stupid idea and would never work.
OPTION 7
Trade Rondo. I think this would be so stupid. But it's always getting brought up
so lets discuss it First you have to ask yourself who replaces him at the PG
spot? Maybe with this thought you do the Pierce for Bledso and Jordan trade, so
now you have a PG. But who does Rondo bring back. First of all, Rondo is coming
off an ACL injury , so his stock is low. Secondly, I don't see a team that needs
that type of PG that has what we'd want in return. Maybe if the Celtics could
get Al Horford and Josh Smith from ATL for Rondo and a package of bull shit, you
could give that a shot. The problem is I think the Celtics value Rondo higher
than the rest of the league because of how he's grown here. When he needs to be
the number 1 scoring option I'm not sure how he'll be. I'm not sure this option
would work out in their favor at all. If you trade Rondo, you might as well
trade KG and Pierce too.
My vote is do some minor deals and keep the core in tact. If you can pull off a
heist of DeMarcus Cousins, you pull the trigger on that for sure.
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