Boston doesn't want Buddy Hield?! Dude is a stud. Well. Whatever. They only have ten thousand picks left....
Bender is YEARS away. He's a major boom or bust prospect. If they can land Butler they are contenders. They have the luxury of having virtual clones in Bradley and Smart. Both have a lot of value.
We already have $25M in cap (Because we all know Roberts isn't coming back) Renouncing Meyers+Harkless gives us $40M. Vonleh+Aminu would give us another $10M.
He also traded Minnesota's pick back to them. He had been eyeing KG before that and backed Minnesota into a corner. Don't forget that he gained a year of flexibility swapping Raef's contract for Theo's. Made the trade with Minnesota alot easier. We ended up with Roy, who gave us four good years but we paid the max for it longer. I am guessing there was no one happier to see Roy's downfall and us having to amnesty him than Ainge. He has the league evaluating the rules for trading draft rights after his robbery of the Nets and got huge value out of Rondo and Jeff Green. Not sure what else you are expecting out of an GM. As for shopping the #3, I think now is a really bad time to be doing so. Think they would be better off making the pick as well as the Nets pick next year. Conserve cap space till next year when the free agent crop is better.
If they can make deals that will convince Durant to sign with them, there is no possible better time to trade the pick and spend their cap space.
Yeah, North Eugene High School, multi-sport high school all American, major league level baseball player, NBA champion. The only thing that matters though is he had a short stint with the Blazers. So I'll give him a pass.
I can easily see this ending with either Butler or Okafor/Noel trade. They'll have to add one of Smart or Bradley to the Butler deal.
The rumor that's been floating around the past two weeks is #3 + Amir Johnson + Marcus Smart for Butler. By landing Butler, Smart becomes expendable and they now have Bradley, Butler and Jae Crowder, three of the best perimeter defenders in the league. If I'm CHI, I hold out for more, but if Ainge pulls this off and lands one of Durant or Horford, BOS will be pretty fucking good, If he can somehow land all three of Durant, Butler and Horford, they are legitimate title contenders that match up very well against GSW. Remember, BOS handed GSW their first home loss of the season and took them to overtime in BOS earlier in the year. They played GSW well with their current roster due to their tough perimeter defense. They add the 6'7" Butler (3 time 2nd team all defense) and Horford (great pick and roll defender and solid post defender) to the mix, plus a go to scorer in Durant. It gives BOS the versatility to go either big, or small. Their big lineup of Bradley, Butler, Crowder, Durant and Horford would be insane defensively and not lack for scoring, either. Assuming, we're not in the running for Durant, I'd love to see him go east. WAS would be my first choice but I'd be fine with him going to BOS, but I'm still holding out hope Olshey can convince Horford we're the best fit for him. BNM
And that's my point. You'd have to dump Vonleh+Aminu just to have enough space, which is what Houston did to clear enough space to sign Bosh. They thought they had him locked up and then he backed out at the last minute.
Which really made my day. Morey swung for the fences and gutted his roster only to have Bosh say "No thanks Daryl, I may be from Texas, but I don't want to have anything to do with your shitty, disfunctional team". BNM
We have the ability to make some moves without losing anyone, and deciding to renounce based on commitments, but trading guys to create cap space definitely makes me nervous. It's a pretty big risk.
Yeah, Morey foolishly jettisoned key members of his rotation for nothing and then was left standing at the altar with his pants down and his dick in his hand. Not sure how that guy still has his job, but I'm glad he does. Thankfully, Neil isn't dumb enough to leave himself exposed like that. BNM
Which further cements my opinion that the Spurs knew that LMA was coming, and that the whole thing was just some dog and pony show. They traded away a few key guys in order to make the space before he even committed officially.
I don't think it's doable from cap perspective unless they renounce everyone and are left with about 4 players. I agree this would possibly be the best team in the league but it's a complete pipedream.
They can't renounce any of the 9 players that have guaranteed contracts, but they can trade them. Which is why they are looking to package a deal for Butler, that includes the draft pick and at least two other players. It is a pipe dream, but on paper, they have the ability and assets to make it happen, but that would require cooperation from one, or more, other teams, plus Durant and Horford would both need to walk away from larger contracts from their current teams and choose the Celtics over all other potential suitors. So yeah, it's a huge long shot. Even if they only get Butler, he's a huge upgrade. And, assuming the trade isn't too lopsided salary wise, they could still have the cap space to go after some big free agents next summer. BNM
