Ray Felton and Earl Watson are on the market

[Michael Anthony]

Diaw is a playmaker comfortable starting or off the bench at three positions. Teams pay up for versatility. Bell is a Larry Brown type of player.

TA, Scal and House only have value as cap relief at this point.

I'm sorry, when Diaw was traded from PHX, he was useless and had a bad contract. Of course, Brown is making the most of him, on a bad team.

Don't underestimate someone like Tony Allen. Even being the mental midget he is, with some run he would probably put up better stats than he is here.

Diaw was shooting 57% when he was traded, and is currently averaging 15-7-5 for the 'cats. Charlotte is 5.6 points per 100 possesions bettern when he is on the court. He was traded because he was redundant with Barnes in the Phoenix lineup.

[Lucky17]

Well if Diop is on the market (and healthy), let's go after him.  Petrkins for Diop straight up.  I'd do that deal.

I wouldn't even consider it.  Perkins is better defensively, and better offensively, has a MUCH better contract, and already knows the C's system.

All true. But Perkins has now missed how many games due to that bum shoulder? I'm wondering what the odds are that Perkins' current contract will be his last.

[Brickowski]

No, Perkins isn't.  Look at the per 48 numbers. Diop's contract is longer, but that may be an advantage, depending on what Perkins and his agent want in 2011.

Diop is taller and has a jump shot. He sees the ball less in the Dallas offense, because Nowitzki isn't nearly the passer that Garnett is.

[housecall]

Well if Diop is on the market (and healthy), let's go after him.  Petrkins for Diop straight up.  I'd do that deal.

I wouldn't even consider it.  Perkins is better defensively, and better offensively, has a MUCH better contract, and already knows the C's system.

All true. But Perkins has now missed how many games due to that bum shoulder? I'm wondering what the odds are that Perkins' current contract will be his last.

This is where i have a problem with D.Ainge and owners,knowing before we went into this season that Perk was coming off a operation on the shoulder,and did nothing to help the team by finding a decent backup C in the off season.

[Finkelskyhook]

Plus his defense is much better than House's.

Really?  I'm a little lost there.  I remember this strange fascination with Watson years ago when he was on a decent team.  He wasn't much more than a journeyman then.  Their PGs get lit up about every game they've played.  House is very underrated defensively and as a plus, a solid rebounder for his size.  Watson may be a slightly better ballhandler....But you think they sag off Rondo and dare him to shoot???  Oh my!!!!

So we should try to get a PG who really can't shoot to back up a PG who can't shoot? (but somehow hits half his shots in spite of that)

I don't know how you improve your team by going after a PG who can't break the starting lineup on the worst team in the NBA.

[Who]

Well if Diop is on the market (and healthy), let's go after him.  Petrkins for Diop straight up.  I'd do that deal.

I wouldn't even consider it.  Perkins is better defensively, and better offensively, has a MUCH better contract, and already knows the C's system.

I disagree about the defense, I think Diop is the superior defender by a considerable margin.

However, Diop's offense is horrendous, he's a complete liability out there because he can't finish well enough in the paint (45-49% FG% on interior shots), can't make a short jumpshot, has poor hands and is a poor passer. His defender has no reason to stick with him and is allowed to clog up the lane and prevent other's effectiveness. I'm not convinced team's can get away with playing him 30 minutes a night. It's a shame because I think he's a DpoY candidate if he was able to stay on the court for enough minutes.

Now if there was any team with enough offensive weapons to make Diop work out offensively .... that may be Boston. I think the Big Three give that large an advantage over what most teams could do to help an offensively challenged player like Diop.

My first thoughts went straight to the contracts and I like what Brickowski said.

Diop's contract is longer, but that may be an advantage, depending on what Perkins and his agent want in 2011.

I agree, I think Diop's contract is an advantage because he's locked down longer. Perkins' contract demands are something to be wary of .... he's vastly underpaid right now and will have an excellent reputation by the time he's due for an extension.

I said this in another trade regarding the Big Three, but it's also true for Rondo+Perk, and that's that I wouldn't break up the core of this team unless it's a home run deal. I don't think this is that. I think a Diop-Perk swap deal would be very risky and I also think it's very likely to hurt the Celtics. As much as I love Diop's defense, I don't think his offense is good enough to replace Perk's minutes.

[jdpapa3]

More of the McHale/Ainge buddybuddy talk. Where was the better offer out there for KG? Not to mention, Boston is in the other conference. How do intelligent people continue to spew this nonsense? He got Al Jefferson out of the deal. Al Jefferson is a franchise PF and is still very young.

Ray Felton is expiring and thus is very attainable. I don't think we have the pieces that they want though. They are a delusional franchise that thinks they are close to contending or something. Why the heck did they get Larry Brown???

[Brickowski]

I'm wary of Perkins' shoulder problems.  They may be chronic. Once a shoulder is injured, it rarely goes back to 100%.  Just ask those who have had rotator cuff surgery (I'm one of them).

Another guy I'd seriously consider for Perkins is Brendan Haywood, although the Celtics would have to throw in a prospect to get that done.

[Mr October]

I said this in another trade regarding the Big Three, but it's also true for Rondo+Perk, and that's that I wouldn't break up the core of this team unless it's a home run deal. I don't think this is that. I think a Diop-Perk swap deal would be very risky and I also think it's very likely to hurt the Celtics. As much as I love Diop's defense, I don't think his offense is good enough to replace Perk's minutes.

I agree 100%. The core (starting 5) should not be broken up, unless it's a home run deal.

Where we need improvement is on the bench. And since we dont have the pieces for a trade, lets pickup 2 cut veterans in about a month or so.

The C's passed on Mutombo a few weeks ago. There must be something cooking on the cut front.... kinda like when the C's kept holding out until Cassell was bought out.

[Chris]

I said this in another trade regarding the Big Three, but it's also true for Rondo+Perk, and that's that I wouldn't break up the core of this team unless it's a home run deal. I don't think this is that. I think a Diop-Perk swap deal would be very risky and I also think it's very likely to hurt the Celtics. As much as I love Diop's defense, I don't think his offense is good enough to replace Perk's minutes.

I agree 100%. The core (starting 5) should not be broken up, unless it's a home run deal.

Where we need improvement is on the bench. And since we dont have the pieces for a trade, lets pickup 2 cut veterans in about a month or so.

The C's passed on Mutombo a few weeks ago. There must be something cooking on the cut front.... kinda like when the C's kept holding out until Cassell was bought out.

Let me pile on, and say I agree as well.  I know Perkins and Rondo (Perkins especially) might not be the best players in the world, but they both have tremendous chemistry with the other starters, and that is not easy to build. 

Whether Diop, or anyone else is a better defender or not, isn't tremendously relevant.  What is relevant is that Perk is an absolutely crucial piece of the C's defensive system.  Because of his great knowlege of the system, and shocking mobility for a man his size, he allows Garnett (and others, but especially Garnett) to take chances, and together they make the defense run. 

Rondo has also built tremendous chemistry with Garnett, and Ray.  He seems to always know where they are, and puts the ball right where they need it.  He is still very inconsistent, but I really doubt they would be able to get enough value for him, to make up for what he means to this team.

[Finkelskyhook]

It's hard to gauge Diop's or Haywood's offense relative to Perk's.  Neither has a 4 who is as unselfish as Garnett, commands Garnett's attention, and has Garnett's passing ability.  Perk's offense is mainly layups and dunks.  He has better hands than Diop.  But Garnett's ability to draw attention and get Diop the ball in the right place would compensate for a lot of that.

Having said that,  I don't know that I'd want to move Perk.  The shoulder may be a risk.  But the improvement Perk shows every season is getting predictable.  Diop and Haywood have shown no such improvement.

Neither has Watson.

Ray Felton is expiring and thus is very attainable. I don't think we have the pieces that they want though. They are a delusional franchise that thinks they are close to contending or something. Why the heck did they get Larry Brown???

The got Larry Brown to show the kids how to get to contendership.  Brown is still one of the best coaches in the game.