Godfather offer to Sacramento

[Michael Anthony]

Like many of you, in the hopes of improving this team in both the short and long term, I have posted a number of trades this offseason - some better than others. A Godfather offer, as you may have guessed, is one you cannot refuse. I think the C's can and should make such an offer to Sacramento this offseason.

Rondo, R. Allen, Walker, Giddens, T. Allen, and Scalabrine
for
Martin, Thompson, Nocioni, Garcia, Udrih and 2010 First Round Pick

Sacramento gets the two best players in the deal, and improves to 35 wins next season with the following lineup:

Rondo / Pick #31
R. Allen / Giddens
Greene / Walker
Hill / Scalabrine
Hawes / Thomas

More important is their 2010 offseason cap number - $13.7 million. That puts them in prime position to add two maximum contracts, an MLE contract, and a number of veteran minimum contracts to a young core of Rondo, Hill and Hawes in a warm weather city. Un.Real.
.........................................
Before getting into the lineup, I want to address the major step back we are taking at pointguard. Udrih is not as good as Rondo. Period. Not even close. He is also overpaid. That being said, he is a very capable outside shooter, he can advance the ball against presure, and he can cause havoc getting into the lane. As the second option on a terrible Sacramento team last year, he struggled. As the fourth option on a very good Celtics team he will perform exceptionally. Plus, we can buy a late first/early second round pick to draft back up like Collison to help defend quick pointguards. The 2009-2010 lineup looks like this:

Udrih / Collison - Pruitt
Martin / Garcia - House
Pierce / Nocioni
Garnett / Powe - Moore
Perkins / Thompson

Kevin Martin is a top 5 shooting guard in the NBA, and is very similar to a young Ray Allen. He has an excelent shot and lives at the freethrow line - pretty even swap today, much better over the next five years. Thompson is a very good young PF/C that rebounds, defends, and can knock down 12-15 footers. He goes a long way towards solving our problems as the first big off the bench. Garcia and Nocioni are versatile players that hustle on defense and spread the floor with very good outside shooting. They give Doc a ton of flexibility at the 2-3-4 positions. The number 1 pick will probably be Top 5 protected, but at 35 wins, we can expect is to yield a very productive lottery prospect next off-season.

In summary, Boston gets significantly younger at shooting guard and takes a step back in talent but not production at pountguard. We add a very promising young big (Our young core improves from Rondo & Perkins to Martin, Thompson, Perkins and 2010 Loto pick), and we have a Top 5 bench with a lot of shooting, defense and flexibility.

[PosImpos]

Ugh, never ever would Udrih be starting PG for this team.  We'd need to sign a FA pg instead if we did this. 

I like Kevin Martin, but I don't think SacTown is trading him.

[Who]

I think that's a good offer for Sacramento, and worth doing on their end.

However, I do not think Geoff Petrie would agree with that.

[Lucky17]

Why would Sacto trade 3 of their 4 best players and a top 5 pick--really their entire franchise--for cap space and Rondo?

The Maloofs laugh about this the entire flight from Sacto to Vegas.

[Who]

Why would Sacto trade 3 of their 4 best players and a top 5 pick--really their entire franchise--for cap space and Rondo?

The Maloofs laugh about this the entire flight from Sacto to Vegas.

I fully agree that Sacramento laugh this offer out of the building ... but I do think it's a good offer for them.

Nocioni, Garcia, and Udrih is the difference between being able to sign a max contract free agent or not. So the Kings are gaining a max contract free agent, Rajon Rondo, and loose change. The cost is Martin, Thompson and the 2010 pick (the rest are liabilities in my mind).

That looks like a fair exchange to me ... and frankly I think they have a much better chance at building a future contender with the C's offer than the Kings present state, because I think those contracts are going to cripple their efforts unless they hit home runs in the draft.

But yeah, Geoff Petrie will not do this deal.

[BballTim]

Why would Sacto trade 3 of their 4 best players and a top 5 pick--really their entire franchise--for cap space and Rondo?

The Maloofs laugh about this the entire flight from Sacto to Vegas.

I fully agree that Sacramento laugh this offer out of the building ... but I do think it's a good offer for them.

Nocioni, Garcia, and Udrih is the difference between being able to sign a max contract free agent or not. So the Kings are gaining a max contract free agent, Rajon Rondo, and loose change. The cost is Martin, Thompson and the 2010 pick (the rest are liabilities in my mind).

That looks like a fair exchange to me ... and frankly I think they have a much better chance at building a future contender with the C's offer than the Kings present state, because I think those contracts are going to cripple their efforts unless they hit home runs in the draft.

But yeah, Geoff Petrie will not do this deal.

  Clearing space to sign a max player doesn't guarantee the signing of a max player, unless you want to throw your money at whoever will take it.

[paintitgreen]

I agree with Who for the most part. However, I'm not sure any max contract free agent would choose to go to Sacramento, a small market team with no likelihood of success in the immediate future that is currently bleeding money, is in a bankrupt state likely to hike income taxes, and may be moving within the next few years. For that reason, I think they need to keep the draft avenue open and wouldn't give up a first round pick to do it.

A previous proposal on this board (Ray, Tony, Scal, any non-Rondo/Perk young players/draft picks we can throw in for Martin, Nocioni, Garcia and Udrih), while likely to be matched or bettered by another team, makes more sense for Sacto since they get the cash savings and cap space, keep Thompson and have the option of either building through the draft or going after free agents with their space. I could see why they wouldn't want to give up Martin, Thompson and a likely top-5 pick next year for Rondo and big time savings, if they could keep Thompson and the top-5 pick rather than get Rondo.

Us:
Rondo / Udrih
Martin / Garcia / House
Pierce / Nocioni / Garcia
Garnett / ?? / Nocioni
Perkins / ??

[Lucky17]

Add the #4 pick to the core of Martin, Hawes, and Thompson, with Garcia as the 6th man, and a major FA acquisition in the offseason before the 2010-11 season, and that's a solid, young starting five with room to grow. 

Use young chips like Ced Simmons, Ike Diogu, and Rashad McCants to stockpile additional picks and/or to grease the wheels on moving Udrih or Nocioni out of town.

It's easier to build on what Sacto has than to blow it up and pray for a FA windfall.

[Who]

Why would Sacto trade 3 of their 4 best players and a top 5 pick--really their entire franchise--for cap space and Rondo?

The Maloofs laugh about this the entire flight from Sacto to Vegas.

I fully agree that Sacramento laugh this offer out of the building ... but I do think it's a good offer for them.

Nocioni, Garcia, and Udrih is the difference between being able to sign a max contract free agent or not. So the Kings are gaining a max contract free agent, Rajon Rondo, and loose change. The cost is Martin, Thompson and the 2010 pick (the rest are liabilities in my mind).

That looks like a fair exchange to me ... and frankly I think they have a much better chance at building a future contender with the C's offer than the Kings present state, because I think those contracts are going to cripple their efforts unless they hit home runs in the draft.

But yeah, Geoff Petrie will not do this deal.

  Clearing space to sign a max player doesn't guarantee the signing of a max player, unless you want to throw your money at whoever will take it.

It does guarantee you get a player (say a borderline All-Star). It doesn't guarantee you get a great player (an MVP or All-Pro).

The question is whether that free agent is superior to Nocioni, Thompson, 2010 pick, Garcia and Udrih? And how likely you think that possibility is?

I like those odds so I like this trade.

Edit: I'd equate Martin to Rondo, why I left him out above. I think Rondo is the better player between the two, and the better prospect going forward.

[Who]

Add the #4 pick to the core of Martin, Hawes, and Thompson, with Garcia as the 6th man, and a major FA acquisition in the offseason before the 2010-11 season, and that's a solid, young starting five with room to grow. 

Use young chips like Ced Simmons, Ike Diogu, and Rashad McCants to stockpile additional picks and/or to grease the wheels on moving Udrih or Nocioni out of town.

It's easier to build on what Sacto has than to blow it up and pray for a FA windfall.

I disagree -- I think Sacramento are in a good place to build a good team (45-52 win team) ... but I think that team looks a million miles away from being a contender.

I think the Kings need to hit some runs in draft and find future stars, or superstars, in order to maneuver around those bad contracts.

[Donoghus]

A few others on this board have pointed it out but I might as well reiterate it: why would Sacramenton part with Martin, probably their best player, especially when he has a relatively "team-friendly" contract? 

[Lucky17]

Add the #4 pick to the core of Martin, Hawes, and Thompson, with Garcia as the 6th man, and a major FA acquisition in the offseason before the 2010-11 season, and that's a solid, young starting five with room to grow. 

Use young chips like Ced Simmons, Ike Diogu, and Rashad McCants to stockpile additional picks and/or to grease the wheels on moving Udrih or Nocioni out of town.

It's easier to build on what Sacto has than to blow it up and pray for a FA windfall.

I disagree -- I think Sacramento are in a good place to build a good team (45-52 win team) ... but I think that team looks a million miles away from being a contender.

I think the Kings need to hit some runs in draft and find future stars, or superstars, in order to maneuver around those bad contracts.

I agree they may not be a contender for a while. I envision them being a good team, but not a championship caliber one. They will need Hawes to approach his ceiling, and Thompson to continue to develop (had a great rookie season). And they need some luck. They got shafted by the lottery, so maybe they can catch some good karma down the road.

[Who]

The Kings assets:

• Rajon Rondo
• #4 pick from this year's draft
• Spencer Hawes
• Almost $40mil of cap space

That's a hugely attractive situation. Two hardest positions to fill, filled. Massive cap space, enough to sign two max contract players and another well paid role player, or three star level players. And, the #4 pick from this year's draft.

[BballTim]

Why would Sacto trade 3 of their 4 best players and a top 5 pick--really their entire franchise--for cap space and Rondo?

The Maloofs laugh about this the entire flight from Sacto to Vegas.

I fully agree that Sacramento laugh this offer out of the building ... but I do think it's a good offer for them.

Nocioni, Garcia, and Udrih is the difference between being able to sign a max contract free agent or not. So the Kings are gaining a max contract free agent, Rajon Rondo, and loose change. The cost is Martin, Thompson and the 2010 pick (the rest are liabilities in my mind).

That looks like a fair exchange to me ... and frankly I think they have a much better chance at building a future contender with the C's offer than the Kings present state, because I think those contracts are going to cripple their efforts unless they hit home runs in the draft.

But yeah, Geoff Petrie will not do this deal.

  Clearing space to sign a max player doesn't guarantee the signing of a max player, unless you want to throw your money at whoever will take it.

It does guarantee you get a player (say a borderline All-Star). It doesn't guarantee you get a great player (an MVP or All-Pro).

The question is whether that free agent is superior to Nocioni, Thompson, 2010 pick, Garcia and Udrih? And how likely you think that possibility is?

I like those odds so I like this trade.

Edit: I'd equate Martin to Rondo, why I left him out above. I think Rondo is the better player between the two, and the better prospect going forward.

  It also practically guarantees that you overpay for such a player.  He might be better than  that group but you lose a lot of flexibility with the signing.

  If they really wanted to up the odds of getting 1-2 superstars then they should trade away as many contracts as possible and then move to Las Vegas. Those nba players would be beating down the Maloof's doors to sign contracts.

[Donoghus]

The Kings assets:

• Rajon Rondo
• #4 pick from this year's draft
• Spencer Hawes
• Almost $40mil of cap space

That's a hugely attractive situation. Two hardest positions to fill, filled. Massive cap space, enough to sign two max contract players and another well paid role player, or three star level players. And, the #4 pick from this year's draft.

What about Rondo's looming extension?  The assumption there is that you extend Rondo and that's going to lower that $40 million in cap space.  I'm assuming the projected $40 million is coming before a Rondo extension.