Thank You Josh Smith!

[tunafish]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=8xy4reu

along with us sending a 1st round pick gets it done (maybe)

[LarBrd33]

I guess JO + Bass + a 1st round pick (ours) should do.

Josh and Rondo are good friends, from Oak Hill.

Can this be of some importance in the deal?

In the NBA of today...when friends want to play together...they get there!

see: Miami, James, Wade, Bosh

The difference was, those guys were all free agents.  Smith is under contract, and while I do think he has some say in where he goes (agents are powerful), Atlanta is not going to give the C's a discount for him.

I really think people are undervaluing Smith here.  His value is really not a whole lot different from Rondos.  They are both guys with flaws that hold them back from being superstars, but are still very impactful, and they put people in seats.  

I think the only thing giving Rondo significantly more value than Smith is that Rondo is signed for a couple years longer, so there is less of a rental aspect.  Otherwise, they are very comparable.  And would you trade Rondo for an expiring contract (and a guy who plays the same position as arguably your best player), a decent rotation player who is a couple month rental, and a mid to late first round pick (getting later by the day, after you trade them your borderline all star).

If the C's are not giving up Rondo, I think the price STARTS at Ray, Bass, and 2 picks, PLUS, the C's would have to take back Williams' contract as well.  And I am not even sure that would get it done.

Atlanta is under no obligation to trade Smith, so if they don't get back a lot of value, they won't trade him (again, same thing as Rondo).

Part of the reason Smith wants out of Atlanta is that exact fact... he's under valued.  Unless you're a fantasy basketball player, that is... in which case Smith is pure gold.

But outside of the world of fantasy basketball he's in a no-mans land over there in Atlanta.  NObody pays attention to him in that market and nobody cares.  It must irk a player of that kind of talent to see some scrub like Jeremy Lin put up 11 good games and suddenly every clothing shop in Honolulu has "LIN NYC" shirts in the window (my experience last week).  He must think to himself, "man if only I played in a market that people gave a crap about".  Meanwhile, he's a little irked at his team for not promoting him as an allstar.   Here's a guy who Puts up 18 points, 9 rebounds, a couple blocks and a couple steals... probably would be a defensive player of the year contender if he played on a team that mattered... and nobody gives a crap.  You gotta imagine if Rondo had been stuck playing in Atlanta for the past 5 years we probably wouldn't even think of him as a top 15 PG.  Without hall-of-famers taking his passes we'd probably (incorrectly or not) see him as being on Kyle Lowry's level or something.

[Chris]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=8xy4reu

along with us sending a 1st round pick gets it done (maybe)

I'm not sure it gets it done, but I don't think they hang up the phone.  

That gives them a very intriguing team for the next couple of years with Pierce and Johnson on the perimeter.  But, they still need a center, and I have a feeling they might hold out for that center if they do trade Smith.  

[Who]

Honestly I think offering them Pierce and a 1st rounder makes the most sense. 

I'm a fan of this idea. Sets up the Celtics nicely to pursue Dwight Howard in the off-season. Two young stars in Rajon Rondo and Josh Smith to combine with.

Not sure but I think the team would still have some money left over to add another piece or some role players too.

[2short]

Not that I'd want Smith anywhere but with us BUT if I'm chicago I'm putting together my boozer package idea to get smith.

[Change]

trade the whole team if you have Danny including Rondo.

A big who can't shoot>>>>>PG who can't shoot

[LarBrd33]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=8xy4reu

along with us sending a 1st round pick gets it done (maybe)

yeah... if you do that, you might want to move Ray too for whatever piece you can get, because it's going to hurt our cap flexibility a bit being locked into Marvin Williams as well... We'd have 21 mil committed to Smith and Williams as opposed to 16 mil committed to Pierce.  So, I guess that would still leave us with roughly 20 mil in cap space (saying goodbye to Ray, KG and Jeff Green) to bring in another impact guy. Not a terrible idea.

Marvin wants a trade too, supposedly.  And he'd end up starting here by default if that trade went down.  He's 25... not a bad player.  I'd have to consider that trade.

Short term:  PG - Rondo, SG - Ray, SF - Marvin, PF - Smith, C - KG

Long term (next year), you have Rondo, Marvin and Smith under contract with 20 mil in cap space.

[tunafish]

to get it done we could also throw in JJJ:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6mvq97d

if we did manage to get dwight this summer our starting lineup would be:

PG: Rondo
SG: Ray (if he reups with us on a favorable deal)
SF: Williams
PF: Smith
C: Howard

That lineup is uber athletic, with some of the top defensive players at their positions in the league respectively (williams is no slouch on defense). Rondo would have the perfect set of running mates on the break for the next few years.

[green7]

to get it done we could also throw in JJJ:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6mvq97d

if we did manage to get dwight this summer our starting lineup would be:

PG: Rondo
SG: Ray (if he reups with us on a favorable deal)
SF: Williams
PF: Smith
C: Howard

That lineup is uber athletic, with some of the top defensive players at their positions in the league respectively (williams is no slouch on defense). Rondo would have the perfect set of running mates on the break for the next few years.

PG:Rondo
SG:Gordon or mayo
SF:Jeff green
PF:Josh Smith
C:Dwight Howard

^ that's better

[LarBrd33]

to get it done we could also throw in JJJ:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6mvq97d

if we did manage to get dwight this summer our starting lineup would be:

PG: Rondo
SG: Ray (if he reups with us on a favorable deal)
SF: Williams
PF: Smith
C: Howard

That lineup is uber athletic, with some of the top defensive players at their positions in the league respectively (williams is no slouch on defense). Rondo would have the perfect set of running mates on the break for the next few years.

Worst-case scenario in the offseason if we can't land Howard, you offer Ray a contract starting at 5 mil, trade Williams for a serviceable big man and use our remaining 16 mil in cap space to give Atlanta instant cap relief... sending them a trade exception to absorb Pierce's salary... bring him back to Boston!!!  lol

[LarBrd33]

to get it done we could also throw in JJJ:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6mvq97d

if we did manage to get dwight this summer our starting lineup would be:

PG: Rondo
SG: Ray (if he reups with us on a favorable deal)
SF: Williams
PF: Smith
C: Howard

That lineup is uber athletic, with some of the top defensive players at their positions in the league respectively (williams is no slouch on defense). Rondo would have the perfect set of running mates on the break for the next few years.

PG:Rondo
SG:Gordon or mayo
SF:Jeff green
PF:Josh Smith
C:Dwight Howard

^ that's better

Not really possible.  Not enough money to go around even if we didn't take on Marvin Williams salary.

Smith for Pierce straight up leaves us with 28 mil in cap space in the offseason.

Dwight alone would take 18 mil... leaving you with 10 mil total to split between Mayo/Gordon (both restricted... not happening) and Jeff Green. 

[Rondoholic]

Why do people think ATL will move Josh Smith for an expiring contract and a compilation of bench players?

ATL is hanging up on DA unless he's talking Rondo.


EDIT: Neurotic Guy nails it.

He isn't talking Rondo because that's the goal of trading for Josh Smith...to pair him with his former high school teammate. So there you're wrong. But I agree, you're talking about trading more talent than people here are suggesting -- another member of the Big 3 or something like JO, Bradley, JJJ, both 1st rounders this season.

[dlpin]

Do people even watch Atlanta games? Smith is the 3rd best player on a team that is barely above ours in the standings. He is a basketcase who has been in the league 7 years.
Smith is not the key to rebuilding. He is also not the key to landing Howard.

[snively]

I guess JO + Bass + a 1st round pick (ours) should do.

Josh and Rondo are good friends, from Oak Hill.

Can this be of some importance in the deal?

In the NBA of today...when friends want to play together...they get there!

see: Miami, James, Wade, Bosh

The difference was, those guys were all free agents.  Smith is under contract, and while I do think he has some say in where he goes (agents are powerful), Atlanta is not going to give the C's a discount for him.

I really think people are undervaluing Smith here.  His value is really not a whole lot different from Rondos.  They are both guys with flaws that hold them back from being superstars, but are still very impactful, and they put people in seats. 

I think the only thing giving Rondo significantly more value than Smith is that Rondo is signed for a couple years longer, so there is less of a rental aspect.  Otherwise, they are very comparable.  And would you trade Rondo for an expiring contract (and a guy who plays the same position as arguably your best player), a decent rotation player who is a couple month rental, and a mid to late first round pick (getting later by the day, after you trade them your borderline all star).

If the C's are not giving up Rondo, I think the price STARTS at Ray, Bass, and 2 picks, PLUS, the C's would have to take back Williams' contract as well.  And I am not even sure that would get it done.

Atlanta is under no obligation to trade Smith, so if they don't get back a lot of value, they won't trade him (again, same thing as Rondo).

Rondo's a 3-time all-star, Smith has yet to make one.  Rondo's signed longer & cheaper.  Rondo's made 3 all-defense teams, Smith has made one.  Smith has (apparently) demanded a trade, Rondo never wanted to leave.  Rondo has a set position; Smith is viewed as a tweener by many.  Rondo is often listed in the top 5 for his position; is Smith ever for his?

Other than Smith's size, I can't see a reason to say that Smith has comparable value to Rondo. 

[snively]

Honestly I think offering them Pierce and a 1st rounder makes the most sense. 

I'm a fan of this idea. Sets up the Celtics nicely to pursue Dwight Howard in the off-season. Two young stars in Rajon Rondo and Josh Smith to combine with.

Not sure but I think the team would still have some money left over to add another piece or some role players too.

Yep.  Smith makes about $3.5 mil less than Pierce next season, so I think there'd be about $10 mil to spend after giving Howard the max.