Source: Garnett To Clippers Trade Was 'Closer To Happening Than People Think' -

[KGs Knee]

the only way that KG was waiving his no trade clause was if the Captain was shipped out of town, too.

This sums it up pretty well.

And we all know how well Pierce would have accepted any trade.  By refusing to report, essentially killing any deal.

Pierce and KG never had any chance of being traded, simply because they didn't want to be.  Why people thought this wouldn't be the case escapes me.

Pierce is under contract. He can't just not show up without facing consequences in the form of major fines. A Pierce trade didn't happen because Danny didn't find the value he was looking for, It's that simple.

Hard to threathen a guy with fines, when his way of "not reporting" is retiring.  Not to mention, Pierce has reportedly blocked trades in the past.

[ManUp]

the only way that KG was waiving his no trade clause was if the Captain was shipped out of town, too.

This sums it up pretty well.

And we all know how well Pierce would have accepted any trade.  By refusing to report, essentially killing any deal.

Pierce and KG never had any chance of being traded, simply because they didn't want to be.  Why people thought this wouldn't be the case escapes me.

Pierce is under contract. He can't just not show up without facing consequences in the form of major fines. A Pierce trade didn't happen because Danny didn't find the value he was looking for, It's that simple.

Hard to threathen a guy with fines, when his way of "not reporting" is retiring.  Not to mention, Pierce has reportedly blocked trades in the past.

From what I read Pierce's non-guaranteed contract would be the main selling point in any trade involving him. Threatening to retire wouldn't scare away a team trying to save money. No, non-contender would want multiple years of Pierce and I highly doubt he would retire if he was traded to a contender.

[mmmmm]

the only way that KG was waiving his no trade clause was if the Captain was shipped out of town, too.

This sums it up pretty well.

And we all know how well Pierce would have accepted any trade.  By refusing to report, essentially killing any deal.

Pierce and KG never had any chance of being traded, simply because they didn't want to be.  Why people thought this wouldn't be the case escapes me.

Pierce is under contract. He can't just not show up without facing consequences in the form of major fines. A Pierce trade didn't happen because Danny didn't find the value he was looking for, It's that simple.

Meh.  He could retire.  They can't fine him for retiring.  He just would be throwing away his earnings for next year.

All that said, Danny revealed a few weeks ago that Pierce has a trade kicker in his contract.  He didn't give details, but that likely increased the guaranteed portion of his salary next season. 

It is one thing to trade for Pierce knowing you only are on the hook for 5M guaranteed next year.  But if the kicker increased the guarantee to the whole 15.7M, that would have made Pierce much a much more difficult pill to swallow.

Some web sites also have Pierce with a player option on his final year.  That may or may not be true.  If it is, it makes him even more difficult to trade.

[LarBrd33]

According to my common sense... Garnett to the Clippers was more unlikely than the media is suggesting.

[LooseCannon]

For a team that has their top 1-9 players and an additional 2 for 11 total already under contract, and projected to be enough under the apron to have full MLE or do a sign-and-trade, it's a very good place to be.

I haven't been able to find a good projection for where the luxury tax threshold may be next season, so it is not at all certain that they Celtics will have room to use the full MLE.  If Jordan Crawford works out, Jason Terry could be the guy most likely to be viewed as expendable in a salary dump. 

I know a lot of fans want to dump Bass, but dumping Bass and using the MLE to sign a replacement still leaves the Celtics in a spot where they have a three-big rotation of KG, new guy, and Sullinger, possibly augmented by Jeff Green playing the 4, rookies, and minimum salary guys.  It's much easier to find a serviceable minimum salary guard/wing, rather than a big, so it would make more sense to trade a guard to be replaced with a minimum salary veteran and use the MLE on a big. 

Of course, dump enough salary and the biannual exception comes into play.

[wahz]

already covered in the front page of this site ryt?
http://www.celticsblog.com/2013/2/22/4017060/kevin-garnett-essentially-blocked-the-clippers-trade

i still think our playoff run this year will dictate whether KG or PP will go to other teams or stay or even retire

  I don't know that that's the case, as they should be better next year with Rondo and Sully.

I seem to be only one of the few that expects our team to be even better next year. People forget, but most of the elite teams are above the apron, the Celtics are not, and should have the full MLE at their disposal once again. Not only that, we can do sign-and-trades while those other teams won't be able to because of the new rules in the CBA. The potential for this team to improve, considering that all our top players 1-9 are already under contract, should be exciting to some. At least it's to me. There are health concerns for certain, but from a pure roster perspective, we're in a great bargaining power position compared to most of our competitors.

Over the apron teams (some are close, but they should be over the apron, or too close to it):

Miami
New York
Brooklyn
Chicago
Philly (maybe, depending on what they do with Bynum)
Denver
Golden State
LA Lakers
Portland
Oklahoma (depending on what they do with Kevin Martin, will they amnesty Perk, not sure if that's an option for them at the moment)
LA Clippers (not sure, but they have a lot of free-agents they need to take care off, some of whom will be commanding Max Contract)

That's about it I think, not sure if I misstated any or omitted any, but you get the idea.

And remember there are limited moves one can do as a tax payer, and that is either you use MLE or receive a player via sign-and-trade. You can't do both, and if you're over the apron, you only have the mini-MLE at your disposal (as far as I can see).

For a team that has their top 1-9 players and an additional 2 for 11 total already under contract, and projected to be enough under the apron to have full MLE or do a sign-and-trade, it's a very good place to be.

I doubt you are one of the few who think we will be better, or your right and I'm with you. Its obvious really and you have done a good job explaining it to negative Nancy's.I expect KG and PP to be as good or close, and Rondo to learn and be better. Sully, Green, Lee, Terry, Bradley and Wilcox collectively should be at least a notch better. Melo could contribute. Pickup up an MLE player and or upgrade Bass and we are much better.

[Galeto]

This is news?  That Chris Paul wields a lot of power with the Clippers and that Garnett wouldn't waive his no-trade clause?  Oh please.  I'm with almost everyone else: KG wasn't leaving unless Pierce left with him or was traded elsewhere.  A revelation would be that KG would've been willing to waive his no-trade clause even if Pierce wasn't moved or that trade talks with an unknown team like Chicago were very far along. 

[BudweiserCeltic]

For a team that has their top 1-9 players and an additional 2 for 11 total already under contract, and projected to be enough under the apron to have full MLE or do a sign-and-trade, it's a very good place to be.

I haven't been able to find a good projection for where the luxury tax threshold may be next season, so it is not at all certain that they Celtics will have room to use the full MLE.  If Jordan Crawford works out, Jason Terry could be the guy most likely to be viewed as expendable in a salary dump. 

I know a lot of fans want to dump Bass, but dumping Bass and using the MLE to sign a replacement still leaves the Celtics in a spot where they have a three-big rotation of KG, new guy, and Sullinger, possibly augmented by Jeff Green playing the 4, rookies, and minimum salary guys.  It's much easier to find a serviceable minimum salary guard/wing, rather than a big, so it would make more sense to trade a guard to be replaced with a minimum salary veteran and use the MLE on a big. 

Of course, dump enough salary and the biannual exception comes into play.

Hmm, I'm trying to find the info, but I think I'm mistaken. I think a team under the apron CAN receive a player via sign-and-trade and still have the full mid-level at their disposal.

Personally, I'd try to consolidate the roster and acquire a sign-and-trade player. I've speculated that Jefferson and Josh Smith could be potential players. Hopefully we send out more salary than we receive, which would open up better flexibility to fill the rest of the roster.

I also expect that Ainge will try to trade Crawford in a salary dump move, and open the roster spot to use in a cheaper option.

It would be curious what Danny does with his first round pick... does he try to trade up? Does he try to trade the pick for a future one, or move out of the 1st round to the second round? Try to trade the pick in combination with one of our guards or Bass to acquire a player or to move up in the draft for cheaper roster alternatives?

I really don't know, but it'll be fun to speculate about all the nuances of the consequences of the new CBA, the hardcap, and being enough under that will give Ainge some flexibilit that may allow him to sign-and-trade for an impact player, still have full MLE at their disposal, and have the bi-annual at hand too if needed be.

We'll have to see, as I still don't understand everything, but Ainge should have an interesting off-season, and the potential for it to be another good one for him it's right at his grasps, he just has to game the system.

[guava_wrench]

I can understand what KG is feeling. He has no interest in starting fresh elsewhere. He will just play with the Celtics and then retire. If Pierce isn't brought back, I expect KG to retire.

[Lightskinsmurf]

already covered in the front page of this site ryt?
http://www.celticsblog.com/2013/2/22/4017060/kevin-garnett-essentially-blocked-the-clippers-trade

i still think our playoff run this year will dictate whether KG or PP will go to other teams or stay or even retire

  I don't know that that's the case, as they should be better next year with Rondo and Sully.

Them being better next year is not even close to a guarantee. Pierce and KG will be a year older. This CANNOT be ignored. Father time will catch up to them for good very soon.

It can be as soon as next year that they just become a shell of their former selves. If they lose another step then we will not be better. Not to mention rondo coming back from ACL surgery. Not a guarantee that he comes back the same as before the surgery.

[LooseCannon]

Hmm, I'm trying to find the info, but I think I'm mistaken. I think a team under the apron CAN receive a player via sign-and-trade and still have the full mid-level at their disposal.

You can't use the MLE or do a sign-and-trade and end up over the apron and if you use either, then you won't be able to exceed the apron at all during the season.

Assuming Paul Pierce is not waived, the Celtics have almost $73m committed to 11 players next season, not including likely salary of draft picks.  The apron this season is around $74m, so if the Celtics don't dump salary, they would need to see a massive increase in NBA revenues to be able to use the full MLE.

[BballTim]

already covered in the front page of this site ryt?
http://www.celticsblog.com/2013/2/22/4017060/kevin-garnett-essentially-blocked-the-clippers-trade

i still think our playoff run this year will dictate whether KG or PP will go to other teams or stay or even retire

  I don't know that that's the case, as they should be better next year with Rondo and Sully.

Them being better next year is not even close to a guarantee. Pierce and KG will be a year older. This CANNOT be ignored. Father time will catch up to them for good very soon.

It can be as soon as next year that they just become a shell of their former selves. If they lose another step then we will not be better. Not to mention rondo coming back from ACL surgery. Not a guarantee that he comes back the same as before the surgery.

  Nothing's ever a guarantee. That's an interesting tack to take when I said "should be better", not "will definitely be better". Put a healthy Rondo and a healtier Sully on the team, possibly sign a FA, draft a player and make some kind of trade around an excess sg and possibly Bass, the team *could* clearly be better even if KG and PP slow down a little.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Hmm, I'm trying to find the info, but I think I'm mistaken. I think a team under the apron CAN receive a player via sign-and-trade and still have the full mid-level at their disposal.

You can't use the MLE or do a sign-and-trade and end up over the apron and if you use either, then you won't be able to exceed the apron at all during the season.

Assuming Paul Pierce is not waived, the Celtics have almost $73m committed to 11 players next season, not including likely salary of draft picks.  The apron this season is around $74m, so if the Celtics don't dump salary, they would need to see a massive increase in NBA revenues to be able to use the full MLE.

I'm aware of the hardcap, it's an inevitability we'll be facing regardless. The figures I was using had us at around $70 million committed to next year, so yeah depending on who's correct, then the panorama will change a bit as well as our options. Seems like hoophype might be understating next year's Garnett contract.

Even more reason why I believe Danny will try to make Crawford salary dump move.

Even more reason now that I believe that Danny should push for a sign-and-trade deal, consolidate, hopefully reduce salary a bit and leave enough room for you to use the MLE + finish up the roster.

[pearljammer10]

I don't see how this was so "close to happening" when there was virtually no way that KG was waiving his no trade clause

[ssspence]

Spears and other NBA insiders need something to write about after the deadline passes. This is a classic example of that fact.