I listed this in response to someone's FanPost about how the Celtics can get their next Franchise Player - considering Pierce and KG will soon retire and Rondo may not be a franchise player.
I wanted to get a wider collection of responses.
What do you guys think of the Celtics' young assets?
Do you think a collection of them can be spun in trades similar to what Ainge did back in 2007?
Current Young Assets:
Rondo 27yo, 3yr/$36mil contract
Green 26yo, 4yr/$36mil contract
Bradley 22yo, rookie deal
Sully 20yo, rookie deal
Melo 22yo, rookie deal
Lee 27yo, 4yr/$20mil contract
Crawford 24yo, $3mil expiring contract next season
Bass 27yo, 3yr/$19mil contract
Draft Picks
EIGHT players under the age of 28. Only one makes more than $9mil per season (Rondo, and hes under market value at $12mil).
And, we have ALL our draft picks (minus this years 2nd rounder).
My contention is that Ainge is in better position NOW than he was in 2007 when he traded for Allen and KG.
In 2007,
- Traded the 5th pick (Jeff Green!)/Wally Szczerbiak/Delonte West for Ray Allen and the 2nd round pick used to draft Big Baby.
- Traded Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Theo Ratliff, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, protected 1st round pick, and conditional 1st round pick for KG.
In order to get Allen we gave up a lottery pick, but look who the 5th pick was
Jeff Green
who we got back anyhow.
We basically gave up Al Jefferson and some lousy 1st round picks for KG.
We have better young assets now! And, after a season without Pierce and KG, we may have another lottery pick to trade.