Celtics trade Fab Melo for Donte Green (non-guaranteed contract)

[Boris Badenov]

No way to avoid sending the cash out; had to compensate Memphis for the insurance premiums they'd have to pay on their chairs and doorframes.

I'm working with a venture capital firm to invest a little $ in these guys. Easy money if I've ever seen it.

http://www.memphisdoor.com/

[PhoSita]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs

See, this is the attitude I don't get.

Fab Melo never did anything to justify much excitement in his time here.  But neither did he do anything to justify the outright hatred some people seem to have had for him. 

[LooseCannon]

I'm not really upset about Melo.  If we got a player -- ANY player in return for him, that I thought could actually crack the rotation, then I'd be fine with it.

What bothers me is Ainge used a 1st round pick on a guy he must have known was a 2-3 year project and then he dumped him for nothing a year later.  That just looks like bad management to me.

It could mean that Melo fit in with the previous direction of the team, but after trading KG/PP and going into rebuilding mode, Melo was no longer a good fit for how Ainge plans on restructuring the team.  It could mean that Melo wasn't developing the way Ainge had hoped and it is smarter to accept that the gamble didn't work out and not throw good money after bad by keeping Melo around longer.  It could mean that Ainge actually sees value in Donte Green. where others don't.  It could mean Ainge plans on trading one current player for two players and this is the cheapest way to clear a roster spot.

[RAcker]

Good riddance.  The kid has no basketball sense.

When your ceiling is Mark Blount...buh bye!

[CelticConcourse]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs

See, this is the attitude I don't get.

Fab Melo never did anything to justify much excitement in his time here.  But neither did he do anything to justify the outright hatred some people seem to have had for him.

Fab Melo has nothing to do with this. As long as the CBA exists, this is an amazing deal.

[Interceptor]

Am I remembering correctly that the Celtics could have rolled the pick that they used for Melo over to the next year?

Don't believe so. It was top-10 protected in 2012, but the Clippers stopped sucking.

[McHales Pits]

I don't know why anybody would be happy that we just dumped a project center we spent a 1st round pick on just a year ago for absolutely nothing (Greene will get cut).

That #22 pick from last year just went from "probably a waste" to "definitely 100% a waste."

Good job by Danny here. Greene's contract is non-guaranteed, allowing us to waive him and get our salary count down to 71.5 million (0.2 million under the tax threshold). This helps us avoid paying the harsh penalties of going over the luxury tax next year. If we go into the tax this year, that makes three years in a row and we'd have to pay huge sums of money if we wanted to go over the tax in future years.

We didn't need to get under the tax until the trade deadline.  I would have preferred to wait to see if there was a dump we could have made with Bass / Humphries / Lee where we get back less salary.

Why would you prefer to give up players who can actually play in the NBA as opposed to giving up a player who (to this point) has not shown any indication of having the skills or BB IQ to play in the NBA?

I've been calling for Fab's head for some time (amongst my friends, the Globe online forums, and I think even one of my first posts here was anti-Fab) and I am 100% fine with his departure.

The empty roster spot will likely produce more than Fab would have...

Ouch, I'm so spiteful sometimes. Truth hurts though.

[nickagneta]

Thank god. That "Fab Melo will be a hard working player that becomes something in time thread" was getting old fast.

Danny cuts another million off the payroll and is now under the luxury tax.

Mission accomplished for this year Danny.

Acquire multiple future first round picks....check
Get rid of the older players....check.
Get rid of Doc's salary....check.
Acquire some nice expiring contracts....check
Get under the luxury tax....check.

Massive long term and short term salary savings, no repeater luxury tax problems, young assets and draft picks stockpiled, and the team should be bad enough to at least have a decent shot at landing a high lottery pick. Everything Danny wanted to get done, he did.

Now he can tinker some to see what he can do to get rid of some long term salary and build around his young core.

[The Rondo Show]

Nice!

[Roy H.]

Am I remembering correctly that the Celtics could have rolled the pick that they used for Melo over to the next year?

I'm pretty sure this isn't true.  I think the not-always-reliable Gary Washburn originally reported it, followed by the he-doesn't-actually-have-(m)any-sources Bill Simmons picking up on it.

[McHales Pits]

Thank god. That "Fab Melo will be a hard working player that becomes something in time thread" was getting old fast.

Danny cuts another million off the payroll and is now under the luxury tax.

Mission accomplished for this year Danny.

Acquire multiple future first round picks....check
Get rid of the older players....check.
Get rid of Doc's salary....check.
Acquire some nice expiring contracts....check
Get under the luxury tax....check.

Massive long term and short term salary savings, no repeater luxury tax problems, young assets and draft picks stockpiled, and the team should be bad enough to at least have a decent shot at landing a high lottery pick. Everything Danny wanted to get done, he did.

Now he can tinker some to see what he can do to get rid of some long term salary and build around his young core.

Well said.

The goal was to lower our payroll below the luxury tax limit. Fab was the prime target to be released/moved because he likely would not have done anything to improve his trade value this season.

Crawford, who was also an option to go, can at least play in NBA right now. However - unlike Fab - it is possible that he has a hot start to the season and a team in need of bench scoring could call offering a trade for his services.

[kozlodoev]

should have taken the two picks last year and moved up...

what a waste...

I'm happy with Sully.  Melo was a wasted pick the second it was made.  Of course, nobody picked behind him is lighting the world on fire.  I still think Perry Jones would have made more sense.

Well, Ezeli looks like he may be a serviceable NBA player.

[Roy H.]

should have taken the two picks last year and moved up...

what a waste...

I'm happy with Sully.  Melo was a wasted pick the second it was made.  Of course, nobody picked behind him is lighting the world on fire.  I still think Perry Jones would have made more sense.

Well, Ezeli looks like he may be a serviceable NBA player.

Yeah, he'll at least be a bench guy, assuming he comes back fine from his roster.  I don't see Ezeli as a huge miss, but he would have added more than Melo.

[CelticG1]

It looks bad that Ainge literally drafted a long term project 1 year ago and dropped him for nothing

At the same time if a year later he has zero faith in the guy than I'm happy he wouldn't be stubborn and hold on to him.

He's admitting that he made a putrid decision in drafting him. Who knows if he realized this now or a day after he drafted him

[PhoSita]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs

See, this is the attitude I don't get.

Fab Melo never did anything to justify much excitement in his time here.  But neither did he do anything to justify the outright hatred some people seem to have had for him.

Fab Melo has nothing to do with this. As long as the CBA exists, this is an amazing deal.

Yeah, no, it's not an AMAZING deal just because it allowed us to get under the tax line.  We didn't save that much money.

Dumping Gerald Wallace for an expiring contract would be an AMAZING deal.

Maybe you didn't like Melo, or you thought it was a waste of a pick, that's fine.  Maybe you're happy we won't pay the repeater tax and suffer the associated penalties.  But being absolutely PSYCHED that Fab Melo is gone is simply a head-scratcher to me.