Should we wait till 2016 to make fireworks in Free agency?

[mef730]

I believe so. In 2016 I believe we will be able to sign 2 max players. That fact alone may help us recruit top level talent.

hoopshype has been wrong lately. what would our salary situation be in 2016? Also that's when G. Wallace's contract is up.

What is wrong on hoops hype?  That's generally my source of salary info.

Thanks,
Mike

[gpap]

No, we should not wait.

The time to do it is this summer.

[obnoxiousmime]

The Celtics will try to sign anyone they can before the cap rises and the deals REALLY start to look outrageous. However, every team has the same idea so it's not like this is some ingenious strategy.

Since the draft method of getting a franchise player seems very remote now, the Celtics have to play as well as possible to convince FAs or prospective trade targets to come here. Nobody who is already a max-level player is going to pick the Celtics when good teams are offering the exact same money or even more due to bird rights. This is where the max contract system actually hurts small market teams, not help.

I expect them to strike out with all the top 10-15 free agents who will re-sign one-year deals with their current teams. Their choice is then how much do they want to overpay that second tier of players who aren't stars but could eventually be market value signings after the cap rises.

The thing is, if you're a desirable team good players will find a way to come to you. Cap space doesn't matter unless you're truly stuck with multiple untradeable albatross deals. With so much cap space floating around out there a lot of teams happy to help you clear space if you give them an asset. Danny has made a living helping teams get superstars, like for instance when they helped the Cavs clear space for LeBron last year.

Thus, the most important thing now is to continue improving. With the cap rising the "trade for the next available star" strategy is not going to be the best one, but they don't really have any other choice.

[fairweatherfan]

I believe so. In 2016 I believe we will be able to sign 2 max players. That fact alone may help us recruit top level talent.

hoopshype has been wrong lately. what would our salary situation be in 2016? Also that's when G. Wallace's contract is up.

If we signed no one long term this offseason, we'd have about $55 million in cap room, not counting holds for Sullinger, Zeller, and Turner,  and pending where several of our draft picks end up.  Also this assumes Crowder is not retained.

Personally I think it foolish to believe you're going to get two free agents to come here in 2016.  Every team is going to have a lot of cap room.  This offseason present a better opportunity.  If we miss, then try next year, but I don't see us successfully getting two free agents next year if we are unable to sell one this year.

I agree - having more money doesn't mean much when everyone else does too.  Plus signing FAs next season allows us to lock in top players at what will probably be bargain rates when the cap explodes.

...of course the flip side is that agents + players are well aware of this, so we'll probably see some strange 1 year opt-out type deals to take advantage.  Everyone is going to want to be able to sign in 2016, to the point that we may have to seriously overpay just to get them signed for longer.

[Celtics4ever]

Depends on what we can get and what price it is at...   I would not overpay for mediocrity.   Add some talent would be nice and able for us to get it locked in at a bargain rate and also attract another free agent later.  But I think it all depends on who we draft, who we can get and many other factors.

[jonaslopes]

Honestly, I could get behind the C's giving the max to  the following
Kawhi
Aldridge
Knight
Gasol
Jordan
Green
Monroe
Love
Butler
Jefferson

and big contracts to
Danny Green
Wes Matthews
Jackson
Harris
Asik
Hibbert
Millsap

With the way the cap is trending I wouldn't be surprised if the guys on the second list got the max or close to it as well.

I'd pay the max for
Kawhi
Butler
Gasol
Aldridge
Love
Knight
Jordan
Harris (a lot of people will disagree, I know, but I can see a very good future for him and he is a good fit for Brad's system)

[saltlover]

I believe so. In 2016 I believe we will be able to sign 2 max players. That fact alone may help us recruit top level talent.

hoopshype has been wrong lately. what would our salary situation be in 2016? Also that's when G. Wallace's contract is up.

What is wrong on hoops hype?  That's generally my source of salary info.

Thanks,
Mike

There are two main problems with Hoopshype, in my opinion.

The first is that they report the salary a player makes in a year, even if that is not equal to his cap hit.  An example this year is Omer Asik, who makes $14,898,938 this year (which is correctly reported on hoopshype), but only $8,374,646 against the cap, which is not mentioned.  Accordingly, New Orleans has $6.6 million more in their total, so you might look and think they're in the luxury tax, when in actuality they're a few million below it.

The second is that they do a very inconsistent job in reporting non-guaranteed deals.  Sometimes they will call it a team option - other times they just call it guaranteed.  If it's partially guaranteed, they make no mention.

A lesser problem is that in the past they've rounded their numbers a bit.  For years they reported Rondo's deal as $9, $10, $11, $12, and $13 million flat for each year, when in reality the only time the number was an even million was $11 million in year 3.  Such an increase was obviously wrong, as it wasn't allowable by the CBA.  They seem to have gotten better with that, but I still judge then a bit on past reputation a bit myself.  That aspect has improved since they became affiliated with Gannett.  The first two issues I mentioned, however, are still current.

[Csfan1984]

No.

[mef730]

I believe so. In 2016 I believe we will be able to sign 2 max players. That fact alone may help us recruit top level talent.

hoopshype has been wrong lately. what would our salary situation be in 2016? Also that's when G. Wallace's contract is up.

What is wrong on hoops hype?  That's generally my source of salary info.

Thanks,
Mike

There are two main problems with Hoopshype, in my opinion.

The first is that they report the salary a player makes in a year, even if that is not equal to his cap hit.  An example this year is Omer Asik, who makes $14,898,938 this year (which is correctly reported on hoopshype), but only $8,374,646 against the cap, which is not mentioned.  Accordingly, New Orleans has $6.6 million more in their total, so you might look and think they're in the luxury tax, when in actuality they're a few million below it.

The second is that they do a very inconsistent job in reporting non-guaranteed deals.  Sometimes they will call it a team option - other times they just call it guaranteed.  If it's partially guaranteed, they make no mention.

A lesser problem is that in the past they've rounded their numbers a bit.  For years they reported Rondo's deal as $9, $10, $11, $12, and $13 million flat for each year, when in reality the only time the number was an even million was $11 million in year 3.  Such an increase was obviously wrong, as it wasn't allowable by the CBA.  They seem to have gotten better with that, but I still judge then a bit on past reputation a bit myself.  That aspect has improved since they became affiliated with Gannett.  The first two issues I mentioned, however, are still current.

Big TP for that info.  The salary cap/actual salary issue is of particular importance.  I don't care how much a guy gets in his paycheck.  I only care about the cap hit.

Thanks!
Mike

[bmac934]

No jimmy butler and kawhi Leonard are worth making a heavy run at

[jmen788]

Overpaying is ONLY okay for the right player. I.E. If Ainge thinks someone like Monroe or DeAndre Jordan would be a perfect fit for us, then I'd be okay with it since I trust Ainge. But NOT okay for mid-level exception type players or C level talent...

[byennie]

With Wallace expiring and the cap set to increase by $25M, all we really need to do is stay under the cap to have a shot at 2 max guys in 2016. So why not continue to stockpile assets?

Why not show some less-than-max love to guys like Danny Green and Khris Middleton? You have the chance to control up to 4 of their prime years, and they are two of the most effective players in the league.

Say we spent a grand total of ~$20M on Danny Green, Biyombo, and a reasonable deal for Crowder. We'd be right around the salary cap with 11 players plus Wallace's expiring deal. Make a real playoff run, and then have more like $40M to spend in 2016 (with Zeller and Sullinger as RFAs)

Imagine being a team with some playoff wins, no bad contracts, and $40M to spend? We could at least make the case to Durant- join an east coast team with a great coach, an already capable playoff roster, and even more money to spend after you.

Smart / Bradley / Thomas / Young (guards)
DGreen / Crowder / 1st rounder (wings)
Durant / Sullinger / Zeller / Biyombo / 1st rounder (bigs)