The New Salary Cap and our Young, Good, Cheap, and Under Contract Players

[incoherent]

If you look at the teams in the top 10 at defending the 3 ball.. many of them did very well in the playoffs.

Houston      32.2   WCF Loser
Chicago      33.5   East Semi Loser
New Orleans       33.5   1st Round Loser
Boston      33.6 1st Round Loser
Golden St.      33.7   Finals Champion
Portland      33.8   1st Round Loser
Atlanta      34.1   ECF Loser
Milwaukee      34.2   1st Round Loser
Cleveland      34.3   Finals Loser
Oklahoma City   34.3 DNP

5 of the 8 teams in the Semi's are on this list. The 3 that aren't did not advance to Conference Finals.  The NBA's 4 best teams are on this list.

This is a very basic stat and I know there is flaws in it but I think this speaks a little to the importance of defending the 3, since every offense is focusing more and more on shooting 3s each year.

Anyway, somewhat related are our young players under contract. These guys spend the most time defending the perimeter and they do a very good job at it (4th best in the league). Some of them are also pretty good on offense. The best part about them though is their contracts. Check them out below:

Season:   2015-2016    2016-2017   2017-2018
Salary Cap:   66              89               108
IT4                6.9              6.6              6.3
Bradley           7.7              8.3             8.8
Crowder           7               7                7
Smart              3.4             3.6             4.5
Totals            25              25.5           26.6
Lover over $$      41              63                  80

Going into the 2017-2018 season:
We will have 80 million to spend on bigs
IT will be 28 years old, in his prime playing elite level offense
Bradley will be 26 years, playing near elite level defense
Crowder will be 27
Smart will be 23 years old playing near elite level defense
All for a combined 26.5

All of these players either already do, or will very likely out play their salary, and it gets exaggerated much more in the next 2 off seasons.

The main thing we lack in this group is more offense, the development of Young(shooter) and Rozier(slasher) should be able to fill in the gaps.

These are some masterfully done contracts if you ask me. All of these players can still develop into even better versions, and very likely will. Danny Ainge has done an amazing job with locking up these young guards/wings if you ask me. The value he is getting here is kind of insane.

Its's very clear Danny saw the cap rise coming, and at 108mil in to 2017 off season. Danny definitely is taking 100% full advantage of it, getting players cheap now to create massive space for later.

Now, lets see what other teams in the east have done in the perimeter position(the most important position in todays NBA) to take advantage of this new cap situation.

In the 2017 offseason:

ATL: Currently no perimeter players under contract for that season
BKL: Currently no perimeter players under contract for that season
CHO: Kemba Walker - 12mil
CHI: Butler/Mike Duneleavy Jr -23.8mil
CLE: Currently no perimeter players under contract for that season
DET: Currently no perimeter players under contract for that season
IND: Paul George -19.3mil
MIA: Dragic - 18mil
MIL: Middleton - 14mil
NYK: Carmelo - 26mil
ORL: Elfrid Payton - 3.3mil
PHI: Currently no perimeter players under contract for that season
TOR: A couple unknown rookies with team options
WAS: John Wall - 16.7mil
CELTICS: Smart/Bradley/Thomas/Crowder - 26.6mil

Celtics will have a pretty good edge in the 2017 off season, beyond that, who knows, but so far, very good job by Danny IMO for setting us up like this with cheap, good, young players.


(*cap numbers are reported projections in 1st list**probably missed some signings in the last list)

[CelticsFanFromNYC]

Never thought bout a scenario like this. Prettty sure the similarities in  the young core of Milwaukee is what drove Monroe over there for the same reasons

[TheFlex]

Fantastic post. TP. I'd give you multiple TPs, but I know I'll forget to come back and give them to you. Seriously, really good stuff.

[GC003332]

TP for the write up
What do you propose that Ainge does when Sullinger,Zeller and then Olynyk rookie contracts end?

[TheFlex]

Bump because this is a terrific topic. Another TP to incoherent.

[hpantazo]

So your saying our roster is like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETSl8gWsFZ0

[Neurotic Guy]

Incoherent, you've coherently posted what I (and others) have been spouting since draft night.   Great post -- thanks!!  You could also have included Rozier, Young, RJH and even Thornton and we'd still be hovering close to 30 million in 2017-18 for the 1,2  and 3..  I think it's premature to get too excited, but if these guys progress as they could, danny will have a boatload of keepable/tradeable talent on his hands. Frontcourt could play out similarly as well. 

I'd rather have the embiid, noel, okafur problem, but I think Danny's got a plan with a great deal of potential upside.

[incoherent]

Fantastic post. TP. I'd give you multiple TPs, but I know I'll forget to come back and give them to you. Seriously, really good stuff.

Thank you!

TP for the write up
What do you propose that Ainge does when Sullinger,Zeller and then Olynyk rookie contracts end?

No idea, he still has time to decide and they still have time to develop more and show their worth. Danny has tons of flexibility.