Boston Globe: Potential FA Targets

[danglertx]

I love the percentages. Did the writer spin a wheel to come up with those numbers?

The only guy in the "next tier" that seems reasonable is Dudley. Everyone else is a poor fit and/or will be prohibitively expensive. When Wyc says two max FAs, I hope he's not considering one of these guys.

With those percentages we are going to end up with something like 4 free agents.

[greece66]

I love the percentages. Did the writer spin a wheel to come up with those numbers?

The only guy in the "next tier" that seems reasonable is Dudley. Everyone else is a poor fit and/or will be prohibitively expensive. When Wyc says two max FAs, I hope he's not considering one of these guys.

Agreed. The % are a joke used to look 'scientific'.

Jamal Crawford is old, a bad defender and above all overated- if we wanted someone with this skillset we could have kept Tayshaun at a much cheaper price.

Big Al: I can see us resorting to someone like him as a last min solution, but he is not worth a max or anything near it. Like Jamal, he would help offensively but defensively he is below average and not enough to take the team to the next level.

The other players in the 'next tier' could be interesting, it all depends on what they will ask.

I've written this earlier, but I think it is worth repeating: it makes no sense to hurt your long term flexibility by giving the max to a player outside the top-30 just to win 5-10 more games next season.

[CFAN38]

A lot of those would be disasters

I agree out of those two tiers,

Howard and Whiteside scare me, bad cultural and system fit

Bazemore is a good player but is he really going to leave ATL to play off the bench for boston?

Barnes has potential but I really question if the money is worth it for the Cs.

Telenovic seems to redundant with KO


I like Anderson but will likely be way over payed.

I like Jefferson short term,

Crawford could be a a great short term Turner replacement. He and Smart coming off the bench as a pair could work really well.

Dudley as a vet presence would have been helpful this season

[mmmmm]

Hmm... shouldn't Batum be listed as an option?

[ThePaintedArea]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2016/04/30/can-celtics-land-kevin-durant-offseason/vgettMa6P2GahhmFO

So here is a list of the Celtics’ potential free agent targets, along with a percentage that these players actually don green next season.



Big-timers

Kevin Durant
Al Horford
Dwight Howard
Hassan Whiteside



Next tier

Kent Bazemore

Al Jefferson

Harrison Barnes

Jamal Crawford

Ryan Anderson

Mirza Teletovic

Jared Dudley

Wow.

Slim pickings here after Durant and Horford.

Boston already had one of the top defenses; why constipate the offense by bringing in Howard or Whiteside - even if they somehow morph into awesome teammates?

The rest are a pretty motley crew; the Globe writer seems to favor guys who can make threes. Dudley at least gets something done on the defensive end; but he's 30. Teletovic??! Kelly outclasses him in every phase of the game - including 3-pt%. We could go down the list, but it's ludicrous to waste time with it.

I'm told by people who understand such things that Durant's most lucrative option is to sign a one-year deal with OKC, then cash in in 2017. And you couldn't blame Al Horford for thinking that his best bet is to stay put. So... Wyc Grousbeck to the contrary, it isn't obvious what max players are available this summer that would make sense to sign as free agents.

[CoachBo]

I love the percentages. Did the writer spin a wheel to come up with those numbers?

The only guy in the "next tier" that seems reasonable is Dudley. Everyone else is a poor fit and/or will be prohibitively expensive. When Wyc says two max FAs, I hope he's not considering one of these guys.

Agreed. The % are a joke used to look 'scientific'.

Jamal Crawford is old, a bad defender and above all overated- if we wanted someone with this skillset we could have kept Tayshaun at a much cheaper price.

Big Al: I can see us resorting to someone like him as a last min solution, but he is not worth a max or anything near it. Like Jamal, he would help offensively but defensively he is below average and not enough to take the team to the next level.

The other players in the 'next tier' could be interesting, it all depends on what they will ask.

I've written this earlier, but I think it is worth repeating: it makes no sense to hurt your long term flexibility by giving the max to a player outside the top-30 just to win 5-10 more games next season.

Saw no effort from Jefferson on the defensive end at all during their first-round series. Saw several instances where he refused to run the floor as well. We don't need offense that badly.

For the life of me, I cannot understand the attachment of Celtic fan to a one-dimensional, generally apathetic player like Jefferson.

I have no interest in seeing him in green. Ever.

[CFAN38]

I love the percentages. Did the writer spin a wheel to come up with those numbers?

The only guy in the "next tier" that seems reasonable is Dudley. Everyone else is a poor fit and/or will be prohibitively expensive. When Wyc says two max FAs, I hope he's not considering one of these guys.

Agreed. The % are a joke used to look 'scientific'.

Jamal Crawford is old, a bad defender and above all overated- if we wanted someone with this skillset we could have kept Tayshaun at a much cheaper price.

Big Al: I can see us resorting to someone like him as a last min solution, but he is not worth a max or anything near it. Like Jamal, he would help offensively but defensively he is below average and not enough to take the team to the next level.

The other players in the 'next tier' could be interesting, it all depends on what they will ask.

I've written this earlier, but I think it is worth repeating: it makes no sense to hurt your long term flexibility by giving the max to a player outside the top-30 just to win 5-10 more games next season.

Saw no effort from Jefferson on the defensive end at all during their first-round series.

For the life of me, I cannot understand the attachment of Celtic fan to a one-dimensional, generally apathetic player like Jefferson.

I have no interest in seeing him in green. Ever.

Going to the first quote Crawford averaged 14ppg in 27min not on the same level as Prince. I like Prince but he is washed up Crawford is still a great bench scorer. His relationship with IT and AB could make for a nice end of the career situation for him. He would have really helped against the Hawks. His percentages where not good but he averaged 18ppg in the playoffs including going for 32 in the last game ans 12-13 from the line. He has a similar skill set/style to IT so would fit nicely as his backup.

second
Big Al is coming off a meniscus injury and has slowed down as a player. He has never been a great defender but the Cs current roster needs offense. If DA signed him to a two year deal with the plan being for him to start and only play 20-25mpg I would be fine with that. In the playoffs he averaged 24mpg 13pt 6rb. That is where he is at in his career and I think he would be an asset for the Cs as a plan C or D.

[ThePaintedArea]

Crawford is 35 and clearly declining. Poor defender. Makes no sense at all for Boston.

[greece66]

Going to the first quote Crawford averaged 14ppg in 27min not on the same level as Prince. I like Prince but he is washed up Crawford is still a great bench scorer. His relationship with IT and AB could make for a nice end of the career situation for him. He would have really helped against the Hawks. His percentages where not good but he averaged 18ppg in the playoffs including going for 32 in the last game ans 12-13 from the line. He has a similar skill set/style to IT so would fit nicely as his backup.

second
Big Al is coming off a meniscus injury and has slowed down as a player. He has never been a great defender but the Cs current roster needs offense. If DA signed him to a two year deal with the plan being for him to start and only play 20-25mpg I would be fine with that. In the playoffs he averaged 24mpg 13pt 6rb. That is where he is at in his career and I think he would be an asset for the Cs as a plan C or D.

ofc Crawford is better than Prince, we all know that.

My point was a different one. We traded Prince for Datome and Jerebko. If we really wanted a 10-15 mpg scorer with good jump shot we would have kept him instead. His numbers in his short stay with us were really good, and an indication of what a good jump shooter could achieve in a CBS system (33/59 FG, 5/8 3ps). IMO Stevens wants a player who can be more than a spot up shooter: good D, passing and, ideally, ball handling too.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/princta01.html

Per Big Al, at his age (and weight) knee injuries are more than expectable. I would be surprised if Ainge went after him this summer.

[Snakehead]

Washburn is A Sherrod territory for me as a writer or reporter.  Don't care what he says.

[Neurotic Guy]

I love the percentages. Did the writer spin a wheel to come up with those numbers?

Havng earned a degree in Thinkology, my bet is that Washburn used the Scarecorw Theorem,  "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side", to determine the percentages.

[Fred Roberts]

Batum should be in there. Joakim Noah should be in there.

Big Al looked bad, but i think he could lose some pounds and be more effective post injury.

Bazemore is interesting. Jeff Green on short money anyone??? Lol. Maybe Gerald & AL in the return of the KG assets.

[strokeracevt]

Batum is looking at near max money according to some. I like Bazemore. I think Barnes is only playing well because so much attention is given to his other teammates. Not sure I would give him $20 plus mil a year.

[jbp126]

Batum should be in there. Joakim Noah should be in there.

They should get a look for sure. What about Evan Fournier? He's restricted but he's 23 and can shoot the 3.

[TheSundanceKid]

Durant aside is it weird that I prefer the next tier guys? Adding players like Crawford, Teletovic or Bazemore to the rotation would be handy, especially if we manage to pull off a trade for a star that might leave some gaps