Why are we paying Zeller $8 million?

[Diggles]

Because he is 7 Feet and Brad Stevens told Danny to do it.    Case closed.   Trust the process.....   So far since the rebuild we have been winning more games every year..... 

[rochrist]

1. We've seen some ridiculous salaries given out this offseason. Maybe that's the going rate for the 2nd or 3rd string centers.

2. We also don't have anyone playing center other than Amir.  I'm presuming Olynyk will not be back until January. Also, presuming Horford doesn't want to play the 5. Mickey isn't on Brad's radar. Add to this, that there may be a dearth of quality big men out there.

When guys like Ezeli are signing for much less and even Sullinger only got 6 million for 1 year, signing Zeller to 8 million dollars is ridiculous.  I'm sorry it just is.

Why do you care? is it coming out of your pocket? If it's useful for trade purposes, why would you possibly object?

[Bobshot]

I hope there's a method to his madness in this move. It's uncharacteristic of Ainge to overpay. Witness those great contracts of Bradley, Crowder and IT. Then he goes a signs a bench scrub for more--just because he's 7 feet?  Was he thinking about the clubhouse reaction to this guy making more money than most of his much better starters?

There are two rational answers: 1) that's the new market price for a 7 footer (bad answer) , and 2) he boosted the salary for trade matching (maybe another bad answer, because who wants Zeller?)

The other possible answer, as I've said, is  Stevens and Zeller have mutual ties in Indiana--and it's about favoritism. Though Stevens didn't play him much last year.

To me, Celtics improvement is about the Zeller Index. If he's still around, they haven't improved enough up front to be a serious contender. He and Olynyk are useless up front defensively. Two soft 7 footers who can't jump. At least Olynyk can shoot the 3.

[aingeforthree]

I hope there's a method to his madness in this move. It's uncharacteristic of Ainge to overpay. Witness those great contracts of Bradley, Crowder and IT. Then he goes a signs a bench scrub for more--just because he's 7 feet?  Was he thinking about the clubhouse reaction to this guy making more money than most of his much better starters?

There are two rational answers: 1) that's the new market price for a 7 footer (bad answer) , and 2) he boosted the salary for trade matching (maybe another bad answer, because who wants Zeller?)

The other possible answer, as I've said, is  Stevens and Zeller have mutual ties in Indiana--and it's about favoritism. Though Stevens didn't play him much last year.

To me, Celtics improvement is about the Zeller Index. If he's still around, they haven't improved enough up front to be a serious contender. He and Olynyk are useless up front defensively. Two soft 7 footers who can't jump. At least Olynyk can shoot the 3.

This deal is pennies in this market, and the 2nd year is a team option which means you keep your financial flexibility still for that 2017 market. Not a big deal

[MJohnnyboy]

I don't love this deal but I assume Danny did this because he didn't have a lot of options with free agency. More importantly, this is the kind of market a back-up center would get and the contract is non-guaranteed next year. It doesn't hurt our flexibility and Zeller has familiarity with the team even if  he's the 5th big. It's not madness. Madness is committing 4-years, $52 million to him to be a back-up, like say what the Bucks did with Miles Plumlee, who basically does everything Zeller does. That is madness, but a potential one-year rental at market value is fine.

[alldaboston]

I hope there's a method to his madness in this move. It's uncharacteristic of Ainge to overpay. Witness those great contracts of Bradley, Crowder and IT. Then he goes a signs a bench scrub for more--just because he's 7 feet?  Was he thinking about the clubhouse reaction to this guy making more money than most of his much better starters?

There are two rational answers: 1) that's the new market price for a 7 footer (bad answer) , and 2) he boosted the salary for trade matching (maybe another bad answer, because who wants Zeller?)

The other possible answer, as I've said, is  Stevens and Zeller have mutual ties in Indiana--and it's about favoritism. Though Stevens didn't play him much last year.

To me, Celtics improvement is about the Zeller Index. If he's still around, they haven't improved enough up front to be a serious contender. He and Olynyk are useless up front defensively. Two soft 7 footers who can't jump. At least Olynyk can shoot the 3.

lol

the answer to your first paragraph is, essentially, because of the increasing cap. avery, isaiah, and jae signed their contracts when the cap was much lower. this is the new market value for a decent big. youll get used to it by next year.

[BitterJim]

I hope there's a method to his madness in this move. It's uncharacteristic of Ainge to overpay. Witness those great contracts of Bradley, Crowder and IT. Then he goes a signs a bench scrub for more--just because he's 7 feet?  Was he thinking about the clubhouse reaction to this guy making more money than most of his much better starters?

There are two rational answers: 1) that's the new market price for a 7 footer (bad answer) , and 2) he boosted the salary for trade matching (maybe another bad answer, because who wants Zeller?)

The other possible answer, as I've said, is  Stevens and Zeller have mutual ties in Indiana--and it's about favoritism. Though Stevens didn't play him much last year.

To me, Celtics improvement is about the Zeller Index. If he's still around, they haven't improved enough up front to be a serious contender. He and Olynyk are useless up front defensively. Two soft 7 footers who can't jump. At least Olynyk can shoot the 3.

Wasn't this the same thing people were saying about Amir last year?  IT, Crowder, and AB are all grown men, I don't think they're gonna throw a tantrum just because Zeller (who if I'm not mistaken is pretty well liked) got a decent short-term contract

Also, throwing away the two realistic (and basketball related) answers because you don't like them and replacing them with "Brad REALLY likes him" doesn't really make much sense (and, to paraphrase one of my posts from another thread, it doesn't matter if someone wants Zeller, if he's used to match a contract his main value will be as an expiring.  If "Ugh I don't want to pay Tyler Zeller 8 million for 3 months" is a deal breaker in a potential deal for a big money free agent, then the deal wasn't going to happen)

[mmmmm]

Talked about this over the weekend, but:

Because he's a) giving up his right to veto a trade, and b) if he gets traded he can now bring back more salary in return. Considering that a main reason to sign him is to trade him mid-year, and that many of the players we'd target make a lot of money, paying him more now is useful.

Yup.  Zeller plus Amir now brings back a max player. Since they are both centers, it makes sense for that max guy to be a center.  DA is lining up the ducks for a Cousins trade.

Yes, although I'd point out that Amir can be traded straight up for Cousins today, as far as salaries are concerned.

Yes I was thinking the same thing.  What Zeller now gives you is the ability to trade Zeller plus any contract at least 2.5M in order to match Cousins.

So, instead of having to bundle in one of Avery or Jae to make the dollars fit a deal where the primary 'value' going out is one of our young/future assets (like Smart or Brown) plus picks, you can include Zeller.

I.E., instead of having to do a package like:

Smart + picks + Jae/Avery/IT + junk salary

you could do

Smart + picks + Zeller

(where junk salary are the guys like Hunter, Young, Holland, etc.)

Just a little bit more flexibility.

[kozlodoev]

I hope there's a method to his madness in this move. It's uncharacteristic of Ainge to overpay.

There's nothing uncharacteristic about this. It's a relatively small short-run overpay in order to gain considerable flexibility over the life of the contract.

[saltlover]

Talked about this over the weekend, but:

Because he's a) giving up his right to veto a trade, and b) if he gets traded he can now bring back more salary in return. Considering that a main reason to sign him is to trade him mid-year, and that many of the players we'd target make a lot of money, paying him more now is useful.

Yup.  Zeller plus Amir now brings back a max player. Since they are both centers, it makes sense for that max guy to be a center.  DA is lining up the ducks for a Cousins trade.

Yes, although I'd point out that Amir can be traded straight up for Cousins today, as far as salaries are concerned.

Yes I was thinking the same thing.  What Zeller now gives you is the ability to trade Zeller plus any contract at least 2.5M in order to match Cousins.

So, instead of having to bundle in one of Avery or Jae to make the dollars fit a deal where the primary 'value' going out is one of our young/future assets (like Smart or Brown) plus picks, you can include Zeller.

I.E., instead of having to do a package like:

Smart + picks + Jae/Avery/IT + junk salary

you could do

Smart + picks + Zeller

(where junk salary are the guys like Hunter, Young, Holland, etc.)

Just a little bit more flexibility.

It's Zeller plus $4 million (or technically $3,957,00) for Cousins.  So it'd take three prospects, one of which is Young, Smart and something, or Brown.

It's more like Zeller plus a rotation player will give the necessary salary for someone like Butler or Hayward, in my opinion.  So Amir+picks for Cousins, and Zeller+Ab/Crowder+picks for an upgrade at the wing.

[Moranis]

1. We've seen some ridiculous salaries given out this offseason. Maybe that's the going rate for the 2nd or 3rd string centers.

2. We also don't have anyone playing center other than Amir.  I'm presuming Olynyk will not be back until January. Also, presuming Horford doesn't want to play the 5. Mickey isn't on Brad's radar. Add to this, that there may be a dearth of quality big men out there.

When guys like Ezeli are signing for much less and even Sullinger only got 6 million for 1 year, signing Zeller to 8 million dollars is ridiculous.  I'm sorry it just is.

Why do you care? is it coming out of your pocket? If it's useful for trade purposes, why would you possibly object?

That is a roster spot, money, and cap room that Boston can't use on a player that might actually be useful. 

[BudweiserCeltic]

1. We've seen some ridiculous salaries given out this offseason. Maybe that's the going rate for the 2nd or 3rd string centers.

2. We also don't have anyone playing center other than Amir.  I'm presuming Olynyk will not be back until January. Also, presuming Horford doesn't want to play the 5. Mickey isn't on Brad's radar. Add to this, that there may be a dearth of quality big men out there.

When guys like Ezeli are signing for much less and even Sullinger only got 6 million for 1 year, signing Zeller to 8 million dollars is ridiculous.  I'm sorry it just is.

Why do you care? is it coming out of your pocket? If it's useful for trade purposes, why would you possibly object?

That is a roster spot, money, and cap room that Boston can't use on a player that might actually be useful. 

The only reason Ezeli was signed for so little was because of health concerns. He's ALWAYS injured.

[hagar55voa]

Because Zeller can play when given a fair chance...Two years ago they let him play and everybody was going on about how much of a steal he was from Cleveland...Let him play, gain confidence, and he will produce good numbers...

[mctyson]

1. We've seen some ridiculous salaries given out this offseason. Maybe that's the going rate for the 2nd or 3rd string centers.

2. We also don't have anyone playing center other than Amir.  I'm presuming Olynyk will not be back until January. Also, presuming Horford doesn't want to play the 5. Mickey isn't on Brad's radar. Add to this, that there may be a dearth of quality big men out there.

When guys like Ezeli are signing for much less and even Sullinger only got 6 million for 1 year, signing Zeller to 8 million dollars is ridiculous.  I'm sorry it just is.

There are obviously questions about both Ezeli and Sullinger that made them worth less than Zeller. 

[mctyson]

1. We've seen some ridiculous salaries given out this offseason. Maybe that's the going rate for the 2nd or 3rd string centers.

2. We also don't have anyone playing center other than Amir.  I'm presuming Olynyk will not be back until January. Also, presuming Horford doesn't want to play the 5. Mickey isn't on Brad's radar. Add to this, that there may be a dearth of quality big men out there.

When guys like Ezeli are signing for much less and even Sullinger only got 6 million for 1 year, signing Zeller to 8 million dollars is ridiculous.  I'm sorry it just is.

Why do you care? is it coming out of your pocket? If it's useful for trade purposes, why would you possibly object?

That is a roster spot, money, and cap room that Boston can't use on a player that might actually be useful.

How useful was Sullinger for this team in the playoffs?  How useful was Ezeli to GSW?

We are talking about the 8th-10th player in a rotation.  His uses are supposed to be limited, and I am fine with Zeller as is because he knows those limits and accepts them