It wouldn't be my first choice. But the 2014-2015 Atlanta Hawks were a really good team, and I think the Celtics with Millsap could be at least that. My concern is how long of a deal are you signing a 32 year-old Millsap to? For a year or two, I think adding him in lieu of Amir, Jerebko, and Zeller makes us somewhat threatening to Cleveland. But signing to a 4-year deal this summer? I think we could come to regret that no less than halfway through.
Agreed. A two year max deal, maybe 3 with an option in there (preferably a team option, but I doubt he'd go for that) to give us a chance to contend now (he wouldn't make us a contender, but it's make the path to being a contender easier), while still keeping our options open to either make a trade or build long term around our picks
Plus I think Millsap's game will age very well (similar to Horford's)
I think Millsap could emerge as a solid and realistic Plan C. Maybe Horford even tries recruiting him.
Plan A is probably Griffin or Hayward. Plan B is a trade (which I doubt happens).
Agreed. I'd say Griffin is plan A1, Hayward is plan A2, a trade for a star big (so, Boogie) is plan B, and Millsap is plan C
Plan A1 ought to be filed under pipe dream. Why would Griffin leave a better team and better market for us?
The same reason that Durant left OKC - the Clippers are better then us, but they've hit their ceiling and if they keep floundering on the playoffs, Griffin may look for greener pastures.
I wouldn't put money on Griffin leaving LA and coming here, but I wouldn't say it's a "pipe dream" either
Durant left to join one of the top 2 teams with Curry, Green and Thompson. We aren't even a true contender and playing with Thomas and Horford isn't going to be a big draw when he's playing with Paul and Jordan.
I don't know. Paul is getting a bit long in the tooth. Will be 32 after this season. Crawford is definitely nearing the end of his run. Blake turns 28 this season and the rest of his prime is more aligned with our players. It really wouldn't be a surprise to see the Clippers try to reboot or rebuild if they get dominated in the playoffs by the warriors or spurs.
I also do believe that a team of Crowder, IT, Horford, Blake, Bradley with Brown, Smart and a few vets off the bench is a lot better team paul, jordan, blake, reddick and a cast of terrible small forwards.
Edit: Basically Lowe wrote about this today. There is a good chance this team blows up if it doesn't perform well this season.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18175468/zach-lowe-chris-paul-blake-griffin-la-clippers-nba