Danny is a visionary, but as a human being, he makes mistakes just like anyone else. There is an adage about putting on pants one leg at a time.
He went all in with the Brooklyn trade and got lucky. Like a professional poker player, he took the best odds he could for a rebuild with no guarantee of success. The card player can do everything right and still get ripped off because luck is part of the game. Skill cannot overcome chance in many aspects of life.
Jae Crowder said, "It never ends."
This is true. There is something fundamentally broken with how basketball operates. Why do good to great players always have to receive the maximum or expect it? What ever happened to management and players working out the best deal for both sides?
Look at Portland. How can anyone justify giving Evan Turner $17 million per year?
Look at Al Horford. Did he really need to be paid that much money? It's the same topic year after year. Before Bradley made several leaps, there were complaints about handing him out $8 million back when the cap was a lot lower. That one worked out well. The Crowder contract was also visionary.
A few weeks ago, I checked out some of the team budgets and many teams are already over $100 million and some people might be surprised how much is being dished out.
Cleveland is up to $128 million.
That might be okay considering they won the title. I am not an accountant and CBA expert.
But then I look at the next two and wonder how the Clippers at $116 million and especially Portland at $112 million can be in healthy positions.
And it gets even crazier if you continue down the list.
Dallas and Memphis are at $110 million...
Detroit $108 million.
San Antonio and Toronto are both around $107 million, but as top teams, they don't seem crazy like Portland, Detroit, Dallas and Memphis.
We are down the list at #22. And everyone knows Danny has it set up for flexibility.
Let's face it. There is a negative to having too many good players at the wrong time. The game is about team, not divas, at least it should be, and that's why most people complain about the refs. Oh, the league has apologized for ripping off Marcus Smart against Portland? Are they going to replay the game or give us the win? I didn't think so.
How many phantom calls can they give Kelly Olynyk? Maybe that is a needed stat. But we know how the NBA operates. There is nothing to see here, move along!
The new CBA was a good opportunity for the NBA to have a fresh start and move beyond the possibility of future lockouts and lost games over money.
The structure of the league ends up tying Danny's hands. He couldn't bring Posey back in 2009. In hindsight that was okay, as Posey's game seemed to fall apart soon after. But you'd like to be able to bring back a title team.
I hope Evan Turner is happy with his money, or I don't really care, but would Danny have resigned him for say four years at $10 million per year? Why did Paul Pierce need $16 million per year for his last Celtics contract?
I'm not saying let's have the owners fleece the players. They cried poverty during the last stoppage and then Milwaukee sold for big money and it became obvious the owners were milking the league for their own pockets.
Is Isaiah happy in Boston? Why does he need $30 million per year?
So I am forced to take this into account when watching him. It is all well and good he can crank out offense at will for the most part, but that does not mean giving him a maximum contract is good for the team.
It becomes a catch-22. You have to keep your guys to maintain contention. But the more you have to dish out for core players, the less remains for future contracts. Then injuries happen. Players age. Then it's hello treadmill and then eventually back to tankathon.
The cheapest players are young. Quantity can be better than quality. Some quality, say Carmelo Anthony, can be counterproductive. What has he ever won?
I don't mind Horford as much because at least he is a team player and confident yet humble.
So, Danny could sell the farm for Cousins or Butler and resign maybe one of Bradley and Thomas or he could ride it out and see what develops with the top picks. We should have four top picks on the team in about a year and a half if he doesn't go for fireworks.
That seems common sense. Why bet the farm when you already own it?
Maybe in a couple years if the slow and steady strategy seems to be headed nowhere, maybe then go for fireworks?
But as it is, if one would rather have the chance for a decade of success rather than a quick window such as with Paul, Ray and KG, you avoid fireworks.
Because once you make such a move, there is no going back and you are stuck with the results. And there is no guarantee having three max players is good enough considering non-max players end up in the max money club and guys like Turner make close to 20% of a team's salary cap.
This is a very complex situation. It is a serial or soap opera. Yes Jae, it apparently never ends. There will always be doubts and speculation because that is how the league is structured.
I love most of the Celtics and see them as winners. I do think we can win with Isaiah, Avery and Al. But then I look at the numbers and they don't crunch long-term.
I conclude that I think we are better off going young with Smart and Brown as the core. You can push the chips all-in, but a guy like Cousins could tear up his knee like KG did and then we'd really be crying in our oatmeal. Three max guys will take up pretty much the whole of the salary cap base, then good luck filling in the pieces.
You can't win a championship with only three guys.
Sure, put together Horford, Cousins and Isaiah. But where will the money be left to find Perk, Rondo, House, Posey, Eddie, Leon and PJ Brown? Because the 2008 Celtics would have won nothing without the quality filler.
Most teams usually tank once and get a sweet draft pick. We have Brown and two more to go along with the improving Smart.
What would be the best way to go forward? I think it's slow and steady. Maybe Danny will get lucky and draft the next great point guard. Then Isaiah's contract runs out and he is signed by Portland or some other stupid team.
Isaiah has made leaps, but he has more to go to deserve the biggest of bucks. He is great at offense, but he still has to prove he can make teammates better at it and that we can beat top teams with him.
Unfortunately, the money part ruins the game. Isaiah at $15 million/year would leave Danny with plenty of wiggle room to create a super team including Thomas. But he won't take that. With so much poverty in the world and people hurting, sometimes I am very repulsed by all that is the NBA. But I am an addict and keep coming back.
You'd think it wouldn't be that difficult to be an NBA GM considering rosters only run 15 players. But you end up with complex, excruciating difficult decisions to make. They are not always as easy as recognizing Sully is too fat or no way in hell is Turner worth that much money.
Think of Horford. If he wasn't such a greedy guy, there wouldn't be so much pressure on him. But he had to be given the boatload of cash. Now we expect much more because he is such a drain on the team budget.