Give me your realistic 2018 10-man playoff rotation

[mr. dee]

IT/Fultz
AB/Smart
Hayward/Brown
Crowder/Yabusele
Horford/Zizic

Our depth and salary:

IT (6mil)/Fultz (6mil)
AB (9mil)/Smart (4.5 mil)
Crowder (7mil)/ Brown (5mil)
Hayward (30mil)/Yabusele (2mil)
Horford (26mil)/Zizic (1.5mil)

So the total amount for main rotation is only 97 million, 5 million still below the cap. AFAIK, big markets have higher cap limit than the standard. It could be 104 for our cap limit, plus the willingness to pay the luxury tax if Danny and the ownership feels like this group is ready to compete. AB and IT could have a pay increase or both of them could be shipped along with Crowder for an upgrade.

[Roy H.]

Horford / Zizic
Crowder / KO
Hayward / Brown
Smart / Fultz
IT / Rozier

I am sorry but Kelly is a goner.

Why?

I think he is going to get a huge offer and the Celtics will not match it...much like ET last year.

I think under that circumstance they'd try to work a sign and trade, because otherwise we lose the salary slot.

[Bostonborn62]

Please, enough already with the Pilsbury dough boy Olynyk, just let him walk.I've seen enough.

[Roy H.]

Please, enough already with the Pilsbury dough boy Olynyk, just let him walk.I've seen enough.

If the choice is either KO or a vet minimum guy, I'm taking KO.

[tazzmaniac]

Horford / Zizic
Crowder / KO
Hayward / Brown
Smart / Fultz
IT / Rozier

I am sorry but Kelly is a goner.

Why?

I think he is going to get a huge offer and the Celtics will not match it...much like ET last year.

And there will be another team disappointed just like the Blazers. 

[tazzmaniac]

Please, enough already with the Pilsbury dough boy Olynyk, just let him walk.I've seen enough.

If the choice is either KO or a vet minimum guy, I'm taking KO.

I'll take a guy like Amir or Zeller with a 2nd year non-guaranteed contract.  With the cap leveling off, those type of contracts will be quite useful again.  Tying up 4 years of cap space in KO makes little sense regardless of whether Ainge tries to build a contender, goes into full rebuild mode or straddles the fence. 

[Roy H.]

Please, enough already with the Pilsbury dough boy Olynyk, just let him walk.I've seen enough.

If the choice is either KO or a vet minimum guy, I'm taking KO.

I'll take a guy like Amir or Zeller with a 2nd year non-guaranteed contract.  With the cap leveling off, those type of contracts will be quite useful again.  Tying up 4 years of cap space in KO makes little sense regardless of whether Ainge tries to build a contender, goes into full rebuild mode or straddles the fence.

Those contracts aren't really that useful for trading purposes anymore, as only guaranteed salary counts for matching purposes now. Existing contracts are grandfathered for one season, but going forward, they're not great trade chips.

Also, the cap hold for Amir is too high to keep him on a Bird rights contract unless we're going to forego signing a max contract. Same thing with Zeller's contract; if we don't waive him, he takes up valuable cap room.

[LilRip]

I'm hazy on salary cap and salaries so correct me if I'm wrong:

Assuming we get PG or Butler for AB+Crowder + pick/s
IT/Rozier
Fultz/Smart
Brown/Gerald Green
George (or Butler)/James Johnson
Horford/Zizic

I assume in this scenario, Amir and KO are both gone because we can't afford them. Otherwise, if we could keep KO, I'd bump James Johnson to SF and slot KO in as back up PF. Also, during the regular season, I wouldn't want to start George or Butler full time on PF, which is why I think the team also needs an enforcer for the 82-game grind like a Jared sullinger or Terrence Jones for the minimum, but when the playoffs roll around, they'll start picking up DNP's.

If we can't make a trade...
IT/Rozier
Fultz/Smart
Brown/Crowder
Griffin or Hayward/whatever big man we get for Bradley
Horford/Zizic

The assumption is we can't keep AB, Amir or KO if we want to sign a max FA.

[WRbleedgreen]

IT, Fultz
Bradley, Smart/Rozier
Hayward, Brown
Millsap, Crowder
Horford, Zizic


I've seen a lot of people put Yabu in their lineups for next year. I haven't seen much video of him but is he really ready for minutes in the NBA?

[jay]

Trade AB, Jackson, and future pick for Chriss and Barbosa.

Trade Zeller, Rozier, and future pick for Favors.


IT. Fultz
Hayward. Smart
Brown. Crowder
Horford.  Chriss
Favors.  Zizic

[notthebowler]

Trade Crowder and Rozier for Vucevic and the 25th (I think) pick and use that pick on Caleb Swanigan. 

Trade Avery for a future pick to create cap space to max out Hayward.


IT / Smart / Jackson
Fultz / Brown
Hayward / Green / Nader
Horford / Swanigan / Yabusele
Vucevic / Zizic

[tazzmaniac]

Please, enough already with the Pilsbury dough boy Olynyk, just let him walk.I've seen enough.

If the choice is either KO or a vet minimum guy, I'm taking KO.

I'll take a guy like Amir or Zeller with a 2nd year non-guaranteed contract.  With the cap leveling off, those type of contracts will be quite useful again.  Tying up 4 years of cap space in KO makes little sense regardless of whether Ainge tries to build a contender, goes into full rebuild mode or straddles the fence.

Those contracts aren't really that useful for trading purposes anymore, as only guaranteed salary counts for matching purposes now. Existing contracts are grandfathered for one season, but going forward, they're not great trade chips.

Also, the cap hold for Amir is too high to keep him on a Bird rights contract unless we're going to forego signing a max contract. Same thing with Zeller's contract; if we don't waive him, he takes up valuable cap room.

Thanks for the info.  Sounds like they'd still be useful for midseason trades.  They also allow you to free up cap space for free agency acquisitions.  Committing 4 years to KO just doesn't seem smart.  I'd rather have the flexibility with cap space.

I wasn't speaking specifically about Amir and Zeller.  Both of them need to go.  Just similar players that you could get for those type of contracts. 

[Roy H.]

Please, enough already with the Pilsbury dough boy Olynyk, just let him walk.I've seen enough.

If the choice is either KO or a vet minimum guy, I'm taking KO.

I'll take a guy like Amir or Zeller with a 2nd year non-guaranteed contract.  With the cap leveling off, those type of contracts will be quite useful again.  Tying up 4 years of cap space in KO makes little sense regardless of whether Ainge tries to build a contender, goes into full rebuild mode or straddles the fence.

Those contracts aren't really that useful for trading purposes anymore, as only guaranteed salary counts for matching purposes now. Existing contracts are grandfathered for one season, but going forward, they're not great trade chips.

Also, the cap hold for Amir is too high to keep him on a Bird rights contract unless we're going to forego signing a max contract. Same thing with Zeller's contract; if we don't waive him, he takes up valuable cap room.

Thanks for the info.  Sounds like they'd still be useful for midseason trades.  They also allow you to free up cap space for free agency acquisitions.  Committing 4 years to KO just doesn't seem smart.  I'd rather have the flexibility with cap space.

I wasn't speaking specifically about Amir and Zeller.  Both of them need to go.  Just similar players that you could get for those type of contracts.

If we're going to sign Hayward or another max contract, those types of deals won't be available to use. KO is literally the only guy we can sign to a decent sized contract after we sign Hayward (and that's only if we move Bradley).

I'm with you on ideally not wanting to commit to KO long-term, but if we sign a max free agent, he may be the only guy who preserves that big $10 - $15 million salary slot we may want to use in future trades.

[D Dub]

I think ultimately we see George, Hayward and Butler stay put and that the most likely scenario is that we replace Young with Fultz and run it back. 

But I do have a hunch that Danny is waiting in the wings to crush Phil over a Melo trade.   Something like, Fultz/Amir/Zeller for Melo plus their 2018 & 2020 unprotected 1sts.     

Then perhaps move AB for a front court player.  Something weird, like the Rondo trade.  Maybe for Thon Maker and Spencer Hawes?

IT, Rozier,
Brown, Smart
Melo, Crowder
Horford, Maker
KO, Zizic, Hawes

[CelticsElite]

Giving up fultz for melo would set the franchise back 15 years