Possible Team Options (if LAC deal happens)

[crimson_stallion]

Just reading a link here regarding the LAC deal that has been circling around for so long:

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9391832/sources-los-angeles-clippers-resistant-trading-eric-bledsoe-boston-celtics-deal

Gives an interesting take on the situation.  Basically the claim is that:

a) Clippers are offering DeAndre Jordan for KG, plus at least one 1st Round Pick to compensate for giving up Doc Rivers

b) Ainge not happy with this deal (understandably).  He also wants the Clippers to include Bledsoe AND take take back the contact of either Terry or Lee

c) Assuming the deal happens, Boston would then buy out Pierce for the ~$5M or so he is guaranteed, thus allowing him to become a free agent and sign with the Clippers to join Doc and KG.

Now this is probably a long shot, but lets say this deal does happen as Danny wants it to.  The Clippers end up instant title contenders with this roster:

PG: Chris Paul
SG: Caron Butler
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Blake Griffin
C: Kevin Garnett
Coach: Doc Rivers

The Celtics don't look so great on talent in terms of ability to win games, but assuming we keep Green as our centerpiece (assuming we will if Pierce goes) here is a list of the assets that could potentially be used in trades: 

* Rajon Rondo (if DA chooses to keep Bledsoe)
* Eric Bledsoe (if DA chooses to keep Rondo)
* DeAndre Jordan
* Avery Bradley
* Jared Sullinger
* Jamaal Crawford
* Terrence Williams
* Brandon Bass
* Courtney Lee / Jason Terry (whoever we keep)
* Fab Melo
* 2013 1st round pick (#16)
* Future 1st round pick

Then on top of all this we also gain about $22M in cap space - $16.5M from buying out Pierce, $5.5M from Terry/Lee (whichever the Clippers absorb in the trade).  Correct me if I'm wrong (I don't know all the metrics) but if we are at $74M now then this puts us at $52M, which I think is comfortably below the Salary Cap.

That means we have one more asset - cap flexibility to either absorb some contract if needed, or sign free agents.

This is actually a pretty darn good position to be in moving forward.  Here are a couple of options I see...

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Option 1
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Move 1:
Send Avery Bradley, DeAndre Jordan, 2013 1st Round Pick to Atlanta for Josh Smith.

Move 2:
Send Eric Bledsoe, Jamaal Crawford, Jared Sullinger, Fab Melo, Future 1st Round Pick to Sacramento for Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins

Move 3:
Sign backup SF for ~$5M in spare cap space

Move 4:
Sign backup C for MLE

Roster:
PG - Rajon Rondo, Terrence Williams
SG - Tyreke Evans, Terry/Lee.
SF - Jeff Green, [Free Agent]
PF - Josh Smith, Brandon Bass, Chris Wilcox
C - DeMarcus Cousins, [Free Agent], Shavlik Randolf


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Option 2
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Move 1:
Send Eric Bledsoe, DeAndre Jordan to Atlanta for Josh Smith, Kyle Korver

Move 2:
Send Jamaal Crawford, Brandon Bass, Fab Melo, 2013 1st Round Pick, Future First Round Pick (from LAC) to Phoenix for Marcin Gortat

Roster:
PG - Rajon Rondo, Terrence Williams
SG - Avery Bradley, Terry/Lee
SF - Jeff Green, Kyle Korver
PF - Josh Smith, Jared Sullinger, Chris Wilcox
C - Marcin Gortat, Shavlik Randolf

This is not as nice a lineup, but we'd still have about $5M in cap space and the $5M Exception to sign free agents.

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Option 3
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Move 1:
Send Eric Bledsoe, Lee/Terry, Brandon Bass, DeAndre Jordan to LAL for Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol

Move 2:
Send Pau Gasol, Jamaal Crawford, Fab Melo, 2013 1st Round Pick, 2014 First Round Pick to Atlanta for Josh Smith, Kyle Korver 

PG - Rajon Rondo, Terrence Williams
SG - Avery Bradley, Kyle Korver
SF - Jeff Green, [Free Agent]
PF - Josh Smith, Jared Sullinger
C - Dwight Howard, [Free Agent]

These are just a handful of the possiblilties really.

The big thing is that if they do choose to do a complete rebuild, obtaining Bledsoe gives us the option to (if we choose) trade Rondo.

If we really want Dwight Howard the Lakers would probably take a Rondo for Dwight swap pretty much straight up, then we have Bledsoe to be our starting PG moving forward. 

So many options....