How long do they wait to use TPE?

[keevsnick]

Next offseason

90 percent they wont this season to try to avoid repeat luxury tax

I agree, I suspect the TPE will be used to allow the Cs to be players in Free agency.

The one exception might be if Thompson and Timelord are playing well enough to justify trading away Theis. I could see Theis traded away for a first and that first and the Cs own 2021 1st being offered up for Aaron Gordon if the Magic are out of the playoff hunt.

Theis is not going to bring back a 1st. I believe he is over valued in this forum

Celts ride him out until the end of the season. Need the depth just in case/foul issues etc

We need Theis.  I actually expect him to have a pretty important role on the team this season.  Makes no sense to trade him to get Aaron Gordon.  And even if that is what you want to do, why not just trade Theis and our first to Orlando directly?

I mean under the premise that Robert Williams shows something to start the season i think trading Theis into an asset is a totally possible scenario. Those three guys are all pretty much straight centers, you only have 48 minutes at that position and you can get a 3rd string big pretty easy at the min that can give you spot minutes. Theis is in the final year of his deal and with Thompson and Williams both under contract next year he seems like the odd one out. Again all this assumes Williams is playing well.

The reason you flip him to a third team is if Orlando is trading Gordon I can't imagine they'd want a veteran back who might help them win (they are probably tanking), plus they have Vucevic at center.

[footey]

Next offseason

90 percent they wont this season to try to avoid repeat luxury tax

I agree, I suspect the TPE will be used to allow the Cs to be players in Free agency.

The one exception might be if Thompson and Timelord are playing well enough to justify trading away Theis. I could see Theis traded away for a first and that first and the Cs own 2021 1st being offered up for Aaron Gordon if the Magic are out of the playoff hunt.

I don't think we'd get a first for Theis.  I don't think his contract has Bird rights given the short term of it. Someone can check on that. Without Bird rights, it would have lower value in a trade, especially to a contender without cap space.

[mmmmm]

Next offseason

90 percent they wont this season to try to avoid repeat luxury tax

They can use it this year and still avoid the tax, provided they send out sufficient salary in the trade (or in some other trade).

Any deal for a good player is going to cost us SOME player or two.  I'm dubious anyone is going to just give us a worthwhile player for nothing.

Right now, we have, I believe, ~15.7M of space under the tax so without anything else moving, we would be limited to a salary of that much that we could use of the TPE.

But as I said, we ill have to send out at least one player .. well, I'm not going to be specific because someone will get mad at me for wanting to trade their favorite player.  But let's assume some Player X who has a contract making 3M.     

So we send Player X and a draft pick to the other team in exchange for a highly protected 2nd round pick (which will never convey) in one transaction.  This creates a small 3M TPE, but more importanly, increases the room we have under the tax up to 18.7M.

So the other team then sends us the player we want, making a salary up 18.7M, which we absorb into the TPE and we stay under the tax.

So basically, the more salary we send out, the bigger contract we can take back in this way, up to the limit of the TPE, without going into the tax.

I think there is a good chance Danny will try to use it prior to the Trade Deadline, because gaining such a player could really boost our chances in this playoff season.  But only for a solid player who fits what Danny wants.

On the other hand, if he waits until the off-season, since we will have (in that scenario) avoided the tax this year and will HAVE to pay the tax next year (because Tatum's salary kicks in), Danny will no longer be constrained to have to stay under the tax and will be able to use up the entirety of the TPE without having to shed salaries.   So at that time, he could trade for a player making up to the 28M or so of the TPE.

He would not be able to accept a free agent player in a sign & trade, though.

[mmmmm]

Next offseason

90 percent they wont this season to try to avoid repeat luxury tax

I agree, I suspect the TPE will be used to allow the Cs to be players in Free agency.

The one exception might be if Thompson and Timelord are playing well enough to justify trading away Theis. I could see Theis traded away for a first and that first and the Cs own 2021 1st being offered up for Aaron Gordon if the Magic are out of the playoff hunt.

Not sure how the TPE helps the team in free agency. A sign and trade into the TPE triggers a hard cap and with 11 contracts already having the team very close to the apron, being hard capped would mean needing to dump tens of millions of dollars worth of salary, just to make the sign and trade work.

The TPE could be saved to complete a trade for a player already under contract next off-season allowing the team to go over the tax and apron all they want, but there won't be a sign and trade into it.

I think the only way the TPE allows us to be a 'player in free agency' is that it could be used to take a player off another team's books in order for them to free up cap space to sign a free agent.

[Roy H.]

I think they start looking 2 or 3 weeks before the deadline.

[nickagneta]

Next offseason

90 percent they wont this season to try to avoid repeat luxury tax

I agree, I suspect the TPE will be used to allow the Cs to be players in Free agency.

The one exception might be if Thompson and Timelord are playing well enough to justify trading away Theis. I could see Theis traded away for a first and that first and the Cs own 2021 1st being offered up for Aaron Gordon if the Magic are out of the playoff hunt.

Not sure how the TPE helps the team in free agency. A sign and trade into the TPE triggers a hard cap and with 11 contracts already having the team very close to the apron, being hard capped would mean needing to dump tens of millions of dollars worth of salary, just to make the sign and trade work.

The TPE could be saved to complete a trade for a player already under contract next off-season allowing the team to go over the tax and apron all they want, but there won't be a sign and trade into it.

I think the only way the TPE allows us to be a 'player in free agency' is that it could be used to take a player off another team's books in order for them to free up cap space to sign a free agent.

True. I assume he meant a sign and trade. That could be a bad assumption, but, I am not sure it is.

[Birdman]

May depends on Walker knee issues.. if it doesn’t get any better, Ainge may trade for a PG

[mr. dee]

Until the next off season

[CelticSooner]

With Tatum's extension kicking in next year and being tax payers you have to try to find a guy(s) with a few years on their contract right? Easiest way to upgrade the team you would think. Ainge is almost forced to use at least some of it now.

[Big333223]

Until the right player(s) become available.

Best answer here.

The correct answer.

[Ilikesports17]

Until the right player(s) become available.

As time goes on the standard for “right players” will have to drop.

Can’t let this asset expire.

[Silas]

An appropriate quote while we wait for the perfect player.

Robert Watson-Watt, who developed early warning radar in Britain to counter the rapid growth of the Luftwaffe, propounded a "cult of the imperfect", which he stated as "Give them the third best to go on with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes."

[bogg]

Next offseason

90 percent they wont this season to try to avoid repeat luxury tax

I agree, I suspect the TPE will be used to allow the Cs to be players in Free agency.

The one exception might be if Thompson and Timelord are playing well enough to justify trading away Theis. I could see Theis traded away for a first and that first and the Cs own 2021 1st being offered up for Aaron Gordon if the Magic are out of the playoff hunt.

I don't think we'd get a first for Theis.  I don't think his contract has Bird rights given the short term of it. Someone can check on that. Without Bird rights, it would have lower value in a trade, especially to a contender without cap space.

It'd take the right set of circumstances, but you might be able to get a first out of Golden State for Theis if you take Looney (and Looney's $5 million 2022 salary) back. Looney also barely fits under the Kanter TPE, so you could structure the trade in a way that creates a new, slightly larger and longer-lasting Theis TPE.

I like Theis though. Don't really want to trade him.

[tstorey_97]

He'll use part or all of it at the trading deadline. He can create more pressure with the opposing GM at the deadline...I hope.

Ainge will be a buyer and every GM will know what he has to spend.

[boscel33]

Until the right player(s) become available.

I agree. 

If the C's are playing good through the year, he may not want to risk upsetting the apple cart and he may wait until the offseason.  The problem I see, the longer he waits, the less advantage he has because teams will know he needs to use it.