To those criticizing Ainge

[BitterJim]

Look this whole theory about Durant might come here now because now we have room for two max contracts? Is that what passes for great basketball knowledge in Boston now? It's very cute and very asinine. There is no reason for him to come here now. Guys like Durant don't go to teams with lots of cap space. It doesn't work that way. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown won't be attracting Durant.

You're right, a 48 win playoff team with Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Jay Crowder, and Brad Stevens, and our ability to add a player of Durant's choosing to our roster along with him, is what can attract Durant. That, and the fact that we are in the Eastern Conference.

Nope

How insightful 

[Eja117]

Look this whole theory about Durant might come here now because now we have room for two max contracts? Is that what passes for great basketball knowledge in Boston now? It's very cute and very asinine. There is no reason for him to come here now. Guys like Durant don't go to teams with lots of cap space. It doesn't work that way. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown won't be attracting Durant.

heh... it's a borderline 50 win team without any additions.   Sure, we could have traded Amir + Jerebko + Rozier for D-Rose to fill our second max cap slot, but it's better to just head into our meeting with Durant to say "Hey... we're adding you to a 50 win team... and then we have another 26 million to add another max player.  Who would you like us to get?"

Yes.  It makes a difference.

We have money. Wow. That will be sure to attract him over the Warriors and the Spurs. Hey. We don't have players. But we have money. We could have had Noel on his rookie contract and been in a better situation.

[LarBrd33]

Did anybody pay any attention whatsoever to the 24ish hours that were the draft?

Teague for the 12th pick. An all star for the 12th pick. That was a great trade.

OKC got a GREAT trade.

I also absolutely do not believe that there wasn't a decent trade to be had for the 3rd pick. Don't believe it. Don't come here with that.

The trade we made with the 2nds for the future first. It was decent.

Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant for D Rose is pretty good.

Where would Teague fit in on our team? Would you be willing to give up our double max cap space for a guy who is not as good as IT and would take playing time away from our best player and from Smart and Bradley? I'm glad we didn't trade for Teague. He doesnt help our team at all.

The OKC trade was great for OKC, but as I said, what borderline all-star PF do we have to offer to Orlando, and why would we want more rookies when we were already drafting 8 players?

The Rose trade, Rose is cooked, would kill our cap, and like Teague doesnt fit our team. The Bulls were trying to give him away. On the other side, the guys we drafted thursday night are much better than Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant, and we didn't have to give up anything to get them, AND they allow us to keep our cap flexibility.

So, where are the good trades that were made that would have helped us that we missed out on?

Wait.....  a guard who shoots 36% for his career from 3, and hit at a 40% clip last season, and produced about 6 assists per game last year as well, doesn't fit the Celtics?  Really?

I don't care about the Teague situation one way or another, but come on.

No he wouldn't. He would take time away from younger and better players at his position, and would kill our ability to sign 2 max free agents, so he would in reality hurt us.

To repeat, summarize and clarify:

It's your position that a guard who can shoot would not help a team that needs a guard who can shoot.  It's also your position that said guard would actually hurt the team.


That's completely insane.

And to repeat, summarize and clarify:

You guys are arguing about Jeff Teague.   The #12 pick wasn't traded for Jeff Teague.  It was traded for George Hill.

Nonetheless, both Teague and Hill make 8 million dollars next season (effectively kills our chance to have a second max contract), are both unrestricted free agents at the end of the season (they can leave for nothing), and Boston did not have the #12 pick.

It would have made little to no sense for Boston to trade #16 + #23 + later picks to move up to #12 and then trade it for George Hill.   We have Thomas, Bradley, Smart and Rozier needing minutes at our guard positions.   What's Hill going to do... split minutes off the bench with Smart?  We were going to blow our chance to have another max-level talent next to Durant so that we could have George Hill getting 12 minutes per game off the bench for a single season before he bailed on us for a team that would give him starter minutes?

Bad example of a "great trade".

[BitterJim]

Did anybody pay any attention whatsoever to the 24ish hours that were the draft?

Teague for the 12th pick. An all star for the 12th pick. That was a great trade.

OKC got a GREAT trade.

I also absolutely do not believe that there wasn't a decent trade to be had for the 3rd pick. Don't believe it. Don't come here with that.

The trade we made with the 2nds for the future first. It was decent.

Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant for D Rose is pretty good.

Where would Teague fit in on our team? Would you be willing to give up our double max cap space for a guy who is not as good as IT and would take playing time away from our best player and from Smart and Bradley? I'm glad we didn't trade for Teague. He doesnt help our team at all.

The OKC trade was great for OKC, but as I said, what borderline all-star PF do we have to offer to Orlando, and why would we want more rookies when we were already drafting 8 players?

The Rose trade, Rose is cooked, would kill our cap, and like Teague doesnt fit our team. The Bulls were trying to give him away. On the other side, the guys we drafted thursday night are much better than Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant, and we didn't have to give up anything to get them, AND they allow us to keep our cap flexibility.

So, where are the good trades that were made that would have helped us that we missed out on?

Wait.....  a guard who shoots 36% for his career from 3, and hit at a 40% clip last season, and produced about 6 assists per game last year as well, doesn't fit the Celtics?  Really?

I don't care about the Teague situation one way or another, but come on.

No he wouldn't. He would take time away from younger and better players at his position, and would kill our ability to sign 2 max free agents, so he would in reality hurt us.

To repeat, summarize and clarify:

It's your position that a guard who can shoot would not help a team that needs a guard who can shoot.  It's also your position that said guard would actually hurt the team.


That's completely insane.

And to repeat, summarize and clarify:

You guys are arguing about Jeff Teague.   The #12 pick wasn't traded for Jeff Teague.  It was traded for George Hill.

Nonetheless, both Teague and Hill make 8 million dollars next season (effectively kills our chance to have a second max contract), are both unrestricted free agents at the end of the season (they can leave for nothing), and Boston did not have the #12 pick.

It would have made little to no sense for Boston to trade #16 + #23 + later picks to move up to #12 and then trade it for George Hill.   We have Thomas, Bradley, Smart and Rozier needing minutes at our guard positions.   What's Hill going to do... split minutes off the bench with Smart?  We were going to blow our chance to have another max-level talent next to Durant so that we could have George Hill getting 12 minutes per game off the bench for a single season before he bailed on us for a team that would give him starter minutes?

Bad example of a "great trade".

The #12 was traded for George Hill, but Teague was traded for the #12 (if that makes any sense)

I think they're saying we could have gotten Teague for #16+#23, or a similar deal

[LarBrd33]

Look this whole theory about Durant might come here now because now we have room for two max contracts? Is that what passes for great basketball knowledge in Boston now? It's very cute and very asinine. There is no reason for him to come here now. Guys like Durant don't go to teams with lots of cap space. It doesn't work that way. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown won't be attracting Durant.

heh... it's a borderline 50 win team without any additions.   Sure, we could have traded Amir + Jerebko + Rozier for D-Rose to fill our second max cap slot, but it's better to just head into our meeting with Durant to say "Hey... we're adding you to a 50 win team... and then we have another 26 million to add another max player.  Who would you like us to get?"

Yes.  It makes a difference.

We have money. Wow. That will be sure to attract him over the Warriors and the Spurs. Hey. We don't have players. But we have money. We could have had Noel on his rookie contract and been in a better situation.

You know how huge a fan of Noel I am.  Trading the #3 pick for Noel and filler wasn't a smart move either.  Consider the following:

- Noel has 1 year left on his rookie deal and then could command max money.  If we fail to sign superstars this year, we want to maintain our ability to sign a superstar next year when the free agent class is even juicier.  Locking up money for Nerlens Noel hurts that chance.

- Some of the biggest names in free agency this summer are bigs.  Horford, Howard, Whiteside, Pau Gasol, Noah... even lesser names like Biyombo.  I brought up prior to the draft that trading for Okafor or Noel didn't make sense if part of your plan involves signing Al Horford or trading for Kevin Love.   

I'm getting the sense you don't totally get the money aspect, but when you have 50+ million in cap space, there's some strategy involved here.  We can reapproach trading for Noel if we need to.  Right now, it didn't make much sense to give up the #3 pick for him.   

[hpantazo]

Look this whole theory about Durant might come here now because now we have room for two max contracts? Is that what passes for great basketball knowledge in Boston now? It's very cute and very asinine. There is no reason for him to come here now. Guys like Durant don't go to teams with lots of cap space. It doesn't work that way. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown won't be attracting Durant.

heh... it's a borderline 50 win team without any additions.   Sure, we could have traded Amir + Jerebko + Rozier for D-Rose to fill our second max cap slot, but it's better to just head into our meeting with Durant to say "Hey... we're adding you to a 50 win team... and then we have another 26 million to add another max player.  Who would you like us to get?"

Yes.  It makes a difference.

We have money. Wow. That will be sure to attract him over the Warriors and the Spurs. Hey. We don't have players. But we have money. We could have had Noel on his rookie contract and been in a better situation.

We can still trade for Noel at any time if we want to. It's not like the Sixers managed to move any of their three centers on thursday night and we missed out. They still need to move one of them. If Ainge passed on it, then he already has a good idea that Noel wouldn't move the needle either way for Durant, and maintaining flexibility for now was the better choice. If later on Durant indicates he's not coming here, we can still trade for Noel, or Nurkic if we want a young center, or sign Noah or Dwight Howard or Pau Gasol if we want a vet center. I'm pretty sure Marc Gasol is also available.

[hpantazo]

Look this whole theory about Durant might come here now because now we have room for two max contracts? Is that what passes for great basketball knowledge in Boston now? It's very cute and very asinine. There is no reason for him to come here now. Guys like Durant don't go to teams with lots of cap space. It doesn't work that way. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown won't be attracting Durant.

heh... it's a borderline 50 win team without any additions.   Sure, we could have traded Amir + Jerebko + Rozier for D-Rose to fill our second max cap slot, but it's better to just head into our meeting with Durant to say "Hey... we're adding you to a 50 win team... and then we have another 26 million to add another max player.  Who would you like us to get?"

Yes.  It makes a difference.

We have money. Wow. That will be sure to attract him over the Warriors and the Spurs. Hey. We don't have players. But we have money. We could have had Noel on his rookie contract and been in a better situation.

You know how huge a fan of Noel I am.  Trading the #3 pick for Noel and filler wasn't a smart move either.  Consider the following:

- Noel has 1 year left on his rookie deal and then could command max money.  If we fail to sign superstars this year, we want to maintain our ability to sign a superstar next year when the free agent class is even juicier.  Locking up money for Nerlens Noel hurts that chance.

- Some of the biggest names in free agency this summer are bigs.  Horford, Howard, Whiteside, Pau Gasol, Noah... even lesser names like Biyombo.  I brought up prior to the draft that trading for Okafor or Noel didn't make sense if part of your plan involves signing Al Horford or trading for Kevin Love.   

I'm getting the sense you don't totally get the money aspect, but when you have 50+ million in cap space, there's some strategy involved here.  We can reapproach trading for Noel if we need to.  Right now, it didn't make much sense to give up the #3 pick for him.

Can you imagine the defensive powerhouse we would have if we signed Whiteside? Smart, Bradley, Crowder, Brown, and Whiteside would be unbelievable.

[LarBrd33]

Did anybody pay any attention whatsoever to the 24ish hours that were the draft?

Teague for the 12th pick. An all star for the 12th pick. That was a great trade.

OKC got a GREAT trade.

I also absolutely do not believe that there wasn't a decent trade to be had for the 3rd pick. Don't believe it. Don't come here with that.

The trade we made with the 2nds for the future first. It was decent.

Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant for D Rose is pretty good.

Where would Teague fit in on our team? Would you be willing to give up our double max cap space for a guy who is not as good as IT and would take playing time away from our best player and from Smart and Bradley? I'm glad we didn't trade for Teague. He doesnt help our team at all.

The OKC trade was great for OKC, but as I said, what borderline all-star PF do we have to offer to Orlando, and why would we want more rookies when we were already drafting 8 players?

The Rose trade, Rose is cooked, would kill our cap, and like Teague doesnt fit our team. The Bulls were trying to give him away. On the other side, the guys we drafted thursday night are much better than Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant, and we didn't have to give up anything to get them, AND they allow us to keep our cap flexibility.

So, where are the good trades that were made that would have helped us that we missed out on?

Wait.....  a guard who shoots 36% for his career from 3, and hit at a 40% clip last season, and produced about 6 assists per game last year as well, doesn't fit the Celtics?  Really?

I don't care about the Teague situation one way or another, but come on.

No he wouldn't. He would take time away from younger and better players at his position, and would kill our ability to sign 2 max free agents, so he would in reality hurt us.

To repeat, summarize and clarify:

It's your position that a guard who can shoot would not help a team that needs a guard who can shoot.  It's also your position that said guard would actually hurt the team.


That's completely insane.

And to repeat, summarize and clarify:

You guys are arguing about Jeff Teague.   The #12 pick wasn't traded for Jeff Teague.  It was traded for George Hill.

Nonetheless, both Teague and Hill make 8 million dollars next season (effectively kills our chance to have a second max contract), are both unrestricted free agents at the end of the season (they can leave for nothing), and Boston did not have the #12 pick.

It would have made little to no sense for Boston to trade #16 + #23 + later picks to move up to #12 and then trade it for George Hill.   We have Thomas, Bradley, Smart and Rozier needing minutes at our guard positions.   What's Hill going to do... split minutes off the bench with Smart?  We were going to blow our chance to have another max-level talent next to Durant so that we could have George Hill getting 12 minutes per game off the bench for a single season before he bailed on us for a team that would give him starter minutes?

Bad example of a "great trade".

The #12 was traded for George Hill, but Teague was traded for the #12 (if that makes any sense)

I think they're saying we could have gotten Teague for #16+#23, or a similar deal

And maybe that would have been an ok idea.  But probably not given that we have a pretty excellent guard rotation as is in Thomas, Bradley, Smart (and possibly even Rozier).   Even if it had been Teague, which it wasn't, the same problems apply. 

- You'd have a major log jam at the guard position.  Are you going to just start Teague and Bradley, bench Thomas and give zero minutes to Smart, Rozier, etc?

- You're potentially hurting one of our greatest strengths - back court defense

- You're killing the opportunity to have double-max cap space this Summer

- Teague/Hill can walk at the end of the year.  They'll command much large contracts next Summer.  That could potentially hurt your long-term flexibility to add impact talent next Summer instead.

Not a bad move, theoretically, but there will be better opportunities.  Need to meet with KD to see what he wants to do.

[BitterJim]

Did anybody pay any attention whatsoever to the 24ish hours that were the draft?

Teague for the 12th pick. An all star for the 12th pick. That was a great trade.

OKC got a GREAT trade.

I also absolutely do not believe that there wasn't a decent trade to be had for the 3rd pick. Don't believe it. Don't come here with that.

The trade we made with the 2nds for the future first. It was decent.

Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant for D Rose is pretty good.

Where would Teague fit in on our team? Would you be willing to give up our double max cap space for a guy who is not as good as IT and would take playing time away from our best player and from Smart and Bradley? I'm glad we didn't trade for Teague. He doesnt help our team at all.

The OKC trade was great for OKC, but as I said, what borderline all-star PF do we have to offer to Orlando, and why would we want more rookies when we were already drafting 8 players?

The Rose trade, Rose is cooked, would kill our cap, and like Teague doesnt fit our team. The Bulls were trying to give him away. On the other side, the guys we drafted thursday night are much better than Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant, and we didn't have to give up anything to get them, AND they allow us to keep our cap flexibility.

So, where are the good trades that were made that would have helped us that we missed out on?

Wait.....  a guard who shoots 36% for his career from 3, and hit at a 40% clip last season, and produced about 6 assists per game last year as well, doesn't fit the Celtics?  Really?

I don't care about the Teague situation one way or another, but come on.

No he wouldn't. He would take time away from younger and better players at his position, and would kill our ability to sign 2 max free agents, so he would in reality hurt us.

To repeat, summarize and clarify:

It's your position that a guard who can shoot would not help a team that needs a guard who can shoot.  It's also your position that said guard would actually hurt the team.


That's completely insane.

And to repeat, summarize and clarify:

You guys are arguing about Jeff Teague.   The #12 pick wasn't traded for Jeff Teague.  It was traded for George Hill.

Nonetheless, both Teague and Hill make 8 million dollars next season (effectively kills our chance to have a second max contract), are both unrestricted free agents at the end of the season (they can leave for nothing), and Boston did not have the #12 pick.

It would have made little to no sense for Boston to trade #16 + #23 + later picks to move up to #12 and then trade it for George Hill.   We have Thomas, Bradley, Smart and Rozier needing minutes at our guard positions.   What's Hill going to do... split minutes off the bench with Smart?  We were going to blow our chance to have another max-level talent next to Durant so that we could have George Hill getting 12 minutes per game off the bench for a single season before he bailed on us for a team that would give him starter minutes?

Bad example of a "great trade".

The #12 was traded for George Hill, but Teague was traded for the #12 (if that makes any sense)

I think they're saying we could have gotten Teague for #16+#23, or a similar deal

And maybe that would have been an ok idea.  But probably not given that we have a pretty excellent guard rotation as is in Thomas, Bradley, Smart (and possibly even Rozier).   Even if it had been Teague, which it wasn't, the same problems apply. 

- You'd have a major log jam at the guard position.  Are you going to just start Teague and Bradley, bench Thomas and give zero minutes to Smart, Rozier, etc?

- You're potentially hurting one of our greatest strengths - back court defense

- You're killing the opportunity to have double-max cap space this Summer

- Teague/Hill can walk at the end of the year.  They'll command much large contracts next Summer.  That could potentially hurt your long-term flexibility to add impact talent next Summer instead.

Not a bad move, theoretically, but there will be better opportunities.  Need to meet with KD to see what he wants to do.

I completely agree that it would have been a terrible deal given our guard rotation, and whether or not it would be a good deal seems to be what they're discussing

[chiken Green]

Did anybody pay any attention whatsoever to the 24ish hours that were the draft?

Teague for the 12th pick. An all star for the 12th pick. That was a great trade.

OKC got a GREAT trade.

I also absolutely do not believe that there wasn't a decent trade to be had for the 3rd pick. Don't believe it. Don't come here with that.

The trade we made with the 2nds for the future first. It was decent.

Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant for D Rose is pretty good.

Pretty good huh..

wow..

[Eja117]

Look this whole theory about Durant might come here now because now we have room for two max contracts? Is that what passes for great basketball knowledge in Boston now? It's very cute and very asinine. There is no reason for him to come here now. Guys like Durant don't go to teams with lots of cap space. It doesn't work that way. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown won't be attracting Durant.

heh... it's a borderline 50 win team without any additions.   Sure, we could have traded Amir + Jerebko + Rozier for D-Rose to fill our second max cap slot, but it's better to just head into our meeting with Durant to say "Hey... we're adding you to a 50 win team... and then we have another 26 million to add another max player.  Who would you like us to get?"

Yes.  It makes a difference.

We have money. Wow. That will be sure to attract him over the Warriors and the Spurs. Hey. We don't have players. But we have money. We could have had Noel on his rookie contract and been in a better situation.

You know how huge a fan of Noel I am.  Trading the #3 pick for Noel and filler wasn't a smart move either.  Consider the following:

- Noel has 1 year left on his rookie deal and then could command max money.  If we fail to sign superstars this year, we want to maintain our ability to sign a superstar next year when the free agent class is even juicier.  Locking up money for Nerlens Noel hurts that chance.

- Some of the biggest names in free agency this summer are bigs.  Horford, Howard, Whiteside, Pau Gasol, Noah... even lesser names like Biyombo.  I brought up prior to the draft that trading for Okafor or Noel didn't make sense if part of your plan involves signing Al Horford or trading for Kevin Love.   

I'm getting the sense you don't totally get the money aspect, but when you have 50+ million in cap space, there's some strategy involved here.  We can reapproach trading for Noel if we need to.  Right now, it didn't make much sense to give up the #3 pick for him.

Ok, but now Durant isn't coming here. Players don't go to teams with 19 year olds and money. Also I reject this concept that every player in the league (who isn't worthy) will get max contracts from these teams with so much more money than us, while we sit around and save our money and that this is what will get Durant to come here. It's just wanting it both ways. We can't do this. We can't do that. We can't do anything. There are just no options. We have no leverage. I'm from Boston. Get this defeatism out of here. Take it to France or something.

[BitterJim]

Did anybody pay any attention whatsoever to the 24ish hours that were the draft?

Teague for the 12th pick. An all star for the 12th pick. That was a great trade.

OKC got a GREAT trade.

I also absolutely do not believe that there wasn't a decent trade to be had for the 3rd pick. Don't believe it. Don't come here with that.

The trade we made with the 2nds for the future first. It was decent.

Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant for D Rose is pretty good.

Pretty good huh..

wow..

Are you saying that you wouldn't want to pay Rose's $21 million for next year?  Why not!?

[Eja117]

Did anybody pay any attention whatsoever to the 24ish hours that were the draft?

Teague for the 12th pick. An all star for the 12th pick. That was a great trade.

OKC got a GREAT trade.

I also absolutely do not believe that there wasn't a decent trade to be had for the 3rd pick. Don't believe it. Don't come here with that.

The trade we made with the 2nds for the future first. It was decent.

Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant for D Rose is pretty good.

Pretty good huh..

wow..

For the Bulls? Heck yes.

[LarBrd33]

Look this whole theory about Durant might come here now because now we have room for two max contracts? Is that what passes for great basketball knowledge in Boston now? It's very cute and very asinine. There is no reason for him to come here now. Guys like Durant don't go to teams with lots of cap space. It doesn't work that way. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown won't be attracting Durant.

heh... it's a borderline 50 win team without any additions.   Sure, we could have traded Amir + Jerebko + Rozier for D-Rose to fill our second max cap slot, but it's better to just head into our meeting with Durant to say "Hey... we're adding you to a 50 win team... and then we have another 26 million to add another max player.  Who would you like us to get?"

Yes.  It makes a difference.

We have money. Wow. That will be sure to attract him over the Warriors and the Spurs. Hey. We don't have players. But we have money. We could have had Noel on his rookie contract and been in a better situation.

You know how huge a fan of Noel I am.  Trading the #3 pick for Noel and filler wasn't a smart move either.  Consider the following:

- Noel has 1 year left on his rookie deal and then could command max money.  If we fail to sign superstars this year, we want to maintain our ability to sign a superstar next year when the free agent class is even juicier.  Locking up money for Nerlens Noel hurts that chance.

- Some of the biggest names in free agency this summer are bigs.  Horford, Howard, Whiteside, Pau Gasol, Noah... even lesser names like Biyombo.  I brought up prior to the draft that trading for Okafor or Noel didn't make sense if part of your plan involves signing Al Horford or trading for Kevin Love.   

I'm getting the sense you don't totally get the money aspect, but when you have 50+ million in cap space, there's some strategy involved here.  We can reapproach trading for Noel if we need to.  Right now, it didn't make much sense to give up the #3 pick for him.

Ok, but now Durant isn't coming here. Players don't go to teams with 19 year olds and money.

There's a better than good chance he will not come here... but it will not be because we used our draft pick to draft a player we liked.

You're being ingenuine if you see this team as "19 year olds and money".  You're a bit smarter than that, eja.

It's a solid borderline 50 win team that is pretty excellent defensively.  We can fill one of our greatest needs through free agency by signing an impact big like Horford.   And obviously adding Durant to that would immediately make this team a legitimate contender.  Who we took 3rd is irrelevant. 

If I'm Durant I'd much rather join a team that has that 19 year old + 1st team all defense Avery Bradley + a great two-way beast in Jae Crowder + extra assets... over a depleted team with an overrated Jimmy BUtler and not much else going for it.

But I mean, if he really wants to join a depleted team with Jimmy Butler and not much else going for it, he can just sign with the Bulls.  If Jimmy Butler is such a draw, it's confusing that the Bulls aren't one of the 6 teams supposedly meeting with Durant on July 1st.

[Eja117]

Look this whole theory about Durant might come here now because now we have room for two max contracts? Is that what passes for great basketball knowledge in Boston now? It's very cute and very asinine. There is no reason for him to come here now. Guys like Durant don't go to teams with lots of cap space. It doesn't work that way. Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown won't be attracting Durant.

heh... it's a borderline 50 win team without any additions.   Sure, we could have traded Amir + Jerebko + Rozier for D-Rose to fill our second max cap slot, but it's better to just head into our meeting with Durant to say "Hey... we're adding you to a 50 win team... and then we have another 26 million to add another max player.  Who would you like us to get?"

Yes.  It makes a difference.

We have money. Wow. That will be sure to attract him over the Warriors and the Spurs. Hey. We don't have players. But we have money. We could have had Noel on his rookie contract and been in a better situation.

You know how huge a fan of Noel I am.  Trading the #3 pick for Noel and filler wasn't a smart move either.  Consider the following:

- Noel has 1 year left on his rookie deal and then could command max money.  If we fail to sign superstars this year, we want to maintain our ability to sign a superstar next year when the free agent class is even juicier.  Locking up money for Nerlens Noel hurts that chance.

- Some of the biggest names in free agency this summer are bigs.  Horford, Howard, Whiteside, Pau Gasol, Noah... even lesser names like Biyombo.  I brought up prior to the draft that trading for Okafor or Noel didn't make sense if part of your plan involves signing Al Horford or trading for Kevin Love.   

I'm getting the sense you don't totally get the money aspect, but when you have 50+ million in cap space, there's some strategy involved here.  We can reapproach trading for Noel if we need to.  Right now, it didn't make much sense to give up the #3 pick for him.

Ok, but now Durant isn't coming here. Players don't go to teams with 19 year olds and money.

There's a better than good chance he will not come here... but it will not be because we used our draft pick to draft a player we liked.

You're being ingenuine if you see this team as "19 year olds and money".  You're a bit smarter than that, eja.

It's a solid borderline 50 win team that is pretty excellent defensively.  We can fill one of our greatest needs through free agency by signing an impact big like Horford.   Who we took 3rd is irrelevant. 

If I'm Durant I'd much rather join a team that has that 19 year old + 1st team all defense Avery Bradley + a great two-way beast in Jae Crowder + extra assets... over a depleted team with an overrated Jimmy BUtler and not much else going for it.

But I mean, if he really wants to join a depleted team with Jimmy Butler and not much else going for it, he can just sign with the Bulls.  If Jimmy Butler is such a draw, it's confusing that the Bulls aren't one of the 6 teams supposedly meeting with Durant on July 1st.

He's not going to the Bulls. He's meeting with the Warriors and Spurs. You know. Teams with good players.