Danny turned nothing into something

[zerophase]

Another brilliant move by Ainge.

A decent young center, a first round pick, and cap space for next summer.

All for practically nothing.

No additional cap space was acquired in this deal.

In fact assuming we exercise Zeller's fourth year option (if it hasn't been already) we're going to lose a small amount of cap space from this deal.

Also it wasn't for nothing, eating 8 million dollars in salary is definitely a cost. It just didn't cost the team any basketball assets just payroll dollars.

Thornton's expiring $8.5 million dollar contract could free up more cap space next summer.

No. That's "cap space"  that was available with or without him.

Not true.

In addition, Boston will have over $32 million in salary coming off the books next summer (Rondo, Bass, Thornton, and Anthony), making them a prime option to sign top free agents in 2015.

http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/7/9/5883941/boston-celtics-acquire-tyler-zeller-cleveland-cavaliers-analysis-thornton-first-nba

Yet, I'm pretty sure Aldridge is the only worthwhile free agent besides Rondo in Summer 2015, and I fully expect him to resign with Portland.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9947573/nba-free-agents-2014-2015

[MBunge]

Another brilliant move by Ainge.

A decent young center, a first round pick, and cap space for next summer.

All for practically nothing.

No additional cap space was acquired in this deal.

In fact assuming we exercise Zeller's fourth year option (if it hasn't been already) we're going to lose a small amount of cap space from this deal.

Also it wasn't for nothing, eating 8 million dollars in salary is definitely a cost. It just didn't cost the team any basketball assets just payroll dollars.

Thornton's expiring $8.5 million dollar contract could free up more cap space next summer.

No. That's "cap space"  that was available with or without him.

Not true.

In addition, Boston will have over $32 million in salary coming off the books next summer (Rondo, Bass, Thornton, and Anthony), making them a prime option to sign top free agents in 2015.

http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/7/9/5883941/boston-celtics-acquire-tyler-zeller-cleveland-cavaliers-analysis-thornton-first-nba

As already pointed out, it does nothing to help up in the summer of 2015.  But Thornton can now be packaged with Bass, Green and whomever else in a trade this coming season.

Mike

[Jiri Welsch]

It's clear we can't keep this roster entering the season, which leads me to believe more trades are on the way. We have 17 players under contract and are over the luxury tax.

It seems we've got to have more trades on the horizon or am I nuts?

[NorthernLightning]

That was 2 hours ago. What has Ainge done for me lately?

Nothing.

[D.o.s.]

Expiring deals do not equal cap space.

For emphasis.

[Moranis]

Expiring deals do not equal cap space.

For emphasis.

UNLESS you trade non-expiring deals for the expiring deals.

[D.o.s.]

Always avoid absolutes. 

TP.

[Smokeeye123]

Another brilliant move by Ainge.

A decent young center, a first round pick, and cap space for next summer.

All for practically nothing.

No additional cap space was acquired in this deal.

In fact assuming we exercise Zeller's fourth year option (if it hasn't been already) we're going to lose a small amount of cap space from this deal.

Also it wasn't for nothing, eating 8 million dollars in salary is definitely a cost. It just didn't cost the team any basketball assets just payroll dollars.

Thornton's expiring $8.5 million dollar contract could free up more cap space next summer.

No. That's "cap space"  that was available with or without him.

Not true.

In addition, Boston will have over $32 million in salary coming off the books next summer (Rondo, Bass, Thornton, and Anthony), making them a prime option to sign top free agents in 2015.

http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/7/9/5883941/boston-celtics-acquire-tyler-zeller-cleveland-cavaliers-analysis-thornton-first-nba

Yet, I'm pretty sure Aldridge is the only worthwhile free agent besides Rondo in Summer 2015, and I fully expect him to resign with Portland.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9947573/nba-free-agents-2014-2015

Marc Gasol is worthwhile!

[Chris22]

Always avoid absolutes. 

TP.

Nice.

[Vermont Green]

This is a good trade but one thing that is not obvious is the $10M TPE exemption came to us largely because we took on Gerald Wallace for 3 years at $10.1M.  There were many parts to the BKN deal so you can't match up any two parts exactly but these two are pretty close to matching up.  The Celtics paid dearly for that trade exemption.  So I guess it comes down to this:

Zeller
Cle Pick

for taking on the contracts of:

Wallace (3 years at $10.1 per)
Thornton (1 year at $8.5)

That is about $40M.

I am not saying this is a bad trade, I would do it all over again starting with the KG/PP trade but no one made something out of nothing.  Rather, the Celtics agreed to pay $40M to make something out of nothing.

[TeamGreen.dm]

So were gonna be a 30 win team now this year, great!!! And please let's all be honest with each other NO marquee free agents will come to Boston....

[manl_lui]

This is a good trade but one thing that is not obvious is the $10M TPE exemption came to us largely because we took on Gerald Wallace for 3 years at $10.1M.  There were many parts to the BKN deal so you can't match up any two parts exactly but these two are pretty close to matching up.  The Celtics paid dearly for that trade exemption.  So I guess it comes down to this:

Zeller
Cle Pick

for taking on the contracts of:

Wallace (3 years at $10.1 per)
Thornton (1 year at $8.5)

That is about $40M.

I am not saying this is a bad trade, I would do it all over again starting with the KG/PP trade but no one made something out of nothing.  Rather, the Celtics agreed to pay $40M to make something out of nothing.

ACTUALLY, in my honest opinion, Wallace still got some...back when he was with the Bobcats, I wanted him to come here to back Pierce up

now that he is a shell of himself and not worth nearly as much money as 10 mil per, I don't mind stretching his contract out...I'm sure when healthy he can still provide a little bit for some teams

[Jiri Welsch]

That was 2 hours ago. What has Ainge done for me lately?

Nothing.

My post was an attempt to construct narratives rather than dwell on those incapable of understanding the difference between expiring contracts and cap space.

I think the trade was great.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

This is a good trade but one thing that is not obvious is the $10M TPE exemption came to us largely because we took on Gerald Wallace for 3 years at $10.1M.  There were many parts to the BKN deal so you can't match up any two parts exactly but these two are pretty close to matching up.  The Celtics paid dearly for that trade exemption.  So I guess it comes down to this:

Zeller
Cle Pick

for taking on the contracts of:

Wallace (3 years at $10.1 per)
Thornton (1 year at $8.5)

That is about $40M.

I am not saying this is a bad trade, I would do it all over again starting with the KG/PP trade but no one made something out of nothing.  Rather, the Celtics agreed to pay $40M to make something out of nothing.

At least one of the BKN picks was for Wallace. So 2 picks and Zeller to take on Wallace. Thorton just turned 27 but we can flip or keep him and let him expire so I don't really see the downside there.

[Fafnir]

Expiring deals do not equal cap space.

For emphasis.

UNLESS you trade non-expiring deals for the expiring deals.

still doesnt as you can still be above the cap even if your salary goes down.