Woj: Celtics have no traction on any deals

[BballTim]

Means nothing.  Wake me up in an hour and a half.

Most likely just Boston leaking that they aren't close to anything with hopes that it will drive up the bidding over the home stretch.

Wish I could have your "glass half full" attitude.

I just think it's a big game of chicken.  It's like the Rockets saying they plan on keeping Asik now.  Do you really believe they want to keep Asik at this point... or are they just trying to drive up the price last second?

We have 45 minutes to go.  We'll see who blinks.

  With Asik there's something of a "point of no return" aspect. If they try to trade him in the offseason the team that gets him will be grossly overpaying him for a season and then trying to sign him to a new deal. There's no way his value goes up. They have to decide that what production they can get for him (and what they'll pay for it) is more valuable than what they can trade him for.

  With Rondo, the chicken seems to be Danny daring teams to make him an offer so good he can't turn it down.

I agree ... but how much of it is Danny bluffing?  If they don't blink... perhaps he will. 

We'll find out in 45 minutes or so.

The narrative all season has been that the Celtics would definitely trade Ainge.  That hurts their bargaining position.  Certainly some teams still believe it.  Ainge is trying to project the idea that they are comfortable with keeping Rondo.  Anyone's guess what's true and what's the game.

  Danny doesn't have to bluff because he doesn't need to trade Rondo and doesn't appear to want to. The narrative all season has been teams want to trade for Rondo but Danny doesn't want to give him up. It's been like that since preseason.

[jaketwice]

Green and Bass and two second rounders for Deng. It makes so much sense for both sides.

[LarBrd33]

Very surprised Phoenix hasn't done anything substantive given all their assets and wanting to make/compete in the playoffs.

yeah...kinda surprised...esp since they have the Okafor deal in hand.

Agreed.

I thought the Gasol deal made a lot of sense.

The thing is... teams like the Suns have had days/weeks/months to discuss prospective deals with teams.  It's possibly they have a tentative agreement in place... and are just waiting for final offers before sending something in to the league office.  Or perhaps they are waiting to see if they can pick up another small piece with another team involved.  Or maybe they are waiting to see if some other domino falls first.  Or maybe they have Plan A - Trade for superstar and Plan B - Accept back-up option ... Who knows.  Maybe it comes down to Rondo.  Maybe it comes down to Kevin Love.  Maybe it comes down to Melo.  But my guess is that we could see some last second deals trickle through that were probably tentatively agreed to and discussed days ago. 

Hypothetical example:  The Lakers know they are getting Kevin Love in 2015.  Love knows he wants to be a Laker sooner rather than later.  Perhaps they are still trying to pester the Wolves into giving up Love... and if that doesn't happen, they fall back on Option B - trade Pau to the Suns.  Who knows.

[YoungOne87]

deal bass already, sully and KO need minutes

[LooseCannon]

i think danny might be overlooking the appeal of getting worse for this year's draft pick.

I don't think it is as appealing as people think.

I would only consider trying to get worse if the value of doing so was high enough to make people think about trading Sullinger in an attempt to get worse.

[LooseCannon]

Green and Bass and two second rounders for Deng. It makes so much sense for both sides.

It makes zero sense from the Celtics unless you really want to match any offer that Deng gets as a free agent and you think he will choose Boston.

[csfansince60s]

Very surprised Phoenix hasn't done anything substantive given all their assets and wanting to make/compete in the playoffs.

yeah...kinda surprised...esp since they have the Okafor deal in hand.

Agreed.

I thought the Gasol deal made a lot of sense.

Hump and Bass for Okafor and a pick works.

Those guys could help the Suns tremendously for the playoff push.

[fairweatherfan]

The narrative all season has been that the Celtics would definitely trade Ainge.  That hurts their bargaining position.  Certainly some teams still believe it.  Ainge is trying to project the idea that they are comfortable with keeping Rondo.  Anyone's guess what's true and what's the game.

  Danny doesn't have to bluff because he doesn't need to trade Rondo and doesn't appear to want to. The narrative all season has been teams want to trade for Rondo but Danny doesn't want to give him up. It's been like that since preseason.

I'd say the narrative has been that Danny is willing to trade Rondo and the team is in a position where it makes some sense to do it, but that's not stopping Danny from demanding other teams pay out the nose for him. 

Which I'm fine with, and think is probably the best approach - we really do have a lot of options right now.  What I find silly is the idea that either keeping him or trading him is the only possible path back to contention.  Either route can work if we do it intelligently, which is I think where Danny is at this point.

[LarBrd33]

Green and Bass and two second rounders for Deng. It makes so much sense for both sides.

It makes zero sense from the Celtics unless you really want to match any offer that Deng gets as a free agent and you think he will choose Boston.

It would be a salary dump.  Makes sense.

[oldtype]

Spencer Hawes, a perfectly serviceable player on an expiring contract went for two second round picks. Tells you all you need to know about this market.

Ainge probably realized that he probably wouldn't even be able to bring back a single second-rounder for Bass and wisely stepped away from the phone.

[Chief Macho]

i think danny might be overlooking the appeal of getting worse for this year's draft pick.

I don't think it is as appealing as people think.

I would only consider trying to get worse if the value of doing so was high enough to make people think about trading Sullinger in an attempt to get worse.

I don't know what you're are saying.

[PhoSita]

No point in making a trade if the current price is what it is.

Eh, I'd be pretty happy to get a 2nd rounder for Brandon Bass.  He's completely superfluous at this point.

[LarBrd33]

fwiw:

A. Sherrod Blakely ‏@SherrodbCSN 12m

Less than an hour left before trade deadline is over, strong indications #Celtics will stand pat and look to make major moves this summer.

Still 20 minutes to go, though.  Like I said... imagine this hypothetical example.

Two weeks ago Suns and Lakers have a discussion:

Suns:  "We want Pau for Okafor"
Lakers:  "If you give us a 1st, we can do it"
Suns:  "No.  How about a 2nd"
Lakers:  "well... fine.  But give us until the deadline.  We still want to see if the Timberwolves will come to their senses and take Pau + our lotto pick for Kevin Love and filler"
Suns:  "Ok... cool.  Hit us up around 2:55pm on deadline day.  We're still trying to trick Desperate Danny into giving up Rondo for peanuts, anyways"
Lakers:  "Lol, funny... we are trying to trick Desperate Danny into giving up Rondo for peanuts too.  Hit you up around 2:55pm... peace"

 

[BballTim]

The narrative all season has been that the Celtics would definitely trade Ainge.  That hurts their bargaining position.  Certainly some teams still believe it.  Ainge is trying to project the idea that they are comfortable with keeping Rondo.  Anyone's guess what's true and what's the game.

  Danny doesn't have to bluff because he doesn't need to trade Rondo and doesn't appear to want to. The narrative all season has been teams want to trade for Rondo but Danny doesn't want to give him up. It's been like that since preseason.

I'd say the narrative has been that Danny is willing to trade Rondo and the team is in a position where it makes some sense to do it, but that's not stopping Danny from demanding other teams pay out the nose for him. 

Which I'm fine with, and think is probably the best approach - we really do have a lot of options right now.  What I find silly is the idea that either keeping him or trading him is the only possible path back to contention.  Either route can work if we do it intelligently, which is I think where Danny is at this point.

  Yes, Danny would trade Rondo, just like he'd have traded any player he's ever had at any point in time if he was offered enough. I don't think that's what he means though.

[LooseCannon]

Green and Bass and two second rounders for Deng. It makes so much sense for both sides.

It makes zero sense from the Celtics unless you really want to match any offer that Deng gets as a free agent and you think he will choose Boston.

It would be a salary dump.  Makes sense.

It's idiocy to trade picks to salary dump Green and Bass.  Even the Knicks wouldn't be dump enough to do that.