Blow it up --- temporarily that is

[Jeff]

sorry if this has been brought up before (repeatedly I'm sure) but I'm coming around to the following plan IF IF IF we're still floundering sub .500 in 3-4 weeks time

sell off Ray, KG, and O'Neal for whatever you can get for them - even nickels on the dollar

before you send them off, have a long sit down with them and their agents and stress how much you'd like to see them back next year as free agents - it isn't like we won't have the money to spend (at reduced prices of course)

chances are, the teams that would be "buying" these guys are looking for short term gains (Ray) or cap relief (KG/O'Neal) - as long as the salaries we take back are not too huge, and the talent justifies taking those salaries, we should still have enough left to maintain flexibility

I don't think leaving MAX room available for Dwight or Deron is all that important since they likely will chose other locations - but keeping enough cap space to make solid deals going forward is critical

so in short - sell off this year, get young players and picks (note, we aren't getting Hibbert or lottery picks, we're talking B grade talent and late 1st rounders at best) but bring the fellas back next year (maybe with Jeff Green too) and let them be the veterans teaching the kids how to be winners

oh, and don't trade Pierce - if he wants to retire in a year or two, we can amnesty him or buy him out, but he's going out on his own terms

just how I feel this morning, this may change 50 times in the next 3-4 weeks

[PosImpos]

I'm not sure I really like the "let them be the veterans teaching the kids" plan.  If we want guys to do that we can get players like Keyon Dooling and Brian Scalabrine.

What we don't need when we enter rebuilding is proven veterans who Doc trusts, because such players are likely to get playing time over younger players that need to develop.  That's just the reality with the coach we have.

When we enter rebuilding, the goal each night becomes something other than getting the most out of the roster to be as competitive as possible right now and win.  

That's why it doesn't make sense to hold onto proven vets who have only done that for most of their career, and who the coach (especially our coach) will likely lean on to try and win games.

[Jeff]

yeah I guess I was hoping that we'll be able to land a couple of better talents this summer through cap space trades so that we could have a competitive team right away

imagine a good starting 5 with Rondo leading the charge and the Big 3 coming off the bench - only needing to give us 20 - 25 good minutes a night against other teams' bench crews

I guess it all depends on what Ainge can get this year and what he can get in the summer

[Chris]

The problem with this is that you need to get expiring contracts for them.  And that is much easier said than done.  Might be able to pull it off for Ray, but it would be incredibly difficult with KG's contract.

[PosImpos]

yeah I guess I was hoping that we'll be able to land a couple of better talents this summer through cap space trades so that we could have a competitive team right away

imagine a good starting 5 with Rondo leading the charge and the Big 3 coming off the bench - only needing to give us 20 - 25 good minutes a night against other teams' bench crews

I guess it all depends on what Ainge can get this year and what he can get in the summer

look at the free agent class this summer -- what kind of "better talents" would you have in mind that would keep us competitive enough for it to be worth it, and not just a detour into 2nd round purgatory?

[Moranis]

yeah I guess I was hoping that we'll be able to land a couple of better talents this summer through cap space trades so that we could have a competitive team right away

imagine a good starting 5 with Rondo leading the charge and the Big 3 coming off the bench - only needing to give us 20 - 25 good minutes a night against other teams' bench crews

I guess it all depends on what Ainge can get this year and what he can get in the summer

look at the free agent class this summer -- what kind of "better talents" would you have in mind that would keep us competitive enough for it to be worth it, and not just a detour into 2nd round purgatory?

These guys are unrestricted or player options (making them unrestricted and could help a team contend (various roles)

PG's - Williams, Nash, Kidd, Terry, Felton, A. Miller, Billups, Barbosa, Sessions, B. Davis, Dragic
SG's - Fields (about it outside of our own)
SF's - G. Wallace, S. Young, Budinger, Tolliver
PF's - Duncan, Brand, Jamison, Mahinmi
C's - Howard, Kaman, Camby, Asik

Not much outside of a pretty deep PG class and really only the two elite players (Howard and Williams).  There are however a lot of young guys that I think could be had at reasonable contracts that could form a pretty solid base going forward like Dragic, Fields, Young, Tolliver, Mahinmi, and Asik.

[PosImpos]

There are however a lot of young guys that I think could be had at reasonable contracts that could form a pretty solid base going forward like Dragic, Fields, Young, Tolliver, Mahinmi, and Asik.

Right.  Those are players we could sign to reasonable deals and look to develop, but they aren't going to vault us back into contention even if the Big 3 are coming off the bench.

[Celtics18]

These guys are unrestricted or player options (making them unrestricted and could help a team contend (various roles)

PG's - Williams, Nash, Kidd, Terry, Felton, A. Miller, Billups, Barbosa, Sessions, B. Davis, Dragic
SG's - Fields (about it outside of our own)
SF's - G. Wallace, S. Young, Budinger, Tolliver
PF's - Duncan, Brand, Jamison, Mahinmi
C's - Howard, Kaman, Camby, Asik

Not much outside of a pretty deep PG class and really only the two elite players (Howard and Williams).  There are however a lot of young guys that I think could be had at reasonable contracts that could form a pretty solid base going forward like Dragic, Fields, Young, Tolliver, Mahinmi, and Asik.
[/quote]

It's not mind blowing, but I like some of those guys on your list to move forward with, particularly Mahinmi. 

[Eja117]

I definitely definitely want to blow things up.  Last night's game proved everything. If we can't win at home against a team with some older players than ours that tells me what I need to know.

It was like watching a guy beat the crud out of a donkey and you're like "That donkey is way too old. I love that donkey but we gotta move on" and the owner is like "nonsense. I raised this donkey from the time he was little. I know what he can do. You don't know a thing about animals." And the donkey is looking at you like "Please save me or shoot me" and you're just like "Put the whip down and step away from the donkey"

This is too painful for everyone involved. I don't want to see it end like this. One of the players could get hurt or something. It's just a disaster. We're done. It was nice, but we're done

[pearljammer10]

Wouldnt that be considered some sort of tampering or legality issue?