3 Cost cutting trades to help get under the luxury tax

[nickagneta]

I think its pretty obvious at this point that the Celtics core of Rondo, Bradley, Green, Sullinger and Olynyk will be staying together for the foreseeable future. For that reason, its more than likely that any trades Danny Ainge makes will be of the type that reduces long term and short term payroll without having to give up that many draft assets to facilitate the trade. So let's look at some possible trades:

Boston sends: Jordan Crawford
Atlanta sends: DeShawn Stevenson

This trade is pretty straight forward. Stevenson has two years left that are completely non-guaranteed with next year's salary at $2.2 million. Crawford is still on his rookie scale contract and has the skills to be a combo guard. either player is very good but Crawford is younger and has upside. Stevenson could be cut right away and save that $2.2 million and possibly save Shav Randolph's roster spot as that savings would go a long way to getting the C's under the luxury tax and get rid of some of the logjam at SG. C's might need to send a 2nd rounder to completely convince Atlanta to do this.

Boston sends: Brandon Bass
Charlotte sends: Brendan Haywood and Jeff Adrien and a trade exception

This might have to wait until Gerald Henderson is finally signed to a contract that is less than his $7+ million cap hold or on the time frame the Bobcats have to hold onto Haywood due to picking him up from Amnesty. Henderson's market has kind of dried up and he could just take his qualifying offer or sign in the $5-6 million per year range but once he is signed the Bobcats will still be under the cap and have space to absorb a little salary. The Bobcats will probably have Jefferson and Zeller starting with Biyombo coming off the bench at center or PF. Bass would be an upgrade for that frontcourt bench and could play PF alongside Zeller, Jefferson or Byombo and even a little SF when playing the New Yorks, Miamis and Brooklyns of the NBA

Boston then cuts Adrien and uses Haywood as a back up center while sending Melo to the D-League for another season of development. The cost savings allows for the Celtics to possibly keep Iverson and Randolph on the roster this year and gives the Celtics another trade exception to tinker with at the beginning of next year.

Boston sends Courtney Lee, Fab Melo
Cleveland sends C J Miles and Alonzo Gee

For Cleveland this opens up room to get both Bennett and Karasev some playing time at the SF position while getting an upgrade at the SG spot over Miles. Cleveland is still trying to see if Waiters is starting SG material and want to compete. Lee would help defensively(probably becoming the best defensive guard on the roster) and Melo gives Cleveland another body up front in case Mr. Fragile(Varejao) and Mr. Glass(Bynum) can't play another year.

Boston gets to save the $1.1 million in Fab Melo's contract being traded away and also can cut Miles as he is non-guaranteed and save $3.3 million. This gets them under the cap and once again could get them to be able to keep Randolph and get under the luxury tax. Gee would also be a very good back up SF if the C's ever move Wallace.

[Cman]

I like your thinking and analysis. The first seems the most straightforward to me, so I like it the best of the three.

[bballee]

I like your thinking and analysis. The first seems the most straightforward to me, so I like it the best of the three.

Ditto, and ditto.

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

I like the what the first 2 trades achieve but let of just say this ain't the time to trade Lee, if he absolutely must be traded. Let him work his trade value up a bit

[mmmmm]

First, just some semantics, but a Traded Player Exception isn't 'sent' in a trade.   A TPE is _created_ when you trade out more salary than you take back in a trade when you are over the cap.

I.E. -- you trade away a player making 11M and get back one making 4M, that creates a TPE of 7M that you can use to receive another player later on.   The usefulness is that you can now recieve someone else's 7M player without sending out matching salary.  That may or may not result in the third team now having a TPE.  If they are below the cap, then it doesn't.

As for the trades proposed, the first one is fine so long as Stevenson's deal doesn't vest (become guaranteed) upon trade.

If not, a similar deal would be to just pay cash to an under-the-floor team to take Crawford.  They could then cut him or keep him as they want.   'Same with Brooks.  Teams that you could work with to do this would be Philly or Milwaukee and a couple of others.   They get help towards their salary 'floor' and it costs them nothing, since you provide the buyout money ($2.2M for Crawford, $1.1M for Brooks).    The players get all their guaranteed money (or jobs, if the recieving team wants them).  The receiving team(s) gets 'credit' for paying them.  You save a ton of luxury tax money.   Win win win.   At worst, you may need to send along a future 2nd round pick for their trouble. 

I wouldn't do any such move just yet though.  We don't technically need to 'end up below the LT line' until the end of the season.   We'll have up until the trade deadline in which to make moves to reduce salary commitments.

Danny is probably still looking for a larger deal and may need several small pieces to make it work.   

Only after the big rocks are in the jar do you add the small pebbles.

[Q_FBE]

For use of non-guarenteed contracts, don't these deals need to be consummated before training camp. I am not clear on when a non-guarenteed contract becomes guarenteed. We do need to clear out our log jam at the two spot and possibly the four spot somehow, someway.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I really like the first trade, because it does two key things at once: saves money and helps clear the logjam at SG.

I also like the second trade; removing Bass thins the clogged PF spot, and I think Sully and Olynyk need to be given as many minutes as possible, since they project to be a bigger part of the team's future. I also like getting a big, legit backup center in Haywood, even if he is a bit old.

Regarding the third trade, I wouldn't mind shipping out Fab, but then again, maybe I'm being a bit hasty with him. Maybe another season in Maine would make Melo NBA-ready for next season, and Boston should be fine this season with a 4/5 rotation of Sully, Humphries, KO, Faverani, Iverson, maybe Haywood or someone like him, and even a bit of Green at the 4. I also would like to give Lee further opportunity, because if he can fulfill his potential, he could be another solid piece going forward with his shooting and defense at the 2.

[slamtheking]

TP Nick -- all reasonable deals -- such a rarity here this summer

[syfy9]

TP. The first two trades are really good.

[BleedGreen1989]

Yea I thought about Bass to Charlotte and think he'd be a great locker room guy for a young team trying to learn how to win. TP