A Lot Of Our Size Will Be "Walking Away" In Free Agency...

[Celtics4ever]

I would rather see us go after a big at the trade deadline who is locked in at a lower rate than Noel who is fragile in terms of health.

[nickagneta]

Saltover can correct me if I am wrong but if Olynyk is let go or traded for Noel maybe in a three way,  and everyone who is unguaranteed is not retained, even with Noel's cap hold, the Celtics can sign a 25% max free agent and then resign Noel by going over the cap. The timing of Noel's signing would be everything.

[Evantime34]

I expect the C's to bring over Yabusele and Zizic next year as well as potentially draft another big. There is a strong chance our big man rotation will involved Horford, Free Agent, and 3 rookies.

[The Oracle]

I expect the C's to bring over Yabusele and Zizic next year as well as potentially draft another big. There is a strong chance our big man rotation will involved Horford, Free Agent, and 3 rookies.

If the C's big man rotation contains 3 rookies next year then the C's are doomed to mediocrity for the foreseeable future and would be a complete waste of Horford's prime. 

[LarBrd33]

The C's should be looking to make a trade that brings back some real size before this season is over. Be it someone who can defend the rim like Nerlens or a bruiser who can help on the boards like Vucevic, they need to be looking at trades before we ever get to free agency.

If you get Nerlens or Bogut, they would be rentals only.

nerlens wouldn't be a rental.  He's a restricted free agent.  We could give him his qualifying offer this summer and even with the cap hold of 11 mil we could target a max free agent before extending Noel

No we wouldn't have room for a max free agent.   62.4M committed to 8 players plus 11M Noel cap hold plus 5M Nets pick cap hold (assumes 5th or 6th pick) plus Covington's 1M option puts us at 79.4M or so for 11 players.  That assumes the options for Zeller and Mickey aren't picked up and Olynyk is released.  With the cap at 102/103M, we'd be around a couple million short of the 25%Max players and not close to 30%Max that Griffin will get.   

At this point, I think there's zero chance on Griffin.

He loves LA and they are currently a TOP-3 team in the league..

I agree.  Just used Griffin because he gets mentioned a lot and is clearly going to get 30%Max.  We couldn't afford Hayward either but I'm not sure that he'll get 30%Max or just close to it.   

we could afford Hayward.  I've done the math.  You aren't considering what we'd need to trade out to acquire Noel.  He isn't going to just appear on our team out of nowhere.

Bottom line is that Noel wouldn't be a rental.  We could acquire him and still have money for a max contract.

Nerlens Noel seems like the kind of player who could be given a huge offer sheet on the first day of free agency.  If he gets a bigger offer than Biyombo got this summer, is he signing it?  I would guess that he would.  If he does, would you match?  If he was a Celtic and Ainge was known to be shopping for a max free agent, if another GM covets Noel, he will pounce and offer that sort of deal because he knows the Celtics will have a hard time matching.

So, if you trade for Noel, you should already have an idea of how well Noel has to play for you to be willing to match a 4 year, $80 million offer sheet that Noel signs on day one.  How much you are willing to give up in a trade should depend on that.  If you think it is highly unlikely that you would match, then you should only give up the assets that are commensurate with the idea of treating him as a rental.  If it depends on being able to sign a top free agent quickly, then maybe you can give up a bit more, depending on how likely you can do that.

If you think teams are going to give Noel a huge offer sheet the first day of free agency, I guess that means there's still a decent trade market for him.  It'll be interesting to see what happens there.

My assumption is that Boston would communicate with Noel that we're willing to give him a fair contract, but he needs to hold off on signing an offer sheet while we sign Hayward.  Isn't that the point of the waiting period before free agency?  So you can hammer out these kind of details before free agency officially opens.

[saltlover]

I expect the C's to bring over Yabusele and Zizic next year as well as potentially draft another big. There is a strong chance our big man rotation will involved Horford, Free Agent, and 3 rookies.

I will be shocked if Olynyk is not on the roster next season -- unless he's included in a trade for a big this season.

[LooseCannon]

I expect the C's to bring over Yabusele and Zizic next year as well as potentially draft another big. There is a strong chance our big man rotation will involved Horford, Free Agent, and 3 rookies.

I think there is a decent chance it will be Horford, Olynyk, Johnson, Zizic, and a minimum-salary veteran free agent.

[Surferdad]

I expect the C's to bring over Yabusele and Zizic next year as well as potentially draft another big. There is a strong chance our big man rotation will involved Horford, Free Agent, and 3 rookies.

I think there is a decent chance it will be Horford, Olynyk, Johnson, Zizic, and a minimum-salary veteran free agent.

You mean, re-sign Amir with money that could be used for a FA big (like Noel or maybe better, like Griffin)?

[saltlover]

I expect the C's to bring over Yabusele and Zizic next year as well as potentially draft another big. There is a strong chance our big man rotation will involved Horford, Free Agent, and 3 rookies.

I think there is a decent chance it will be Horford, Olynyk, Johnson, Zizic, and a minimum-salary veteran free agent.

You mean, re-sign Amir with money that could be used for a FA big (like Noel or maybe better, like Griffin)?

I'd guess the assumption is that the more preferred FA big options will stay home.  If you look at the free agent pool of bigs, Amir is not that far down the list.

[The Oracle]

I expect the C's to bring over Yabusele and Zizic next year as well as potentially draft another big. There is a strong chance our big man rotation will involved Horford, Free Agent, and 3 rookies.

I will be shocked if Olynyk is not on the roster next season -- unless he's included in a trade for a big this season.

I will also be shocked if he is not on the roster next year and in the future plans going forward.  There is no way it is their intention to trade him this year with the way they are currently using him.  He is not being showcased in any way, shape or form like Bradley appears to be right now.