Kemba Walker (Kemba to formalize agreement on Sunday, pg 40)

[ETNCeltics]

This is like the Kyrie trade for me. I’m NOT AGAINST IT, but what about our actual needs? Our big situation is in total flux. We have struggled in this department for quite some time, AL has always needed someone beside him on consistent basis. If we are going to throw a bunch of money at the team why not in the direction in which we need it?

If Kemba comes will their be cap room available to bring back AL? Or the only way to get Kemba is if Al walks? We desperately need AL to change his mind.

Would be really difficult to put a deal together to sign Kemba and keep Al.

Al was a very good player for us, but he was below average as a rebounder.

Unless they can find someone who wants to trade for Hayward and offer us a big in the process, we're pretty much relegated to mid-level guys. A little better version of Aaron Baynes is probably the best we can hope for with our cap situation, if we sign Walker.

[hwangjini_1]

Just saw the story on the cover page of this site

I love it!!!!

Update from Woj:

    Walker is expected to be offered a four-year, $141 million contract to sign with the Celtics when free agency opens Sunday at 6 PM ET -- a deal that he’s increasingly likely to accept, league sources said.

so, roughly $35,000,000 a year, though it may be back loaded. that burns through the celtics cap space, which is fine.

i would guess a trade for a big is the next step, as ETNC mentioned immediately above.

[Walker Wiggle]

I don't think he's as good as Kyrie. With that said, the difference in age really isn't that much (two years), and you can call it a wash given Kyrie's knee problems and Kemba's relative clean bill of health.

The real reason you do this, if he decides he wants to come here, is that he may be a better fit for Stevens's style of offense. When Kyrie's at his best, he's a good fit too -- moving the ball, making sharp cuts, playing within the team concept. But the problem was that Kyrie was somewhat inconsistent in committing to that style of play. (Would he have figured it out with time? I think so, but we'll never know.) Anyway, I see Kemba as much more easily pluggable into that system.

Are we now too overloaded with wings and guards? Perhaps. However, I don't see it as a problem for this season and wouldn't feel the need to make an urgent move, like for instance trading Jaylen Brown (last year of his rookie deal) for a big. Remember that the Warriors won a championship with the likes of Zaza Pachulia and Javale Magee in the middle. Going back further, the 90s Bulls won with the centers like Bill Cartwright and Luc Longley. Yes, I realize those teams had transcendent, not just great, players. But the point is that if you have a big who's active on defense, can body up bigs like Embiid in the post, and do some simple things like set picks, rim run, pass etc on offense, that's all you need. I also don't think Yabu and RWIII nothings; they should be able to at least contribute off the bench.

Sign a decent big with your MLE, add some vet minimums, bank on Hayward getting back to full health and some improvement from the Jays, and you might be onto something.

[Jiri Welsch]

This is like the Kyrie trade for me. I’m NOT AGAINST IT, but what about our actual needs? Our big situation is in total flux. We have struggled in this department for quite some time, AL has always needed someone beside him on consistent basis. If we are going to throw a bunch of money at the team why not in the direction in which we need it?

If Kemba comes will their be cap room available to bring back AL? Or the only way to get Kemba is if Al walks? We desperately need AL to change his mind.

Al can't come back if we sign Walker conventionally.

[Fafnir]

Brilliant let's bring in another shoot first point guard. That has worked amazingly well with this team.

Kyrie and Kemba are different players.

Who would you rather be our starting point guard?

I like Smart, but think he's better suited off the bench. As for Rozier...someone on this site said it best. He'll probably be playing in China in a couple years.

Kyrie is better and younger, but he's nuts. Kemba fits better with what Brad did with IT, though now we lack Horford. Kemba is definitely better off the ball, he's a great shooter off screens at almost every angle.

[Somebody]

Kemba would be amazing for us, but I'd rather not sign him if it means Brad wings the squad to another second round loss. Still iffy on Hayward or Tatum playing PF full time due to reasons I listed in the "Play Tatum at PF" thread.

Btw 2300th post! Love you guys.

[Hank Finkel]

Brilliant let's bring in another shoot first point guard. That has worked amazingly well with this team.

Totally agree.  This team is going nowhere with Walker.  Complete waste of money.  We need a couple good big men first and foremost, not another guard.  DA is guard happy and the results are clear.  No Banner. 

[gpap]

Kemba would be amazing for us, but I'd rather not sign him if it means Brad wings the squad to another second round loss. Still iffy on Hayward or Tatum playing PF full time due to reasons I listed in the "Play Tatum at PF" thread.

Btw 2300th post! Love you guys.

I love you too, sir.

[tonydelk]

I'm surprised there are some people who are so against this signing if it actually happened.  Kemba is NOT Kyrie.  The C's are going to lose about 60 shots per game with Horford, Kyrie, Morris, Rozier.  If Kemba took 20 of those there will still be a lot to go around.  Kemba took 23-27 shots per game in Charlotte because of the lack of talent around him.   The C's pace next year should be at 100 shots per game. Kemba is a good fit for this team. 

Now as much as I like Kemba I would rather have Brogdon if we could get him.  I this he's the perfect PG fit for this team.  Kemba would be great but for some reason Brogdon has been my dream PG for this team.

[hwangjini_1]

Brilliant let's bring in another shoot first point guard. That has worked amazingly well with this team.

Totally agree.  This team is going nowhere with Walker.  Complete waste of money.  We need a couple good big men first and foremost, not another guard.  DA is guard happy and the results are clear.  No Banner.

so, if you are declaring that due to really good big men toronto and GSW were in the finals, we differ.

[Somebody]

Kemba would be amazing for us, but I'd rather not sign him if it means Brad wings the squad to another second round loss. Still iffy on Hayward or Tatum playing PF full time due to reasons I listed in the "Play Tatum at PF" thread.

Btw 2300th post! Love you guys.

I love you too, sir.

Thanks! This is the best Celtics community I've been in on the internet by far, love chatting here.

[jambr380]

Dang it, my hopes are up now.

Given the language in the Woj story I think its done, assuming Charlotte doesn't suddenly offer the full super max or something unexpected like that.

If CHA really does have interest in Rozier, that really strengthens our position because they can feel like they are getting something in return for Kemba at a much lower price. Rozier also fits their 'timeline' better (I know that's a touchy word around here). I can totally see how they could convince themselves that this would make sense.

As for Kemba - it really is great news! I have always liked him better than Kyrie - don't get me wrong, I was ecstatic when we first traded for Kyrie, but never understood what the fuss was all about.

With Rozier possibly being a S&T to CHA, I do wonder if Danny is trying to stay above the cap and will try to do the same with Al's suitor. Being able to use the MLE and BAE instead of just the Room Exception would be wonderful in our quest for big men. We also would maintain [gulp] the cap holds on Morris and Theis. This is all from Saltlover, btw, but I am sure I am mixing something up 

[gpap]

I'm surprised there are some people who are so against this signing if it actually happened.  Kemba is NOT Kyrie.  The C's are going to lose about 60 shots per game with Horford, Kyrie, Morris, Rozier.  If Kemba took 20 of those there will still be a lot to go around.  Kemba took 23-27 shots per game in Charlotte because of the lack of talent around him.   The C's pace next year should be at 100 shots per game. Kemba is a good fit for this team. 

Now as much as I like Kemba I would rather have Brogdon if we could get him.  I this he's the perfect PG fit for this team.  Kemba would be great but for some reason Brogdon has been my dream PG for this team.

As someone else pointed out though, the only issue with going after an RFA is you're caught playing the waiting game because the other team has 3 days to match. In just a matter of 24 hours, alot of other guys could get signed, who were your back-up plans.

[celticinorlando]

Yeah Kyrie may be younger in actual age but he is a lot older and more broken down than Kemba. Kemba does not miss games. We know Kyrie does....15-20 at least a year.

For those pining for the days of IT...Kemba is exactly that type of player but bigger and healthy.

[smokeablount]

Makes no sense to me. When we sign Walker we have used all our cap space. We didn't draft a center. We let Baynes go for cap space. We almost only have guards and wings on the roster. Are Ainge/Stevens that extreme that they think that total positionless basketball is the way forward?

If we start our 5 best players, it will look like this (I'd find that crazy, although there's a small margin between genius and crazy):

Starting: Walker/Brown/Tatum/Hayward/Smart

(bench: Edwards, Langford, Ojeleye, G.Williams, R.Williams)

In football (soccer) Spain used a revolutionary system of 4-6-0 (no strikers/attackers) and they became European Champions in 2012, but I can't see something weird like that working in basketball.

We don't have the cap space to sign a starting caliber center somewhere, so this must be a false rumour.

Kemba would be one shoe dropping.  The other shoe would have to be trading a swing or wing not named Jayson Tatum (and perhaps other non-Memphis assets) for a big man, with the wing in question depending on whom we'd get.  I think I'd prefer this to an MLE-caliber big man.

Capela comes to mind, but I'm not sure I'd want to pay the cost if it's Brown, Hayward, even Smart.  I don't know if Adams would work if OKC doesn't get cap relief in the deal.  Maybe Indy would be interested in Indiana product Langford, RW3 and a pick for Sabonis or Turner? 

The bottom line is if the Celtics can trade for a big, signing Kemba could be great for us and not simultaneously leave us with a huge hole.