About Smart’s Extension Offer...

[Goldstar88]

Any word on this? I’d be shocked if he passes up on a $70M contract after seeing what just happened with Schröder. Smart is not worth more than that. Did he not learn from the first time around when he tested the market as a restricted FA and no one wanted to pay him then? He hasn’t improved that much over the last few years.

If you are Brad, and Marcus doesn’t sign the extension, do you have to move him by the trade deadline? Can’t keep letting players walk
for nothing and he is expendable with Dennis and Payton on the team. Also, can the C’s offer Schröder that same deal during the season if Marcus chooses not to accept?

[bricone29]

If Smart declines. Brad goes into full trade mode. I think Smart declining the offer helps the Celtics/Brad save face for those on the fence Smart fans.

[keevsnick]

Ya I kind of doubt an extension gets done. The C's arent going to offer anything they don't think is a positive value (ie easily tradable) contract. And given that the last contract Smart signed ended up being a good deal my guess is he will want to get paid top of his market.

[jambr380]

Unfortunately, I think the best we can do with Schroder is a multi-year full MLE deal (as long as we get under the tax). That may or may not be enough to get a deal done, depending on how the year goes. I have my doubts, though.

As for Marcus, we absolutely need to move him if he doesn't take the offer. We were incredibly lucky to get Schroder for cheap. While I definitely like Smart, he is slightly more expendable now than before. If we can get a semi-productive expiring along with a 1st, I think we need to pull the trigger. Bonus points if we are able to cut some salary allowing us to keep Dunn. Obviously we can send out Edwards and cash or include him in a Smart deal. If he is going to work out in the NBA, we aren't going to be the team on which it happens.

[bogg]

I expect an agreement gets worked out. They're reportedly $9 million apart on the total value of a 4-year deal. That's close enough where the two sides should find a meeting point that works if they both want to get a deal done.

[Silas]

I expect an agreement gets worked out. They're reportedly $9 million apart on the total value of a 4-year deal. That's close enough where the two sides should find a meeting point that works if they both want to get a deal done.

I haven't seen that report.  Would you share it with us?  All I've seen is 4years at $70M.

[keevsnick]

I expect an agreement gets worked out. They're reportedly $9 million apart on the total value of a 4-year deal. That's close enough where the two sides should find a meeting point that works if they both want to get a deal done.

I haven't seen that report.  Would you share it with us?  All I've seen is 4years at $70M.

Ya this belief is based of recent report from Murphy at the Herald that the C's have offered roughly 17 a year for four years which would be 4/68 and were waiting on a response from his agent. There were also rumors earlier in the offseason that Smart wanted an extension, people have reasoned that if those reports are true he must be willing to accept 4/77 because that's the most we can offer.

Of course we have no idea if all or any of these reports are accurate, even if they are Smart could very easily have changed his mind about wanting an extension after seeing the contracts that were handed out in free agency or because it's now obvious that we're chasing a max guy next year and he may be reluctant to sign a contract that makes him easily tradable.

[bogg]

I expect an agreement gets worked out. They're reportedly $9 million apart on the total value of a 4-year deal. That's close enough where the two sides should find a meeting point that works if they both want to get a deal done.

I haven't seen that report.  Would you share it with us?  All I've seen is 4years at $70M.

The most Boston can legally offer Smart is roughly $77 million over four years because the value of the first year of his extension is tied to his current-year salary. Mark Murphy reported that Smart's being offered a 4-year extension averaging about $17 million a year, which would total out to about $68 million total. The two numbers are close enough that you kind of feel like both sides compromise on about $1 million a year and lock something in.

Only caveat is if there's a significant amount of non-guaranteed money baked into Boston's offer that's going unreported.

[PAOBoston]

Smart will decline this offer and test FA. He did the same thing on his first contract (and strike out only to have the Cs come in and give him quite honestly more money than literally any other team as a good will gesture). Think he does the same thing. This time though I’m not sure the Cs will outbid themselves to sign him though.

[bogg]

Smart will decline this offer and test FA. He did the same thing on his first contract (and strike out only to have the Cs come in and give him quite honestly more money than literally any other team as a good will gesture). Think he does the same thing. This time though I’m not sure the Cs will outbid themselves to sign him though.

Eh, you make it sound like charity, but what happened was that Boston froze the market for him by sitting on his RFA rights with an obvious intent to match anything that wasn't a wild overpay and cap space eventually dried up. If they had then overplayed their hand and tried to start him at the TMLE amount it would have started making more sense for Smart to sign the QO and hit UFA the following season. Good for Boston that didn't happen, because that was the summer of the big FA exodus after Kyrie's final season.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Smart will decline this offer and test FA. He did the same thing on his first contract (and strike out only to have the Cs come in and give him quite honestly more money than literally any other team as a good will gesture). Think he does the same thing. This time though I’m not sure the Cs will outbid themselves to sign him though.

We may have given him more money (which I honestly find a questionable assessment), but he could've just as easily just taken the 1-year QO and left. Maybe you would've been fine with that.

If Marcus Smart does reach free-agency, I'm also not sure if the Cs will "outbid themselves", but a lot will depend if we use cap space or not, if we make a trade or not, and then see if retaining him by any means necessary makes sense.

All this to say, what we're willing to pay Marcus Smart will be more dependent on our roster composition than a desire to retain him.

[ETNCeltics]

Smart may consider the guy who'll probably be starting next to him is now $80 million short in guaranteed $$$ compared to his past offers.

Smart's taking a huge risk if he turns it down. The Celts might land their white whale next summer, and put themselves in a position where they can't offer Smart anything more than crumbs compared to $70 million. 

[liam]

Smart may consider the guy who'll probably be starting next to him is now $80 million short in guaranteed $$$ compared to his past offers.

Smart's taking a huge risk if he turns it down. The Celts might land their white whale next summer, and put themselves in a position where they can't offer Smart anything more than crumbs compared to $70 million.

There is a glut of point guards in the NBA. That's what happened to Schroder. If Smart was 3 inches taller he'd get much more interest.

[Vermont Green]

I see Smart taking the extension.  You think about how much the player will lose but the agent loses too.  They also have skin in this.  I have to think that Smart's agent is telling him to take the deal, don't mess around with this, but who knows.

I am not sure how much difference this makes in terms of when or if Smart is traded.  Does the extension make him more or less valuable on the "trade market"?  I could see it going both ways.  This whole extension discussion started well before Schroder came alone.  It will be tough to sign Schroder long term due to all the restrictions.  Maybe Smart is still the long term plan for PG.

[td450]

Smart may be coming into this year thinking he's finally getting the role he deserves, with no star point guard on the roster. What he may not be worried about but should is the depth the team has at guard.

He's been more than a bit lucky so far. The C's have always needed him, and even when it looked like they wouldn't, someone always got hurt.

If he rolls the dice, he may get an opportunity to show another level. Hopefully for him it won't be a level lower, because we have a lot of players who can play instead that aren't far behind.