Bol Bol and PJ Dozier to Celtics, sources tell ESPN.

[Celtics2021]

Yet another confirmation that Wyc is cheap. Instead of trying to improve the team, we're trying to duck the tax.

If there were a clear way to improve the roster for the long term/set us on track toward contention, I think it gets done.  Problem is, there isn’t such a move out there.

You can't possibly know that before the deadline. Trades are like the game of chicken: Whomever backs down first loses the game. Teams usually wait till the last possible moment before engaging in serious negotiations. This is why the vast majority of trades happen at the deadline.

Basketball-wise, Juancho sucks. Cap-wise, he's a useful expiring contract to have at the deadline. We didn't even give ourselves a chance to use him as salary filler. What this means is we don't care to improve the team. At the very least, our #1 priority is to avoid the tax.

We don’t need salary filler.  Expirings are good when you don’t have TPEs.  The Celtics do, so they don’t need to have expirings to match.  Unless you’re talking about Beal, but Horford matches Beal by himself, so we still wouldn’t need filler.

In the old days where Hernangomez’ non-guaranteed salary next year could count for matching purposes in the offseason his contract would have been a lot more useful even with the TPEs.  But as that’s not the case, Hernangomez was just a guy making $7 million who was glued to the bench.

[tonydelk]

Honestly we knew the C's were going to move on from the Hernangomez contract.  This allowed them to do so without giving up any assets and creating a new one in the TPE.  both guys are intriguing end of bench options for next year if they are kept.  You need to fill a roster and neither guy should get much more then the minimum.

The C's now can swap salary for salary and not worry much about taking less back to get under the tax.  I think it's important that this team does if they can't tweak the team to compete this year.  Flexibility is important in regards to making roster changes. 

This is just the beginning.  I doubt we will see any major additions unless a team wants to move off of a player that is good but is owed too much money.  The C's don't have assets to get an all star. 

If they can't get a good player back I'm ok with moving Schroeder and Richardson so the young kids can play and develop. 

I would be ok with Moving Smart if it means we can get back a guy like Kuminga.  He'd be a great fit at the 4 next to Rob.  If not Kuminga then a young player with potential.  I'm sure Smart is at least worth that.  Plus a team like Golden State is focused on winning in the next few years vs developing all three of their young players.  Wiseman, Moody and Kuminga are all great trade assets to pick up a player like Smart who could absolutely help them win playoff games off the bench. 

[nickagneta]

no issue with them ducking the tax in a year where the team is flailing to play 500 ball.  less excuses in the next few years in terms of avoiding deals that put them in tax territory

But what if the team goes on a run? The upcoming schedule sure looks like they could string together 6-7 more straight wins. If they are 29-21 at month's end, does that change your opinion about them possibly doing what they can to avoid the tax this year? If they are say 33-23 on deadline day, do you think staying under the cap should be something they should worry about this year? Or should getting help for a playoff run be the priority?

I know, big if in that statement, but there are a whole bunch of extremely winnable games by the deadline and some teams like Sacramento, Indiana, Atlanta, San Antonio, New Orleans and Portland might lose a bunch before the deadline and go into full tank/rebuild mode making for some interesting players becoming available that could fit into a TPE the team has.

No. Avoiding the tax this year provides flexibility going forward, if i'm not mistaken. And this trade certainly does nothing to affect their ability to perform on the court.

I know this trade does nothing to affect their play and is a good money saving move. I am talking more about the attitude of how the team should approach future trades this year if they go on an extended winning streak because the easy part of the schedule is upon us.

If the team is 8-10 games over .500 come deadline day, should the team be in buy mode for a playoff run or decide to wait until the off-season for those upgrade trades?

[Who]

no issue with them ducking the tax in a year where the team is flailing to play 500 ball.  less excuses in the next few years in terms of avoiding deals that put them in tax territory

But what if the team goes on a run? The upcoming schedule sure looks like they could string together 6-7 more straight wins. If they are 29-21 at month's end, does that change your opinion about them possibly doing what they can to avoid the tax this year? If they are say 33-23 on deadline day, do you think staying under the cap should be something they should worry about this year? Or should getting help for a playoff run be the priority?

I know, big if in that statement, but there are a whole bunch of extremely winnable games by the deadline and some teams like Sacramento, Indiana, Atlanta, San Antonio, New Orleans and Portland might lose a bunch before the deadline and go into full tank/rebuild mode making for some interesting players becoming available that could fit into a TPE the team has.

No. Avoiding the tax this year provides flexibility going forward, if i'm not mistaken. And this trade certainly does nothing to affect their ability to perform on the court.

Flexibility moving forward?

We need talent.

Future flexibility? Who cares! We need a talent upgrade. Our capacity to add talent is not going to change in any major way in the medium term (2-3 years) future. Our cap situation is what it is. Our stars are already established. Our young talent lacks high end prospects. Our picks are middling. This is our situation. It looks the same now as it will 12 months from now or 24 months from now.

I worry (a lot) about Stevens and him being too patient in his team building. Jaylen and Tatum are not going to be content on 40-49 win teams for the next 4-5 years of their careers. He is already on the clock whether he realizes or not. Running the clock down without clear benefit of doing so only reduces his ability to make moves.

I understand if there is no move to be made right now but there has to be that urgency. That aggressiveness. I don't see it and it makes me nervous.

[bricone29]

Cue the Duck Boats for the Accounting team.

[todd_days_41]

I'm pleased Stevens got this deal out of the way ahead of the deadline.

To me, the benefit is he can focus his attention to trading for value at that time instead of worrying as much about the tax. Specifically, I'm glad they don't have to dump Schroder instead of trying to use to actually GET something.....

[Atzar]

Honestly I'm not sure why anybody is salty about this one.  We gave up nothing of consequence to shed some money and pick up a TPE.  It's just a good business move with almost zero downside. 

No, it's not exciting.  It's not the third star everybody craves.  It's still a good trade. 

[todd_days_41]

no issue with them ducking the tax in a year where the team is flailing to play 500 ball.  less excuses in the next few years in terms of avoiding deals that put them in tax territory

But what if the team goes on a run? The upcoming schedule sure looks like they could string together 6-7 more straight wins. If they are 29-21 at month's end, does that change your opinion about them possibly doing what they can to avoid the tax this year? If they are say 33-23 on deadline day, do you think staying under the cap should be something they should worry about this year? Or should getting help for a playoff run be the priority?

I know, big if in that statement, but there are a whole bunch of extremely winnable games by the deadline and some teams like Sacramento, Indiana, Atlanta, San Antonio, New Orleans and Portland might lose a bunch before the deadline and go into full tank/rebuild mode making for some interesting players becoming available that could fit into a TPE the team has.

No. Avoiding the tax this year provides flexibility going forward, if i'm not mistaken. And this trade certainly does nothing to affect their ability to perform on the court.

Flexibility moving forward?

We need talent.

Future flexibility? Who cares! We need a talent upgrade. Our capacity to add talent is not going to change in any major way in the medium term (2-3 years) future. Our cap situation is what it is. Our stars are already established. Our young talent lacks high end prospects. Our picks are middling. This is our situation. It looks the same now as it will 12 months from now or 24 months from now.

I worry (a lot) about Stevens and him being too patient in his team building. Jaylen and Tatum are not going to be content on 40-49 win teams for the next 4-5 years of their careers. He is already on the clock whether he realizes or not. Running the clock down without clear benefit of doing so only reduces his ability to make moves.

I understand if there is no move to be made right now but there has to be that urgency. That aggressiveness. I don't see it and it makes me nervous.

Seriously speaking, how can this deal be seen as a lack of urgency? What talent was Hermangomez bringing us back? It's a business move.

Getting under the tax improves the Cs flexibility to acquire talent going forward. But I'm no cap expert, so I'll leave that to others to detail.

Meanwhile, please see my post above. I'm glad to see Stevens get this move over and done with well before the deadline so he can focus on actually improving the team without the tax issue clouding his deal(s).

p.s. ~ Bol is a RFA next year, if healthy it's not difficult to imagine the Cs signing him to make good contract for 22-23 with a team option for 23-24. He's a far better prospect than Fernando, for example.
 

[BitterJim]

no issue with them ducking the tax in a year where the team is flailing to play 500 ball.  less excuses in the next few years in terms of avoiding deals that put them in tax territory

But what if the team goes on a run? The upcoming schedule sure looks like they could string together 6-7 more straight wins. If they are 29-21 at month's end, does that change your opinion about them possibly doing what they can to avoid the tax this year? If they are say 33-23 on deadline day, do you think staying under the cap should be something they should worry about this year? Or should getting help for a playoff run be the priority?

I know, big if in that statement, but there are a whole bunch of extremely winnable games by the deadline and some teams like Sacramento, Indiana, Atlanta, San Antonio, New Orleans and Portland might lose a bunch before the deadline and go into full tank/rebuild mode making for some interesting players becoming available that could fit into a TPE the team has.

No. Avoiding the tax this year provides flexibility going forward, if i'm not mistaken. And this trade certainly does nothing to affect their ability to perform on the court.

Flexibility moving forward?

We need talent.

Future flexibility? Who cares! We need a talent upgrade. Our capacity to add talent is not going to change in any major way in the medium term (2-3 years) future. Our cap situation is what it is. Our stars are already established. Our young talent lacks high end prospects. Our picks are middling. This is our situation. It looks the same now as it will 12 months from now or 24 months from now.

I worry (a lot) about Stevens and him being too patient in his team building. Jaylen and Tatum are not going to be content on 40-49 win teams for the next 4-5 years of their careers. He is already on the clock whether he realizes or not. Running the clock down without clear benefit of doing so only reduces his ability to make moves.

I understand if there is no move to be made right now but there has to be that urgency. That aggressiveness. I don't see it and it makes me nervous.

Do you know what helps you get that talent upgrade? Being ready when opportunities to improve come up. In other words, staying flexible.

[trickybilly]

I'm pleased Stevens got this deal out of the way ahead of the deadline.

To me, the benefit is he can focus his attention to trading for value at that time instead of worrying as much about the tax. Specifically, I'm glad they don't have to dump Schroder instead of trying to use to actually GET something.....

Right. I specifically asked this forum about the list for trading Denis (whose incoming value is.. erm. Not much)...

J rich is balling, Marcus is Marcus, and of course as much as we will all be devasted when one leaves, the jays will pull in a HUGE all star from a tired team.

Brad: a +

[ConnerHenry]

Leading the league in TPE Slots!

[Jvalin]

Yet another confirmation that Wyc is cheap. Instead of trying to improve the team, we're trying to duck the tax.

If there were a clear way to improve the roster for the long term/set us on track toward contention, I think it gets done.  Problem is, there isn’t such a move out there.

You can't possibly know that before the deadline. Trades are like the game of chicken: Whomever backs down first loses the game. Teams usually wait till the last possible moment before engaging in serious negotiations. This is why the vast majority of trades happen at the deadline.

Basketball-wise, Juancho sucks. Cap-wise, he's a useful expiring contract to have at the deadline. We didn't even give ourselves a chance to use him as salary filler. What this means is we don't care to improve the team. At the very least, our #1 priority is to avoid the tax.

We don’t need salary filler.  Expirings are good when you don’t have TPEs.  The Celtics do, so they don’t need to have expirings to match.  Unless you’re talking about Beal, but Horford matches Beal by himself, so we still wouldn’t need filler.

In the old days where Hernangomez’ non-guaranteed salary next year could count for matching purposes in the offseason his contract would have been a lot more useful even with the TPEs.  But as that’s not the case, Hernangomez was just a guy making $7 million who was glued to the bench.

Let me get this straight: We dump salary cause we want to avoid the tax and you expect us to use the TPE prior to the deadline?

[Celtics2021]

Yet another confirmation that Wyc is cheap. Instead of trying to improve the team, we're trying to duck the tax.

If there were a clear way to improve the roster for the long term/set us on track toward contention, I think it gets done.  Problem is, there isn’t such a move out there.

You can't possibly know that before the deadline. Trades are like the game of chicken: Whomever backs down first loses the game. Teams usually wait till the last possible moment before engaging in serious negotiations. This is why the vast majority of trades happen at the deadline.

Basketball-wise, Juancho sucks. Cap-wise, he's a useful expiring contract to have at the deadline. We didn't even give ourselves a chance to use him as salary filler. What this means is we don't care to improve the team. At the very least, our #1 priority is to avoid the tax.

We don’t need salary filler.  Expirings are good when you don’t have TPEs.  The Celtics do, so they don’t need to have expirings to match.  Unless you’re talking about Beal, but Horford matches Beal by himself, so we still wouldn’t need filler.

In the old days where Hernangomez’ non-guaranteed salary next year could count for matching purposes in the offseason his contract would have been a lot more useful even with the TPEs.  But as that’s not the case, Hernangomez was just a guy making $7 million who was glued to the bench.

Let me get this straight: We dump salary cause we want to avoid the tax and you expect us to use the TPE prior to the deadline?

No, I didn't say that.  I said that if the Celtics want to make a trade, they didn't need Hernangomez' salary as filler to do it. You're the one trumpeting his expiring as something of use -- it wasn't.

[Jvalin]

Yet another confirmation that Wyc is cheap. Instead of trying to improve the team, we're trying to duck the tax.

If there were a clear way to improve the roster for the long term/set us on track toward contention, I think it gets done.  Problem is, there isn’t such a move out there.

You can't possibly know that before the deadline. Trades are like the game of chicken: Whomever backs down first loses the game. Teams usually wait till the last possible moment before engaging in serious negotiations. This is why the vast majority of trades happen at the deadline.

Basketball-wise, Juancho sucks. Cap-wise, he's a useful expiring contract to have at the deadline. We didn't even give ourselves a chance to use him as salary filler. What this means is we don't care to improve the team. At the very least, our #1 priority is to avoid the tax.

We don’t need salary filler.  Expirings are good when you don’t have TPEs.  The Celtics do, so they don’t need to have expirings to match.  Unless you’re talking about Beal, but Horford matches Beal by himself, so we still wouldn’t need filler.

In the old days where Hernangomez’ non-guaranteed salary next year could count for matching purposes in the offseason his contract would have been a lot more useful even with the TPEs.  But as that’s not the case, Hernangomez was just a guy making $7 million who was glued to the bench.

Let me get this straight: We dump salary cause we want to avoid the tax and you expect us to use the TPE prior to the deadline?

No, I didn't say that.  I said that if the Celtics want to make a trade, they didn't need Hernangomez' salary as filler to do it. You're the one trumpeting his expiring as something of use -- it wasn't.

We both know we won't use the TPE though cause we are cheap. We are already above the tax. Imagine if we used a significant part of the TPE as well. What's the point in talking about it as if it were a realistic option?

[Celtics2021]

Yet another confirmation that Wyc is cheap. Instead of trying to improve the team, we're trying to duck the tax.

If there were a clear way to improve the roster for the long term/set us on track toward contention, I think it gets done.  Problem is, there isn’t such a move out there.

You can't possibly know that before the deadline. Trades are like the game of chicken: Whomever backs down first loses the game. Teams usually wait till the last possible moment before engaging in serious negotiations. This is why the vast majority of trades happen at the deadline.

Basketball-wise, Juancho sucks. Cap-wise, he's a useful expiring contract to have at the deadline. We didn't even give ourselves a chance to use him as salary filler. What this means is we don't care to improve the team. At the very least, our #1 priority is to avoid the tax.

We don’t need salary filler.  Expirings are good when you don’t have TPEs.  The Celtics do, so they don’t need to have expirings to match.  Unless you’re talking about Beal, but Horford matches Beal by himself, so we still wouldn’t need filler.

In the old days where Hernangomez’ non-guaranteed salary next year could count for matching purposes in the offseason his contract would have been a lot more useful even with the TPEs.  But as that’s not the case, Hernangomez was just a guy making $7 million who was glued to the bench.

Let me get this straight: We dump salary cause we want to avoid the tax and you expect us to use the TPE prior to the deadline?

No, I didn't say that.  I said that if the Celtics want to make a trade, they didn't need Hernangomez' salary as filler to do it. You're the one trumpeting his expiring as something of use -- it wasn't.

We both know we won't use the TPE though cause we are cheap. We are already above the tax. Imagine if we used a significant of the TPE as well. What's the point in talking about it as if it's a realistic option?

You’re totally moving the goalposts.  We’re done, you need to chill out about a deal that makes obvious sense to everyone.