If Boston truly wants to compete for championships then there is no reason to let a TPE expire just because of cost. Now sure, if you don't find a player that makes sense that is one thing, but there are reportedly guys out there available that would fit into the TPE that would, if nothing else, provide some quality depth and insurance. There is no reason Boston shouldn't be making moves.
Agreed!
What are the names you have heard reportedly available that are realistic and at what cost (ie draft pics, etc)?
Duncan Robinson is certainly available and the C's might get an asset to take the contract. He'd be a nice shooter off the bench.
I'd see what Detroit had planned for Noel. I'd ask the Kings about Holmes and/or Len.
And of course the big wild card is the Clippers and all those wings.
What would adding Robinson cost? And extra $80 million this season? More?
Anyone filling that role would cost that, but if the goal is to win, you make moves like that. I'm not sure the team as currently constructed is good enough to win. They should absolutely go for it this year and they can cut costs next summer if it doesn't work.
Robinson was glued to the bench in the playoffs last year, when Miami was banged up and desperate for shooting. I’m all for spending that makes the team better, but this is *massive* spending for a guy who’s pretty unlikely to help. If they’re really willing to go that deep in the tax there has to be someone better.
Maybe just a down year. He was a starter the previous couple of years and was lethal from 3. If he wins you a few games here or there because he gets hot from 3, then he’s worth it in my book. Of course, it’s not my money so I don’t really care than the billionaire has to pay a little extra. I think they should use the TPE to get a big salary player and then figuring out the luxury tax going into the trade deadline.
Robinson is a terrible defender; why are we even talking about him? Even Spo couldn't play him much in the playoffs so obviously no way Ime would. He's not winning you any important games and again, he would cost $80M in one year alone with taxes.
The reason he didn’t play them was because he was ice cold from 3. He isn’t a great defender but if he was hitting his shots like he did the previous two years it doesn’t matter. Whether is he overpaid or not is irrelevant. There’s history for shooting only guys ranging from Korver/Kapono/Harris/Robinson getting paid big bucks because they are flamethrowers from 3 and put so much pressure on opposing defenses as a result. Obviously, the moment they slip shooting it becomes problematic but I’d wager that Robinson reverts back this season. He’s a low usage guy who just spit up shoots. I think he’s fit well on this team off the bench considering the other guys on the roster.
My issue isn’t so much the love for the player but letting the TPE go unused. To me that is a massive waste of an opportunity to add a player (and potentially flip later on in a deal as well). I get the luxury tax is a thing but so is the countdown on JB and JT’s contracts. You have 2 years left on JB’s deal and no guarantee he stays. What’s worse: paying some luxury tax or regretting a missed opportunity to go for it after a few seasons when JB and JT bounce? They should go for it now while they have the ammunition. There is no guarantee they will get there in the future. Just go
All in now and dump salaries later if you need to.
I guess the issue might be cost vs return. For a $17m player (the full TPE) they would spend $53m in tax for a total spend of $80m. If they spent half of that and got a player for $8m that would be a total bill of $38m. That's like spending another max contract for a guy to sit on the bench, so you'd probably want a good player to justify the expense. If it were a good player he'd probably want more than the garbage time or insurance minutes you would provide. Which would mean he would have to be in the rotation which already is a 10 man rotation: Tatum, Brown, Al, Timelord, Smart, Brogdon, White, GWill, Gallo, PP. So you would have to carve out minutes for our guy that we spent $40m/$80m on to stretch the rotation to 11.
The last time we had a situation where we had lots of quality guys competing for minutes was 2018 when we had: Cryrie, Tatum, Smart, Mook, Al, Brown, Hayward, Baynes, Rozier, Theis, Semi, Wanamaker. Timelord barely played. We had a lot of unhappy players because there were too many cooks which spoiled the broth. I really feel like there's a balance between the types of players you carry on a rotation. If you don't have enough quality players you run the risk of overworking the players, which was probably a factor for us last season because we really only had 7 rotation level players. If you have too many then some guys get unhappy because they don't feel like they're playing enough. That's why the person we need to fill out the rotation needs to be a good fit - someone who knows they will sit most of the time but they need to be ready and of a skill level that they can be slotted in. The latter is easier to find than the former. I feel like our $10m guy was Gallo (even though he came a bit below at $7m). Are we going to bring someone in and pay them the same amount as Gallo and give him the same number of minutes? And I'm expecting Gallo to be the one to miss out in the playoffs when Ime shortens the rotation. He's going to be that bench insurance scorer that we didn't have this last season, but there may be games when he's not needed and he won't play because of his defensive liabilities.
It's not my money so if Wyc decides to blow the farm on an end of bench guy there will be no complaints from me
I would understand the logic of why he wouldn't though. It would cost Wyc $3.75m in tax for every $1m spent, so I think using a vet min contract for a 3rd center would be much more likely. Or I could see them using the TPE as part of a trade where they ship out some salary and take slightly more salary in return, to upgrade the overall rotation. The thing is, who in our rotation could possibly be shipped out? I could only think of maybe PP or White, who might be a little superfluous now with Brogdon. But with Brodgon's injury history we would ship out White to get another ball handler who can defend multiple positions and there aren't that many of those left on the board.
Topic: Report: Celtics still looking to utilize trade exception? (Read 46387 times)