To reiterate, adding a "regular season only" type player isn't necessarily about maximizing regular season W/L (although that doesn't hurt), it's about getting guys to the playoffs healthy by reducing their workload in Feb/Mar/Apr.
Honestly not convinced a center is super necessary, unless someone unexpectedly good winds up available. Kornet and Griffin can probably shoulder plenty of extra regular season minutes as needed. A wing seems like a bigger need right now, but I'd prioritize getting a plug-and-play veteran cheap over trading assets for a young guy who needs playing time to figure his game out (like Reddish).
Some names that could be options, be it through trade, the current free agent list, or buyout guys: Rudy Gay (could re-stock a second or two for eating his money), Justin Holiday, Carmelo Anthony, Terrence Ross, Rodney McGruder, maybe even Will Barton.
Yeah, I get this and don't disagree but for example, Rudy Gay makes $6.5M, Justin Holiday $6.3M. We can't trade for either unless we send back salary. To make it work, what we would need to send back is probably Gallinari. Will Barton makes $14.4M, Terrence Ross $11.5M. Probably have to trade Derrick White to make that work. I guess we could sign Carmelo Anthony to a min contract and not have to give up anything but I am not sure he would even qualify as regular season rotation.
Now if you are thinking that Ross or Barton could get bought out, then absolutely, we should look to sign someone like that with a vet min or our disabled player exemption (DPE) which we have for Gallinari. I don't think there is any question that the Celtics would look to do that for players of this caliber, but they need to get bought out first. Right now, the players available as FA probably are not even as good as Griffin. So the Celtics are just waiting.
Will Barton is an interesting target. He was a full time starter for Denver just last season. Has been hardly playing lately for Washington. We could probably trade White for him but I am not sure many would want to do that (I wouldn't). So the only way we even have a chance to get him is if he is bought out. Washington is going to shop him hard through the trade deadline. Trading him is better for them than having to buy him out.
Like Roy already said, Rudy and Holiday fit into the Juancho TPE that expires this week. Re: Ross and Barton, yes, those would be "if they were bought out" situations. Under no scenario am I trading White with either of them as the primary return.
OK, my bad on Gay and Holiday. If we could get Gay for just a highly protected second that never conveys (so essentially nothing), then yes, I agree on Gay. Even better if they would take back Jackson. I would support that move even though Gay probably does not help the playoff rotation. He may not even help the regular season rotation though, that is the problem. He is hardly playing in Utah. Shooting 22% from 3.
Justin Holiday is similar although shooting 3s better. He is not playing all that much in ATL and I am not sure they would give him away (ATL is very much in the playoff hunt). But again, if they would, I would be fine with that. Holiday is probably a better fit, better chance to help, than Gay.
It seems like we have a few categories:
1. Players we can get for essentially nothing, min contracts or TPE (current FAs, maybe Gay, etc.)
2. Players that cost us second round picks or more but fit TPEs (Reddish has been mentioned)
3. Players that require we send out contracts (this could be a lot of things)
4. Players we may get a shot at if bought out (hard to say what that pool may hold)
I am still not convinced that (1) or (2) can get us a player that even helps the regular season rotation, much less the playoff rotation. Even Rudy Gay may cost us more than nothing and still might not help the regular season rotation (would he play ahead of Hauser?). I get that at a minimum, it is more bench insurance but $6M+ of taxable salary is a lot for a player if all they do is sit on the bench in case someone (or a couple) get hurt. Any deal of this type is probably not going to help us, or if the needle does move, it moves a whisker.
With (3), we could package for example White and Gallinari ($23.4M total) and target a fairly high end player (Harrison Barnes for example) but we have to give up something. I am open to that for the right player but see this as unlikely, at least mid-season. Pritchard and Gallinari could be packaged but that limits what we can get back. We are the best team in the league, we just don't need to take the chance that this type of trade back fires. In the off season, this is far more viable.
If none of those, then we are left waiting to see who gets bought out. We have an edge in that we can offer a player more money with the DPE than other teams can with a vet min contract. I am sure that in any case, the Celtics will be looking hard at this option after the trade deadline. It is pretty clear they are not interested in anyone that is available right now. This or doing nothing I am afraid are the most likely outcomes at this point.
Topic: Status of Celtics Line Up/Depth (Read 3007 times)