House to T. Allen Ally

[winsomme]

wow i posted that 32 seconds after you [dang] it.

yeah, i don't think it was up on youtube earlier...must have just been added.

still looking for the Big Baby coast to coaster..

[jackson_34]

I reallly hope we hang on to TA, he became a favourite of mine when he stepped up and carried the team for those six or seven games before he blew his knee. Great to see him get a finals highlight slice.

[Reyquila]

Ever since the Toine-PP days, Ive been saying we needed to draft or trade or sign a top PG and a Center. We finally got our PG in Rondo. It took time to get one, but I believe Rondo IS the PG we needed. I feel we cannot count on Perk being available 100% of the time with a bum shoulder. Those kind of injuries are of the recurring type and we must have a back up cause his shoulder will continue to go bad every so often. PJ is not going to be there forever. A  6.9 0r 6.10 good PF who can mix it under the basket is neded. Big Daddy is not the answer; thats why he didnt play much. Pruitt must be given the chance to fully develop. He can be a 1 or a 2; thats nice.
I remember the 80's when we had such a solid starting 5 that draft time want important, excpet for Bias and Lewis. What happened? All our starting 5 got old at the same time and we had nobody to pick up the slack in the 90's. Lesson: never too early to start drafting wing men to be there when the Allens and the PPs start showing signs of deterioration. TA could help in the transistion from old to new, but I truly hope he can recover fully and we keep him. Just lets not wait till its too late to start drafting good again. I would not like to go thru what we went thru the 90's with second rated players because we didnt plan ahead. The proof is in the pudding.

[guava_wrench]

With his bird rights and RFA, and the fact that he should be 100% healthy (and the fact that he can sit on the end of the bench and not play without causing problems) TA should be brought back.

C's only have so many avenues to get players in here, MLE, LLE, Bird Rights, Trades, Draft: TA is at least good enough to be on the bench and useful fill in, and he's effectively free (assuming the owners aren't worried about money.)

That being said: C's 100% should look to upgrade everywhere possible, while we fans are in love with the guys on the team, consolidating 10 5's into two 10's got us KG and RA. Consolidating a couple 3/4 bench players into a 6 would strengthen us. The competition won't rest on it's laurels, neither should the C's.

Kind of funny that he is "effectively free" as long as the owners aren't worried about money. Doesn't sound free to me!!

If no one else will come here that is better than he is and take a similar amount of money, keeping him is not free. It takes a spot away from a better player that improves our squad. The debate on here is who a better player would be. I personally don't think it would be that hard to find someone.

We now will be a shoe in for free agents who want to try and get a ring that are willing to take a pay cut to do it. If we aren't successful in that search then fine. Resign him for peanuts. If not no big loss.

Lets do the math:

Roster spots:
1  KG
2  PP
3  Jesus
4  RR
5  Perk
6  Baby
7  Powe
8  Pruitt
9  Scal

Gone: Sam
Gone: PJ
Gone: Pollard

How can we fill the remaining 6 roster spots?
10 +1 player biannual exception
11 1st Round Draft pick (?) - if Euro, perhaps we keep this spot open another year as the play in foreign league.

The rest depend upon agreeing to contracts:

A. Bird Rights:
TA - bargain basement after weak season

B. Poss non-Bird rights:
House - probably limited interest across league

C. MLE:
Posey - might want a longer contract than we can wisely commit to due to high profile after great performance. If we sign him, it probably takes full MLE. If we don't sign posey, we could possible get more than one player with this.

D. Minimum contract players

Who are the veterans that you hope to sign for minimum contracts and for the biannual instead of TA?

[the TRUTH]

ainge has been so successful because he buys low and sells high (al jefferson, antoine walker, ricky davis, etc). tony's stock couldn't be much lower right now. aside from that dunk, there are still serious questions about his health. even when he had solid stretches of play during the season, he usually regressed soon after, and at times looked terrible.

point being, we can't get anything for him in a sign and trade, and we can probably re-sign him for VERY cheap. i mean what leverage would his agent have in negotiations?

think about it: IF tony returns to how he played before his injury in january of '07, we have the potential to be almost unbeatable. especially as pierce and ray allen get older, having a young, developing swingman of that caliber off the bench can save the vets' legs and help bridge the gap between the "big three" era and the next era.  

his stock can't drop much lower, but it certainly can skyrocket next season. no reason not to re-sign him, unless you really think he has no chance of returning to his old self.

[johnnyrondo]

Last nite's exclamation point...

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[lon3lytoaster]

Actually this play probably made me smile the most during the entire game. I love Tony Allen and I honestly feel bad for the kid to have such bad luck with the knees.

That said... I think that one play right there could have a lot bigger impact then anyone could guess. That was the first time since Europe that TA actually went up with the intent just to throw down... and in Europe when Tony landed he looked scared as crap that his knee would give out again. This time he didn't even think about it and just went straight up. I think that one play, that one dunk could be where Tony turns around and starts to build the confidence he needs to again be a useful player.

That's all TA has been lacking this year... Complete confidence to attack and finish. Danny, PLEASE sign Tony to atleast his qualifying offer! If that dunk had as big as an impact as I think it might have we'll have an amazing bench next year... Even if you don't resign Posey.

PLEASE BRING BACK TONY ALLEN!

[paintitgreen]

Quick aside: We can sign House for up to $1.8 mil (120% of 1.5 mil, his salary last year) without affecting our exceptions? Think he'd take that, especially knowing if he did we could go up to $3 mil after that with early Bird rights?

[EJPLAYA]

With his bird rights and RFA, and the fact that he should be 100% healthy (and the fact that he can sit on the end of the bench and not play without causing problems) TA should be brought back.

C's only have so many avenues to get players in here, MLE, LLE, Bird Rights, Trades, Draft: TA is at least good enough to be on the bench and useful fill in, and he's effectively free (assuming the owners aren't worried about money.)

That being said: C's 100% should look to upgrade everywhere possible, while we fans are in love with the guys on the team, consolidating 10 5's into two 10's got us KG and RA. Consolidating a couple 3/4 bench players into a 6 would strengthen us. The competition won't rest on it's laurels, neither should the C's.

Kind of funny that he is "effectively free" as long as the owners aren't worried about money. Doesn't sound free to me!!

If no one else will come here that is better than he is and take a similar amount of money, keeping him is not free. It takes a spot away from a better player that improves our squad. The debate on here is who a better player would be. I personally don't think it would be that hard to find someone.

We now will be a shoe in for free agents who want to try and get a ring that are willing to take a pay cut to do it. If we aren't successful in that search then fine. Resign him for peanuts. If not no big loss.

Lets do the math:

Roster spots:
1  KG
2  PP
3  Jesus
4  RR
5  Perk
6  Baby
7  Powe
8  Pruitt
9  Scal

Gone: Sam
Gone: PJ
Gone: Pollard

How can we fill the remaining 6 roster spots?
10 +1 player biannual exception
11 1st Round Draft pick (?) - if Euro, perhaps we keep this spot open another year as the play in foreign league.

The rest depend upon agreeing to contracts:

A. Bird Rights:
TA - bargain basement after weak season

B. Poss non-Bird rights:
House - probably limited interest across league

C. MLE:
Posey - might want a longer contract than we can wisely commit to due to high profile after great performance. If we sign him, it probably takes full MLE. If we don't sign posey, we could possible get more than one player with this.

D. Minimum contract players

Who are the veterans that you hope to sign for minimum contracts and for the biannual instead of TA?

#1 We do not absolutely have to carry 15 contracts. We didn't for much of  the year so that we had space available to sign at the end. (Sam and PJ)
#2 We will add 2 players in the draft which will bring us to 11.
#3 We resign Posey and House which gets us to 13

Are you telling me that there isn't 1 free agent that doesn't want to come to Boston on the cheap that is better than TA?! If not, then sign him for almost nothing. I just don't buy it. There will be people interested. I don't do anything though before I sign Posey. Who says we can't sign Pollard?! He should be completely healthy by next season and was not bad as a backup considering he was hurt. With the kind of shape that PJ is in I'm not 100% sure he won't be magically "available" come the signing deadline for us this next year as well.

One last thought. You're also assuming that Danny won't work some trade. I completely think that he will try and trade BBD or Powe (preferably BBD) in the offseason.

[winsomme]

With his bird rights and RFA, and the fact that he should be 100% healthy (and the fact that he can sit on the end of the bench and not play without causing problems) TA should be brought back.

C's only have so many avenues to get players in here, MLE, LLE, Bird Rights, Trades, Draft: TA is at least good enough to be on the bench and useful fill in, and he's effectively free (assuming the owners aren't worried about money.)

That being said: C's 100% should look to upgrade everywhere possible, while we fans are in love with the guys on the team, consolidating 10 5's into two 10's got us KG and RA. Consolidating a couple 3/4 bench players into a 6 would strengthen us. The competition won't rest on it's laurels, neither should the C's.

Kind of funny that he is "effectively free" as long as the owners aren't worried about money. Doesn't sound free to me!!

If no one else will come here that is better than he is and take a similar amount of money, keeping him is not free. It takes a spot away from a better player that improves our squad. The debate on here is who a better player would be. I personally don't think it would be that hard to find someone.

We now will be a shoe in for free agents who want to try and get a ring that are willing to take a pay cut to do it. If we aren't successful in that search then fine. Resign him for peanuts. If not no big loss.

Lets do the math:

Roster spots:
1  KG
2  PP
3  Jesus
4  RR
5  Perk
6  Baby
7  Powe
8  Pruitt
9  Scal

Gone: Sam
Gone: PJ
Gone: Pollard

How can we fill the remaining 6 roster spots?
10 +1 player biannual exception
11 1st Round Draft pick (?) - if Euro, perhaps we keep this spot open another year as the play in foreign league.

The rest depend upon agreeing to contracts:

A. Bird Rights:
TA - bargain basement after weak season

B. Poss non-Bird rights:
House - probably limited interest across league

C. MLE:
Posey - might want a longer contract than we can wisely commit to due to high profile after great performance. If we sign him, it probably takes full MLE. If we don't sign posey, we could possible get more than one player with this.

D. Minimum contract players

Who are the veterans that you hope to sign for minimum contracts and for the biannual instead of TA?

#1 We do not absolutely have to carry 15 contracts. We didn't for much of  the year so that we had space available to sign at the end. (Sam and PJ)
#2 We will add 2 players in the draft which will bring us to 11.
#3 We resign Posey and House which gets us to 13

Are you telling me that there isn't 1 free agent that doesn't want to come to Boston on the cheap that is better than TA?! If not, then sign him for almost nothing. I just don't buy it. There will be people interested. I don't do anything though before I sign Posey. Who says we can't sign Pollard?! He should be completely healthy by next season and was not bad as a backup considering he was hurt. With the kind of shape that PJ is in I'm not 100% sure he won't be magically "available" come the signing deadline for us this next year as well.

One last thought. You're also assuming that Danny won't work some trade. I completely think that he will try and trade BBD or Powe (preferably BBD) in the offseason.

define "on the cheap" because we certainly would have to use up our exceptions (or most of them) to re-sign Posey and House. we also need another Big a la Pollard and later PJ and for a team that is going to be well over the salary cap , there really are not a lot of ways to sign FAs...

[EJPLAYA]

With his bird rights and RFA, and the fact that he should be 100% healthy (and the fact that he can sit on the end of the bench and not play without causing problems) TA should be brought back.

C's only have so many avenues to get players in here, MLE, LLE, Bird Rights, Trades, Draft: TA is at least good enough to be on the bench and useful fill in, and he's effectively free (assuming the owners aren't worried about money.)

That being said: C's 100% should look to upgrade everywhere possible, while we fans are in love with the guys on the team, consolidating 10 5's into two 10's got us KG and RA. Consolidating a couple 3/4 bench players into a 6 would strengthen us. The competition won't rest on it's laurels, neither should the C's.

Kind of funny that he is "effectively free" as long as the owners aren't worried about money. Doesn't sound free to me!!

If no one else will come here that is better than he is and take a similar amount of money, keeping him is not free. It takes a spot away from a better player that improves our squad. The debate on here is who a better player would be. I personally don't think it would be that hard to find someone.

We now will be a shoe in for free agents who want to try and get a ring that are willing to take a pay cut to do it. If we aren't successful in that search then fine. Resign him for peanuts. If not no big loss.

Lets do the math:

Roster spots:
1  KG
2  PP
3  Jesus
4  RR
5  Perk
6  Baby
7  Powe
8  Pruitt
9  Scal

Gone: Sam
Gone: PJ
Gone: Pollard

How can we fill the remaining 6 roster spots?
10 +1 player biannual exception
11 1st Round Draft pick (?) - if Euro, perhaps we keep this spot open another year as the play in foreign league.

The rest depend upon agreeing to contracts:

A. Bird Rights:
TA - bargain basement after weak season

B. Poss non-Bird rights:
House - probably limited interest across league

C. MLE:
Posey - might want a longer contract than we can wisely commit to due to high profile after great performance. If we sign him, it probably takes full MLE. If we don't sign posey, we could possible get more than one player with this.

D. Minimum contract players

Who are the veterans that you hope to sign for minimum contracts and for the biannual instead of TA?

#1 We do not absolutely have to carry 15 contracts. We didn't for much of  the year so that we had space available to sign at the end. (Sam and PJ)
#2 We will add 2 players in the draft which will bring us to 11.
#3 We resign Posey and House which gets us to 13

Are you telling me that there isn't 1 free agent that doesn't want to come to Boston on the cheap that is better than TA?! If not, then sign him for almost nothing. I just don't buy it. There will be people interested. I don't do anything though before I sign Posey. Who says we can't sign Pollard?! He should be completely healthy by next season and was not bad as a backup considering he was hurt. With the kind of shape that PJ is in I'm not 100% sure he won't be magically "available" come the signing deadline for us this next year as well.

One last thought. You're also assuming that Danny won't work some trade. I completely think that he will try and trade BBD or Powe (preferably BBD) in the offseason.

define "on the cheap" because we certainly would have to use up our exceptions (or most of them) to re-sign Posey and House. we also need another Big a la Pollard and later PJ and for a team that is going to be well over the salary cap , there really are not a lot of ways to sign FAs...

First of all I'd take another look at Theo considering he appears to be finally healed and can give us spot minutes at the backup center. He played for 200k last year. I'd consider Pollard again at next to nothing if he is healthy enough. Jamal Magloire is an option for cheap if he isn't. He played for 231k last year.

At the SF spot you really ought to be trying to sign a kid with upside. If Posey signs, and we get House back there are very limited minutes for someone else. (TA knows about that one) Pruitt should get some minutes at the 2 as well. Sign some athletic freak with upside. That USED to be TA, but since we know what we have in him, which isn't much, and he is injury prone which has cost him much of his athleticism, we might as well see if we can find a diamond in the rough. TA is a cubic zirconium!

[BudweiserCeltic]

With his bird rights and RFA, and the fact that he should be 100% healthy (and the fact that he can sit on the end of the bench and not play without causing problems) TA should be brought back.

C's only have so many avenues to get players in here, MLE, LLE, Bird Rights, Trades, Draft: TA is at least good enough to be on the bench and useful fill in, and he's effectively free (assuming the owners aren't worried about money.)

That being said: C's 100% should look to upgrade everywhere possible, while we fans are in love with the guys on the team, consolidating 10 5's into two 10's got us KG and RA. Consolidating a couple 3/4 bench players into a 6 would strengthen us. The competition won't rest on it's laurels, neither should the C's.

Kind of funny that he is "effectively free" as long as the owners aren't worried about money. Doesn't sound free to me!!

If no one else will come here that is better than he is and take a similar amount of money, keeping him is not free. It takes a spot away from a better player that improves our squad. The debate on here is who a better player would be. I personally don't think it would be that hard to find someone.

We now will be a shoe in for free agents who want to try and get a ring that are willing to take a pay cut to do it. If we aren't successful in that search then fine. Resign him for peanuts. If not no big loss.

Lets do the math:

Roster spots:
1  KG
2  PP
3  Jesus
4  RR
5  Perk
6  Baby
7  Powe
8  Pruitt
9  Scal

Gone: Sam
Gone: PJ
Gone: Pollard

How can we fill the remaining 6 roster spots?
10 +1 player biannual exception
11 1st Round Draft pick (?) - if Euro, perhaps we keep this spot open another year as the play in foreign league.

The rest depend upon agreeing to contracts:

A. Bird Rights:
TA - bargain basement after weak season

B. Poss non-Bird rights:
House - probably limited interest across league

C. MLE:
Posey - might want a longer contract than we can wisely commit to due to high profile after great performance. If we sign him, it probably takes full MLE. If we don't sign posey, we could possible get more than one player with this.

D. Minimum contract players

Who are the veterans that you hope to sign for minimum contracts and for the biannual instead of TA?

#1 We do not absolutely have to carry 15 contracts. We didn't for much of  the year so that we had space available to sign at the end. (Sam and PJ)
#2 We will add 2 players in the draft which will bring us to 11.
#3 We resign Posey and House which gets us to 13

Are you telling me that there isn't 1 free agent that doesn't want to come to Boston on the cheap that is better than TA?! If not, then sign him for almost nothing. I just don't buy it. There will be people interested. I don't do anything though before I sign Posey. Who says we can't sign Pollard?! He should be completely healthy by next season and was not bad as a backup considering he was hurt. With the kind of shape that PJ is in I'm not 100% sure he won't be magically "available" come the signing deadline for us this next year as well.

One last thought. You're also assuming that Danny won't work some trade. I completely think that he will try and trade BBD or Powe (preferably BBD) in the offseason.

define "on the cheap" because we certainly would have to use up our exceptions (or most of them) to re-sign Posey and House. we also need another Big a la Pollard and later PJ and for a team that is going to be well over the salary cap , there really are not a lot of ways to sign FAs...

First of all I'd take another look at Theo considering he appears to be finally healed and can give us spot minutes at the backup center. He played for 200k last year. I'd consider Pollard again at next to nothing if he is healthy enough. Jamal Magloire is an option for cheap if he isn't. He played for 231k last year.

That's quite misleading, since Theo and Magloire signed those contracts because they got themselves a buyout, so they had money coming from somewhere else. Anyways, we have plenty of roster spots available, so wether we stay with Tony or not, we can still get these types of deals if and when they become available. Once again, it makes zero sense to let someone like Tony Allen go for nothing when you consider the little impact he has on the Celtics ability to acquire new players.

Also, these types of deals are more common towards the trade deadline, so we still have to play most of the year with a "thin" roster, and it's not always a guarantee that you'll be able to sign this guys. It's playing with fire, and a huge risk to bank on something like this to happen towards the end of the year.

Unless there's someone on hand to fill his spot and role, and add depth to our team, it makes no sense to just let him walk.

[seeingreen34]

Besides that PB&J Garnett made him he probably ate some other food that helped him get up before. A little refresher for those of you that don't remember.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puMJxcmqYbg

[EJPLAYA]

With his bird rights and RFA, and the fact that he should be 100% healthy (and the fact that he can sit on the end of the bench and not play without causing problems) TA should be brought back.

C's only have so many avenues to get players in here, MLE, LLE, Bird Rights, Trades, Draft: TA is at least good enough to be on the bench and useful fill in, and he's effectively free (assuming the owners aren't worried about money.)

That being said: C's 100% should look to upgrade everywhere possible, while we fans are in love with the guys on the team, consolidating 10 5's into two 10's got us KG and RA. Consolidating a couple 3/4 bench players into a 6 would strengthen us. The competition won't rest on it's laurels, neither should the C's.

Kind of funny that he is "effectively free" as long as the owners aren't worried about money. Doesn't sound free to me!!

If no one else will come here that is better than he is and take a similar amount of money, keeping him is not free. It takes a spot away from a better player that improves our squad. The debate on here is who a better player would be. I personally don't think it would be that hard to find someone.

We now will be a shoe in for free agents who want to try and get a ring that are willing to take a pay cut to do it. If we aren't successful in that search then fine. Resign him for peanuts. If not no big loss.

Lets do the math:

Roster spots:
1  KG
2  PP
3  Jesus
4  RR
5  Perk
6  Baby
7  Powe
8  Pruitt
9  Scal

Gone: Sam
Gone: PJ
Gone: Pollard

How can we fill the remaining 6 roster spots?
10 +1 player biannual exception
11 1st Round Draft pick (?) - if Euro, perhaps we keep this spot open another year as the play in foreign league.

The rest depend upon agreeing to contracts:

A. Bird Rights:
TA - bargain basement after weak season

B. Poss non-Bird rights:
House - probably limited interest across league

C. MLE:
Posey - might want a longer contract than we can wisely commit to due to high profile after great performance. If we sign him, it probably takes full MLE. If we don't sign posey, we could possible get more than one player with this.

D. Minimum contract players

Who are the veterans that you hope to sign for minimum contracts and for the biannual instead of TA?

#1 We do not absolutely have to carry 15 contracts. We didn't for much of  the year so that we had space available to sign at the end. (Sam and PJ)
#2 We will add 2 players in the draft which will bring us to 11.
#3 We resign Posey and House which gets us to 13

Are you telling me that there isn't 1 free agent that doesn't want to come to Boston on the cheap that is better than TA?! If not, then sign him for almost nothing. I just don't buy it. There will be people interested. I don't do anything though before I sign Posey. Who says we can't sign Pollard?! He should be completely healthy by next season and was not bad as a backup considering he was hurt. With the kind of shape that PJ is in I'm not 100% sure he won't be magically "available" come the signing deadline for us this next year as well.

One last thought. You're also assuming that Danny won't work some trade. I completely think that he will try and trade BBD or Powe (preferably BBD) in the offseason.

define "on the cheap" because we certainly would have to use up our exceptions (or most of them) to re-sign Posey and House. we also need another Big a la Pollard and later PJ and for a team that is going to be well over the salary cap , there really are not a lot of ways to sign FAs...

First of all I'd take another look at Theo considering he appears to be finally healed and can give us spot minutes at the backup center. He played for 200k last year. I'd consider Pollard again at next to nothing if he is healthy enough. Jamal Magloire is an option for cheap if he isn't. He played for 231k last year.

That's quite misleading, since Theo and Magloire signed those contracts because they got themselves a buyout, so they had money coming from somewhere else. Anyways, we have plenty of roster spots available, so wether we stay with Tony or not, we can still get these types of deals if and when they become available. Once again, it makes zero sense to let someone like Tony Allen go for nothing when you consider the little impact he has on the Celtics ability to acquire new players.

Also, these types of deals are more common towards the trade deadline, so we still have to play most of the year with a "thin" roster, and it's not always a guarantee that you'll be able to sign this guys. It's playing with fire, and a huge risk to bank on something like this to happen towards the end of the year.

Unless there's someone on hand to fill his spot and role, and add depth to our team, it makes no sense to just let him walk.

Wasn't trying to be misleading, just pointing out there are always decent options for cheap. There's 2 examples last year. There will be a couple this year. We have one thing that very few teams has, and that is a REALLY great shot at a ring. I just think that if we can bring someone else in with upside we are better off for the future. Sure they may not do much, but neither did/will TA. The only way I think signing him for cheap makes sense if we can't get House back in here. Then at a dirt cheap price I am fine with that. Otherwise someone else can take him for nothing. We don't lose anything by letting him walk either. He's not under contract.

[winsomme]

With his bird rights and RFA, and the fact that he should be 100% healthy (and the fact that he can sit on the end of the bench and not play without causing problems) TA should be brought back.

C's only have so many avenues to get players in here, MLE, LLE, Bird Rights, Trades, Draft: TA is at least good enough to be on the bench and useful fill in, and he's effectively free (assuming the owners aren't worried about money.)

That being said: C's 100% should look to upgrade everywhere possible, while we fans are in love with the guys on the team, consolidating 10 5's into two 10's got us KG and RA. Consolidating a couple 3/4 bench players into a 6 would strengthen us. The competition won't rest on it's laurels, neither should the C's.

Kind of funny that he is "effectively free" as long as the owners aren't worried about money. Doesn't sound free to me!!

If no one else will come here that is better than he is and take a similar amount of money, keeping him is not free. It takes a spot away from a better player that improves our squad. The debate on here is who a better player would be. I personally don't think it would be that hard to find someone.

We now will be a shoe in for free agents who want to try and get a ring that are willing to take a pay cut to do it. If we aren't successful in that search then fine. Resign him for peanuts. If not no big loss.

Lets do the math:

Roster spots:
1  KG
2  PP
3  Jesus
4  RR
5  Perk
6  Baby
7  Powe
8  Pruitt
9  Scal

Gone: Sam
Gone: PJ
Gone: Pollard

How can we fill the remaining 6 roster spots?
10 +1 player biannual exception
11 1st Round Draft pick (?) - if Euro, perhaps we keep this spot open another year as the play in foreign league.

The rest depend upon agreeing to contracts:

A. Bird Rights:
TA - bargain basement after weak season

B. Poss non-Bird rights:
House - probably limited interest across league

C. MLE:
Posey - might want a longer contract than we can wisely commit to due to high profile after great performance. If we sign him, it probably takes full MLE. If we don't sign posey, we could possible get more than one player with this.

D. Minimum contract players

Who are the veterans that you hope to sign for minimum contracts and for the biannual instead of TA?

#1 We do not absolutely have to carry 15 contracts. We didn't for much of  the year so that we had space available to sign at the end. (Sam and PJ)
#2 We will add 2 players in the draft which will bring us to 11.
#3 We resign Posey and House which gets us to 13

Are you telling me that there isn't 1 free agent that doesn't want to come to Boston on the cheap that is better than TA?! If not, then sign him for almost nothing. I just don't buy it. There will be people interested. I don't do anything though before I sign Posey. Who says we can't sign Pollard?! He should be completely healthy by next season and was not bad as a backup considering he was hurt. With the kind of shape that PJ is in I'm not 100% sure he won't be magically "available" come the signing deadline for us this next year as well.

One last thought. You're also assuming that Danny won't work some trade. I completely think that he will try and trade BBD or Powe (preferably BBD) in the offseason.

define "on the cheap" because we certainly would have to use up our exceptions (or most of them) to re-sign Posey and House. we also need another Big a la Pollard and later PJ and for a team that is going to be well over the salary cap , there really are not a lot of ways to sign FAs...

First of all I'd take another look at Theo considering he appears to be finally healed and can give us spot minutes at the backup center. He played for 200k last year. I'd consider Pollard again at next to nothing if he is healthy enough. Jamal Magloire is an option for cheap if he isn't. He played for 231k last year.

At the SF spot you really ought to be trying to sign a kid with upside. If Posey signs, and we get House back there are very limited minutes for someone else. (TA knows about that one) Pruitt should get some minutes at the 2 as well. Sign some athletic freak with upside. That USED to be TA, but since we know what we have in him, which isn't much, and he is injury prone which has cost him much of his athleticism, we might as well see if we can find a diamond in the rough. TA is a cubic zirconium!

aside from totally not agreeing with you about what we have in Tony Allen, your math on Theo and Magloire is just not right. in fact one of the reasons that we got KG here is because Theo was getting a HUGE salary this year....somewhere in the 12 million range if i remember correctly and the only reason he went to DET was because he got a buyout from Minny....

it's just a very tricky process of signing FAs when you are over the salary cap, and having a guy like TA right in your backyard who has valuable skills is definitely one of the best ways to fill roles without using up the few exceptions that you are allowed....