2010 Free-Agency Class & James Posey

[BudweiserCeltic]

Many of the concerns surrounding the Posey situation is the team's willingness to first spend on him and secondly the length of the contract.

But seeing the NJ situation setting up to bring LeBron in 2010, Miami setting up for the 2010 free-agency financially, I start wondering how this affects a player like Posey.

So, my question is... do you see teams that could out pay the Celtics and/or provide lengthier contracts shying away from him because they're looking towards the 2010 free-agency? From the looks of it, it should be a great free-agency class, and quite a few teams seem to have an eye on it. Seems like teams will be hesitant to offer more than a 2 year contract.

Factoring this in, do you feel better of our chances of getting Posey... first for a reasonable contract, or simply in general? Do you see this affecting his free-agency in any way, or do you think it's incosequential at this point in time?

[ReadyFor17]

I don't think it will affect him at all. His suitors will be legitimate playoff teams that feel they are one piece away from making a run at a title - teams like the Lakers or Hornets. I don't see any of the rebuilding teams that are looking towards 2010 being in the bidding for Posey.

Luckily, we can sign Posey for the MLE and still be major players in free agency that year. Between Ray and Scal alone the C's will have $22 million coming off the books.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't think it will affect him at all. His suitors will be legitimate playoff teams that feel they are one piece away from making a run at a title - teams like the Lakers or Hornets. I don't see any of the rebuilding teams that are looking towards 2010 being in the bidding for Posey.

Luckily, we can sign Posey for the MLE and still be major players in free agency that year. Between Ray and Scal alone the C's will have $22 million coming off the books.

I agree with you, to a degree. I think it eliminates more teams than I had previously thought of. Not only legitimate contending teams would've looked for Posey, but also teams that were borderline playoff teams. I think those would've tried to get Posey too.

I could've seen the Bobcats under Larry Brown pushing for him for example. I could've also envisioned Chicago and Golden State... maybe now not so much.

[cordobes]

Which teams can outbid the Celtics? Memphis, Philly, LAC, who else? Not going to happen, it's a moot point.

So, the only question is the lenght:
- will any team offer Posey a 4 year full MLE? I don't think so.
- will any team offer Posey a 3 year full MLE? Probably. But Ainge can match that (but should he?), and in that case there's a chance Posey opts to resign using the non-Bird exception.

[BdaBostonBum]

We have only Perk, Rondo, Garnett and Pierce locked up through 2010, a combined salary of 44.5.  I know its a while in the future, but I was curious as to whom you guys think we should go after that year. Another factor to consider too, is that all those contracts coming off the Celtic's books that year will be very coveted around the league.  It seems like every team is trying to have a lot of cap space for that year's free agency market. I can only assume that other teams will be interested in aquiring the C's timely contracts. 

The following is the 2010 free agent class:

LeBron James    CLE    player option
Dirk Nowitzki    DAL    player option
Josh Howard    DAL    player option
Dwyane Wade    MIA    player option
Michael Redd    MIL    player option
Amare StoudemirePHX    player option
Joe Johnson    ATL    unrestricted
Ben Wallace    CLE    unrestricted
Marcus Camby    DEN    unrestricted
Richard HamiltonDET    unrestricted
Amir Johnson    DET    unrestricted
Antonio McDyess DET    unrestricted
Tracy McGrady    HOU    unrestricted
Jermaine O'Neal IND    unrestricted
Darko Milicic    MEM    unrestricted
Steve Nash    PHX    unrestricted
Shaquille O'NealPHX    unrestricted
Manu Ginobili    S.A.    unrestricted
Carlos Boozer    UTA    unrestricted
Mehmet Okur    UTA    unrestricted

[Who]

The only team I think it could possibly affect is the Phoenix Suns. They're the only contender with serious cap space and the need to completely restructure their team in 2010.

[BudweiserCeltic]

We have only Perk, Rondo, Garnett and Pierce locked up through 2010, a combined salary of 44.5.  I know its a while in the future, but I was curious as to whom you guys think we should go after that year. Another factor to consider too, is that all those contracts coming off the Celtic's books that year will be very coveted around the league.  It seems like every team is trying to have a lot of cap space for that year's free agency market. I can only assume that other teams will be interested in aquiring the C's timely contracts. 

The following is the 2010 free agent class:

LeBron James    CLE    player option
Dirk Nowitzki    DAL    player option
Josh Howard    DAL    player option
Dwyane Wade    MIA    player option
Michael Redd    MIL    player option
Amare StoudemirePHX    player option
Joe Johnson    ATL    unrestricted
Ben Wallace    CLE    unrestricted
Marcus Camby    DEN    unrestricted
Richard HamiltonDET    unrestricted
Amir Johnson    DET    unrestricted
Antonio McDyess DET    unrestricted
Tracy McGrady    HOU    unrestricted
Jermaine O'Neal IND    unrestricted
Darko Milicic    MEM    unrestricted
Steve Nash    PHX    unrestricted
Shaquille O'NealPHX    unrestricted
Manu Ginobili    S.A.    unrestricted
Carlos Boozer    UTA    unrestricted
Mehmet Okur    UTA    unrestricted

We won't be under the cap to get any of those, unless they are affordable at the MLE.  We still have to sign our rookies, Rondo is not factored in to that 44.5 million, and who knows who from our 2009 free-agent class will still be around.

[LarBrd33]

yeah we will not have cap room.  I think we can only be players if we do some kind of sign and trade.

[17iscoming]

I believe we will not have cap room either.  Right now we are committed to $45 million in 2010 before we add any more players beyond KG, PP, RR and Perk:

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/boston.htm

2008 salary cap is $55 I believe.  Ray coming off the books only get us out of luxury tax land.  We will need to S&T Ray when he is an expiring contract ala Theo Ratliff if we want to claim a "free agent" in Ray's place.

[BdaBostonBum]

My point was more towards looking at those expiring deals as trade chips.  As ReadyFor17 said, with just RA and Scal alone we have $22mil in contracts coming off the books in 2010.  Every team wants that.  Its more of an issue with finding teams that are looking for 2010 cap space, and with all of those other players, most of which were at one time all-stars, everyone wants 2010 space. I'm just saying that you look at our contract chips right there you gotta understand that they are hugely coveted around the league.

[17iscoming]

I agree - Ray's contract is a major asset in the last year.  I believe we should use it get younger talent.  Perhaps a disgruntled star looking for a winning situation (DWade?, Bosh?) in the 2010-11 season. 

Remember Danny wanted to trade Larry and Kevin....he's not gonna let these guys devalue.

[BdaBostonBum]

I agree - Ray's contract is a major asset in the last year.  I believe we should use it get younger talent.  Perhaps a disgruntled star looking for a winning situation (DWade?, Bosh?) in the 2010-11 season. 

Remember Danny wanted to trade Larry and Kevin....he's not gonna let these guys devalue.

I am pretty sure we're gonna see a lot of changes that year, and a lot of teams will be getting better.  The Cs will have gotten older, and will need to get younger in order to compete.  As 17iscoming said we could pick up someone like DWade this way with a S&T.  That is if the Heat are looking for LBJ in 2010, which they will be.  They trade DW for RA.  RA comes off the books and they have $20mil more to sign LBJ with

[cordobes]

I agree - Ray's contract is a major asset in the last year.  I believe we should use it get younger talent.  Perhaps a disgruntled star looking for a winning situation (DWade?, Bosh?) in the 2010-11 season. 

Remember Danny wanted to trade Larry and Kevin....he's not gonna let these guys devalue.

I can't see Wade and Bosh being disgruntled stars in 2010-11, they'll probably be in the 1st year of a multi-year max contract anywhere. If they want to leave Miami and Toronto, they can do that the year before as free-agents.

[17iscoming]

Bosh and Wade both have opt-outs at the end of the 2010 season.  Why would they be in the 1st year of a multi-year max contract?  How can they leave the year before as free-agents?  I'm confused.  It seems like it works out to me.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I agree - Ray's contract is a major asset in the last year.  I believe we should use it get younger talent.  Perhaps a disgruntled star looking for a winning situation (DWade?, Bosh?) in the 2010-11 season. 

Remember Danny wanted to trade Larry and Kevin....he's not gonna let these guys devalue.

The difference is that Larry and Kevin were both incapacitated by injuries. Ray hasn't shown much of a decline in his abilities to consider trading him. Of course, if someone like Wade becomes available for a trade, then surely you do it... but there's a risk, he'll become an unrestricted free-agent anyways, so you need to negotiate an extention. While, if you keep Ray, there's a good chance that he'd simply sign for less money and keep helping the Celtics win for a couple of more years.

We'll see.  You know, how about simply filling our roster with two year deals from now on, and then trade away all that crap for someone looking for cap space next year? Seems like a plan to me lol.

Bosh and Wade both have opt-outs at the end of the 2010 season.  Why would they be in the 1st year of a multi-year max contract?  How can they leave the year before as free-agents?  I'm confused.  It seems like it works out to me.

His player option is for the 2010/2011 season, that's the big free-agent class. He's under contract for the 2009/2010 season.