What if we lose out on Maggette and Posey? Ricky Davis?

[BrickJames]

I'd rather Barnes than Pietrius.  Barnes is like Posey - a hard nosed  "intangibles" guy.  Very high BBIQ, great team defender, good at getting under people's skin.

If not Posey, sign me up for Barnes, if neither, then maybe we see more Scal?

With Barnes we can also fit Tony if needed. With Pietrus, we could need to find another suitable wing (unless we want to rely on rookies) with little to offer.

I see Barnes being such a great fit in our system. He plays with a ton of energy and as you say, good team defender. It's an often overlooked fact because he played for Golden State, but GS had some really good defenders in there... they simply lacked the interior defense to anchor the defense.

Decent 3-point shooter, and quite athletic and finisher around the basket.

My thoughts exactly, with the exception of the bit about Tony "I have no business being in the NBA" Allen.

For the 2 slot, in free agency, I hope we target Mo Evans.  He is getting ZERO media hype for some reason but he was an important cog for Orlando last year and would be another perfect fit into our system.



EDIT: Actually my bad!  If not Barnes/Posey, I want NAJERA at the 3!  He's a straight baller.

[Triboy16]

from what i read at hoopshype looks like rumors has it barnes really wants to start and wants mid level money for the longest possible. Unfortunately he will find out nobody will give him that.

post posey , i'd offer him 3 million for 3 years max and see if he will bite on it. He is only 28

[ManUp]

like who then at pf/center who fit with us better(who francisco elson?, no thank you)??  anderson has a bad history but i think he has cleaned up. The guy is aggressive and can play given the right opportunity. He reminds me of leon powe but with at least 3 more inches in height

Barnes is a hustle player and can play defense(he can learn). Maybe he is not in the same level as posey or even pietrius, but he hustles and dives after loose balls etc. (prob one of the top criterias to be a good defender)

one huge knock against pietrius is that he can't shoot consistantly either. If you compare last year stats between him and barnes , they are almost identical. For that reason i think barnes is a better value

Elson (played the same role for the Spurs when they won their title)
Kurt Thomas
Zo
Skinner

We should keep an eye out to see what becomes of Raef LaFrentz this season. He'd be alright for us now that he's reasonably healthy.

I guess it wouldn't bother me to watch him when he's not being ridiculously overpaid.

[Fan from VT]

I'd steer clear of barnes. he looked good two years ago, but has come back to earth. he's only shot over .300 once (two seasons ago, the one where he made a name for himself). It really looks like two years ago was a fluke year.

I'd much rather have pietrus. Younger, shoots better, defends better. seems to fit what we'd want better.

Also, I like the idea of doing what we did last year again: split the MLE between a few, like how we got pollard, house, and posey with the MLE. I don't think Posey is worth the full MLE, i think a lot of players or combinations of players could look that good along with KG, RA, PP. Not dissing Posey at all, but he's not an all-star; he's replaceable at the right cost.

[cordobes]

No Barnes.  He fit well in that Nelson offense.  He was a nobody in the league before that.



Pietrus is the guy I want right now.  A good defender on a bad defensive team.  Could be even better in the Boston scheme.



Really don't want Anderson.   Especially for more then the min.  This guy has shown nothing since he returned from being tossed out the league for two years.   There are guys that are better fits out there. 

Well, how many chances did he get? None. Scott didn't use him because they had a set rotation, but he was their best big off the bench.

I can understand why Scott hasn't used him.

But why haven't them offered him a new contract after seeing him in practices for months? Am I the only one who sees a flag here?

On the topic... the sad thing is that these three guys together are worse than Posey alone.

1. Anderson. Andersen. I wrote this in another thread: I don't think we need Birdman's kind of athleticism. We need a though defender under the basket with a big body who knows how to bang, boxes out and puts hard screens (PJ comes to mind), not a tall guy with a great leaping ability who runs fast.

2. Pietrus is a fine defender but he relies too much in his athleticism. He lacks defensive fundamentals and he is mentally weak. Also, as others have said, his name should be considered for a poll on who's the player with the lowest BBIQ in the league. OTH, über-athleticism doesn't hurt when you're trying to be a good wing defender in the NBA, with all the pussified rules and orientations. Maybe Thibodeau can develop his individual skills, I don't know. But he's nowhere near Posey. Remember when almost everybody was saying that Lakers' bench was better before the Finals? Two veteran solid guys like Posey and PJ completely outplayed them. Pietrus is a sexy choice, but he's not good enough to make up for Posey.

3. The best defensive winger available is probably Quentin Ross. The downside is that he's too much onedimensional, in spite of offering a very uncommon dimension. I like Najera, but he seemed to be declining fast last season. Barnes is more an improvement over Scal, he's not quick enough to defend a lot of wingers in the league.

4. Back to the post: Kurt Thomas has already agreed to resign with the Spurs. Zo won't leave Miami unless Rilley doesn't want him. I like Skinner more than Elson, but I'd consider other guys as well: Andre Brown (undersized) and Earl Barron (very poor rebounder and slow footed). And there's also that proto-communist, Foille or whatever, but he's too washed up to be a reliable backup center. He could work as a 3rd option.

[TripleOT]

Assuming Posey and Maggette sing elsewhere, I've got a FA swingman for the Cs bench.  He's got a bit of a negative history, but might be had for the right price.  He can play both the SG and SF, is OK on the defensive end (and could be more effective in a great system like the Cs) but is in no way a "stopper," and he can score in bunches, pass the ball, run the floor, rebound, shoot, shoot the three, play the Sixth Man role, and carry a second unit offensively.

The downside.  He has a few burned bridges around town, and has never won a god darn thing in his career.  On  his resume appears one of the most notoriously self aggrandizing acts in NBA history (shooting at his own basket to get enough rebounds for a triple double). 

I don't know if I could convince myself that I want him on the 2009 Celtics.  The funny thing about his last stint here was that Ainge and Doc sang his praises until he hit the state limits, then a lot of negative stuff came out about behind the scenes stuff. 

Any thoughts? 

[cordobes]

A thread about this was created no longer than 2 days ago.

[TripleOT]

Ricky Davis isn't walking through that door folks. Antoine Walker isnt walking through that door. Ryan Gomes isn't walking through that door.

PEOPLE PLEASE STOP STARTING THREADS TO TRY TO BRING BACK OLD CELTICS PLAYERS.

Ricky Davis is a me-first player. No room for that on our team. He's been traded numerous times for a reason, hes not a great teammate.

I admire everyone who has been fans over the years with these players, but theyre not coming back. ever. Gerald Green will never come back here ok?

Please, lets put pre-2008 behind us.

How about the Cs signing Telfair as backup PG, then? 

[soap07]

Selective memory much? Davis was fantastic in his time here in Boston. Come on. He played his butt off and never complained, even when he was moved to the bench when he clearly should have been starting. One poster in this topic used the fact that he played in all 82 games last year for the Heat as a negative against him. How does that even make sense? How could anyone lay an iota of blame for the Heat woes last year on Ricky Davis? Davis may have caused problems on other teams, but not on the Celtics. He wasn't out of shape like Telfair or an alcoholic like Baker. He wasn't lazy like Blount either. Come on.

Lack of production? Two years ago, on Minnesota, Davis played the full season and put up 17/4/5 on nearly 47% shooting. He's an above-average defender and has a fantastic midrange game. He can create his own shot and for others. No, we couldn't use him off the bench or anything. Even though, when he did come off the bench for a bad Celtics team, he didn't complain. But, he'd complain in this locker room. Naturally. Even last year, Davis scored 13 points a game and 40% on 3.

[timepiece33]

I don't think Ainge offered Posey the MLE yet, but a 5 years non-Bird exception deal. That's probably an offer as good as the 3 years MLE.

How exactly is the 5 year, non Bird exception deal nearly as good as the three year MLE?

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't think Ainge offered Posey the MLE yet, but a 5 years non-Bird exception deal. That's probably an offer as good as the 3 years MLE.

How exactly is the 5 year, non Bird exception deal nearly as good as the three year MLE?

Well, you can figure that 3 years from now Posey's decline could be such that he doesn't get contract offers than what the non-Bird offers in years 4 and 5. Job security. If you get injured you get paid, etc.

[cordobes]

I don't think Ainge offered Posey the MLE yet, but a 5 years non-Bird exception deal. That's probably an offer as good as the 3 years MLE.

How exactly is the 5 year, non Bird exception deal nearly as good as the three year MLE?

Security. More guaranteed money. 3/MLE=$18M; 5/NBE=$22M. Can he make up for those 4 million with a new contract when he's 35? Maybe. But injuries and quick declines happen all the time...

[EJPLAYA]

I really think that overpaying teams for Posey, and the Spurs starting time offer of the same money will cause us to lose out on both guys. I don't know that this will kill us, but who do we sign next? Here's my priority positions:

Backup Center behind Perk (not a small guy like Powe or BBD)
Backup PG behind Rondo
Backup SF behind PP/Ray at times

I wouldn't mind

Andersen/Patrick O'Bryant
House/Anthony Carter
Bonzi Wells (if we can't get a defensive stopper might as well get offense) / Jarvis Hayes

I think that we could sign most of these guys either cheap, or for short contracts like Posey last year. This will leave us with money to spend and no long term options if we can't sign Posey or Magette.

[timepiece33]

Well, you can figure that 3 years from now Posey's decline could be such that he doesn't get contract offers than what the non-Bird offers in years 4 and 5. Job security. If you get injured you get paid, etc.

IMO, it's highly unlikely that he won't get atleast $2MM OR potentially get a 4th year now.  IMO, well worth the risk of waiting on his part. Then again, you don't believe he is worth the MLE for 1 year, which is contrary to the market of MLE players right now.   

Our window right now is the next 3 years. If it was last year, I might agree ... but it's not.  I'm apprehensive about the 4th year, but we are in a much better position with him and a minimum PG vs. Roger Mason and Matt Barnes/James Jones.  We've set our direction with our trades.

[cordobes]

Well, you can figure that 3 years from now Posey's decline could be such that he doesn't get contract offers than what the non-Bird offers in years 4 and 5. Job security. If you get injured you get paid, etc.

IMO, it's highly unlikely that he won't get atleast $2MM OR potentially get a 4th year now.  IMO, well worth the risk of waiting on his part.

How many 35/36 years old wingers have signed new contracts for more than $2M/year? How many FA of that age are asking for more than the LLE in the current offseason?