Celtics: FA players in 2010? ...more like 2012.

[Mr October]

So I've been catching wishful 2010 free agent dreams in various posts, and I thought those posters were out of their mind! 
 
 However, there is a possibility, that the C's could in fact be players in 2010. Only Pierce, KG and Perkins are under contract then. The team could hold Rondo's modest rights, before giving him his due bread that summer. And then keep this year's FA acquisitions to 1 or 2 year deals, and next year's FA at 1 year deals.
 
 And then the C's seriously could make a run at a big time free agent to replace Allen (and along the way, wave bye to Baby, Powe, Scal, etc).
 
 I find this scenario unlikey. I think the C's will focus more on being big time payers when PP & KG retire in say 2012, (Making sure any new role players expire by then). And then with a payroll around say 30 million or lower (Rondo, Perkins, 2 or 3 yet to be named players), Make a run at 2 big names.

What would you do? Roll the dice and use spare parts until we land a big fish (Lebron in green would be insane) in 2010? Or build up the current team as strong as possible, and wait until around 2012, before making a big FA splash?

[Gemini]

I think 2010 would be a more reasonable year to land the big name FA. If you still have KG and Pierce under contract Boston is a more attractive to James or someone of his caliber. If you wait until after the big 3 have left town you will have dollars but you won’t have the weapons to entice a big time player.

[Casperian]

I hope that the Celtics don´t fall into the 2010 FA trap. Too many teams already want to participate in the bidding for players who likely stay with their team.

I would like to see the C´s take advantage of the foolish teams who try to acquire LeBron. These teams will give up a lot to get under the cap, and we could benefit from this.

[Mr October]

I think most of the big names will stay on their current teams too. Why would a player (who is in his prime) leave a team that is half built to go to a team that is starting from the basement? ....the scenario that makes sense is Lebron to the NYC area for all the extra buckets of endorsement cash, and "global icon" glory.

It is going to be interesting to see who profits from all the 2010 madness. 

[Mr October]

I think 2010 would be a more reasonable year to land the big name FA. If you still have KG and Pierce under contract Boston is a more attractive to James or someone of his caliber. If you wait until after the big 3 have left town you will have dollars but you won’t have the weapons to entice a big time player.

True, Pierce at 33, KG at 34, a veteran star in Rondo at PG could be very appealing to the King or whomever else. They could make a nice run for a few more years and then add another piece when PP, KG retire.

But in the 2012 scenario, the C's would in theory have a killer PG in Rondo, and enough space to land 2 big time free agents. Lets go crazy and say: Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony. Add on 2 or 3 guys that will be picked up in the draft before then, and you have a nasty core. That possibility could be very enticing to prospective free agents.

Either way sounds like a heck of a lot of fun!

[Brendan]

I think Pierce and KG both play past age 35. Hopefully we can get them at bargain rates at the end of their current deals, plus use trades to get some new talent in. However let's say Pierce is only offered a lower deal and LAC is doing well but falling short with Baron and Brand, Kaman and some maturing youngsters. Could Pierce return to the land of his youth for a last hurrah? Or what if KG's ex-Timberwolves are platying well four years from now with Love, Jefferson, and the youth, but need a defender in the font court? Would KG be the front wheel on their big wheel?

Point is its too early to know what will happen with KG, Pierce, and even Allen. I suspect Allen is the most likely to go, and Pierce the most likely to stay. (Pierce staying puts him in the rare one team, brought them to the promise land, and stayed with them the whole career category, and Pierce is clearly cognizant of history.)

It does give Danny nice flexibility having each guy expire one after the other.

[Chris]

Doesn't the current CBA end before that summer?  for some reason I thought that was the reason guys like Lebron and Bosh took shorter contracts, so they could cash in when the new CBA kicks in, in the hoping that it would allow them to get even bigger contracts.

Anyways, I absolutely think the C's are eyeing cap space in 2010.  I don't think they will be able to go after someone like Lebron, but Bosh or Wade could be targets. 

[crownsy]

I think 2010 would be a more reasonable year to land the big name FA. If you still have KG and Pierce under contract Boston is a more attractive to James or someone of his caliber. If you wait until after the big 3 have left town you will have dollars but you won’t have the weapons to entice a big time player.

how you planning on getting under cap with paul and kg both still on the team? you have to be under cap to offer anything above the MLE to FA's.

ray ray's contract is large, but even with it gone were still above the cap.

[Chris]

I think 2010 would be a more reasonable year to land the big name FA. If you still have KG and Pierce under contract Boston is a more attractive to James or someone of his caliber. If you wait until after the big 3 have left town you will have dollars but you won’t have the weapons to entice a big time player.

how you planning on getting under cap with paul and kg both still on the team? you have to be under cap to offer anything above the MLE to FA's.

ray ray's contract is large, but even with it gone were still above the cap.

It depends what the cap is.  Last year it was 55.63 million.  This year, it is being estimated at 59 million (although we will know for sure tomorrow I believe).  So that is a 6 percent increase, last year, it increased about 4.6 percent from the previous year.

So if it continues rising at a similar rate, it should be at around 65 million in 2010.

As of right now, we would only have 3 guys under contract at that time (Perkins, Garnett, Pierce), with Rondo having a qualifying offer of 3.8 million counting against the cap as well, putting us at $44 million.  You then would probably add in a couple more million for rookie contracts, and maybe we extend either Big Baby or Powe, and maybe Pruitt and we would probably sitting close to $50 million dollars.  That leaves us $15 million under the cap. 

That might not leave us with enough room to make a max offer for a guy like Lebron...but it puts us in the ballpark.

Of course all of this will be thrown off if they sign anyone else beyond 2010...but if the indications are correct that they are only looking at short term contracts, then I absolutely think they could be targetting these FA's.

[Roy Hobbs]

I think 2010 would be a more reasonable year to land the big name FA. If you still have KG and Pierce under contract Boston is a more attractive to James or someone of his caliber. If you wait until after the big 3 have left town you will have dollars but you won’t have the weapons to entice a big time player.

how you planning on getting under cap with paul and kg both still on the team? you have to be under cap to offer anything above the MLE to FA's.

ray ray's contract is large, but even with it gone were still above the cap.

It depends what the cap is.  Last year it was 55.63 million.  This year, it is being estimated at 59 million (although we will know for sure tomorrow I believe).  So that is a 6 percent increase, last year, it increased about 4.6 percent from the previous year.

So if it continues rising at a similar rate, it should be at around 65 million in 2010.

As of right now, we would only have 3 guys under contract at that time (Perkins, Garnett, Pierce), with Rondo having a qualifying offer of 3.8 million counting against the cap as well, putting us at $44 million.  You then would probably add in a couple more million for rookie contracts, and maybe we extend either Big Baby or Powe, and maybe Pruitt and we would probably sitting close to $50 million dollars.  That leaves us $15 million under the cap. 

That might not leave us with enough room to make a max offer for a guy like Lebron...but it puts us in the ballpark.

Of course all of this will be thrown off if they sign anyone else beyond 2010...but if the indications are correct that they are only looking at short term contracts, then I absolutely think they could be targetting these FA's.

Keep in mind that both Ray Allen and Rondo will have big cap holds, as well.  Rondo's cap hold is at least 300% of his previous salary.  Ray's will be for the max salary.  It's easy enough to renounce Ray, but we won't be doing that with Rondo.

Also, as an aside, Hoopshype doesn't count Rondo's QO on its determination of team payroll.  With just Rondo's salary, our payroll is at $48.5 million.  With his cap hold, it's at least $55.5 million.  That's for four players, after we've renounced Ray Allen (meaning we could only sign him for the minimum.) 

So, that gives the team roughly $9.5 million to work with.  That's not counting any other salaries, nor does it count any other cap holds from our pending free agents.  In other words, to get that $9.5 million in space, we'd have to have a roster of players who agreed to play for the vet's minimum. 

[LarBrd33]

I think 2010 would be a more reasonable year to land the big name FA. If you still have KG and Pierce under contract Boston is a more attractive to James or someone of his caliber. If you wait until after the big 3 have left town you will have dollars but you won’t have the weapons to entice a big time player.

how you planning on getting under cap with paul and kg both still on the team? you have to be under cap to offer anything above the MLE to FA's.

ray ray's contract is large, but even with it gone were still above the cap.

It depends what the cap is.  Last year it was 55.63 million.  This year, it is being estimated at 59 million (although we will know for sure tomorrow I believe).  So that is a 6 percent increase, last year, it increased about 4.6 percent from the previous year.

So if it continues rising at a similar rate, it should be at around 65 million in 2010.

As of right now, we would only have 3 guys under contract at that time (Perkins, Garnett, Pierce), with Rondo having a qualifying offer of 3.8 million counting against the cap as well, putting us at $44 million.  You then would probably add in a couple more million for rookie contracts, and maybe we extend either Big Baby or Powe, and maybe Pruitt and we would probably sitting close to $50 million dollars.  That leaves us $15 million under the cap. 

That might not leave us with enough room to make a max offer for a guy like Lebron...but it puts us in the ballpark.

Of course all of this will be thrown off if they sign anyone else beyond 2010...but if the indications are correct that they are only looking at short term contracts, then I absolutely think they could be targetting these FA's.

Interesting.  I haven't seen it broken down like this before.   I think assuming the cap will be 65 million is a big "if", isn't it?  If the cap was 55.63 million ... well then we only are around 4-5 million under cap at that point.  And if we sign Posey to the money he wants... NEEVVAAHMIND.

But I would like to see us try and get Kevin Durant/Greg Oden when their rookie contracts are up assuming they don't get signed to massive extensions.   When would we have our first crack at Durant?  2011?  Maybe after Ray and Paul expire we can sign them to cheaper deals and make a run at one of those guys.