First off, we have to consider the fact that we're looking for a backup center, not a starting. Perkins has improved steadily every year to the point where he's now one of the elite defensive centers in the game and a passable offensive players - little range, not the best hands, ugly looking shot, but he plays within himself, doesn't try to do what he can't do and is breaking bad habits (i.e., he doesn't bring the ball down nearly as much as anymore). There isn't a guy proposed yet who could get minutes over Perk, so it's clear a backup is what we want.
Second, we're talking about trades so we have to think of what we're willing to give up in a trade for a backup center. Garnett, Pierce, Rondo, Allen, Perkins are all out. We're not trading a starter for a backup. If we were to trade Ray, the goal wouldn't be to get back a backup center. We'd be going for a different, cheaper, younger 2 and a backup center would only be somebody thrown in as an addition, so that doesn't really work here.
That leaves us with the following players under contract:
Scalabrine - 1 year, $3,413,793
House - 1 year, $2,862,000 (if he takes option, and I can't see why he wouldn't)
Tony Allen - 1 year, $2,500,000
JR Giddens - 1 year, $1,028,880 with $1.1 and $2 mn options for 10-11 and 11-12
Pruitt - 1 year, $729,005 (if we take option, which I'm not sure about)
Walker - 1 year, $736,420 with 2 more options under $1 mn for 10-11 and 11-12
We also have somewhat of a claim on restricted free agents Big Baby and Powe, but losing Baby would hurt us bad at the 4 since Powe will be out until at least the middle of next season.
We have no first rounder this year or in 2011, and due to rules (can't trade first rounders in successive years, I don't think we can offer a 2010 or 2012 first rounder.
Seems to me that what we can really offer is expiring contracts of up to $11 million (Scal, TA, House, Giddens, Pruitt, Walker) and cash but disposing of all those guys would leave no bench whatsoever.
Tyson Chandler, Troy Murphy, Chris Kaman, Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby, Eddy Curry, Emeka Okafor and Erick Dampier wouldn't work for many reasons but most of all, they are all way too expensive. We have three guys taking us to $60 million next year, we can't have any $10-16 million guys coming off the bench.
I love Collison, but why would Oklahoma City give up a good young player with a very reasonable contract who fills an important role just for expiring contracts? Really, the same applies for Krstic, who also is a risk for injury and just plain flaking out. Mikki Moore had a promising season in New Jersey once too.
That leaves Jared Jeffries (NY - 2 years, $6,466,600 and $6,883,400); Joel Przybilla (Port - 2 years, $6,857,725 and $7,405,300); Etan Thomas (Wash - 1 year, $7,350,000); Brendan Haywood (Wash - 1 year, $6,000,000); and Jeff Foster (Ind - 2 years, $6,077,500 and $6,655,000).
Jeffries is out because he's not really a center. If this was about filling a 3/4 role, Jeffries might be a possibility, but no way at that money. I would love to get Haywood, but a) Washington has no reason to trade him - he's a good young player at decent money (his injury I think hurt them more than Arenas's and they are looking forward to getting him back) and b) all we can offer is expiring contracts, and his contract is also expiring. Thomas likewise is expiring, so our offer isn't much, but more importantly, he's not good. And while I also like Przybilla, honestly, I don't see a contender giving up its starting center for a pu pu platter of expiring contracts, none of which are centers or point guards, their two biggest needs. Plus, they're not desperate for cap relief, since they have a manageable situation and have the richest owner in the NBA.
Foster to me seems like a reasonable and logical target. He's still a solid player, but he is overpaid. And Indiana's owner is apparently in a bad financial situation, so a package of $5.9 million in expiring contracts (TA and Scal) could save them about $6.75 million plus whatever cash we throw in. Unlike Portland, they're not close to competing and so the saved money could help rebuild (they'd go below $50 million for 2010-11 so they could look at younger guys) rather than hold on to a 32 year old center with limited offense. Plus, Scalabrine and to a lesser extent TA might actually fit into their style of play so they don't lose that much next year.
For us, I think it makes sense because Foster is a very good defender and rebounder. He is very much overpaid (he should be making about $4 million, not $6) but we can overpay for two years to fill a need. If we got Foster and held onto Davis and Powe, I think our frontcourt would be solid, although we could use a 3/4 tweener guy still. But we can develop Walker into that or look at the draft, which has more of those hybrid type guys (I'm big on DeMarre Carroll of Missouri as a second rounder).
Topic: PF/C the Celtics can acquire via trade (Read 3726 times)