Charlotte Bobcats Fire Sale? Celtics should inquire about it

[2short]

Yeah, I think we should inquire about their guys if they are looking to dump money.  But if we are helping them out by taking on their long-term salary, there is no way we should be giving up that much talent in return.  Ray is the best player in that deal and Perk and Emeka are close (although Perk's contract makes him more valuable IMO).

If they're truly trying to dump salary in this economy, then we shouldn't have to offer anything much more than expiring contracts.

A couple examples:
TA, Scal, and BBD (S+T 3-4 mil) for either Boris Diaw or Gerald Wallace.  Wallace has 4 years left at around 40 mil and Diaw has three years left at 27.  Either deal saves the Cats a boatload of future money and gets them a young rotation player back.

OR

Ray Allen and BBD (S+T 3-4 mil) for Diaw, Wallace, and Bell.  In this deal the Cats would cut almost 40 million dollars over the life of the deals.  They get a huge expiring contract to play with (or just let expire if they want to save money), and they get a young rotation player.

That is more along the value of what we should get back if we're going to help them move some of their long-term contracts.  Let's be honest, that is a mediocre team with a lot of long-term money tied up, they should be grateful for the opportunity to start over.

Yes the ta, scal & davis deal makes lots more sense.  Scal would probably come back to us and I'd welcome him with open arms with the last bench spot.  Davis & Tony easy replacements and I like and think Diaw or Wallace would help a lot more than the 3 guys put together.

[Tr1boy]

If Evans drops until the 12th pick and danny really sees something in him he will pull the trigger.

[bobdelt]

ugh... Fire Sale? They got the better end of that deal!

[ssspence]

in these type of situations, be realistic and look for a player they may be happy to give uo for cap space. one player, maybe two. why give them ray allen in the balance when we have other expiring deals?

okefor is not getting traded. wallace has serious concussion problems. bell is a larry brown guy. diaw? maybe. but i think he's lazy and inconsistant -- i just don't see how he helps the Cs. not to diop, danny would never take his deal. same with nazr.

not great options. other teams that are looking to cut salary have better players.

[gar]

Would love to get Wallace on the C's> Don't forget that he can play PF against some teams and create real matchup problems. PP can also play SG in some cases allowing them to play together. Would love to see a lineup with Rondo, PP, Wallace, KG, Okafor. Wallace a PP tend to work the same side of the floor; but perhaps it could work.

[ToppersBsktball10]

take out Perk and possibly Walker add BBD and we have a god-like trade that addresses all our needs.

[wiley]

Ray Allen is a great player AND an expiring contract.  People need to stop throwing him into junk deals.  It makes some sense to take advantage of his value at this point if you can really improve the depth and talent of the team for next year, but Baby and Ray for Raja Bell, Nazr, and a low lottery pick?  That makes us better in no way.

Not saying you're wrong about the deal, but it would make us better defensively.

[Birdbrain]

Felton is about the only player on that team I would like to see in a C's uniform. 

[rondohondo]

I suppose we could still do a deal without Perk and save their franchise some money.

How about....

Bos sends:  Ray Allen
            BBD ( S+T 4 MIL PER YEAR)
            Walker or Giddens
            future 1st (if necessary )

Char sends: Raja Bell
            Gerald Wallace
            Boris Diaw


I think this is a pretty fair trade to considering the bobcats are in financial trouble. Bobcats get Ray's big expiring contact which would save them about 30.5 MIL over the next 3-4 seasons by the Celtics taking on Diaw's and Wallace's contracts. They would also have about 15 MIL in cap space if they don't resign Rayy Allen.

[MetroGlobe]

Listen, I love Perk as much as anyone.  But Meka's PER last year was 18.01.  Perk was only a 13.29.  That, my friends, is an enormous difference.  To give you some idea of how big a difference that 5 points is, it's like comparing Andre Iguodala (18.4) to Keyon Dooling (13.63).  Even as improved as Perk played in the playoffs, he still only brought his game up to a 16.39.

I'm not saying that this stat means everything.  But it definitely helps one to separate the emotional attachment we might have to our own popular players.  Fellas, I LOVE Kendrick Perkins.  He is awesome.  But I love the Celtics more.  And trading for Okafor would almost definitely be an upgrade for the team.

Another point here, is that people are saying that Perk is such a bargain that we can't trade him.  But his contract is up very soon.  He's going to demand a big, big raise.  Who's to say we'll even be willing or able to afford him at that point?  At least Meka is under contract for several years, and when he's at the end, he'll become another valuable trade chip like Ray Ray.

Speaking of Ray Ray, how can you say that he's better than Gerald Wallace?  Wallace has the 7th highest overall PER at the SF position.  Ray is 11th at the 2.  Now obviously Ray is probably the best shooter in the game.  But Wallace is arguably the 2nd best defensive player at the SF position (Behind Artest).  He rebounds the heck out of the ball, blocks shots, and creates turnovers.  And he's like a million years younger than Ray!!  I believe he is a definite upgrade, at this stage of Ray's career.

rondohondo, your OP is spot on.  I would do this trade in a second from a basketball standpoint.  From an emotional standpoint, of course I'd be very reluctant.  Perkins and Ray Allen were key pieces to number 17.  But we made this trade this summer, we could see numbers 18, 19 and 20 a lot sooner.

[PosImpos]

I agree with those who said Emeka Okafor is equal to or a bit better than Perk.  I love Perk (look at the signature) but I think Okafor is great.  He's not a star, but he's a top 10-15 center in the league and probably will be for a long time.

On top of that, Wallace could be a 6th man and then step into the role of starter once Paul leaves.  That's huge.

Raja Bell is also a nasty defender and a guy who would be solid starting and playing for 20-25 minutes.

Basically, I'd do this trade, or a variant of it.  I don't think Charlotte would, though.  Wallace is the closest thing they have to a franchise guy.  They may be hemorrhaging money, but they'd have to be pretty desperate to trade him, their center, and their starting SG for a younger, lower paid version of their center and an old all-star shooting guard with an expiring contract.

That said, if there were a way to pull off this trade, or one like it, I'd probably go for it.  For instance, if we could get Bell, Diaw, and Diop for Ray and an expiring contract or two, I might consider that.  We downgrade offensively at SG but upgrade defensively and get a guy who is a triple double threat and can backup a few positions as well as a decent defensive backup center.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't think in these scenarios Wallace would become the 6th man. I think we'd play big with Pierce at the 2 and Wallace at the 3, while Raja comes off the bench.

[PosImpos]

I don't think in these scenarios Wallace would become the 6th man. I think we'd play big with Pierce at the 2 and Wallace at the 3, while Raja comes off the bench.

Would it be realistically possible for Paul to play significant minutes at the 2?  Is he still fast enough to defend opposing 2s?  He'd be able to post up or shoot over a lot of 2 guards he'd come up against, but he'd also get outrun by a heck of a lot of them. 

But you're right, it makes more sense for Bell or Diaw (whichever one we got in the trade) to be a 6th man kind of guy than Wallace.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't think in these scenarios Wallace would become the 6th man. I think we'd play big with Pierce at the 2 and Wallace at the 3, while Raja comes off the bench.

Would it be realistically possible for Paul to play significant minutes at the 2?  Is he still fast enough to defend opposing 2s?  He'd be able to post up or shoot over a lot of 2 guards he'd come up against, but he'd also get outrun by a heck of a lot of them. 

But you're right, it makes more sense for Bell or Diaw (whichever one we got in the trade) to be a 6th man kind of guy than Wallace.

I don't worry much about players out running him. If anything I'd worried about his perimeter defense against quicker players. But he uses his upper body strength very well and his footwork is excellent. I think Pierce's advantage with a smaller defender on him more than makes up for any disadvantage he may encounter. And remember, with Wallace in there we got a lengthy defender helping out when needed. Oh, and KG and the Beast.

[BballTim]

I don't think in these scenarios Wallace would become the 6th man. I think we'd play big with Pierce at the 2 and Wallace at the 3, while Raja comes off the bench.

Would it be realistically possible for Paul to play significant minutes at the 2?  Is he still fast enough to defend opposing 2s?  He'd be able to post up or shoot over a lot of 2 guards he'd come up against, but he'd also get outrun by a heck of a lot of them. 

But you're right, it makes more sense for Bell or Diaw (whichever one we got in the trade) to be a 6th man kind of guy than Wallace.

I don't worry much about players out running him. If anything I'd worried about his perimeter defense against quicker players. But he uses his upper body strength very well and his footwork is excellent. I think Pierce's advantage with a smaller defender on him more than makes up for any disadvantage he may encounter. And remember, with Wallace in there we got a lengthy defender helping out when needed. Oh, and KG and the Beast.

  It depends on the team, but I don't see Paul chasing players like Ben Gordon (or even Reddick or the like) through screens from one side of the court to the other on every posession like Ray does.