Davis getting close to the MLE is a contract that can kill the Celtics budget.
And he is just not worth that much to the Celtics if KG and Perk are healthy and the Celtics sign a player like Wallace.
Then again, if they end up with a play like Oberto, Davis might be worth that.
Yes. If someone offers him much more than 2-3 million dollars a year, I'd let him go. He's good, but he's not that good. A lot of his success last year came from being open and an afterthought of the defense with Pierce, Allen, and Rondo on the court with him. I can't help thinking how Austin Croshere used a similar successful playoff push about a decade ago to get a ridiculous contract that he never lived up to from Indy.
More to the point, however, is that if the C's sign Wallace, it largely negates much of Baby's value. Come playoff time, KG is going to play a minimum of 35 mpg and Perk a minimum of 30. That leaves a whopping 31 mpg to back both of them up. Considering Sheed averaged 32 mpg during the regular season last year, I'm pretty sure he can cover both positions. Thus, why would you pay Baby 5 million to sit on the bench? Or conversely, why would you pay Baby 5 million and Sheed 6 million for Baby to play the 13 mpg behind KG and Sheed the 18 mpg behind Perk?
Now you could of course argue that we may want to keep minutes lower than that throughout the year and that we are going to want more depth than that. And you'd be right. However, we don't need to pay Baby 5 million dollars to do that. If you're simply looking to get a 4th guy in the 4/5 rotation that can play 10 mpg or so, Scal can certainly help in that department (at least until Powe comes back) or a guy like Oberto could be most likely had for a fraction of 5 million. And he's a legit 7-footer.
So, I'd like Baby back, but I think if Sheed comes here and Baby gets a big offer, our money could be spent better by focusing on the 2/3 spots and getting a cheaper 4th big man.