To be, or not to be?

[ScoobyDoo]

Danny, that is the question asked of thee, right now.

Here's my thought, I'm curious as to what everyone thinks.

Rondo will be 25 years old this February. If we start rebuilding around him now and assume it will take 2-3 years, he will be 27 or 28 years old.

If we stick with KG, Pierce and Ray for another two years, Rondo will be 27 by the time this era is done. If we start rebuilding around him at that point, he will be approximately 29 or 30 years old by the time we have put the next team together.

Unless we can somehow land a David Lee in the front court or a Joe Johnson in the back court, someone that will put us over the top and also add a few other nice role players, i don't see us getting out of the east again, let alone winning the title.

So to me, unless I can hit the lottery this off season, I serioulsy consider, completely blowing it up and building around Rondo now, so that he is only 27 or 28 when we're done rebuilding.

Ideally, I'd look to trade both Pierce and KG to teams in the West who would increase their chances of knocking out LA by aquiring either. And I'd look to get some good young talent that would compliment Rondo's uptempo style and also draft picks.

My first option would be to reload, but only if it's a major reloading. If we can somehow do that and win one more title because of it, then we'd have gotten two titles in four years, gone to the finals the other year and ECF the other...that's a good run.

But if we only patchwork this thing, I'd rather blow it up instead.

Obviously landing a guy like Joe Johnson would be the ultimate boost for us right now, while also giving us the bridge to the future with Perkins, Rondo and Baby.

What would you do if you were the GM.       

[ScoobyDoo]

If we got some good young talent through trades but also went to the lottery for one season and got another piece, we might be back in contention in a few years and Rondo would only be 27 or 28 leading the charge.

And I wonder if KG or Pierce would even mind being traded to a team in contention so they could compete for a title the next few years. Imagine KG on Portland's front line, I would think they easily take out the Lakers. Or KG in Dallas.

 

[PosImpos]

Unfortunately our options are really tied as far as blowing it up...if Danny decided to do that, it would have to involve taking on a lot of expiring contracts and deadweight in order to free up future cap space and collect current and future draft picks. 

Due to our dearth of assets and the huge contracts of KG, Pierce, Rasheed etc it would be incredibly difficult to totally rebuild and not be absolutely awful for a couple years.

I think one way or another we're going to end up wasting a few years of Rondo's prime, unfortunately.

[Who]

I like the idea of sending Pierce + Sheed to Dallas for Dampier + Stevenson + Najera + filler.

And sending Garnett to San Antonio to Richard Jefferson.

That clears a lot of the club's salary commitments and could fast-track their rebuilding process.

If we got some good young talent through trades but also went to the lottery for one season and got another piece

Outside of Kendrick Perkins, nobody has enough trade value to bring back cap flexibility + young assets.

The Celtics will doing very well just to get expiring contracts for Pierce + Garnett ... + not taking back an equally bad contract for Rasheed.

[ScoobyDoo]

Good points. My hope then is that we can somehow land a very nice "bridge" player this off season.

David Lee would actually be a good piece to me, the guy has a major motor and would be a good big man on the break. Provide alot of energy. Has a decent mid range game, so wouldn't be a horrible fit with Perkins.

If we could land David Lee ( though i don't knwo how that is possible given our cap situation ) and then also reload behind Ray with a middle of the road wing player to keep Ray fresh and then draft a nice young player...

Perkins / Baby / Kurt Thomas > Lower Level..
KG / David Lee / Scal
Pierce / Mid level wing ( can play SF /OG )   
Ray / Tallen
Rondo / Nate Robinson resgined

Unless I could get something like the above done which I think would give us a very, very good shot at #18, I might be willing to blow it up for draft picks, some young talent and a few years of the lottery to get rebuilt with Rondo by the teim he's 27 or 28...     
 

[Who]

Good points. My hope then is that we can somehow land a very nice "bridge" player this off season.

David Lee would actually be a good piece to me, the guy has a major motor and would be a good big man on the break. Provide alot of energy. Has a decent mid range game, so wouldn't be a horrible fit with Perkins.

If we could land David Lee ( though i don't knwo how that is possible given our cap situation ) and then also reload behind Ray with a middle of the road wing player to keep Ray fresh and then draft a nice young player...

Perkins / Baby / Kurt Thomas > Lower Level..
KG / David Lee / Scal
Pierce / Mid level wing ( can play SF /OG )  
Ray / Tallen
Rondo / Nate Robinson resgined

Unless I could get something like the above done which I think would give us a very, very good shot at #18, I might be willing to blow it up for draft picks, some young talent and a few years of the lottery to get rebuilt with Rondo by the teim he's 27 or 28...    
  

I don't think there is any chance of a "bridge talent" like a David Lee. Someone who can be both a star caliber player today and one for many years to come.

The Celtics just don't have enough trade chips to get something like that done.

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I think the Celtics have a chance at acquiring two types of players who suit their long term needs this summer:

(1) A fourth or fifth best player on a contender -- like Ty Thomas (to a lesser degree possibly Anthony Morrow)
(2) A quality young role player like the Magic had with Courtney Lee last season -- via their draft pick or possibly in free agency (Dorell Wright, Amir Johnson)