Idea...oldie but goody

[fairweatherfan06]

Houston wants in the free agent bonanza and we could give them some cap space by trading Rasheed's contract and giving them 3 mil cash for a buyout.

Sheed's contract for Shane Battier.  We have a backup defender who hits the three who can play at 2/3.  Then we have the MLE to split with say Outlaw who plays 3/4. And a big man. Resign TA for depth, and Ray for two years. Fill the rest of the roster with athletic, young promising up and comers at the minimum giving us a roster of say

Rondo/Livingston/Avery
Ray/Battier-TA-Avery
PP/ Outlaw/Battier
KG/Baby/Hakim Warrick or another athletic minimum big/Hargondy/
MLE Big/Perk/Erdeh

[lon3lytoaster]

ok,so we're magically going to split the MLE with Outlaw and a big that will be able to handle a starting role for 4-5 months. I highly doubt anyone's going to be able to manage that, at least not someone we're picking up for 2.5 million or so.

Then we're trading one of our only real trade-able assets for a SF, that's going to be a third stringer behind Outlaw?

Color me confused.

[fairweatherfan06]

Nothing magical about it just putting out possibilities.  We could spend most off the MLE on a big and the rest on a lesser but useful wing (Rasual butler) Either way its a way to make use of Sheed's contract with a useful player giving some flexibility. 

[jarufu]

I like the idea of Battier as a Celtic tho. 

[action781]

I like that general idea a lot.  A couple problems.  Yeah, we're gonna be hard pressed to split the MLE between a good wing and a good big.  Another, that only gets Houston like $7M under the cap.  There's no way they make any kind of splash with that little room.  Houston knows their best bet to land a FA (Bosh) is clearly to S&T, which I think they might include Battier as a part of.

BUT, Houston does have 4 SF's (Ariza, Jeffries, Battier, Budinger).  What was up with Battier getting a lot of DNP - Coaching Decision's towards the end of last season?  If they are looking to shed their most expensive SF, man, I would jump on a Battier for 'Sheed deal in a second.  He's only 31 yrs old (even though it seems as if he's been playing forever) and really fills that Posey role and is on the last year of his deal.  Then we have the ability to exercise his Bird Rights the following season if PP wants what Danny deems an undesirable contract.

Rondo/Nate/Bradley
Ray/TA/Bradley
PP/Battier/Scal
KG/BBD/Scal
Perk/MLE Center/Erden

That's 13 players.  We'd just need another vet. min big in case Erden doesn't pan out.  15th roster spot, I don't care.  I like this team.  It's a slightly upgraded version of the team that was 4 points away from a championship as long as that MLE big works out.

Only problem:  that's a $90+M roster (assuming Ray 10, Nate 4, TA 4).  Is Wyc willing to spend that?  I think we try to get Ray for 8 or 9 and maybe don't resign Nate, but instead do as the OP says and get a vet min pg like Livingston and hope he or Bradley can play.    I liked Nate.  That trims us down to around $86M.  Not a bad price for championship contenders.

[paintitgreen]

I like that general idea a lot.  A couple problems.  Yeah, we're gonna be hard pressed to split the MLE between a good wing and a good big.  Another, that only gets Houston like $7M under the cap.  There's no way they make any kind of splash with that little room.  Houston knows their best bet to land a FA (Bosh) is clearly to S&T, which I think they might include Battier as a part of.

I think this is how we're gonna end up using Sheed. Teams are going to be trying to sign and trade for free agents. Somebody's going to be sending out a departing star and not want to take back actual salary. That's where Sheed will come in. I bet the Celtics end up getting a serviceable player and maybe even a draft pick out of the Sheed contract.