Possible big free agent targets for Boston

[nickagneta]

How about Rasheed's contract to Minnesota for Ryan Hollins and Martel Webster?

[DinTN]

Question: From reading the article and noticing this part:
The Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls have shown "serious interest" in free-agent forward Josh Howard, a league source told Yahoo! Sports. While the Bulls could have the salary-cap space to sign Howard, depending on what happens with their offer sheet to J.J. Redick, the Celtics would need a sign-and-trade to arrange a deal because they have already used their midlevel exception on Jermaine O’Neal.

If Chicago won't have salary cap space while the Redick offer is on the table, shouldn't we make our trade move *NOW*? Otherwise, assuming Redick is matched by ORL, Chicago then has cap space again, and then could sign Howard easily as a FA.

In other words, should we expect something immediately if we're going after Josh?

[Rashi]

Ronnie Brewer and Hasheem Thabeet for sheed contract n 2nd pick or something

[Who]

The biggest names on the market are:

Al Harrington
Josh Howard
Brad Miller
Udonis Haslem
Luke Ridnour
Shaq O'Neal
Nate Robinson
Tracy McGrady

McGrady -- he is finished, he has lost his legs -- a terrible defender, weak rebounder and inefficient scorer. Does not help his teams, he hurts his teams.

Harrington -- A very poor defender and a very poor rebounder. A volume shooter who never passes the ball. Does more damage than good.

B.Miller -- a poor defender and rebounder and solid complementary offensive player -- preferably not a rotation player at this stage of his career but still useful.

Shaq -- a quality interior defender but vulnerable away from the rim, a very good rebounder, a very good interior scorer -- A horrible fit alongside Rondo. Not interested.

L.Ridnour -- coming off a career season, not sure if he can repeat his success of last season, but a quality backup point guard regardless -- looking for $12-16 million over four years, makes it difficult to sign him.

J.Howard -- a good defender capable of being a very good defender. A poor rebounder, lost a lot of his hustle plays. A self-involved offensive player, a black hole, an isolation based scorer who is inefficient nowadays. Even during his best days, he was only a mediocre scorer efficiency wise so the slightest decline in athleticism / shot creation / scoring ability was going to hit him hard. Looks like that happened. Highly injury prone, totally unreliable.

It's frightening that Nate Robinson is the second best player on that list.

[Jon]

Question: From reading the article and noticing this part:
The Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls have shown "serious interest" in free-agent forward Josh Howard, a league source told Yahoo! Sports. While the Bulls could have the salary-cap space to sign Howard, depending on what happens with their offer sheet to J.J. Redick, the Celtics would need a sign-and-trade to arrange a deal because they have already used their midlevel exception on Jermaine O’Neal.

If Chicago won't have salary cap space while the Redick offer is on the table, shouldn't we make our trade move *NOW*? Otherwise, assuming Redick is matched by ORL, Chicago then has cap space again, and then could sign Howard easily as a FA.

In other words, should we expect something immediately if we're going after Josh?

Howard himself may be the hold up.  He may have more interest in going to Chicago.  He'd actually have a shot to start at the 2 spot there.  Here, he'd be a backup. 

Hopefully Reddick goes through for them. 

[Evantime34]

The biggest names on the market are:

Al Harrington
Josh Howard
Brad Miller
Udonis Haslem
Luke Ridnour
Shaq O'Neal
Nate Robinson
Tracy McGrady

McGrady -- he is finished, he has lost his legs -- a terrible defender, weak rebounder and inefficient scorer. Does not help his teams, he hurts his teams.

Harrington -- A very poor defender and a very poor rebounder. A volume shooter who never passes the ball. Does more damage than good.

B.Miller -- a poor defender and rebounder and solid complementary offensive player -- preferably not a rotation player at this stage of his career but still useful.

Shaq -- a quality interior defender but vulnerable away from the rim, a very good rebounder, a very good interior scorer -- A horrible fit alongside Rondo. Not interested.

L.Ridnour -- coming off a career season, not sure if he can repeat his success of last season, but a quality backup point guard regardless -- looking for $12-16 million over four years, makes it difficult to sign him.

J.Howard -- a good defender capable of being a very good defender. A poor rebounder, lost a lot of his hustle plays. A self-involved offensive player, a black hole, an isolation based scorer who is inefficient nowadays. Even during his best days, he was only a mediocre scorer efficiency wise so the slightest decline in athleticism / shot creation / scoring ability was going to hit him hard. Looks like that happened. Highly injury prone, totally unreliable.

It's frightening that Nate Robinson is the second best player on that list.

I am interested in every single one of those guys if they are going to play for the min.

McGrady- I'm reticent to label someone as done at the age of 31. He came of Microfracture surgery followed by a half year of watching games in Houston. If you can get him for the vet min isn't he worth the gamble?

Al Harrington- You have to be interested in a guy who put up 17/6 numbers if you can sign him for the min. Maybe he shot a low percentage but without a good pg to create for him he was taking a lot of contested shots. He could play the 3 at times for the second unit. The guy can flat out score which would help our 2nd unit.

Shaq + Miller- Added beef in the rotation if they sign for vet min why not.

Josh Howard- when healthy is a fringe all star. Not sure how one serious injury makes him injury prone. He is a pretty good shooter. The team unselfishness would change him allowing for ball movement. Once upon a time guys like Ray and Paul were called black holes.

[nickagneta]

Anyone who plays for the minimum is worth a shot, I guess, but one has to weigh whether their game that is so ingrained in their nature is pliable enough to be able to fit into the system that you have and whether their personality and game will cause problems within your current team structure.

Personally, I don't see that Shaq, Harrington, McGrady, Iverson and some of these other personalities with personal games would EVER fit into the Celtics system or team structure. So, therefore, I don't see them being worth bringing in even at the minimum.

Players I would consider at the minimum

Brad Miller
Shelden Williams
Brian Scalabrine
Devin Brown
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Anthony Tolliver
Earl Watson
Rasual Butler
Craig Smith
Josh Powell
Ronnie Brewer
Nathan Jawai
Damien Wilkens
Eddie House
Etan Thomas
Matt Barnes
Rodney Carney
Louis Amundson
Ime Udoka
Raja Bell
Keith Bogans
Roger Mason
Antoine Wright
Shaun Livingston
Fabricio Oberto
James Singleton

[nba is the worst]

I agree that most of these guys (EXCEPT Tmac)are worth a try IF available for the minimum - but for the Celtics, Earl Barron is far more interesting IMO.

True 7-footer, averaged a double-double in 7 games for the Knicks in April, including 17/18 vs the Celtics - and he's looking good in summer league...

[Evantime34]

Anyone who plays for the minimum is worth a shot, I guess, but one has to weigh whether their game that is so ingrained in their nature is pliable enough to be able to fit into the system that you have and whether their personality and game will cause problems within your current team structure.

Personally, I don't see that Shaq, Harrington, McGrady, Iverson and some of these other personalities with personal games would EVER fit into the Celtics system or team structure. So, therefore, I don't see them being worth bringing in even at the minimum.

Players I would consider at the minimum

Brad Miller
Shelden Williams
Brian Scalabrine
Devin Brown
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Anthony Tolliver
Earl Watson
Rasual Butler
Craig Smith
Josh Powell
Ronnie Brewer
Nathan Jawai
Damien Wilkens
Eddie House
Etan Thomas
Matt Barnes
Rodney Carney
Louis Amundson
Ime Udoka
Raja Bell
Keith Bogans
Roger Mason
Antoine Wright
Shaun Livingston
Fabricio Oberto
James Singleton

I think that once the team structure is in place you would be surprised how quickly people fit in.
Of the guys you listed I like (in no particular order):
1. Bogans
2. E. Thomas
3. Mason
4. Butler
5. Udoka
6. Wright
7. Brewer

[nickagneta]

That would be my list as well Evantime

[ssspence]

How about Rasheed's contract to Minnesota for Ryan Hollins and Martel Webster?

Webster can't be traded with another player for a couple of months, having just been traded to Minny.

[ssspence]

Ignoring Sheed's contract for now.... I've got another avenue:

On Tuesday, the Celtics can trade Lafayette and Gaffney (both not guranteed) & say a second round pick for a $2 million player.

Who could the Celtics get for that?

Would Brad Miller, Kwame, R Butler etc sign for 2 million?

EDit: the math: Lafayette (.76) & Gaffney (.76) * 125% + 100K = 2 million

Traded to Denver for Renaldo Balkman (makes $1.7M/yr)

Can / does Balkman defend wing players? Why didn't he play more last year -- was he injured?

[Who]

The biggest names on the market are:

Al Harrington
Josh Howard
Brad Miller
Udonis Haslem
Luke Ridnour
Shaq O'Neal
Nate Robinson
Tracy McGrady

McGrady -- he is finished, he has lost his legs -- a terrible defender, weak rebounder and inefficient scorer. Does not help his teams, he hurts his teams.

Harrington -- A very poor defender and a very poor rebounder. A volume shooter who never passes the ball. Does more damage than good.

B.Miller -- a poor defender and rebounder and solid complementary offensive player -- preferably not a rotation player at this stage of his career but still useful.

Shaq -- a quality interior defender but vulnerable away from the rim, a very good rebounder, a very good interior scorer -- A horrible fit alongside Rondo. Not interested.

L.Ridnour -- coming off a career season, not sure if he can repeat his success of last season, but a quality backup point guard regardless -- looking for $12-16 million over four years, makes it difficult to sign him.

J.Howard -- a good defender capable of being a very good defender. A poor rebounder, lost a lot of his hustle plays. A self-involved offensive player, a black hole, an isolation based scorer who is inefficient nowadays. Even during his best days, he was only a mediocre scorer efficiency wise so the slightest decline in athleticism / shot creation / scoring ability was going to hit him hard. Looks like that happened. Highly injury prone, totally unreliable.

It's frightening that Nate Robinson is the second best player on that list.

I am interested in every single one of those guys if they are going to play for the min.

McGrady- I'm reticent to label someone as done at the age of 31. He came of Microfracture surgery followed by a half year of watching games in Houston. If you can get him for the vet min isn't he worth the gamble?

Al Harrington- You have to be interested in a guy who put up 17/6 numbers if you can sign him for the min. Maybe he shot a low percentage but without a good pg to create for him he was taking a lot of contested shots. He could play the 3 at times for the second unit. The guy can flat out score which would help our 2nd unit.

Shaq + Miller- Added beef in the rotation if they sign for vet min why not.

Josh Howard- when healthy is a fringe all star. Not sure how one serious injury makes him injury prone. He is a pretty good shooter. The team unselfishness would change him allowing for ball movement. Once upon a time guys like Ray and Paul were called black holes.

Josh Howard -- serious knee injury last season + three ankle injuries the year before that (recurrence of same injury). He hasn't been healthy in over two years -- I would deem Howard an injury prone player at this stage. He needs to prove his health.

Tracy McGrady -- not worth signing. His legs are gone. When you're an athlete and your legs go, you're done. Especially for a perimeter player like Tracy. McGrady is done.

[Evantime34]

That would be my list as well Evantime

TP.

Just in case people were wondering, if you agree with me you get a tp.

[nickagneta]

How about Rasheed's contract to Minnesota for Ryan Hollins and Martel Webster?

Webster can't be traded with another player for a couple of months, having just been traded to Minny.

Yeah, I know that. Actually the date is August 24th. I never said it had to happen right away.

What I think will probably happen with Rasheed's contract is that Danny is going to let the dust settle and use that as trade bait later in the off season or even into the season before the trade deadline.