Off-season in hindsight: what could have been done better?

[KungPoweChicken]

Since the Celtics signed Wafer and West, perhaps it would have been wise to draft Damion James. It appears he will be able to contribute off the bench this year, and he would have filled a need, unlike Bradley. James is good on the boards, has size for the small forward position, and could help with LeBron and Kobe. I love Bradley, but I doubt he will see any action this year. Bradley is a great piece to have in your pocket for the future. But, if it is all about winning championships, which it is, Damion James may have been a better piece to get that done.

I don't think Danny ever wanted our championship hopes to hinge on a guy who would be a sophomore in college stepping up and playing an important role.  And we know how Doc feels about giving rookies important roles.

Now Bradley has a chance to apprentice under some all-time greats and some quality role players, and make his way into the rotation based on his own progress, not our team's needs.

I don't think Danny had his championship hopes on a rookie either. But, if for some reason, the Celtics are unable to acquire a solid small forward bench player at the deadline, wouldn't Damion James have been the better choice? Bradley probably isn't going to play. If the Celtics don't fill the small forward need at some point, James probably would help more.


This is all about hindsight. If we cannot acquire a small forward who will be as good as Damion James this season, then, yes, not drafting him was a mistake.

[the_Bird]

Drafting for need instead of taking the BPA keeps you in the lotto, year after year after year.

C's drafted Bradley before signing Wafer, before signing Delonte, I *think* before resigning Nate...  I mean, they *had* to just take the best player, they didn't know what the rest of the roster was going to look like.

Besides, what have they said about the kid since he was drafted?  "NBA-ready defense."  NBA-ready D means you can get on the floor (potentially) and contribute early on.  Now, given the guys that they have signed, this year will probably be watch-and-learn for AB...  but if you're looking to draft a kid that MIGHT be able to help out, it's got to be a kid that can play D.

Firmly convinced that the reason "Doc hates to play rookies!" is because 98 rookies out of 100 can't play a lick of D.

[2short]

I think Danny has OVERALL from day 1 done a very good job, he's had  some booboos but honestly I consider him to be a top gm in the nba.
I think overall his off season has been a bit shocking.  He got us  the BEST low post presence in the nba for little money.  Shaq
He probably, sorry Perk,  signed us a better C per free agency. 
 He drafted Luke who I think can turn into our "new gomes".  Hey 5-10 minutes a game would be awesome!!  And as with all nba rookies you  have to see how they work out but if any of our draft picks  turn into good trade fodder its a bonus.
We've added Von Wafer who at first seemed like a great signing, big plus with little risk.  Then we resigned delonte who to  me is (mental health) a much better guard.
Not to add in resigning, paul, marquis or nate.......
I did wish we resigned TA  wow that seems weird to type but I think against miami and wade he was needed.
In a perfect imm offseason I would have liked to have seen Kirk Heinrich signed as our combo guard off the bench and shane battier as our  sf.

[Bahku]

We're only two weeks past the mid-point of "Off-Season" ... I think Danny's far from done with this one.

[Jevi]

Who on our team other than Paul will defend Bron, Joe Johnson, Travis Outlaw, and possibly Carmello? You need that 6'8" small forward. While DA has gotten praise for gathering talent, he has ignored an actual need for this team. Paul himself has questioned him on where his backup was. He might need to make a trade for a wing, and depending on what Erden & Gaffney provide, maybe a true PF, one who defends and gets defensive rebounds for a change(get rid of Baby). I've heard that this roster is finalized. This roster struggles without a backup for Paul, and no, it shouldn't be fragile Daniels or Delonte. Both won't play 82 games, write it down. Jarvis Hayes and Joe Alexander are available & hoping that a change of scenery can help them turn things around and increase their production. Don't sound like much right, but I wonder what a 6'8" small forward who can shoot 3's can do in the NBA Finals? The Lakers added two small forwards. They win again. Overall though near perfect offseason.

[Roy H.]

Who on our team other than Paul will defend Bron, Joe Johnson, Travis Outlaw, and possibly Carmello? You need that 6'8" small forward. While DA has gotten praise for gathering talent, he has ignored an actual need for this team. Paul himself has questioned him on where his backup was. He might need to make a trade for a wing, and depending on what Erden & Gaffney provide, maybe a true PF, one who defends and gets defensive rebounds for a change(get rid of Baby). I've heard that this roster is finalized. This roster struggles without a backup for Paul, and no, it shouldn't be fragile Daniels or Delonte. Both won't play 82 games, write it down. Jarvis Hayes and Joe Alexander are available & hoping that a change of scenery can help them turn things around and increase their production. Don't sound like much right, but I wonder what a 6'8" small forward who can shoot 3's can do in the NBA Finals? The Lakers added two small forwards. They win again. Overall though near perfect offseason.

The question is, to land that SF, who would you have passed on?  Matt Barnes would have dipped into our MLE, even if he agreed to come to Boston.  Do we then pass on J.O. to get him?

I don't think Joe Alexander would do any better job at guarding Lebron or Kobe as Von Wafer would.  He was a bust in Milwaukee, and I doubt he'd suddenly turn the corner.  I wouldn't mind Hayes, but he's not a lockdown defender by any stretch.  I think in the long run, Wafer and Delonte will offer the roster more, despite their lack of height.

[Cman]

Very little.
This was a stellar off season by Danny.
It would be nice to have a backup for Pierce other than Marquis Daniels, but who was available for the vet min (bc I wouldn't want to dip into it if it meant not getting JO).  Damien Wilkens is still available.  He's one of the players I've thought might be a decent backup.... but I'll trust Danny on this one.

[MVP]

Our off-season has been much better then I expected. I would have been happy with either JO or Shaq, but we got both of them. Happy that we resigned Paul, Ray, Nate and Daniels. Maybe 4 years for Paul is a little too long, but you gotta pay whatever you need to keep him. Getting West and Wafer for unguaranteed contracts is a good get as well. Danny has also collected some chips that he could use at the trade deadline to maybe get that backup wing. We could package some of Baby, Bradley, Daniels, Erden or Harangody and potentially get a pretty good wing back (Stephen Jackson, Shane Battier, Marvin Williams).

[mgent]

BTW, can someone who knows salaries compare this year's payroll to last year's?  Rondo went up, Pierce + Ray went down, we swapped Sheed's salary for JO's...seems like we might even be paying less for this squad.

The payroll has gone down significantly.

Right now, for luxury tax purposes, we're at $78,429,799 (or thereabouts, after bonuses, etc.)  Last year's was around  $84,830,422.

Thanks Roy, TP.  Do those figures include the luxury tax, or are we actually saving ~$12 million after the tax is added?  Either way, that's just the cherry on top of the offseason.

I don't know if we'll win a ring this year, but I think Danny has given us the best chance possible.  He continues to show himself to be one of the best GMs in the game.

Those numbers don't include luxury tax.  Last season, we paid around $14,910,422 in tax.  This year, we're scheduled to pay $8,122,799.  That, coupled with the payroll savings, brings us to roughly $13.2 million in total savings.

The luxury tax threshold went down?  Didn't the cap go up?

[mgent]

Just looked it up, it did.  Guess they're not related.

[snively]

Since the Celtics signed Wafer and West, perhaps it would have been wise to draft Damion James. It appears he will be able to contribute off the bench this year, and he would have filled a need, unlike Bradley. James is good on the boards, has size for the small forward position, and could help with LeBron and Kobe. I love Bradley, but I doubt he will see any action this year. Bradley is a great piece to have in your pocket for the future. But, if it is all about winning championships, which it is, Damion James may have been a better piece to get that done.

I also think it would have been better to draft Damion James. My only real beef with Danny this offseason.  He's like Matt Barnes or Luc Mbah a Moute with real scoring ability.

Bradley, for all his intriguing tools, was a below average player with Texas last year, while James was well above average.  Hard to tell where he is between Gabe Pruitt and Russ Westbrook, but Pruitt certainly seems more likely.  Just not sure swinging for the fences at 19 is such a good idea when as sure a bet as Damion James is on the board.

Also not a big fan of the Erden signing.  Don't think he's an NBA player.

[Alleyoopster]

Judging from the Summer League, Danny missed on drafting Damion James and Derrick Caracter.  Sure Caracter had issues, but heck Danny signed Delonte.

I liked Jeremy Lin as well.  He may turn out to be D-League material because he's not super athletic.  Still he has a high basketball IQ from what I saw.

He did well picking Avery Bradley and Luke Harangody. 

This may be the most ridiculous thought..I'm not sure.  If I remember correctly the Timberwolves picked up Michael Beasley for a 2nd round pick.  Granted he's another headcase, but surely much more talented then Semith.  I might have given a 2011 #1 pick for him. I'd probably chose Scal over Semith...not sure yet. 

Shaq... great pick up. 
Nate ... too costly.  Played well in playoffs.  Not worth the money Danny paid judging from the regular season.

Like a previous post mentioned... still not a back up for Pierce.  What happened there?  Repeating a previous post, not drafting Damien James might have been a mistake.   

Ray Allen $10 million/year after the Championship Series he had.  He should have paid the Celtics for allowing him to play.

Jermaine Oneal.. good pick up, although a high injury risk just as Shaq and Von Wafer.

Even with all this speculation, Danny did good, not great.
 

[aporel#18]

I think this is, so far, the 2nd best offseason (2007 was huge) by DA or any Celtic GM not named Red Auerbach... and it's still not over, Danny will be trying to make any move to improve the roster and the future chances for the C's.

Doc is back, great news. I am pleased by the O'Neals (who would have imagined both O'Neals in green?), and the resigning of Ray, Nate and Pierce. I wanted TA before Daniels, but Tony chose Memphis (it sounds weird) over the chance to contend, so thanks for all, and good luck TA. Hopefully Daniels can stay healthy and show his abilities.

At the 2, I wanted TMac for the min, Danny got Wafer and Delonte for the min. I wouldn't trust on TMac to stay healthy, but neither I do on Wafer and West, for different reasons. But all three have something to prove, and Wafer and West are younger, so I'm happy with the outcome.

At the 3, we better wait till next february, by then Shrek and Donkey could be shipped away for a quality backup to Pierce. Daniels/Wafer could also be traded. I hope Delonte is a keeper, because the kid needs to feel safe, and the Celtics should help him to get well.

Of course, there are some players out there that I'd like to see in green, you can tell by my old posts: Anthony Randolph, Corey Brewer, Ersan Ilyasova, Rudy Fernandez, Jason Thompson... but a fan can dream, right? That's a lot more fun than talking only about the realistic ideas 

So... why not?  another unrealistic (but great  ) trade idea. It has to be done quickly, and if Semih plays great in the rest of the WC, it could be really a good idea:

Gaffney, Lafayette and Erden + 2011 first round pick + cash to Memphis

Haddadi + the rights to Xavier Henry to Boston

Then, Boston waives Harangody and Memphis gets him (he cannot be traded until Dec. 15, but this could be done, am I wrong?)


Why for Boston? well, Semih could end being a bit better than Haddadi, but not a lot, Gaffney and Lafayette will be cut after training camp, and Gody seems a promising player, but I think Henry is the other player DA talked about he liked (alongside Bradley) in the draft.

Why for Wallace Memphis? They are getting offers for Henry, but I think Gody+first round pick+cash could be attractive for them. They save money, they get cash. Luke and Semih could end being role players or trade assets.

We'll have time to talk about trade deadline, but how about Shrek+Donkey for Josh Howard+Yi Jianlian? 

TP's all around, I hope there are good news still to come before training camp.
 

[BballTim]

Who on our team other than Paul will defend Bron, Joe Johnson, Travis Outlaw, and possibly Carmello? You need that 6'8" small forward. While DA has gotten praise for gathering talent, he has ignored an actual need for this team. Paul himself has questioned him on where his backup was. He might need to make a trade for a wing, and depending on what Erden & Gaffney provide, maybe a true PF, one who defends and gets defensive rebounds for a change(get rid of Baby). I've heard that this roster is finalized. This roster struggles without a backup for Paul, and no, it shouldn't be fragile Daniels or Delonte. Both won't play 82 games, write it down. Jarvis Hayes and Joe Alexander are available & hoping that a change of scenery can help them turn things around and increase their production. Don't sound like much right, but I wonder what a 6'8" small forward who can shoot 3's can do in the NBA Finals? The Lakers added two small forwards. They win again. Overall though near perfect offseason.

  Doesn't Ray usually guard Joe Johnson?

[xmuscularghandix]

Who on our team other than Paul will defend Bron, Joe Johnson, Travis Outlaw, and possibly Carmello? You need that 6'8" small forward. While DA has gotten praise for gathering talent, he has ignored an actual need for this team. Paul himself has questioned him on where his backup was. He might need to make a trade for a wing, and depending on what Erden & Gaffney provide, maybe a true PF, one who defends and gets defensive rebounds for a change(get rid of Baby). I've heard that this roster is finalized. This roster struggles without a backup for Paul, and no, it shouldn't be fragile Daniels or Delonte. Both won't play 82 games, write it down. Jarvis Hayes and Joe Alexander are available & hoping that a change of scenery can help them turn things around and increase their production. Don't sound like much right, but I wonder what a 6'8" small forward who can shoot 3's can do in the NBA Finals? The Lakers added two small forwards. They win again. Overall though near perfect offseason.

  Doesn't Ray usually guard Joe Johnson?

Yes. But he still has a point about Carmelo and Lebron.