Why can't Boston attract a Tier 1 Free Agent?!

[EJPLAYA]

I tried to get SOMEONE to answer this question in the Rondo thread but no one would/could. I think we all agree if we kept Perk, BBD, and added a couple of high end free agents with Rondo we could avoid rebuilding and remain competitors for Championships for years. Unfortunately in my 30+ years of being a die-hard fan I can not recall one Tier 1 NBA free agent that chose to come and play for the Celtics. Yes we have had a lot of great players over the years. We have 4 Hall of Fame players on our team right now. All of these however came from trades, or they came after they were no longer Tier 1 guys and were just looking to be the veteran presence for a few minutes to push us over the edge.

Can someone give me a legit reason why they won't come here, or some way we can change this history?! If we can't, we are going to have a long drought soon!

[Edgar]

Because they had 20 years without winning

history change

[rondohondo]

This is a ridiculous statement that some people around here keep bringing up. Since the CBA has been put in place the C's have never been in a position to land a top tier FA. When have they had cap room since the early 90's? the answer is never .

Why would you think this is the last place any top tier FA would want to play? This is only the organization with the most titles in NBA history, most retired numbers, the most hall of famers in NBA history, played in some of the most memorable games in NBA history.

Any top tier FA would want to play here if they knew that they could win. If Rondo is here and Doc is still here , I don't see why someone wouldn't want to try and join up with those 2 to build a new championship contender

The whole thing about boston not being attractive to free agents is ..

edited. No masked profanity please. Edgar

[dpaps]

We have 4 Hall of Fame players on our team right now.

Sorry to ignore you're question, but I think 5.

[Roy H.]

Since the CBA has been put in place the C's have never been in a position to land a top tier FA.

That's pretty much the reason.  Boston has attracted top tier free agents in baseball, football, and hockey.  NBA free agents will come here, too, if we throw money at them.

[EJPLAYA]

This is a ridiculous statement that some people around here keep bringing up. Since the CBA has been put in place the C's have never been in a position to land a top tier FA. When have they had cap room since the early 90's? the answer is never .

Why would you think this is the last place any top tier FA would want to play? This is only the organization with the most titles in NBA history, most retired numbers, the most hall of famers in NBA history, played in some of the most memorable games in NBA history.

Any top tier FA would want to play here if they knew that they could win. If Rondo is here and Doc is still here , I don't see why someone wouldn't want to try and join up with those 2 to build a new championship contender

The whole thing about boston not being attractive to free agents is ..

edited. No masked profanity please. Edgar

Just name me one please. If NO ONE has ever come here in 30+ years you can't say that "any" free agent would want to come here. They don't and haven't.

Rather than calling the notion ridiculous when it is quite clear that it is accurate, why not discuss why?!

Blaming it on the CBA doesn't work either because the Lakers haven't had cap room yet seem to have gotten Shaq there. The Heat sure cleared the cap space to get TWO of them this offseason. If we had a top tier guy come to the Celtics and say they wanted to play here then Danny could make the necessary trades to clear it and make it happen. Pretending that is the reason is just a cop out.

[rondohondo]

This is a ridiculous statement that some people around here keep bringing up. Since the CBA has been put in place the C's have never been in a position to land a top tier FA. When have they had cap room since the early 90's? the answer is never .

Why would you think this is the last place any top tier FA would want to play? This is only the organization with the most titles in NBA history, most retired numbers, the most hall of famers in NBA history, played in some of the most memorable games in NBA history.

Any top tier FA would want to play here if they knew that they could win. If Rondo is here and Doc is still here , I don't see why someone wouldn't want to try and join up with those 2 to build a new championship contender

The whole thing about boston not being attractive to free agents is ..

edited. No masked profanity please. Edgar

Just name me one please. If NO ONE has ever come here in 30+ years you can't say that "any" free agent would want to come here. They don't and haven't.

Rather than calling the notion ridiculous when it is quite clear that it is accurate, why not discuss why?!

Blaming it on the CBA doesn't work either because the Lakers haven't had cap room yet seem to have gotten Shaq there. The Heat sure cleared the cap space to get TWO of them this offseason. If we had a top tier guy come to the Celtics and say they wanted to play here then Danny could make the necessary trades to clear it and make it happen. Pretending that is the reason is just a cop out.

We didn't have cap space/we sucked  when Shaq went to LA

why would danny clear cap space now ? We are title contenders. We will have cap space in 2012 and I guarantee you we land at least one big time free agent. We will have Rondo here and hopefully Doc and a ton of cap space, that is attractive to free agents, just ask OJ Mayo who said he would love to play with Rondo. Why wouldnt any player not want to play with Rondo , their numbers are just going to improve and they will have a chance to win .

[Who]

Blaming it on the CBA doesn't work either because the Lakers haven't had cap room yet seem to have gotten Shaq there.

The Lakers had cap space in 1996 when they signed Shaq.

[RJ87]

EJ, why are you always so angry and confrontational? Lol.

I'll do you one better: KG came here. No, he wasn't a free agent at the time, but he had the power to reject the trade. He didn't. And might I add, we signed him to a pretty hefty extension to help the trade to go through showing that if we have the money to spend and the opportunity is there we can attract big players.

[pearljammer10]

Its pretty simple and other posters have already answered... We havent had cap space. You can't sign a top free agent without having any cap space.

[Roy H.]

Also, for whatever it's worth, we've done okay with attracting Tier 2 free agents.  Rasheed was probably the most coveted mid-level free agent last year, and he had his pick of contenders to go to (San Antonio, Orlando, etc.)  He chose Boston.  Jermaine O'Neal did the same thing this past off-season.

At the very least, that shows that we can compete with other cities when it comes to attracting free agents.  When the money is even, guys have chosen to come here.

[greenpride32]

I think a lot of it has to do with BOS having the reputation for being a racist town.  Now I've grown up and lived in suburban Boston my entire life and never really sensed any justification for such a reputation.  But when Brian Scalabrine draws the biggest cheers (by far) it tells you something.

[Roy H.]

But when Brian Scalabrine draws the biggest cheers (by far) it tells you something.

Scal probably gets the loudest cheers in Chicago, too, and fans loved him in New Jersey.  I think he's just a perfect mascot, because he's so goofy looking but plays with so much effort and has so much confidence in himself.

[rondohondo]

I think a lot of it has to do with BOS having the reputation for being a racist town.  Now I've grown up and lived in suburban Boston my entire life and never really sensed any justification for such a reputation.  But when Brian Scalabrine draws the biggest cheers (by far) it tells you something.

I don't think that it makes the fans racist for cheering for scal. They are actually mocking him and cheering for him at the same time. It's like the guy from the local bar playing for the c's it's just funny to see.

[Edgar]

I think a lot of it has to do with BOS having the reputation for being a racist town.  Now I've grown up and lived in suburban Boston my entire life and never really sensed any justification for such a reputation.  But when Brian Scalabrine draws the biggest cheers (by far) it tells you something.

I don't think that it makes the fans racist for cheering for scal. They are actually mocking him and cheering for him at the same time. It's like the guy from the local bar playing for the c's it's just funny to see.

yup like nate when hes scoring, or manu or boner, or marquis or JO or any other