If 1 of Big 3 traded, it has to be Ray (sadly)

[Rondoholic]

I love Ray, but the fact of the matter remains is that his skill set (stretching the floor) is the easiest piece to replace and upgrade with youth.  With that said, I think the #1 thing we need this offseason is a explosive scorer off the bench.  And no, I don't mean a Von Wafer/Nate Robinson experiment for small money.  We need a guy who has proven he can put up points in bunches.  Despite their reputations, I think we need to target J.R. Smith or O.J. Mayo - Smith a FA, and Mayo was on the block just this past deadline.  A couple ideas I have:

S&T Ray and Baby and future pick for Smith and Kenyon Martin (both FA's I believe)

S&T Ray and future pick for Mayo and Darrell Arthur.

I would then re-sign Delonte and Green and even Krstic.
If Shaq comes back, great.  If JO comes back, ok.
If JO retires, we'll have MLE I believe. 
I'd take a chance on Oden or Yao for a portion of the MLE.

Two possibilities:
C  Krstic, possibly Shaq, JO (or Oden/Yao)
PF Garnett, Martin, JO, this year's 1st
SF Pierce, Green
SG Delonte, Smith
PG Rondo, Delonte, Bradley

C  Krstic, possibly Shaq, JO (or Oden/Yao)
PF Garnett, Arthur, possibly Baby
SF Pierce, Green
SG Mayo, Delonte
PG Rondo, Delonte, Bradley
+ this year's 1st

[slam]

Don't we have the MLE regardless of what JO does?  Isn't that something that is available every year?

[Bahku]

I agree he is the most expendable ... that's why none of them should be traded, (or Rondo).

[Rondoholic]

Not sure.  I thought we had it again because Rasheed retired.

[Chris]

Don't we have the MLE regardless of what JO does?  Isn't that something that is available every year?

Well, no one really knows, since it will be under the new CBA.  But if they keep that in the new CBA, then yes, it is something available every year to teams above the cap.

[Brendan]

Don't we have the MLE regardless of what JO does?  Isn't that something that is available every year?

This is not knowable until the new CBA is in place.

[Rondoholic]

I agree he is the most expendable ... that's why none of them should be traded, (or Rondo).

Why not get younger and more explosive if he is expendable, as you say, then?

[Brendan]

I love Ray, but the fact of the matter remains is that his skill set (stretching the floor) is the easiest piece to replace and upgrade with youth.  With that said, I think the #1 thing we need this offseason is a explosive scorer off the bench.  And no, I don't mean a Von Wafer/Nate Robinson experiment for small money.  We need a guy who has proven he can put up points in bunches.  Despite their reputations, I think we need to target J.R. Smith or O.J. Mayo - Smith a FA, and Mayo was on the block just this past deadline.  A couple ideas I have:

S&T Ray and Baby and future pick for Smith and Kenyon Martin (both FA's I believe)

S&T Ray and future pick for Mayo and Darrell Arthur.

I would then re-sign Delonte and Green and even Krstic.
If Shaq comes back, great.  If JO comes back, ok.
If JO retires, we'll have MLE I believe.  
I'd take a chance on Oden or Yao for a portion of the MLE.

Two possibilities:
C  Krstic, possibly Shaq, JO (or Oden/Yao)
PF Garnett, Martin, JO, this year's 1st
SF Pierce, Green
SG Delonte, Smith
PG Rondo, Delonte, Bradley

C  Krstic, possibly Shaq, JO (or Oden/Yao)
PF Garnett, Arthur, possibly Baby
SF Pierce, Green
SG Mayo, Delonte
PG Rondo, Delonte, Bradley
+ this year's 1st

I agree trading Ray is the most palatable. In a salary dump he could even be a FA and come back for MLE, but I'm sure a team like Chicago would go after him HARD.

I think Shaq = done. I think JO comes back as long as we are going for it. So I'd be fine with a trade for Allen and Baby that brought back a starting caliber SG and another big if the team gets better. I'm also fine playing KG at C.

So something like KG/JO/Kristic at C if you can bring back a really good PF and sign a decent reserve guy. Opens up your options from just looking at Centers.

JR Smith is probably an ideal guy talentwise if losing Ray, I expect CHI to chase him if they can. But I'm not sold on Kenyon as being good enough to warrant the move. I just don't enough know about OJ and Arthur to say if that's enough talent.

[Bahku]

I agree he is the most expendable ... that's why none of them should be traded, (or Rondo).

Why not get younger and more explosive if he is expendable, as you say, then?

I guess I gave the wrong impression ... what I should have said is that Ray is the least vital of the Big Three, but I don't think any of them are expendable. IMHO there are five players we need to hang on to: Paul, Ray, KG, Rondo, and Delonte, everyone else is expendable to a certain degree, depending on what we get in return. That's my opinion.

[JSD]

Ray + cap space in 2012 is more valuable than anything you'd get for him in a trade.

[Rondoholic]

Ray + cap space in 2012 is more valuable than anything you'd get for him in a trade.

If cap number shrinks in new CBA, there might not be the cap space that it seems there will be when Ray expires.  I'd take the young talent, while we still get some back especially if we could get two important pieces for the cap number Ray is playing for.

[mc34]

I would do Ray and pick for Mayo and Arthur in a heartbeat, but I feel like that's really one-sided in our favor

[mgent]

I don't see any scenario where we can get a better player than any of the Big 3 (ESPECIALLY a better shooter than Ray).

Nevermind a player that fits together as perfectly as they do now.

You don't trade a championship team anyway.  You didn't learn the lesson with Perk?

[Surferdad]

I agree he is the most expendable ... that's why none of them should be traded, (or Rondo).

Why not get younger and more explosive if he is expendable, as you say, then?

I guess I gave the wrong impression ... what I should have said is that Ray is the least vital of the Big Three, but I don't think any of them are expendable. IMHO there are five players we need to hang on to: Paul, Ray, KG, Rondo, and Delonte, everyone else is expendable to a certain degree, depending on what we get in return. That's my opinion.

TP for you.

[paulcowens]

I'm not eager to trade any of the Big Four, at all, but I'm least enamored of Ray Ray.   It seemed to me that Allen's shooting became a lot worse after he broke Miller's record for threes.  I also didn't like the way he tried to arrange things so that he broke the record at the Garden.  I'm just not sure he's as unselfishly team-oriented as he comes off as being.