How do we keep the Big 4, and get good players around them?

[Humble G]

So it looks like Rondo,KG, Pierce, and allen will prly be back. But what about our free agents: who do we keep?
What about picking up new players: who and how?
If we keep the big 4 its going to take up alot of cap space, so Im wondering what we can do to create space and sign the needed pieces for the Big 4?

whats your ideas?

[Moranis]

We can't really do much of anything outside of sign and trades for Davis and Green. 

[Roy H.]

If the same rules apply under the next CBA, here's what we have to acquire players:

• Mid-Level Exception -- Somewhere between $5.5 million and 6.0 million in the first season, with annual raises, up to five years
• Bi-Annual Exception -- Right around $2.0 million, up to two years
• Traded Player Exception -- We can acquire a player making up to $2.488 million in trade, including via sign-and-trade
• Minimum Salary Exception -- We can sign as many players as we want to a "minimum" salary deal, the amount of which varies depending upon how long a player has been in the league
• Sign-and-trades -- We can trade any of our free agents to another team in a sign-and-trade, assuming they choose to go there.  BBD and Jeff Green are the two most attractive options
• Jermaine O'Neal's retiring contract? -- If Jermaine O'Neal decides to retire, we could ask him to hold off on announcing, much like Rasheed Wallace did last year.  This gives us the chance to shop his contract around the league; theoretically, we could acquire a player making up to $7.88 million for JO

Of course, the big hurdle is that in an ideal world, Danny wouldn't want to sign players to more than a one year deal, to preserve all of our 2012 cap space.  I don't see a lot of attractive free agents wanting to sign for one year, so Danny has a pretty big question to ask himself.

[PortCelt]

If the same rules apply under the next CBA, here's what we have to acquire players:

• Mid-Level Exception -- Somewhere between $5.5 million and 6.0 million in the first season, with annual raises, up to five years
• Bi-Annual Exception -- Right around $2.0 million, up to two years
• Traded Player Exception -- We can acquire a player making up to $2.488 million in trade, including via sign-and-trade
• Minimum Salary Exception -- We can sign as many players as we want to a "minimum" salary deal, the amount of which varies depending upon how long a player has been in the league
• Sign-and-trades -- We can trade any of our free agents to another team in a sign-and-trade, assuming they choose to go there.  BBD and Jeff Green are the two most attractive options
• Jermaine O'Neal's retiring contract? -- If Jermaine O'Neal decides to retire, we could ask him to hold off on announcing, much like Rasheed Wallace did last year.  This gives us the chance to shop his contract around the league; theoretically, we could acquire a player making up to $7.88 million for JO

Of course, the big hurdle is that in an ideal world, Danny wouldn't want to sign players to more than a one year deal, to preserve all of our 2012 cap space.  I don't see a lot of attractive free agents wanting to sign for one year, so Danny has a pretty big question to ask himself.

 ... and we're still paying for the Sheed contract. In the past Danny would opt to trade for, and use the MLE for proven veterans. The Casell/PJ Brown maneuver paid off, and while Starbury never did alter team chemistry, he never lived up to expectations. All three signings were vet. minis. But the Sheed contract and his premature retirement really hurt, and if JO can't give them 65+ games next season that use of the MLE will be recorded as a bust too.
 
I agree with keeping those incoming contracts to a year excluding the MLE. I'm pretty sure the biannual is a player option in year 2 as well as AB's contract. Also beleive they have Bird rights on Davis and Kristic, so they won't overpay if they can't orchestrate a S/T. Hopefully JG is held to a q/o.

Just a hypothesis on my part ... they're might not a lot wheeling and dealing if the lockout eats up November and December. Teams will be scrambling to set rosters, ergo -- it might be easier to sign your unrestricted guys for another year even with amnesty.

[CelticG1]

If the same rules apply under the next CBA, here's what we have to acquire players:

• Mid-Level Exception -- Somewhere between $5.5 million and 6.0 million in the first season, with annual raises, up to five years
• Bi-Annual Exception -- Right around $2.0 million, up to two years
• Traded Player Exception -- We can acquire a player making up to $2.488 million in trade, including via sign-and-trade
• Minimum Salary Exception -- We can sign as many players as we want to a "minimum" salary deal, the amount of which varies depending upon how long a player has been in the league
• Sign-and-trades -- We can trade any of our free agents to another team in a sign-and-trade, assuming they choose to go there.  BBD and Jeff Green are the two most attractive options
• Jermaine O'Neal's retiring contract? -- If Jermaine O'Neal decides to retire, we could ask him to hold off on announcing, much like Rasheed Wallace did last year.  This gives us the chance to shop his contract around the league; theoretically, we could acquire a player making up to $7.88 million for JO

Of course, the big hurdle is that in an ideal world, Danny wouldn't want to sign players to more than a one year deal, to preserve all of our 2012 cap space.  I don't see a lot of attractive free agents wanting to sign for one year, so Danny has a pretty big question to ask himself.

... and we're still paying for the Sheed contract.

Are we? I hear people bringing this up and even hear it on the radio. Didn't we buy him out as he retired or something? I'm not sure how that works but it doesn't seem to make sense that we would still be paying him. If Rondo retired tomorrow we would be on the hook for 40 mil for 4 more years?

[CelticG1]

I know it goes against a lot of what this Celtics team is built on but I think we need to just get an array of offensive weapons and shooters. I think the league right now with the rules and with the way superstars get calls that if you are focusing too much on defensive players you are setting yourself up for failure. It is literally impossible to defend some of the guys in this league, James, Wade, Melo, Durant, Dirk etc etc with the rules. They are set up for success. I'm not saying abandon defensive guys but I'd like to see more shooters and scorers who just don't embarrass themselves on D. I'd rather that than a defensive specialist

[LooseCannon]

Simply put, Ainge needs to gamble, as proven commodities are out of the team's price range for the most part.

One can gamble that aging veterans in decline will have a mini-renaissance for a season.  I am not in favor of this gamble.

One can gamble that talented, injury-prone players will be healthy.  I am wary of this gamble.

One can gamble on unproven talent.  This is the type of gambling I prefer.

[wdleehi]

It will be very hard.


There are two choices.


1)  Preserve the 2012 cap space.  (most likely)  Sign one year deals on flawed players.  Trade assets for good players on the last year of their deals.

2)  Push the chips in.  Forget about the cap space.





Scary though, the NY Knick option.  Trade for old players with long contracts.  (Knicks did this at the end of the Ewing era.  They finally got out of the cycle it created this season)

[Celtics18]

Simply put, Ainge needs to gamble, as proven commodities are out of the team's price range for the most part.

One can gamble that aging veterans in decline will have a mini-renaissance for a season.  I am not in favor of this gamble.

One can gamble that talented, injury-prone players will be healthy.  I am wary of this gamble.

One can gamble on unproven talent.  This is the type of gambling I prefer.

This is how I feel about it.  There are some young bigs who are going to be free agents this year who could likely be signed pretty cheaply so the gamble's not too high. 

Kris Humphries, Josh McRoberts, Solomon Jones, Hilton Armstrong, Alexis Ajinca, Hamed Haddadi, Jason Smith, Joey Dorsey, Yi Yianlian, Kyrylo Fesenko, Ryan Hollins, and Jonas Jerebko are among the lesser known, younger 4s or 5s on the market.  Not splashy names, but I'm all for Danny continuing the pattern of starting the season with a young, cheap big who can chew some minutes, and maybe eventually we'll get one who sticks for the long haul.

[PortCelt]

If the same rules apply under the next CBA, here's what we have to acquire players:

• Mid-Level Exception -- Somewhere between $5.5 million and 6.0 million in the first season, with annual raises, up to five years
• Bi-Annual Exception -- Right around $2.0 million, up to two years
• Traded Player Exception -- We can acquire a player making up to $2.488 million in trade, including via sign-and-trade
• Minimum Salary Exception -- We can sign as many players as we want to a "minimum" salary deal, the amount of which varies depending upon how long a player has been in the league
• Sign-and-trades -- We can trade any of our free agents to another team in a sign-and-trade, assuming they choose to go there.  BBD and Jeff Green are the two most attractive options
• Jermaine O'Neal's retiring contract? -- If Jermaine O'Neal decides to retire, we could ask him to hold off on announcing, much like Rasheed Wallace did last year.  This gives us the chance to shop his contract around the league; theoretically, we could acquire a player making up to $7.88 million for JO

Of course, the big hurdle is that in an ideal world, Danny wouldn't want to sign players to more than a one year deal, to preserve all of our 2012 cap space.  I don't see a lot of attractive free agents wanting to sign for one year, so Danny has a pretty big question to ask himself.

... and we're still paying for the Sheed contract.

Are we? I hear people bringing this up and even hear it on the radio. Didn't we buy him out as he retired or something? I'm not sure how that works but it doesn't seem to make sense that we would still be paying him. If Rondo retired tomorrow we would be on the hook for 40 mil for 4 more years?

Larry Coon:

Any money paid to a player is included in team salary, even if the player is no longer playing or has retired.

If a player retires, even for medical reasons, his team does not receive a salary cap exception to acquire a replacement player.

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/boston.htm

[Humble G]

Whats the chances of being able to re-negotiate contracts with pierce or mainly KG? would it be possible to likeput KG under contract for like 3 yrs @ 8 million a year? that would cut his salary down by 13 million next year, but over the next 3 he would get 24 million total instead of 21 million. But if he retires after next year we could be screwed out of 8 million...........is this even possible??

[Lucky17]

If the same rules apply under the next CBA, here's what we have to acquire players:

• Mid-Level Exception -- Somewhere between $5.5 million and 6.0 million in the first season, with annual raises, up to five years
• Bi-Annual Exception -- Right around $2.0 million, up to two years
• Traded Player Exception -- We can acquire a player making up to $2.488 million in trade, including via sign-and-trade
• Minimum Salary Exception -- We can sign as many players as we want to a "minimum" salary deal, the amount of which varies depending upon how long a player has been in the league
• Sign-and-trades -- We can trade any of our free agents to another team in a sign-and-trade, assuming they choose to go there.  BBD and Jeff Green are the two most attractive options
• Jermaine O'Neal's retiring contract? -- If Jermaine O'Neal decides to retire, we could ask him to hold off on announcing, much like Rasheed Wallace did last year.  This gives us the chance to shop his contract around the league; theoretically, we could acquire a player making up to $7.88 million for JO

Of course, the big hurdle is that in an ideal world, Danny wouldn't want to sign players to more than a one year deal, to preserve all of our 2012 cap space.  I don't see a lot of attractive free agents wanting to sign for one year, so Danny has a pretty big question to ask himself.

... and we're still paying for the Sheed contract.

Are we? I hear people bringing this up and even hear it on the radio. Didn't we buy him out as he retired or something? I'm not sure how that works but it doesn't seem to make sense that we would still be paying him. If Rondo retired tomorrow we would be on the hook for 40 mil for 4 more years?

Larry Coon:

Any money paid to a player is included in team salary, even if the player is no longer playing or has retired.

If a player retires, even for medical reasons, his team does not receive a salary cap exception to acquire a replacement player.

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/boston.htm

Sheed's contract was bought out (the final year was a player option that he declined as part of the buyout, IIRC).

Hoopshype's salary information is often wrong. Shamsports' is better.

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/celtics.jsp

[PortCelt]

If the same rules apply under the next CBA, here's what we have to acquire players:

• Mid-Level Exception -- Somewhere between $5.5 million and 6.0 million in the first season, with annual raises, up to five years
• Bi-Annual Exception -- Right around $2.0 million, up to two years
• Traded Player Exception -- We can acquire a player making up to $2.488 million in trade, including via sign-and-trade
• Minimum Salary Exception -- We can sign as many players as we want to a "minimum" salary deal, the amount of which varies depending upon how long a player has been in the league
• Sign-and-trades -- We can trade any of our free agents to another team in a sign-and-trade, assuming they choose to go there.  BBD and Jeff Green are the two most attractive options
• Jermaine O'Neal's retiring contract? -- If Jermaine O'Neal decides to retire, we could ask him to hold off on announcing, much like Rasheed Wallace did last year.  This gives us the chance to shop his contract around the league; theoretically, we could acquire a player making up to $7.88 million for JO

Of course, the big hurdle is that in an ideal world, Danny wouldn't want to sign players to more than a one year deal, to preserve all of our 2012 cap space.  I don't see a lot of attractive free agents wanting to sign for one year, so Danny has a pretty big question to ask himself.

... and we're still paying for the Sheed contract.

Are we? I hear people bringing this up and even hear it on the radio. Didn't we buy him out as he retired or something? I'm not sure how that works but it doesn't seem to make sense that we would still be paying him. If Rondo retired tomorrow we would be on the hook for 40 mil for 4 more years?

Larry Coon:

Any money paid to a player is included in team salary, even if the player is no longer playing or has retired.

If a player retires, even for medical reasons, his team does not receive a salary cap exception to acquire a replacement player.

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/boston.htm

Sheed's contract was bought out (the final year was a player option that he declined as part of the buyout, IIRC).

Hoopshype's salary information is often wrong. Shamsports' is better.

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/celtics.jsp

I stand corrected, thanks. But even so we're still over with RA picking up his option, which is good otherwise we'd lose the MLE.

[Lucky17]

If the same rules apply under the next CBA, here's what we have to acquire players:

• Mid-Level Exception -- Somewhere between $5.5 million and 6.0 million in the first season, with annual raises, up to five years
• Bi-Annual Exception -- Right around $2.0 million, up to two years
• Traded Player Exception -- We can acquire a player making up to $2.488 million in trade, including via sign-and-trade
• Minimum Salary Exception -- We can sign as many players as we want to a "minimum" salary deal, the amount of which varies depending upon how long a player has been in the league
• Sign-and-trades -- We can trade any of our free agents to another team in a sign-and-trade, assuming they choose to go there.  BBD and Jeff Green are the two most attractive options
• Jermaine O'Neal's retiring contract? -- If Jermaine O'Neal decides to retire, we could ask him to hold off on announcing, much like Rasheed Wallace did last year.  This gives us the chance to shop his contract around the league; theoretically, we could acquire a player making up to $7.88 million for JO

Of course, the big hurdle is that in an ideal world, Danny wouldn't want to sign players to more than a one year deal, to preserve all of our 2012 cap space.  I don't see a lot of attractive free agents wanting to sign for one year, so Danny has a pretty big question to ask himself.

... and we're still paying for the Sheed contract.

Are we? I hear people bringing this up and even hear it on the radio. Didn't we buy him out as he retired or something? I'm not sure how that works but it doesn't seem to make sense that we would still be paying him. If Rondo retired tomorrow we would be on the hook for 40 mil for 4 more years?

Larry Coon:

Any money paid to a player is included in team salary, even if the player is no longer playing or has retired.

If a player retires, even for medical reasons, his team does not receive a salary cap exception to acquire a replacement player.

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/boston.htm

Sheed's contract was bought out (the final year was a player option that he declined as part of the buyout, IIRC).

Hoopshype's salary information is often wrong. Shamsports' is better.

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/celtics.jsp

I stand corrected, thanks. But even so we're still over with RA picking up his option, which is good otherwise we'd lose the MLE.

Yep. And even if Ray decided to opt out for some reason, still over.