Josh Smith rumor / Atlanta interested?

[Celtic]

Well this works out great for us, but what do they get out of it? Pretty lopsided in our favor. Also depends on the new CBA since sign and trades may be a thing of the past.

[ManUp]

I think anyone who wants to bring in Joe Johnson is bonkers. He's on the decline, his deal isn't up until 2016 (making about 20mil per through that period)and I'm not sure he's much better then Pierce right now.

As for Josh Smith I'd pass for now. Only because he doesn't help us contend now and he could get in our way of catching the big fish later. If we could get Smith without jeopardizing a chance at D12 I'm all for it.

A core of Rondo, Smith, and Howard is a crazy core we just need elite shooters after that.

[StartOrien]

Now Chris Paul and Josh Smith...

[Roy H.]

At first, I rejected this possibility out of hand.  I want to see Ray and KG retire in green.

However, after thinking on it a bit more, a lot depends on 1) what the new CBA looks like and 2) what the Celtics are hearing through back channels.

Right now, if we added Smith and otherwise cleared our salary cap (getting rid of Bradley and our #1 this year, and not signing any multi-year free agents), we'd have about $41 million committed going into the summer of 2012.  If the cap goes up to around $60 million, that's almost enough to sign a max free agent like Dwight Howard.  If Danny was hearing that Howard would join a core of Rondo + Smith, I think we'd have to do it.

However, without guarantees about both the CBA and Howard's willingness to join the Celtics, I don't think you can make this move.  Josh Smith isn't good enough to cut into our cap room for.

With a team centered around Smith, Howard and Rondo our athleticism and defense would be through the roof but couldnt most teams just pack the paint on defense?  Obviously if you have those three guys you are in good shape but that could be an issue down the road.

I'd take that core any day.  You'd have to supplement it with shooters, but that team is elite on defense and extremely athletic on offense.  I think those three guys could easily be the base for a championship team.

I don't know. When the game inevitably slows down in crunch time, I don't know how I feel about that team.

They'd still have Pierce for at least a year or two to handle crunch time minutes.  Obviously there would still be work to be done, but the Rondo/Smith/Howard core is about as good of a foundation as we could hope for, I think.

[Redz]

I don't know how I'd feel about moving forward building around Rondo and Josh Smith. Its an exciting team, but I don't know how serious of contenders they could become.

We could build a new stadium out of all of the bricks.

Not a fan of Josh Smith.

[StartOrien]

I don't know how I'd feel about moving forward building around Rondo and Josh Smith. Its an exciting team, but I don't know how serious of contenders they could become.

We could build a new stadium out of all of the bricks.

Not a fan of Josh Smith.

Atleast it would be aesthetically pleasing. Current Garden is a bit of an eye sore on the outside

[MBunge]

I think people are seriously underestimating what having a top line athlete like Smith on the Celtics would do for the entire team.

However, if you trade Ray for him, the only way to get enough minutes for Smith is to play KG at the 5 and he's really not built for that, especially at his age.  If you trade KG for him, Smith isn't that big an upgrade over KG and what would it do to the team's defense.

The move to make might very well be Pierce for Smith and then, don't laugh, sign Vince Carter to a one year deal.

Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen either.

Mike

[greenpride32]

Unfortunately I see other teams being able to offer a lot more than us for Smith.  Whether you would want the C's to deal KG or Ray or not, think of ATL's position; why would they trade a guy entering his prime years for guys nearing the end of the road?

Taken from RealGM:

The Hawks have begun exploring a trade involving Josh Smith, according to sources.

Smith, meanwhile, has privately told friends that the Celtics, Nets, Rockets and Magic are his preferred teams should Atlanta ultimately decide to trade him.

Smith has not requested a trade.


Notice that he would want to go to ORL also to reunite with Howard.  

[manl_lui]

idk, but i think a lineup of Rondo, Pierce, Smith, KG, JO works

trade Ray Allen and BBD and a first rounder for him

as much as i love ray allen, hes getting old and we need youth...

if Dwight get interested...is it possible to do a sign and trade since we cannot sign him straight up?

[RR9]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6htc6gb

It says Atl loses wins, but they get the center they'll need!

[celty86]

I read the article and it said that Atlanta is looking for a center back in the deal. That would count us out.

[Moranis]

Our best chance at a championship this year is with the current core. I wouldn't trade ray or kg for anyone.besides sg is probably our thinnest position.

Its more likely orlando trades for him imo

no it isn't.  Boston's core will not beat the Heat.  There has to be moves unless by some miracle another team knocks off Miami before Boston has to play them.

If I'm not mistaken a dallas team with not as many "star" peices as us just beat the heat...our best player who runs our offense was injured and we got nothing out of our bench. We have rond and play team ball like dallas and we could beatthe heat

Ray was our best player last season. You don't create new holes to create others. Our sg spot is thin.

Dirk is significantly better then anyone currently on the Celtics.  That is the difference.

[greenpride32]

idk, but i think a lineup of Rondo, Pierce, Smith, KG, JO works

Pierce can defintely not play the 2 for extended periods of time.  No way he can stay with them up and down the floor, or be effective at stopping the good penetrators.  

I think Smith would also have a tough time guarding the 3 position on the perimter.

Swapping KG rather than Ray would make more sense for us in terms of covering positions.  

[clover]

I read the article and it said that Atlanta is looking for a center back in the deal. That would count us out.

BBD is sort of a center.

[manl_lui]

idk, but i think a lineup of Rondo, Pierce, Smith, KG, JO works

Pierce can defintely not play the 2 for extended periods of time.  No way he can stay with them up and down the floor, or be effective at stopping the good penetrators.  

I think Smith would also have a tough time guarding the 3 position on the perimter.

Swapping KG rather than Ray would make more sense for us in terms of covering positions.  

yeh youre right, but won't we be very very thin on bigs if we do that

with Kristic going to Russia, Shaq retiring, BBD's decision...we really dont have other bigs other than KG...while KG for Smith works straight up, i think we would get killed on the boards and paint...

at least with Ray, if we trade him, Delonte can play at the 2 behind Pierce...i mean Danny was thinking about cutting down Pierce's minutes right? so wouldn't Pierce be more effective with cutdown minutes?