Your preferred realistic roster for the next season?

[edwardjkasche]

Some people have great big eyes on this forum, thinking the C's can sign any number of talented vets (JR Smith is not coming to Boston for pennies and limited minutes behind Allen).  The C's are extremely limited in what they can do, barring any trade of the Big-4.

Last week, before Krstic left, I had hypothesized this roster:
PG: Rondo / Delonte West / Bradley
SG: Allen / Anthony Parker / Wafer
SF: Pierce / Josh Howard
PF: Garnett / Green / Kwame Brown
C: J. O’Neal / Joel Przybilla / Krstic / Draft Pick #25

I was very pleased with that roster.  At full health, it could get to the Finals.

Today, realistically, they're looking at this lineup:
PG: Rondo / West / Bradley
SG: Allen / Anthony Parker / Wafer
SF: Pierce / Green / Josh Howard
PF: Garnett / Kwame Brown / Johnson (#25 pick)
C: J. O’Neal / Davis / Troy Murphy
*Moore (#55 pick) is stuck in the D-League until West gets injured.

Losing Krstic hurts.  He's 7-ft, hard to replace.  I don't believe Przybilla is coming (too $$$).  There is a possibility of signing Jason Collins or Nazr Mohammed, but other teams will throw more money at them.  Dalembert is a dream that isn't coming true.  Reggie Evans would be a fine replacement for Glen Davis, but he's still under-sized.  You're trading under-sized charge-taking for under-sized rebounding.  We may have to settle on a rejuvenated Kwame Brown and Troy Murphy.

On second thought, they should probably sign Jason Collins today!  

Barring a trade of the Big-4 (which I do not want to see, nor expect), not much exciting will happen over the next four months.  Simple names to fill giant needs.  Let's cross our collective fingers.

[Cman]

My heart isn't in this like in year's past, but I'd be okay with:

Rondo/West/Bradley
Allen/Parker/Moore
Pierce/Green/Marquis
Garnett/Martin/Johnson
O'Neal/Hayes/Collins

Free agents:

Delonte -- Sign him with non-Bird rights (120% of the minimum)
Jeff Green -- Bring him back on his qualifying offer

Anthony Parker -- Sign him to the minimum
Marquis Daniels -- Sign him to the minimum
Jason Collins - Sign him to the minimum
Kenyon Martin -- Sign him with roughly 50% of the MLE
Chuck Hayes -- Sign him with roughly 50% of the MLE

If Martin and/or Hayes wouldn't sign, I'd look into bringing Troy Murphy back.

As noted above, I'm more or less in line with this, but let me take my own stab (note, I copied and pasted judiciously, changing a few things here and there):

Rondo/West/Bradley
Allen/Parker/Moore
Pierce/Green/Marquis
Garnett/Landry/Johnson
O'Neal/Foster/Collins

Free agents:

Delonte -- Sign him with non-Bird rights (120% of the minimum)
Jeff Green -- Bring him back on his qualifying offer

Anthony Parker -- Sign him to the minimum
Marquis Daniels -- Sign him to the minimum
Jason Collins -- Sign him to the minimum
Carl Landry -- Sign him with the full MLE
Jeff Foster -- Sign him with the LLE

[Chris]

Seems like a lot of you guys are overlooking the thing we need YOUTH

PG:Rondo,West,Bradley
SG:Allen, JR Smith, Moore or Wafer (im on the fence bout that)
SF: Pierce, Green, Marcus Thorton or Reggie Williams
PF: KG, JJ Johnson, Carl Landry
C: JO, Ryan Hollins

This is what Theo would call a "bridge year".  While they will try to develop some young guys (Green, Johnson, Bradley, Moore are all in the mix), the goal is to still put a contending team on the floor next year, without eating into the cap space much for 2012, when they will really try to get younger.

It is unlikely that they are going to get quality young players without giving them longterm deals, but older guys could be brought in on 1 year deals, for the shot at a championship.

[throwedoff]

Seems like a lot of you guys are overlooking the thing we need YOUTH

PG:Rondo,West,Bradley
SG:Allen, JR Smith, Moore or Wafer (im on the fence bout that)
SF: Pierce, Green, Marcus Thorton or Reggie Williams
PF: KG, JJ Johnson, Carl Landry
C: JO, Ryan Hollins

Keyword REALISTIC

I mean iont think my list is unrealistic lol I would prefer youth I think we could have a legit shot at Reggie Williams I think we could get Ryan Hollins maybe Kwame Brown smh and I think ya'll might be right with JR but I wouldnt mind bringing back Wafer

[Chris]

Seems like a lot of you guys are overlooking the thing we need YOUTH

PG:Rondo,West,Bradley
SG:Allen, JR Smith, Moore or Wafer (im on the fence bout that)
SF: Pierce, Green, Marcus Thorton or Reggie Williams
PF: KG, JJ Johnson, Carl Landry
C: JO, Ryan Hollins

Keyword REALISTIC

I mean iont think my list is unrealistic lol I would prefer youth I think we could have a legit shot at Reggie Williams I think we could get Ryan Hollins maybe Kwame Brown smh and I think ya'll might be right with JR but I wouldnt mind bringing back Wafer

The unrealistic part is Landry AND JR Smith.  Smith is at least an MLE guy, and Landry is close to MLE.  Thornton or Williams could possibly be pried away using the trade exception and a future pick though.

[LooseCannon]

Who are the young, athletic players with good effort and good BBIQ who haven't received a chance to prove themselves, though?  And is there any probability that they'll both 1) sign for a short-term, small money deal, and 2) be able to contribute to a contender next year?

I'd consider filling the bench with a bunch of D-Leaguers to the point that Doc will have no choice but to play some of them.  Not the Tiny Gallon project types, but the Stephane Lasme and Tony Gaffney types who have always been on the cusp of making an NBA roster.  There are always undrafted talents on the level of Gary Neal or Wesley Matthews who can contribute to NBA teams.

I also think that various proposals for adding a bench wing who can score but doesn't play defense will work about as well as Corey Maggette did for Milwaukee.

[mgent]

Anthony Parker -- Sign him to the minimum
Marquis Daniels -- Sign him to the minimum
Jason Collins - Sign him to the minimum
Kenyon Martin -- Sign him with roughly 50% of the MLE
Chuck Hayes -- Sign him with roughly 50% of the MLE

I'm not really enthusiastic about this set of players.  Parker is 36 and, I would guess, probably not available for the minimum.  I don't need to explain Daniels and his health issues.  Collins has played 104 games over the past three seasons.  K-Mart is 33 and breaking down.  Chuck Hayes is not old and not of ill health, and he can rebound, but he's still a 6'6" PF/C with no offense.

Throw in Delonte West, who is a good bet to miss a quarter of the season, and you might get a more injured team than last season.

Assuming the team's goal is to both contend next season and to preserve 2012 cap flexibility, I think we're going to have to live with flawed players.  Young, athletic, proven players without injury issues don't sign minimum or partial-MLE deals.

The trick is that ANYBODY we sign with any part of the MLE, has to sign for only one year.  Even old guys like KMart aren't very willing to do that, typically only guys who were hurt the previous year and need to get their league-value back up.  I think last year we lucked out signing Jermaine and Shaq (and to a lesser extent Ray) to those short deals, and those contracts were for twice as many years.

[LooseCannon]

I think last year we lucked out signing Jermaine and Shaq (and to a lesser extent Ray) to those short deals, and those contracts were for twice as many years.

That wasn't necessarily just luck.  It was reported that Ainge preferred Jermaine O'Neal to Brad Miller (the other main option for a veteran center who would take the MLE or less) in part because Miller wanted a third year.  Ainge has consistently (and correctly) refused to hand out contracts that he thinks are too long.  (See: Posey, James)

If there is an MLE in the next CBA and no one wants to sign a short contract, Ainge will probably just hold onto it and go crazy when players are waived or bought out mid-season.

[Chris]

If there is an MLE in the next CBA and no one wants to sign a short contract, Ainge will probably just hold onto it and go crazy when players are waived or bought out mid-season.

That was the most telling thing from his interview this morning.  He said explicitly that he was not going to be weak when it comes to making a move that could compromise their cap space in 2012.  I think he will be fine with overpaying lesser players for 1 year, rather than give a guy, who is not a future buildingblock a significant deal more than 1 year. 

[syfy9]

Okay, so I have :

Rondo, West
Ray Allen, JR Smith, Bradley
Paul Pierce, Jeff Green
KG, JJ, Leon Powe
Jermaine, Chuck Hayes, Kurt Thomas/Ben Wallace

I want Avery Bradley to have an improved role next season, and be a solid 10 minute guy. We sign JR Smith to some of the MLE (Hopefully it will exsist), and sign Chuck Hayes with the other part of it. Offer Powe the minimum, and if he won't accept it,  bring a 3rd/4th string bench warmer. We will have Jujuan Johnson playing a significant role this season, 10-15 minutes a game. Increase it if he gets better. Have Jermaine/Hayes play PF when KG and JJ are resting. Resign Jeff Green and have him take a bunch of Ray's minutes, as well as the Truth. Rondo is Rondo, and have West play Rondo's rest minutes alone(very little 2 guard action). Sign Kurt Thomas or Ben Wallace to the minimum, or the MLE if we still have it. I know it's a long shot to get them, but it's realistic if they want to win a championship. If not, try signing Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown, or Theo Ratliff.

[arctic 3.0]

rr, west
allen, wafer
pierce, jg
kg, jjj
dalembert, jo

i love this mid game line up
rr, pierce, green, jjj ,KG
big and fast

[Roy H.]

Replace Martin with Kwame, and you have my ideal roster (assuming no major trades) for next year.  I think Martin and Hayes are superfluous, and Kwame is one of the more underrated guy in the league right now.  He plays terrific (close to Perk level) low-post defense, rebounds, and is a solid team defender.

How much money do you think Charlotte will offer Kwame?

No idea.  Obviously, that's the question, but I could see Danny prying him away with ~2/3 of the MLE, and then giving the rest to Hayes.  It's a longshot, but honestly, no one has any idea what the landscape is going to be.

I am thinking Charlotte will offer Kwame a two year $8-10 million deal.

I think it'll require the whole MLE (1 yearr) to have a shot at stealing him away. I don't think they'll be able to split it between two players.

It's possible.  But I think that is also the case with Kenyon Martin.

And like I said, this stuff is hard to predict right now, depending on what the CBA looks like.  Not to mention, with Jordan in Charlotte, they are always unpredictable.

Oh, I think Kenyon Martin will require a 5 year MLE deal.

This is his last big payday. He isn't taking a one year contract.

Martin is 34 years old; I don't think any team is giving him a five year deal, even if they're still allowed under the new CBA (which I don't think will be the case).

[Humble G]

i feel this is farely realistic and decent???

PG:Rondo/West/Bradley
SG:Ray/Daequan Cook(if thunder dont re-sign)/Moore
SF:Pierce/Green
PF:KG/Jujuan
C:JO/Kwame Brown/Aaron Gray

[mctyson]

How realistic is the Celtics resigning BBD? 

I'm sure he'll get a big contract elsewhere,

I am not so sure about that.  I think it will be more of a Tony Allen deal - a little higher than we'd like to pay for a guy we are not thrilled with anymore.  Let's just hope it doesn't work out like TA.

[mctyson]

Plan B: MLE to Landry, LLE to Gray, vet.min to Redd

Rondo/West/Bradley
Allen/West/Redd/Moore
Pierce/Green/Redd/Vafer
Garnett/Landry/Johnson
O'Neal/Gray/Johnson

This seems likely and not that bad