Is a Big 3 Trade Imminent?

[diconzo]

I'm not sure if everyone remembers this, but in the few days before the lockout, trade talks about Josh Smith had really heated up and if I remember correctly his two "top" landing spots were Boston and Orlando. And that was only the trade rumor that go released to the press. Danny saw how we were beat by the Heat last playoffs and must be thinking about moves to get younger, possibly rebuilding. For those who say "He won't, he's not going to jeopardize 2012 cap space" Why wouldn't Danny just do it one year early. Yes the Celtics don't have a lot of trade assets, but if he could get one domino to fall it might push Boston as a more appealing FA destination. Like trading for Josh Smith to make it seem like a more appealing place for Dwight, or  trading for Dwight to make this a more appealing place for Kevin Love.

What I'm really asking is what is your gut feeling about the big 3 being traded? I can see Danny trading for a year of mediocrity, with Rondo, whoever we traded for, and Pierce as the core, to make it more appealing for a 2012 FA.

[Bean_town fan]

It's tough to comment on trade scenarios. If there was a season going ahead and it was business as usual, I would say if at the deadline, we have struggled against the Miami's, Chicago's....then yeah, maybe someone would be dangled....most likely Ray.

Then again, if we got to trade deadline and the season was clearly lost which would be due to injuries I imagine....then it would be on for young and old and full rebuild.

Since if we do have a season it will be a shortened one....I don't think there would be much room to actually make a move....to bring someone new in, acclimatize them to a new team and organization in an even shorter time that you would have at a normal mid season trade point.

No season = hopes and dreams land on free agency and people pulling for Dwight are living or dying by it.

So I say no.....but after all, Danny Ainge surprised us all just this past season....

[PosImpos]

seeing as the nba is locked out for the next half a year or so, i don't think any nba transactions are imminent.

[LilRip]

if the season is lost, the big 3 are likely to retire, and Pierce will never be traded.

[paulcowens]

I have no idea what Ainge will do.  Last summer, he made a lot of smart and careful moves (though we might argue over letting Allen go).   Then he had some kind of manic fit as the trade deadline approached and pretty much decided to blow a championship.   The more we learn about The Trade, the more damming it is, though many continue to support Ainge to the hilt.  Green says that he struggled because he couldn't pick up the system fast enough.  What did anyone expect?   Of COURSE, when you bring in a bunch of new guys, with a month to go before the playoffs, they are going to struggle with picking up the system, and you are going to lose a lot of cohesion.  That's just obvious, though folks continue to act like it's some kind of revelation.

So there's no telling what Ainge will do at this point.  But if we put what happened last season in context, I don't think it's true that we have to be in any mad rush to get younger, more athletic players.   We went up against the Heat having lost our ace in the hole, which was always our COHESION.  It wasn't being old and unathletic that beat us.  It was that we had lost our edge.  The best way to go forward is to, mostly, stand pat.  We still have four of the best players in the league and a talented bench.   We need to get Doc some coaching help, because he's not very good with the younger players;  we need a teacher/motivator for the younger guys.  Any moves we make should be thoughtful, careful moves.  If we trade any of the Big Three, it should only be for a genuinely superb player.  We really do not need to be hitting any panic buttons.

[Bahku]

The Big Three are not retiring or being traded ... one of the reasons Doc signed a long contract was to work with these guys until they retire, (and they all have more than one year left in them, even KG), so I just don't see this as a realistic idea at all. Pierce is definitely retiring as a Celtic, and I can't see the other two leaving for "Ainge" reasons or any others.

[2short]

Ainge has set the team up for a good run at major free agent(s).  I think this will dictate more than anything if there is a trade probably due more to contract / resigning than anything.  At that point I can see kg and ray taking less money to stay and win.  Pierce retire as a celtic unless he has a "bourque" trade or I'll be upset with ainge.

[greg_kite]

It's hard to say what's going to happen without knowing how the new collective bargaining agreement is going to be set up.  If there is going to be a hard cap it might be easier to just have cap flexibility and let KG and Ray's contract expire and then re-sign to much lower contracts.  

Ray previously said he doesn't want to go anywhere, and KG seems like he'd rather stay here than play somewhere else.  He's a pretty loyal guy.  It's possible that in 2012 we could keep the big 4 and add another guy, depending on the amount of cap space.  It would be great if KG and Ray stayed on like Payton and Malone did for the Lakers in '04.

Then again, if there is not going to be room to sign anyone in 2012 even with those guys off the books, it might be Danny's only option to keep the team competitive.  A team like Atlanta might prefer dumping contracts like Joe Johnson just to get under a hard cap.  I think Danny would know not to get into a bad contract like that though.

[LilRip]

I have no idea what Ainge will do.  Last summer, he made a lot of smart and careful moves (though we might argue over letting Allen go).   Then he had some kind of manic fit as the trade deadline approached and pretty much decided to blow a championship.   The more we learn about The Trade, the more damming it is, though many continue to support Ainge to the hilt.  Green says that he struggled because he couldn't pick up the system fast enough.  What did anyone expect?   Of COURSE, when you bring in a bunch of new guys, with a month to go before the playoffs, they are going to struggle with picking up the system, and you are going to lose a lot of cohesion.  That's just obvious, though folks continue to act like it's some kind of revelation.

So there's no telling what Ainge will do at this point.  But if we put what happened last season in context, I don't think it's true that we have to be in any mad rush to get younger, more athletic players.   We went up against the Heat having lost our ace in the hole, which was always our COHESION.  It wasn't being old and unathletic that beat us.  It was that we had lost our edge.  The best way to go forward is to, mostly, stand pat.  We still have four of the best players in the league and a talented bench.   We need to get Doc some coaching help, because he's not very good with the younger players;  we need a teacher/motivator for the younger guys.  Any moves we make should be thoughtful, careful moves.  If we trade any of the Big Three, it should only be for a genuinely superb player.  We really do not need to be hitting any panic buttons.

i can only guess, but i think that Ainge did the trade because 1) Marquis went down and we really needed a wing because he did such a poor job in the off-season of getting Pierce/Allen any help, 2) he's always liked Jeff Green and 3) he had an eye on the future and he knew that signing Perk to a larger long term contract would hinder the C's flexibility. I think Ainge would rather go all in and have a good chance of landing a big name, rather than having Perk and another guaranteed a-little-better-than-average player.

[jdz101]

I don't think anything is imminent to be honest.

[celtics2]

The Big Three are not retiring or being traded ... one of the reasons Doc signed a long contract was to work with these guys until they retire, (and they all have more than one year left in them, even KG), so I just don't see this as a realistic idea at all. Pierce is definitely retiring as a Celtic, and I can't see the other two leaving for "Ainge" reasons or any others.


If they stay put us down for about 5th place in the Power Rankings. Unless Rondo turns out to be a shooter which isn't about to happen. If he hasn't learned since High School ain't gonna happen. A huge weakness when this team needs more scoring from his position. The Big 3 can't carry him anymore.

[Jon]

I really don't think so.  There's a ton of reasons not to trade them:

1) If Rondo hadn't hurt his arm last season, there's a real argument to be made that the C's would've gone 7 games and maybe even beat Miami.  From there, they really could've taken the Bulls and Mavs.  While the team is a year older, with possible improvements from Rondo and Green (and JO for that matter, he's younger than Pierce), it's worth giving this group one last shot, particularly in a potentially shortened season.

2) Doc is back.  That increases the odds of them staying. 

3) But most importantly, the best value that Danny can likely get from KG and Ray is to simply let their contracts expire.  I know there's this notion out there that Red should've traded the original Big Three.  And maybe he should've; however, that doesn't apply here. 

Everyone likes to talk about the merits of trading KG and Ray, but no one actually ever gives a viable, realistic scenario.  Exactly who should Danny trade KG and/or Ray for?

Young teams won't have much interest in two aging superstars, and even if they were to want them for "leadership" they aren't going to give up young superstars for Ray and/or KG.  Rather, they'd likely give us Jeff Green caliber players or worse (likely worse). 

While that may not sound bad, we'd also have to take on Jeff Green caliber players either at KG's salary (20 million+) or Ray's (10 million).  And it doesn't make sense to lock up that kind of money in that kind of player.

Veteran teams would probably be interested in them; however, they'd probably give up even less.  And again, the problem becomes taking back the comparable salary. 

Unfortunately, this isn't baseball where you can just trade your aging superstars for cheap young minor league talent to build up. 

Thus, the best value Danny can probably get is to just let Ray and KG walk and clear 30 million dollars worth of cap room. 

[greenpride32]

KG and Ray have little trade value at this stage of their career.  Aside from age, nobody will want to pickup KG's salary.  If C's management just said we need to pack it in and rebuild, then they would trade these guys away for nothing.  But that is not the case here.  

Management still believes, as do I, that this team can make a serious run by adding a couple of good pieces to the existing core (for example if only Shaq could have stayed healthy last year). Obviously time is running out, but since the players have minimal trade value, there would be more regret in giving them up for nothing and not knowing what could have been, than seeing them decline and break down in Green.

Pierce will never wear another uniform unless for some reason he becomes unhappy here and requests to be dealt.  I just don't see that happening.