Ainge wastes no time in pursuit of Big Baby

[rondohondo]

http://www.csnne.com/basketball-boston-celtics/news/Ainge-wastes-no-time-in-pursuit-of-Big-B?blockID=606260&feedID=3945

WALTHAM — On the first day of free agency in which team officials can speak directly with players, one of the first calls Danny Ainge made was to unrestricted free agent Glen Davis.

With limited resources at their disposal and a shortened NBA season, the C's may very well adopt a get-the-band-back-together approach to assembling their team for the 2011-2012 season.

The fact that Ainge reached out to Davis so early was well received by Davis' camp.

"It's very important," John Hamilton, Davis' agent, told CSNNE.com. "It shows Danny and the Celtics appreciate the contributions he has made to the club, and are open to seeing if they can continue to relationship that started four years ago."

Ainge is not alone.

Two league sources on Monday said that a number of Davis' teammates, including Paul Pierce, have reached out to Davis in an effort to convince him to return to Boston.

But re-signing Davis won't be easy.

For starters, Davis is an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any team he wants to. One of Boston's biggest challengers for Davis will be Detroit, a team that has coveted Davis for a number of years.

And the Pistons may be willing to offer Davis the full mid-level exception which is worth $5 million in the yet-to-be-ratified new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Celtics have Davis' Bird Rights which would allow them to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him.

[Roy H.]

$5 million per for 4 years?  No thank you.  I might bring Baby back on a very modest multi-year contract, or on a one year, $5 million deal, but I wouldn't give him a MLE contract under any circumstances.  The guy simply isn't a building block.

[rondohondo]

roster will probably end up looking like this

Rondo/ West
Ray  / Bradley
PP   / Green
KG   / Johnson
 JO  / Kwame or Gray( maybe both)

thats likely a #3 or 4 seed and a second round exit, maybe get to the ecf with some luck  

any chance rondo could land someone like tyreke evans here?

[hpantazo]

well unfortunately this tells us a lot about Ainge's plans for the season. I would instead prefer blowing it up now and getting us a nice lottery pick in the 2012 draft instead of a 2nd round exit and a late 1st.

[Roy H.]

By the way, could somebody please teach A. Sherrod Blakely the rules of the CBA?

The Celtics have Davis' Bird Rights which would allow them to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him.

But with the C's expected to bring back restricted free agent Jeff Green, they may very well be targeting Davis with their "mini" mid-level exception which is worth $3 million for tax-paying teams like the C's.

This statement just makes no sense.  Because we have Bird rights, it makes no sense to suggest we'd re-sign BBD with our mini-MLE.  We'd sign him with Bird rights.

[slamtheking]

well unfortunately this tells us a lot about Ainge's plans for the season. I would instead prefer blowing it up now and getting us a nice lottery pick in the 2012 draft instead of a 2nd round exit and a late 1st.

don't worry, even if Danny keeps the majority of last year's team, the C's will likely have a mid-first pick--somewhere around #20.

[barefacedmonk]

By the way, could somebody please teach A. Sherrod Blakely the rules of the CBA?

The Celtics have Davis' Bird Rights which would allow them to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him.

But with the C's expected to bring back restricted free agent Jeff Green, they may very well be targeting Davis with their "mini" mid-level exception which is worth $3 million for tax-paying teams like the C's.

This statement just makes no sense.  Because we have Bird rights, it makes no sense to suggest we'd re-sign BBD with our mini-MLE.  We'd sign him with Bird rights.

I was just going to post that..beat me to the punch.

[Change]

i understand why Ainge made the call. But Still  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Give JJJ a chance.

[Lucky17]

By the way, could somebody please teach A. Sherrod Blakely the rules of the CBA?

The Celtics have Davis' Bird Rights which would allow them to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him.

But with the C's expected to bring back restricted free agent Jeff Green, they may very well be targeting Davis with their "mini" mid-level exception which is worth $3 million for tax-paying teams like the C's.

This statement just makes no sense.  Because we have Bird rights, it makes no sense to suggest we'd re-sign BBD with our mini-MLE.  We'd sign him with Bird rights.

Moreover, aren't the Pistons sufficiently below the new cap figure that they won't have an MLE to offer Davis?

[Fafnir]

$5 million per for 4 years?  No thank you.  I might bring Baby back on a very modest multi-year contract, or on a one year, $5 million deal, but I wouldn't give him a MLE contract under any circumstances.  The guy simply isn't a building block.

No way he commands that much, he couldn't command that his last go and his play hasn't changed much.

[BballTim]

roster will probably end up looking like this

Rondo/ West
Ray  / Bradley
PP   / Green
KG   / Johnson
 JO  / Kwame or Gray( maybe both)

thats likely a #3 or 4 seed and a second round exit, maybe get to the ecf with some luck  

any chance rondo could land someone like tyreke evans here?

  Why, are you shooting for a first round exit?

[Roy H.]

By the way, could somebody please teach A. Sherrod Blakely the rules of the CBA?

The Celtics have Davis' Bird Rights which would allow them to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him.

But with the C's expected to bring back restricted free agent Jeff Green, they may very well be targeting Davis with their "mini" mid-level exception which is worth $3 million for tax-paying teams like the C's.

This statement just makes no sense.  Because we have Bird rights, it makes no sense to suggest we'd re-sign BBD with our mini-MLE.  We'd sign him with Bird rights.

Moreover, aren't the Pistons sufficiently below the new cap figure that they won't have an MLE to offer Davis?

They're on the cusp.  Right now, if they let their various free agents go, they might be able to offer slightly more than the MLE.  However, until they renounce Prince, Wilcox, etc., there would be a cap hold in place that brings them over the cap.

However, if they're smart and amnesty Rip Hamilton, they'll have plenty of room.

[Lucky17]

By the way, could somebody please teach A. Sherrod Blakely the rules of the CBA?

The Celtics have Davis' Bird Rights which would allow them to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him.

But with the C's expected to bring back restricted free agent Jeff Green, they may very well be targeting Davis with their "mini" mid-level exception which is worth $3 million for tax-paying teams like the C's.

This statement just makes no sense.  Because we have Bird rights, it makes no sense to suggest we'd re-sign BBD with our mini-MLE.  We'd sign him with Bird rights.

Moreover, aren't the Pistons sufficiently below the new cap figure that they won't have an MLE to offer Davis?

They're on the cusp.  Right now, if they let their various free agents go, they might be able to offer slightly more than the MLE.  However, until they renounce Prince, Wilcox, etc., there would be a cap hold in place that brings them over the cap.

However, if they're smart and amnesty Rip Hamilton, they'll have plenty of room.

I wonder if they should amnesty Ben Gordon instead. Rip has only one more fully-guaranteed year remaining on his deal. Could be a decent trade chip this year.

[Who]

By the way, could somebody please teach A. Sherrod Blakely the rules of the CBA?

The Celtics have Davis' Bird Rights which would allow them to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him.

But with the C's expected to bring back restricted free agent Jeff Green, they may very well be targeting Davis with their "mini" mid-level exception which is worth $3 million for tax-paying teams like the C's.

This statement just makes no sense.  Because we have Bird rights, it makes no sense to suggest we'd re-sign BBD with our mini-MLE.  We'd sign him with Bird rights.

Moreover, aren't the Pistons sufficiently below the new cap figure that they won't have an MLE to offer Davis?

They're on the cusp.  Right now, if they let their various free agents go, they might be able to offer slightly more than the MLE.  However, until they renounce Prince, Wilcox, etc., there would be a cap hold in place that brings them over the cap.

However, if they're smart and amnesty Rip Hamilton, they'll have plenty of room.

I wonder if they should amnesty Ben Gordon instead. Rip has only one more fully-guaranteed year remaining on his deal. Could be a decent trade chip this year.

They shouldn't amnesty either one of them. Both are valuable players.

Now Charlie Villanueva on the other hand ...

[Who]

I'm not sure how much credibility that Detroit Pistons Glen Davis rumour has.

All reports I have previously seen have based their believe on Detroit's interest ... on the Pistons pursuit of BBD two years ago. Nothing recent. Two year old information. As if nothing has changed.

It'd be nice if one of these reporters bothered to find out whether Detroit is still interested or not.