Suns waive Mickael Pietrus

[Yogi]

   New York can offer him 2.5 Mil to start at shooting guard.  Spurs can offer him 3 Mil to start at small forward.  He can start at small forward for the Lakers.  He can also start in Dallas. 
   If he is healthy, and focused I would love to have him.  But there is little chance he takes the vet min to come off the bench here.  More likely he will use Boston's interest to leverage more money from a bad team or convince San Antonio or New York to use their exception on him. 

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

   New York can offer him 2.5 Mil to start at shooting guard.  Spurs can offer him 3 Mil to start at small forward.  He can start at small forward for the Lakers.  He can also start in Dallas. 
   If he is healthy, and focused I would love to have him.  But there is little chance he takes the vet min to come off the bench here.  More likely he will use Boston's interest to leverage more money from a bad team or convince San Antonio or New York to use their exception on him. 

Yea but you know that if he is willing to take a buyout it's not about the money that those teams can offer! Maybe he just likes the Celtics' players! Maybe he is choosing a team w/ a long history of getting IT done! There could be a lot of reason he would choose us over those other teams. One could also be, we are one team everyone knows for sure will want you and wait for you to heal and we are a contender!

[Eddie20]

   New York can offer him 2.5 Mil to start at shooting guard.  Spurs can offer him 3 Mil to start at small forward.  He can start at small forward for the Lakers.  He can also start in Dallas. 
   If he is healthy, and focused I would love to have him.  But there is little chance he takes the vet min to come off the bench here.  More likely he will use Boston's interest to leverage more money from a bad team or convince San Antonio or New York to use their exception on him. 

He wouldn't start in SA (Jefferson) or Dallas (Marion). In LA PT would be limited with Artest, Kapono, and Barnes at the SF. NY still has Fields at the SG too. Plus, they have shoot first players in Amare, Melo, and Baron.

He's probably going to choose a team that best fits his skill set, is a contender, and offers him a chance for a good amount of PT/exposure. Don't think of it so much for the $ this year, but instead think of what team can maximize his skills the best for a chance at a nice multi-year contract next off-season.

[Change]

   New York can offer him 2.5 Mil to start at shooting guard.  Spurs can offer him 3 Mil to start at small forward.  He can start at small forward for the Lakers.  He can also start in Dallas. 
   If he is healthy, and focused I would love to have him.  But there is little chance he takes the vet min to come off the bench here.  More likely he will use Boston's interest to leverage more money from a bad team or convince San Antonio or New York to use their exception on him. 

I doubt Mickael gets anything higher than vet min taking into account the persistent knee problems.

[Kuberski33]

I'd like to believe this like everyone else, but does anyone think the reason he might be available at the vet. min for one year is because of the knee? 

Personally unless a guy is near the end of his career, whenever anyone suggests that someone will take less money to compete for a title, I find that total crap. At the NBA level it's all about the money...

[heitingas]

So if Pietrus is signed do we wave Pavlovic ?

How muh of the vet minimum does the league pay 70-80% ?

Good replacement for Green once he is fully healed, hope he get's to guard Dwayne Wade alot.

[PosImpos]

With that knee injury i have a feeling that pietrus would give about the same as finley gave us a couple years ago

[Drucci]

With that knee injury i have a feeling that pietrus would give about the same as finley gave us a couple years ago

Except we are talking about the Suns here, who are notoriously cheap and probably only wanted to save money by waiving Pietrus.

As for Pietrus himself I'm all for signing him. I know him well since he's famous in France, and if his mindset is right (and his knee, by the way), he would be a great addition to this team. Think James Posey 2008 without leadership and less size but with the same essential qualities (good shooter, clutch and not afraid of big shots, very good defender).

Now it remains to be seen if he takes less money to sign with us, hopefully this time our expectations won't be betrayed like they were with CP3 and David West.

[Chris]

   New York can offer him 2.5 Mil to start at shooting guard.  Spurs can offer him 3 Mil to start at small forward.  He can start at small forward for the Lakers.  He can also start in Dallas. 
   If he is healthy, and focused I would love to have him.  But there is little chance he takes the vet min to come off the bench here.  More likely he will use Boston's interest to leverage more money from a bad team or convince San Antonio or New York to use their exception on him. 

I don't think NY would offer him that though.  I think they are stashing that to throw it at one of the guys from China. 

The Spurs are a possibility, although they are pretty deep on the wing (Jefferson, Ginobili, Neal, Leonard, Anderson), and I think they have a much greater need up front, and they will save the MLE for a big man.

I don't think Pietrus starts for the Lakers.  Unless he returns to his form of a few years ago, he would be behind Metta and Barnes, and possibly Kapono.

If one of those teams reach into their pockets, yeah, he will go there, but I really doubt that happens, and I think he will go to Boston, where he will be at worst the 4th wing on a team that needs to play 4 wings, and will likely be playing a lot more due to injuries.

He is going to be playing for his next contract, so an extra million or two this year won't make a difference if he doesn't expect to get the playing time.

[chambers]

Three things to consider here:

1)It's very possible his agents fluffing us and he's doing this to bump up his price because he wants to play for a nice team in the East- knowing that teams will want to keep Boston as weak as possible knowing that Green is out. (He is potentially a great Green replacement).

2)He only had to forfeit 1.2 million of his 5+ million contract with Phoenix. He will take Vet min if it means he can win a title- Pietrus is a competitive SOB.

3) Mickael Pietrus could very well be the James Posey of 2012 for us. I would get his ass in our locker room STAT.
* can guard Lebron/Melo/Hamilton/Deng and Durant.
* can hit the open three and isn't afraid of the big moment.
* is a passionate player and is not afraid to get physical with anyone (what we want against Lebron +Durant) see below;
*will have at least 3 months to rehab knee and learn our stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l95q5N9tFJw

[Who]

   New York can offer him 2.5 Mil to start at shooting guard.  Spurs can offer him 3 Mil to start at small forward.  He can start at small forward for the Lakers.  He can also start in Dallas. 
   If he is healthy, and focused I would love to have him.  But there is little chance he takes the vet min to come off the bench here.  More likely he will use Boston's interest to leverage more money from a bad team or convince San Antonio or New York to use their exception on him. 

I prefer Fields over Pietrus as a starting two. Plus, I think Fields is a better fit in that starting lineup. I'd worry about putting a low IQ player like Pietrus into that team given their lack of PG play and overall ball-movement.

The Lakers make a lot of sense. M.Pietrus, assuming he's healthy, would be a big improvement over Matt Barnes and Devin Ebanks. A starting role, lots of playing time. Looks like the best offer to me.  I think LA is the only team that would start Pietrus.

[Celtics4ever]

I would rather have any one about at SF than Sasha at this point.

[Jon]

Danny needs to get this done. Pietrus won't provide the 1 on 1 scoring that Green would; however, he is a better defender and shooter and should remind us of Posey in '08.

[LooseCannon]

So if Pietrus is signed do we wave Pavlovic ?

No, the Celtics only have 14 out of 15 roster spots filled.  I would argue that one reason Ainge chose not to fill that spot was precisely because a player he likes might become available in the last round of cuts.

If Pietrus is available and wants to come to Boston, I would still wait for the Celtics doctors to examine him and give a thumbs up before embracing the idea of signing him.

[Trifecta]

Pietrus would be a good signing considering our options. That is if he is healthy and cleared by our medical staff. He IS a decent shooter that can knock down the occasional three, but I don't think he's as great a shooter as everyone is making him out to be. The %'s don't really scream "excellent shooter" to me. Though we do need a good defender and a guy who has some toughness, and he can score a bit so he would be a good signing for the minimum. Plus he has a little athleticism to boot. Classic low risk, high reward signing.