Tell me how you'd split up our 25 mil in cap space

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Assuming guys like Howard are off the table, the only free agent I am strongly interested in is Spencer Hawes.

I would offer Hawes up to something in the range of 10-12 million per year.  I think he is just coming into his own now that he is growing into his body, and I think he will be a top 5 center in this league.

Then, I would use the rest to consider trades, but if nothing presents itself that made sense, I would try to bring back some combination of KG, Ray, and Green on 1 year deals, to maintain future flexibility, so Danny is able to act when the next star becomes available.

Haws is someone I really like to play for us, but not for 10-12 mil. He's no Tyson Chandler and even I think Tyson is overpaid. I will offer him around 7-8 with 9 probably stretching it. And that's a fair offer.

I'll assume that Bass wil stay here. He seems to be liking to play around. So I will have around 13 mil left. Split the 11-12 mil for Ray and Jeff Green. Offer Brandon Rush or Mickael the remaining 1 and change. And give the full MLE for 1 year to KG, if he still wants to play because I honestly believe he's gonna hang it up.

Now if Bass opts out, there would be 4 million left.  I might try to offer it to Anthony Randoplh who is restricted, so Minny might match it, or to Mareese Speights or maybe Jason Thompson and maybe overpay a little bit for DJ White.

[Jeff]

good thread

at some point, I'm going to have to ask Chris or Roy or someone to do one of those "here's all the cap holds and how much money we'll have this offseason" type posts for the front page

quick question though - just for the sake of discussion, what is the max deal that we'd be offering Howard?

[PosImpos]

Rondo
Green (1 year / 6-9 million)
Bass (4 years 30 million)
Free agent center (5-8 million per year 3-4 year deal) --> e.g. Mahinmi, Kaman
Bradley
Moore
JJJ
Stiemsma (minimum)
Marquis (minimum)
Clips pick rookie
Celtics pick rookie (1st round)
Celtics pick rookie (2nd round)
Vet point guard (2-5 million per year short deal) e.g. Goran Dragic / Leandro Barbosa
Vet big man (2-5 million per year short deal) --> e.g. Lou Amundson / Jason Maxiell
Vet wing (2-5 million per year short deal) --> e.g. Pietrus / C.J. Miles

Not that I disagree with this approach (except for the Bass contract), but how long do you think will it take us to be a contender again? Could you list what you see as the most critical points for this strategy to work? I know it´s impossible to predict the future, but there are quite a few unknowns, and I just want to make sure we all know what we´re dealing with here.

To me it all comes down to how lucky we get in the draft.

The goal in rebuilding is to be bad as possible to get draft picks that are as good as possible while also developing young assets that you have already.

You then go in one of two directions.  You either land a franchise superstar in the draft and build around him with other talented young players you draft, perhaps picking up an impact free agent or two. 

Alternatively, you take the young talents you've stockpiled and, if the opportunity presents itself, you trade those players for one or two superstars with at least a few years left in the tank.

It's impossible to say exactly how long that could or will take because in large part it comes down to luck and what trade opportunities present themselves.  But that's just how it works in the NBA.

[CFAN38]

Ok so you want a big man for 9.5 MINIMUM

Bare minimum Bass is going to cost you 4 mil (since that's his player option) 

That leaves you a total of 11.5 mil.  You think you can sign a restricted free agent like Eric Gordon or OJ Mayo (Mayo's qualifying offer alone is 7.4 mil) and still have enough money for Jeff Green?

It's ambitious and unlikely, but I support it. 

Still, you're saying goodbye to KG and Ray.  Essentially your "best case scenario" plan is to replace KG and Ray with Spencer Hawes and OJ Mayo.

So... are you on board with trading Ray now for a draft pick if possible?

Lardbrd33 I have been advocating us trading every one but rondo if it can get us draft picks or prospects.

I would also add to my previous post that if we could land Rivers or Beal in the upcoming draft then I would not sign mayo. I feel both of those rookies could average around 15 pts a game as rookies and mayo wouldn't be needed.

My goal for our team is to model things after the Billups lead Pistons. No true super star but 5 boarder line allstars who compliment each other very well. Rebounding defensive center , athletic stretch 4, lengthy 3 with range, scoring 2, and Rondo

[Inside-Out]

KG is in fantastic shape and is tall.  No reason he couldn't have a Kevin Willis-type career (playing until he's in his 40's off the bench).  Ditto for Ray (though not as tall).

But as we're learning in this thread, the cap situation makes it all pretty hard.

Imagine a 2nd unit with Ray and KG plus a vet PG and 2 young athletic freaks at SF and C.  That could run another 2-3 years after this one easily.  Unfortunately, our current young players are 2 SG's and a PF...go figure.  KG will probably retire a starter, though.  So scratch that part...

Jeff Green falling in love with the C's organization and committing to the Green for a discount would be a tremendous part of this mid-term plan.  Keep starting Pierce, and let JGreen, Ray, and KG lead a 2nd unit in a Hubie Brown-esque rotation, while Pierce and Rondo lead the starters.

So the holes I see going forward are:

Starters:  SG, C
Bench:  PG, PF, C


So if J3 is able to play backup PF starting next year, that woudl be absolutely fantastic.  If either Bradley or Moore can become competent backup PG for 12 minutes behind RR, then we're in pretty good shape.  And if Steimsma can play a bit of bench C, even 3rd string, we're absolutely golden, needing only a starting center, SG, and more depth at the big spots that could perhaps be filled in the draft.

If there is any wild chance that a SG could be picked up in the draft to start and play 18-20 min ahead of Ray, then we don't need to spend cash there.  Then all we really need is Howard.

Rondo/Bradley?/Moore?
YoungEnergySG/Ray
PP/JGreen
KG/JJJ
DH/SomeBigGuy/Steimsma

In this deal, everything hinges on Howard.  He gets the top money ($14-15M?), then JGreen ($4M plus incentives?).  Then I think Ray and KG get sweet talked into splitting whatever is left to keep going for titles for 2-3 more years (until KLove is available again?).

So this is the pitch to DHoward, I think:  With DH, we could put a team out there of proven pieces that fit together and know how to win, with Ray and KG in diminished roles in the short term and the youth movement of Rondo, Green, JJJ, and the draft picks for the longer term.

We've got it together, folks.  Best run franchise in the league right now.

[slamtheking]

I'll start:
KG - 9 mil (down from 22 mil)
Ray - 9 mil (down from 10 mil)
Jeff Green - 7 mil
Let Bass walk.
Re-sign Jermaine O'Neal to the vet mimimum as our starting center.  
Offer Pietrus the vet minimum
Fill the rest of the squad with vet minimum contracts (guys like Dooling and Pavlovic and Daniels)

So essentially you want to overpay KG, Ray and Green for next year, let our 6th man candidate walk, lowball Pietrus (thinking no one else would pay him more  ), resign JO (  ) and a bunch of bench fillers.

For all intents and purposes, that's this year's team with Green switched in for Bass.  No thanks.

I'd rather bring back Bass, Green and Pietrus to have a super-bench with Bradley, Moore, Steimsma, JJJ, 2 1st rounder and 1 2nd rounder.  Keep Rondo and PP as definite starters and look to fill the starting SG, PF and C spots with that cap $ spent on younger players on short-term deals.  It's unlikely that full $25 mill would be available for that purpose but at this point, this team is having issues with so many old players starting. I'd focus on the center position as the primary signing.  If no one else can be had, and only then, bring back Ray and/or KG on deals that are only about half as much as the MLE.  No way I pay either of them over 5 mill each.