Dwight says he would listen if Ainge called about him

[Bankshot]

It isn't that Dwight hates Boston.  He made it clear he wants to win.  He probably can't win in Boston unless we trade pierce.  If we signed Dwight, we'd have no money left to give bass, kg, ray or Jeff green. Basically all he'd have would be rondo, 35 year old pierce, a couple late 1st rounders and min contract guys.   Probably not much better than his Orlando team in terms of talent ...

Sure he would answer the call is ainge hypothetically called... But at that point he will pass on the celtics simply because of what we have to surround him with.... Which isn't much.  If it was simply about joining the big 4, we'd have a better shot. Unfortunately 20 mil in cap space doesn't go as far as people think

I don't get the highlighted statement.  Dwight probably CAN'T win in Boston without if Pierce.  He will need an alpha dog like Pierce in order to win.  I can see him NOT wanting to come here if Pierce is traded.

[kozlodoev]

Jeff Green has a cap hold of $11 million

We voided his contract. He's unrestricted, and therefore has no cap hold on our payroll.

We still own his Bird rights so I don't think that is correct. We never renounced his Bird rights, I don't believe and so he still counts as a cap hold.

I believe in voiding the contract and withdrawing the qualifying offer we renounced any FA rights we had on him.

[Fafnir]

Jeff Green has a cap hold of $11 million

We voided his contract. He's unrestricted, and therefore has no cap hold on our payroll.

We still own his Bird rights so I don't think that is correct. We never renounced his Bird rights, I don't believe and so he still counts as a cap hold.

I believe in voiding the contract and withdrawing the qualifying offer we renounced any FA rights we had on him.

I thought since he hasn't been able to sign another new contract in the NBA we retained them. We just lost the ability to put him in RFA next year with another QO.

[kozlodoev]

Jeff Green has a cap hold of $11 million

We voided his contract. He's unrestricted, and therefore has no cap hold on our payroll.

We still own his Bird rights so I don't think that is correct. We never renounced his Bird rights, I don't believe and so he still counts as a cap hold.

I believe in voiding the contract and withdrawing the qualifying offer we renounced any FA rights we had on him.

I thought since he hasn't been able to sign another new contract in the NBA we retained them. We just lost the ability to put him in RFA next year with another QO.

Could be. In any case, many things will need to get sorted out before we can sign anyone with our cap space. For example, Garnett alone has a $30 million cap hold.

[dtrader]

It isn't that Dwight hates Boston.  He made it clear he wants to win.  He probably can't win in Boston unless we trade pierce.  If we signed Dwight, we'd have no money left to give bass, kg, ray or Jeff green. Basically all he'd have would be rondo, 35 year old pierce, a couple late 1st rounders and min contract guys.   Probably not much better than his Orlando team in terms of talent ...

Sure he would answer the call is ainge hypothetically called... But at that point he will pass on the celtics simply because of what we have to surround him with.... Which isn't much.  If it was simply about joining the big 4, we'd have a better shot. Unfortunately 20 mil in cap space doesn't go as far as people think

I don't get the highlighted statement.  Dwight probably CAN'T win in Boston without if Pierce.  He will need an alpha dog like Pierce in order to win.  I can see him NOT wanting to come here if Pierce is traded.

The point of the highlighted statement, is that after paying Pierce (our largest contract going forward), we wont have enough $ left to surround Dwight with a better cast than ORL has. I see the sense in that (especially given Pierces age), but I think a more important factor, is what happens with KG and Ray.  If either one of them were to agree to stay for a vet min salary, to end their career in Boston, it'd change the whole dynamic.  If both stayed for cheap contracts, then Dwight WOULD be looking at joining the big 4...which IMO would be his absolute best shot at a ring.

[ScoobyDoo]

I know Pierce is important in the outside chance that Howard lands in Boston. But has Dwight ever played with a point like Rondo? Howard and Rondo alone will take you a long ways toward contending - you just need to start filling in the pieces between those two book ends in my opinion.

Jeff Green could be one piece as a role playing starter.

On another note, what is the reason / point of a "cap hold". Why is it not that once you've paid a player the total balance owed to them under the contract they signed with you, you are done with them, period, that's it. Why does it keep affecting you after you've honored the payment terms of the contact with them? It seems like it's an unnecessary hindrance to teams moving on and rebuilding.     

[Fafnir]

I know Pierce is important in the outside chance that Howard lands in Boston. But has Dwight ever played with a point like Rondo? Howard and Rondo alone will take you a long ways toward contending - you just need to start filling in the pieces between those two book ends in my opinion.

Jeff Green could be one piece as a role playing starter.

On another note, what is the reason / point of a "cap hold". Why is it not that once you've paid a player the total balance owed to them under the contract they signed with you, you are done with them, period, that's it. Why does it keep affecting you after you've honored the payment terms of the contact with them? It seems like it's an unnecessary hindrance to teams moving on and rebuilding.      

Cap holds are there only as long as you retain your bird rights to exceed the salary cap to sign players. So they exist to keep you from using salary cap space while retaing birds rights to high salary players. Give up the bird right, and those holds are gone.

The purpose is to prevent a team from having two highly paid players expire, using cap space, and then after the space is gone to use bird rights to exceed the salary cap. Its to prevent circumventing the cap.

[ScoobyDoo]

Great, thanks a lot for the explanation, appreciate that.

So basically, we can void the cap hold by renouncing our Bird rights on KG and Ray.

The issue then becomes we would be unable to match any offer made to them by other teams - to retain their services - and would have to hope they would come back to us for whatever we could pay them within the guidelines of the Cap...

[TripleOT]

For a long time, it was thought that Howard has no interest in playing for Boston.  Now, we're hearing it right from the horse's mouth that there's interest.  Also, we're reading that Howard talks often with Bill Russell (and I'll bet Russ isn't waxing about the good old days when he coached Sacramento).  

If Howard wants to go somewhere to win, and form a Big 3, like Lebron did in Miami, the opportunity is in Boston.  Pierce is older, but the guy is still one of the best wings in the league.  Rondo is the top pass-first PG in the league and the best defensive PG in the league.  

That's about as good as it going to get for Howard.  He can go to the Nets and play with DWill and a bunch of scrubs (especially if the Nets trade for him and give back Lopez).  The Lakers won't trade both Bynum and Gasol for him, although it's not a stretch to believe that Howard could force a S and T to the Lakers for Bynum this summer.  

The dream scenario for the Cs would be to sign Howard as a UFA this summer, and then get KG and Ray Allen to sign vetmin deals to play for another championship.  Garnett and Ray Allen have made enough money for 10 lifetimes.  Would their pride allow them to play for the  minimum?  Shaq did it, and he's the highest paid NBA player ever.  If Bass doesn't opt out,  Jeff Green agrees to a one year cheapie deal, and a talented bench PG can be had on the cheap (KG pal Billups perhaps?) the Cs will have the best rotation in the league.  

The dream scenario for the Lakers would be for Howard to force a sign and trade there this summer for Bynum.  Either scenario puts Howard in a great situation to compete for a title and get more ensconced in the spotlight he so desperately seems to need.  

[LooseCannon]

  Just curious, why does a player like Bass have a $9M cap hold? Doesn't he make $4M?

Shamsports lists his cap hold if he opts out at $8,075,000 and says it is 190% of his previous salary.  His salary is listed at $4.25 million, including 250K in unlikely incentives.  The cap hold used to be %200, but cap holds have been decreased.

If the Celtics renounce everyone and sign Dwight Howard, I think Ainge should consider offering to split the majority of whatever cap space is left between KG and RA.