Celtics have more flexibility than the Mavs and Nets

[heitingas]

In the event that Howard signed with the Mavs they would have Dirk,Deron,Howard as their core with both Howard and Deron taking less than the max.

The Mavs won't be able to have the mid level until the year after that and they lose all/only young player in Beaubois and they don't own any pick this year.

They also have 44 million guaranteed to Dirk the next 2 years, not going to get more than the room exception 2.5 million.

With the Nets it's going to be Deron, Brooks, S.Williams, Petro, Farmar, draft pick, Howard.

Not exactly a contender there,I don't think Lopez plays on his QO and noone would want to take Petro and Farmar who will opt in to their contracts.

Yeah I know they're a "big market" and so on...


Celtics will be able to keep all of these players:
Pierce 16.8M
Rondo 11M
Bradley 1.6M
Johnson 1.1M
#1 1-1.3M
#1 1-1.3M
#2 .473K
Moore .762K
Howard 20M
Ray 3M
KG 3M
cap hold .5M

=61M

+Green sign to room exception 2.5M
Pietrus accept vet min
Daniels vet min
Stiemsma vet min or other big

Bass sign and traded,give us trade exception and/or pick.
Green could play for a small amount for a year to then sign a big contract.As you can see we have BY FAR the most attractive destination for Howard.

Plus the year after Pierce could retire and get amnestied, make 15M retirement together with Ray and KG and open up cap room to sign Josh Smith or James Harden,and we have Green and Bass exception to use.

The Nets doesn't offer anything close to that, nor the Mavs.

[diconzo]

Mavs are going to go after Deron, after that they won't have cap space to give Dwight. So that takes Mavs and Nets out of DH12 contest. Lakers don't have the cap room and won't amnesty Pau or Bynum. That takes them out. If he makes it to free agency, its between us and Orlando.

[guava_wrench]

I don't think Green signs for 2.5m without testing the waters first. If he tests the waters, than the cap hold is much more than 2.5m. Does that lack of a contract this year affect his cap hold for next season, or is it just based on years of service and his draft position?

Also, what is meant by "sign to room exception"? Whatever is meant by that, would we have any exceptions as a team under the salary cap?

[LooseCannon]

If you renounce Green, there is no cap hold.

The room exception is a salary cap exception available to teams that start out under the salary cap but go over it.

[heitingas]

Mavs are going to go after Deron, after that they won't have cap space to give Dwight. So that takes Mavs and Nets out of DH12 contest. Lakers don't have the cap room and won't amnesty Pau or Bynum. That takes them out. If he makes it to free agency, its between us and Orlando.

They could clear their roster leaving Dirk by trading their players, using amnesty on haywood or marion, leaving them 34.6M cap room, split between Deron and Dwight that's 17.3M each. That's 1M less than signing them to the max for non bird FA.

But Howard's teammates might be of juwan howard calibre instead of KG and Ray.

I don't think Green signs for 2.5m without testing the waters first. If he tests the waters, than the cap hold is much more than 2.5m. Does that lack of a contract this year affect his cap hold for next season, or is it just based on years of service and his draft position?

Also, what is meant by "sign to room exception"? Whatever is meant by that, would we have any exceptions as a team under the salary cap?

room exception is for teams under the cap, I think he could agree to it for one year then taking more when/if Pierce retires the following year, if he doesn't stay we could get Josh Smith who's then unrestricted.

[LooseCannon]

If he makes it to free agency, its between us and Orlando.

Zach Lowe pointed out that half the teams in the NBA could clear the cap space to sign a free agent to a max contract.

One example Lowe gives is the scenario of Indiana renouncing Roy Hibbert and George Hill to sign Eric Gordon (and I think that the Celtics, with their cap space, could pick off players like that for draft picks, if there is a team that will give away players just to create cap space).

If Howard wanted to be on a team with a core that looked to be a contender for the next four seasons, could you imagine if the Pacers effectively traded Hibbert and Hill for Howard (perhaps even as sign-and-trades to send them to Orlando)?

If you are Dwight Howard, what sounds more exciting: being in a lineup with Danny Granger, Paul George, David West, and Darren Collison, or joining Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo while trusting Danny Ainge to work some magic to fill out the rest of the roster?

But that would only be if Howard cares only about winning and doesn't care about being in that bump of humanity surrounded by corn fields.

[greenpride32]

JGreen for 2.5 and Pietrus for vet minimum are completely unrealistic.

[snively]

Mavs are going to go after Deron, after that they won't have cap space to give Dwight. So that takes Mavs and Nets out of DH12 contest. Lakers don't have the cap room and won't amnesty Pau or Bynum. That takes them out. If he makes it to free agency, its between us and Orlando.

Yep.  That's the best case scenario.  Although, teams like the Lakers and maybe the Bulls can still be a threat as sign and trade targets (just as we were threats to sign David West without cap space). 

[wdleehi]

The key to getting someone like Howard to join is:

a)  Teammates in place.  Celtics have Rondo and Pierce with the ability to bring back KG and Ray for a low price.

b)  Coaching.  Celtics have Doc who is very popular among players

c)  GM and future plan.  Ainge has history in his favor being able to put together a title level team.

d)  Location.  This hurts the Celtics because it is cold.

e)  Pitch.  This is the biggest unknown. 

[snively]

Mavs are going to go after Deron, after that they won't have cap space to give Dwight. So that takes Mavs and Nets out of DH12 contest. Lakers don't have the cap room and won't amnesty Pau or Bynum. That takes them out. If he makes it to free agency, its between us and Orlando.

They could clear their roster leaving Dirk by trading their players, using amnesty on haywood or marion, leaving them 34.6M cap room, split between Deron and Dwight that's 17.3M each. That's 1M less than signing them to the max for non bird FA.

But Howard's teammates might be of juwan howard calibre instead of KG and Ray.

Dirk is $20.9 (million of course).  Odom's buyout is $2.4.  Carter's buy-out is $2.  They can only amnesty one of Haywood or Marion - let's assume Haywood since they'd be going for Howard, so they'd have Marion's $8.4.  Their two young guys combine for $3.5 but they should be easy to trade way for nothing in return. 

$61.1 cap projection - ($20.9 + $2.4 + $2 + $8.4 + (8 * $.5 cap holds)) = $23.4 in cap space.  Even if they manage to dump Marion's 2 years $17+ on an under-the-cap team without taking any salary back, they'd be at $31.3, which splits into $15.63.  Sadly, that is more than the Miami trio took individually in their first years, so this is somewhat plausible.

[lightspeed5]

If he makes it to free agency, its between us and Orlando.

Zach Lowe pointed out that half the teams in the NBA could clear the cap space to sign a free agent to a max contract.

One example Lowe gives is the scenario of Indiana renouncing Roy Hibbert and George Hill to sign Eric Gordon (and I think that the Celtics, with their cap space, could pick off players like that for draft picks, if there is a team that will give away players just to create cap space).

If Howard wanted to be on a team with a core that looked to be a contender for the next four seasons, could you imagine if the Pacers effectively traded Hibbert and Hill for Howard (perhaps even as sign-and-trades to send them to Orlando)?

If you are Dwight Howard, what sounds more exciting: being in a lineup with Danny Granger, Paul George, David West, and Darren Collison, or joining Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo while trusting Danny Ainge to work some magic to fill out the rest of the roster?

But that would only be if Howard cares only about winning and doesn't care about being in that bump of humanity surrounded by corn fields.

dwughts not going to Indiana.... Adidas won't pay him anything if ye goes there

[LooseCannon]

If he makes it to free agency, its between us and Orlando.

Zach Lowe pointed out that half the teams in the NBA could clear the cap space to sign a free agent to a max contract.

One example Lowe gives is the scenario of Indiana renouncing Roy Hibbert and George Hill to sign Eric Gordon (and I think that the Celtics, with their cap space, could pick off players like that for draft picks, if there is a team that will give away players just to create cap space).

If Howard wanted to be on a team with a core that looked to be a contender for the next four seasons, could you imagine if the Pacers effectively traded Hibbert and Hill for Howard (perhaps even as sign-and-trades to send them to Orlando)?

If you are Dwight Howard, what sounds more exciting: being in a lineup with Danny Granger, Paul George, David West, and Darren Collison, or joining Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo while trusting Danny Ainge to work some magic to fill out the rest of the roster?

But that would only be if Howard cares only about winning and doesn't care about being in that bump of humanity surrounded by corn fields.

dwughts not going to Indiana.... Adidas won't pay him anything if ye goes there

Hypothetically, if Dwight cares only about winning, is that a good scenario for him?

[kozlodoev]

d)  Location.  This hurts the Celtics because it is cold

This has always confused me. First, teams usually spend the cold season travelling around like crazy (and New England is pretty decent in the summer -- not that players necessarily spend the offseason close to where they play).

As far as sports locations are concerned, the Boston fanbase is pretty good. I could never fathom why one would like to go to Miami to play in front of the equivalent of a basketball graveyard. Doesn't make sense on so many levels...

[LooseCannon]

I've brought this up before, but I know people who have moved to warmer climates for the sole reason of never having to drive in winter weather again.  So, it's absolutely unsurprising that some people, given a choice, would want to avoid that.

[RJ87]

The key to getting someone like Howard to join is:

a)  Teammates in place.  Celtics have Rondo and Pierce with the ability to bring back KG and Ray for a low price.

I actually think we need another young piece in place with Rondo to really entice Dwight. I'm of the minority here, but I feel pretty strongly that the chance to play with an aging Big 3 isn't piquing his interest too much.