Latest Simmon's Article on Celts

[Lucky17]

I've read every post in this thread bashing Simmon's writing and every premise behind his criticisms.  Well, every premise except THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE - that marquee free agents will not sign in Boston!!!

Every comment has completely ignored this, and if you really look at Danny's strategy, it's entirely based on our huge cap space.  But what good does that do us if we can't get any of the star players to sign here?

That's why Bill proposed the Odom and Bledsoe deals.  Because at least then we are able to acquire SOME talent, albeit way too old.  But he sees those types of trades as the only possibly way to acquire semi-top tier talent.

How is he that far off when he says no marquee free agent has ever chosen Boston before, and therefore are not likely to this time.  That logic seems totally sound to me.  Why will this time around be so anathema to all the years of prior history?

Cap space isn't only for (overpaying for) free agents.

[MetroGlobe]

Cap space isn't only for (overpaying for) free agents.

Ummm, ok.  Care to elaborate a little more?  I mean, we can make trades with teams over the cap, and not be required to take back the same amount of salary.  But if we have cap space, that means we don't have many players.  And if we don't have players, how can we make trades?  Our draft picks alone will not land us a star player.

[birdbrady]

I've read every post in this thread bashing Simmon's writing and every premise behind his criticisms.  Well, every premise except THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE - that marquee free agents will not sign in Boston!!!

So that means = tie your cap up into mediocre players.

Recipe for disaster.

Every comment has completely ignored this, and if you really look at Danny's strategy, it's entirely based on our huge cap space.  But what good does that do us if we can't get any of the star players to sign here?

Having cap space means a lot more than the ability to sign free agents.  You can send teams trade-exceptions, which means those teams get immediate relief.  You can absorb bad contracts while taking back a major asset (like a high draft pick.)  Or you can use it to sign free agents.

Cap space does a lot of good.

That's why Bill proposed the Odom and Bledsoe deals.  Because at least then we are able to acquire SOME talent, albeit way too old.  But he sees those types of trades as the only possibly way to acquire semi-top tier talent.

Odom and Bledsoe are two bums.  Trading for them while screwing up your salary structure is Layden-esque.

How is he that far off when he says no marquee free agent has ever chosen Boston before, and therefore are not likely to this time.  That logic seems totally sound to me.  Why will this time around be so different from all the years of prior history?

What marquee free agents have the Celtics gone after? They almost never have cap space.  Besides, in the last few years they signed Sheed, JO, and Shaq - who were all at the top of where they were in terms of their respected salary slots.  Sheed was the best MLE guy available in 2010.  Didn't work out quite as well, but that's beside the point.

And like I said, just because it's "oh well a big name player won't sign here" doesn't mean you go all Scott Layden and start piling up mediocre players and horrible contracts.

[GreenFaith1819]

Look, I'm still relatively new to the blog (Joined Oct09), but I've been a C's fan since 81.

I've only recently became semi-aware of Simmons and this "Feud??" with the C's?

I've read Grantland a few times before, and I've found the material there entertaining and for the most part a good read.

This piece here still falls in the "entertaining" and "good read" category, to me.

With that being said - can someone PLEASE tell me when was the last time this man wrote anything positive about Danny or the C's?

I can't remember.

It seems, to me, like he has a blood feud for Boston, or something...is he a Celtics Fan? If he is - wow.

I particularly like how he leads into Boston starting out - prefacing the article with something along the lines of "once I rip Danny and BOS, then they will go on a winning streak, then" lol....

After reading this piece, I guess Boston is destined to run the table from here to June.

Good article, seriously....I found it to be a bit over the top, but that's me. I'll continue to read Bill Simmons' stuff, but boy I'd love to see something on the Laker's debacle with Lamar Odom.

Now THAT would be a classic, to me....as I looked at Gasol and Bynum dominate DAL last night, I can't help but wonder how they would hold up in a seven game series VS OKC, MEM, DAL or even the rejuvenated Spurs - without Lamar.

I'm guessing that if Simmons tried, a similar piece on the Lakers would be epic.

[the_Bird]

...

[Lucky17]

Cap space isn't only for (overpaying for) free agents.

Ummm, ok.  Care to elaborate a little more?  I mean, we can make trades with teams over the cap, and not be required to take back the same amount of salary.  But if we have cap space, that means we don't have many players.  And if we don't have players, how can we make trades?  Our draft picks alone will not land us a star player.

That's it. We can take salary back from teams desperate to trim payroll or get under the luxury tax. Sam Presti used a trade exception (signed and traded Rashard Lewis to Orlando) to get back three 1st round picks.

The new CBA calls for punitive measures for repeat luxury tax payers. Ainge ought to be able to do what Presti did in remaking the Sonics into the Thunder.

[MetroGlobe]

Cap space isn't only for (overpaying for) free agents.

Ummm, ok.  Care to elaborate a little more?  I mean, we can make trades with teams over the cap, and not be required to take back the same amount of salary.  But if we have cap space, that means we don't have many players.  And if we don't have players, how can we make trades?  Our draft picks alone will not land us a star player.

That's it. We can take salary back from teams desperate to trim payroll or get under the luxury tax. Sam Presti used a trade exception (signed and traded Rashard Lewis to Orlando) to get back three 1st round picks.

The new CBA calls for punitive measures for repeat luxury tax payers. Ainge ought to be able to do what Presti did in remaking the Sonics into the Thunder.

Ok, fair enough.  Well now we've come back around to the other issue: do you really trust Ainge to be able to make complex, trade exception type deals (that will take years to pan out) while dealing with the pressue from the media, Pierce and Doc to "win now"?

Let me state for the record that I don't think we should make Simmons' proposed deals.  They're awful, and will doom us to mediocrity a la the O'Brien years.

But Danny's draft failures, and poor decision making with free agents, gives me very little reason to think he'll do a masterful job of rebuilding.

[goCeltics]

I've read every post in this thread bashing Simmon's writing and every premise behind his criticisms.  Well, every premise except THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE - that marquee free agents will not sign in Boston!!!

Every comment so far has completely ignored this. But that's crazy, because if you really look at Danny's strategy, it's entirely based on our huge cap space.  But what good does that do us if we can't get any of the star players to sign here?

That's why Bill proposed the Odom and Bledsoe deals.  Because at least then we are able to acquire SOME talent, albeit way too old.  But he sees those types of trades as the only possibly way to acquire semi-top tier talent.

How is he that far off when he says no marquee free agent has ever chosen Boston before, and therefore are not likely to this time.  That logic seems totally sound to me.  Why will this time around be so different from all the years of prior history?

ironically simmons hero gm sam presti was able to ultilize cap space to help his franchise without signing a marquee free agent, in a smaller market than boston btw.

[Lucky17]

Cap space isn't only for (overpaying for) free agents.

Ummm, ok.  Care to elaborate a little more?  I mean, we can make trades with teams over the cap, and not be required to take back the same amount of salary.  But if we have cap space, that means we don't have many players.  And if we don't have players, how can we make trades?  Our draft picks alone will not land us a star player.

That's it. We can take salary back from teams desperate to trim payroll or get under the luxury tax. Sam Presti used a trade exception (signed and traded Rashard Lewis to Orlando) to get back three 1st round picks.

The new CBA calls for punitive measures for repeat luxury tax payers. Ainge ought to be able to do what Presti did in remaking the Sonics into the Thunder.

Ok, fair enough.  Well now we've come back around to the other issue: do you really trust Ainge to be able to make complex, trade exception type deals (that will take years to pan out) while dealing with the pressue from the media, Pierce and Doc to "win now"?

Let me state for the record that I don't think we should make Simmons' proposed deals.  They're awful, and will doom us to mediocrity a la the O'Brien years.

But Danny's draft failures, and poor decision making with free agents, gives me very little reason to think he'll do a masterful job of rebuilding.

Nothing complex about it. Rent your cap space out for short-term contracts in exchange for draft picks.

Cash in those picks and cap space when you find the right target.

[birdbrady]

Ok, fair enough.  Well now we've come back around to the other issue: do you really trust Ainge to be able to make complex, trade exception type deals (that will take years to pan out) while dealing with the pressue from the media, Pierce and Doc to "win now"?

Ainge doesn't give a crap about the media.  He took a sledgehammer to the early 2000s Celtics (a VERY popular team here) and was crucified for it for 4 years.

Let me state for the record that I don't think we should make Simmons' proposed deals.  They're awful, and will doom us to mediocrity a la the O'Brien years.

But Danny's draft failures, and poor decision making with free agents, gives me very little reason to think he'll do a masterful job of rebuilding.

Draft "failures?"  What are they? There's one.  It's Jr Giddens in 2008, with the last freaking pick in the first round.  That's it.  Oh, you can surely go back to every draft and find guys picked behind someone and said we should've picked that guy - every team would be an all star team if you did that.  But Ainge has drafted one washout here in 8 years, and almost all of his first rounders have been late.  Plus he's found plenty of good players in round 2.  Contrast that to Chris Wallace, who in 3 years had all lottery picks - and came away with a trade for Vitaly Potapenko, Jerome Moiso, Kedrick Brown, and Joe Johnson.

Ainge took over an absolute mess in 2003 and told everyone that it was going to take five years.  Five years later, they had three HOFrs in their prime and won the title.  Don't know how you can say that he

gives me very little reason to think he'll do a masterful job of rebuilding

when he's already done it, and has had only one shot at it.

[goCeltics]

one thing about simmons he does have sources, maybe his has caught whiff a possible blow it up trade by danny involving paul? and he wants to pressure ainge into making one last run instead.

[cman88]

where has this idea come from that no Marquee free agents will sign in boston??

its true that the celtics have never signed any marquee free agents in the past...but have we ever really been in a position to do so??

we've always been stuck in salary cap hell, or had cheap ownership to go after any marquee free agents. Wyc/Ainge wont follow the same path as Gaston..

[Chris]

one thing about simmons he does have sources, maybe his has caught whiff a possible blow it up trade by danny involving paul? and he wants to pressure ainge into making one last run instead.

Neh, Simmons just like playing with the trade machine. 

[Lucky17]

Elrod Enchilada's latest piece on RealGM provides a measured contrast to Simmons' screed:

http://basketball.realgm.com/article/219177/The_Art_Of_The_Managed_Blow_Up

I don't find any of his proposed trades to be realistic, unfortunately.

[PosImpos]

(btw dannny won a title and reached a game 7 without one top 5 pick)

this isn't true; a top 5 pick was traded for Ray Allen, which is what got KG to agree to sign an extension here once he was traded.