Rumor: Rondo/O'Neal for Gasol

[Smokeeye123]

Horrible trade, makes absolutely no sense rebuilding wise...You get younger when you rebuild, not older...

[GrandTheftRondo]

the deadline cant pass soon enough , i just cant see danny destroy all the cap for a player over 30

This. I cannot wait for March 1 to come and go.

[JOMVP]

Horrible trade, makes absolutely no sense rebuilding wise...You get younger when you rebuild, not older...

I'm not a big fan of the trade either, but the whole idea isnt to rebuild, it's to contend, and we can all agree for thus year the Celtics biggest need is front court scoring, rebounding and a big man. Pau helps this, then you look at next year, next year.

[the_Bird]

Horrible trade, makes absolutely no sense rebuilding wise...You get younger when you rebuild, not older...

....   well, it's not a rebuilding trade.

Pau's about the same age and has been in the league about the same number of years as KG was, back five years ago when we did that trade.  Could argue that KG had more miles on him, since he played so many minutes.  Making this trade would be about squeezing out the last couple years of Pierce, and probably re-signing Ray and KG this offseason (if you aren't trying to maximize cap space, you can keep their Bird rights).  You'd forgo being a real player in free agency this summer, for being more relevant this year (and maybe next).

It *could* work out well.  Trade for Pau, you've solved the center problem and greatly improved the rebounding/inside-out balance.  No point guard, so you go hard after Nash this summer with whatever we can offer (New York needs him much less with Linsanity still going strong).  Have to make some kind of deal for this season, though; Bradley's not going to cut it by himself, even with Paul playing point-forward.

Re-sign Bass to be the super-sub big, and re-sign Green (assuming medical clearance) to back up Pierce.

You COULD (without too many stretches of the imagination) go into the next couple seasons with a primary rotation:

Nash
Ray Allen/Bradley
Pierce/Jeff Green
KG/Bass/JJJ
Pau/Chris Wilcox

That's obviously one of the oldest teams in the league, but it's well-balanced, I think.  You've got outside shooters, mid-range shooters, an inside presence, and Pierce's slashing/all-around game.  You've got a few young legs in Bradley, Green, and JJJ.  Still have two first-rounders, unless you need to use one to get a PG for this season.  Maybe you can get LA's pick for taking on the older, more-expensive player.

You need a backup PG and another backup big.  Same as every other summer.

But, isn't that a team that could compete next year?  It's a lot more balanced than what we're putting out there now.  

EDIT: If you can get a first-rounder from LA for taking on Pau's contract, those three picks can probably be packaged to move up a fair amount in the draft.  You could either infuse a lot of young talent at the end of the roster...  or maybe go after someone like Austin Rivers, for some bench scoring.  But, that's a whole other discussion.

[cman88]

this would be the worst trade for the celtics going into a rebuilding phase...

you trade a 26year old allstar-pg for a declining 32year old PF with an Albatross contract....this is not going to happen.

one of the reasons Chris paul didnt want to come here is because of the age of most of our players....and we want to combat that by getting older???

from reading the comments on the first page. Ainge is only going to want to get younger....and unless he gets a superstar for Rondo, he will be a celtic next year.

[birdbrady]

this would be the worst trade for the celtics going into a rebuilding phase...

But the plan is not to go into a rebuilding mode. I'm coming around to this trade providing it is made closer to the deadline and we'll know if Dwight and Deron stay with Orlando and NJ respectively till the summer.  See what I said here:

Man the more I think about this the more I think this deal is getting done.

Ainge's thinking (makes a ton of sense)

-Dwight wants to play with Gasol: http://www.hoops-nation.com/dwight-howard-wants-to-play-alongside-gasol-if-lakers-trade-for-him/
-Get Gasol in place.  Take a semi-run at it this year.
-If Dwight reaches free agency, you can make the pitch to him.
-If you get Dwight and Dwill to committ, amnesty Pierce.

-If you don't get Dwight.  You can easily trade Gasol to Houston for some scraps (Martin, Dragic, Budinger, Patterson, draft pick (s), etc ..Lowry off the table) and start the rebuild.

Slowly, I'm coming around to this.

If we even get a draft pick in this, that's an added bonus.

you trade a 26year old allstar-pg for a declining 32year old PF with an Albatross contract....this is not going to happen.

Sorry, just because Gasol is making the max doesn't mean he has an 'albatross' contract.  Vin Baker's contract was an albatross contract.  Amare Stoudemire's contract is rapidly becoming an albatross contract.  Gasol can EASILY be moved this off-season and Houston has always been dying for him.  If you want to rebuild, then this summer, if we don't get Dwight and Deron, you just slide Pau over to Houston for some assets and go into a rebuilding phase.

one of the reasons Chris paul didnt want to come here is because of the age of most of our players....and we want to combat that by getting older???

from reading the comments on the first page. Ainge is only going to want to get younger....and unless he gets a superstar for Rondo, he will be a celtic next year.

This doesn't make sense.

[MBunge]

Bradley's not going to cut it by himself, even with Paul playing point-forward.

I actually think Bradley, with a combination of Dooling and Moore playing behind him would be adequate to make a run this year.  The Celtic offense would run far more like the Lakers' and I think Bradley's defense and athleticism makes him at least the on court equal to Derrick Fisher.

Mike

[the_Bird]

Bradley's not going to cut it by himself, even with Paul playing point-forward.

I actually think Bradley, with a combination of Dooling and Moore playing behind him would be adequate to make a run this year.  The Celtic offense would run far more like the Lakers' and I think Bradley's defense and athleticism makes him at least the on court equal to Derrick Fisher.

Mike

Maybe, maybe not.  Doesn't change whether you'd do the deal or not - you can get another PG and not give up too much.

I'd feel better if there was another "pure" PG option on the roster - even including Steve Blake and Dooling in the deal (the numbers work) would give us a better PG option.  Of course, Blake's got a bad contract (two more years, $4M per), but that's less of a deterrent if we aren't going into a pure rebuilding mode.  Bradley's ballhandling makes me nervous, and count me among those who is NOT a fan of Dooling.

[Chris]

Bradley's not going to cut it by himself, even with Paul playing point-forward.

I actually think Bradley, with a combination of Dooling and Moore playing behind him would be adequate to make a run this year.  The Celtic offense would run far more like the Lakers' and I think Bradley's defense and athleticism makes him at least the on court equal to Derrick Fisher.

Mike

Later in the playoffs the last few years, defenses have exploited Rondo, making the C's essentially 4 on 5 offensively for large stretches, and it caused a lot of problems.  It would be even worse with Bradley.

I am coming around on Bradley, but he would be exploited big time in the playoffs, and unless he becomes a true knockdown shooter within the next couple of months, then you can't win a championship with him starting.  

[MBunge]

And just because people seem to be down on Gasol's game, the dude is averaging 17-10 with 3 assists and 1 block.  His PER at the center spot, which is where he'd play almost exclusively in Boston, is 21.3 while he's letting opposing centers rack up a PER of 10.9.

Gasol might be getting the blame in LA, but the real problem is that Kobe's not what he used to be and their roster outside the top 3 stinks on ice.  If everyone is healthy, I'd take Boston's role players in a second over what LA has.

Mike

[MBunge]

Later in the playoffs the last few years, defenses have exploited Rondo, making the C's essentially 4 on 5 offensively for large stretches, and it caused a lot of problems.  It would be even worse with Bradley.

Bradley's shooting is clearly improving, so I don't know how much worse it would be than with Rondo.  In addition, the Celtics with Gasol wouldn't rely so heavily on the PG spot to run the offense so replacing Bradley at the end up games with Dooling or even playing with Ray, Pierce and Pietrus at the end would be possible.

The problem with Rondo isn't that he can't shoot.  It's that he can't shoot AND he has to be on the floor.

Mike

[BostonArizona]

I'm simply not understanding how there is so much hate for Rajon Rondo on this board and almost no one supports this trade where we bring in a borderline NBA 1st/2nd Team talent player.


It helps us now and next  year. Honestly I don't see a down-side.

[LooseCannon]

Dallas could be one thing but they need to have someone take Marion's contract which isn't to unrealistic because somebody could use the amesty on him and get rid of that contract and get cap space because of it.

I have to point out (again) that you can't trade for someone, then amnesty them.

In theory, Dallas would offer to give away Marion and Roddy Beaubois to a team with cap space for a second-round pick.

It would be interesting if the Celtics took that deal, found a way to flip Rondo for an All-Star caliber big and went for an offense/defense platoon of Bradley and Beaubois as nominal point guards with Paul Pierce in a point-forward role.

[the_Bird]

Later in the playoffs the last few years, defenses have exploited Rondo, making the C's essentially 4 on 5 offensively for large stretches, and it caused a lot of problems.  It would be even worse with Bradley.

Bradley's shooting is clearly improving, so I don't know how much worse it would be than with Rondo.  In addition, the Celtics with Gasol wouldn't rely so heavily on the PG spot to run the offense so replacing Bradley at the end up games with Dooling or even playing with Ray, Pierce and Pietrus at the end would be possible.

The problem with Rondo isn't that he can't shoot.  It's that he can't shoot AND he has to be on the floor.

Mike

He's absolutely improving, and has proven that he deserves a spot in the rotation.

But, you really want your only PG options to be Bradley and Dooling?  

If nothing else, you're completely boned if Bradley gets hurt.

There also aren't too many guys with as young as Bradley and with as few minutes played, that I would trust to be on the court, at the end of a Game 7.  Let's not overwhelm the kid, let's give him a chance to succeed (and I still think he's going to be at his best when they aren't trying to make him into a PG).  

[Jon]

It's intriguing.  The Celtics desperately need a go to scorer and Gasol fits the bill.  He's older, but he also expires when Pierce does in 2014.  So if DA really is not convinced he's going to get a big FA this summer, he might as well consider the deal, make a run this year and next, and then either start from scratch in 2014 or have two huge expiring deals in 2013 to deal.