What do you value more? Cap space or draft picks

[greenpride32]

The only picks worth more than cap space is lottery picks.  You really have little chance of landing a franchise player, or even an impact player outside of the lottery.  At least with cap space you get to chose the players you sign; for the most part you already know what they bring to the table.  Even with lottery picks you never really know who's going to make it and who's going to be bust.

that's not necessarily true. the point is to acquire as many assets as possible. that way you develop them, maybe you'll get lucky and one of them turns out to be really good, or you trade those assets for a more established player. you can have all the capsapce in the world but it wont do you any good if no great fa's dont want to come to boston.

Mid to low draft picks (which is what we have) will not land you anything of value.  Having a bunch of lower picks just means you'll end up with more garbage.  It's certainly possible to get lucky and strike gold with a later pick, but the odds are stacked against you.  Just look at what WAS in the NFL gave up to get the #2 overall pick in the draft.  

[tyrone biggums]

Doc didn't sign an extension to coach a core of Rondo,PP,Okafor picks and role players for the next 3 years.

Plus all the picks are likely to be 15,20 and 25 . Maybe if we are getting a top 10 pick I would , but there is no way NO is giving up their own top 5 picks, it would be Minnys(15ish)

They have bigger plans than this IMO.

um . . yeah . . he signed an extension to coach Rondo, picks, and various other flotsam for the next few years.

this is a rebuilding situation, guys.  ainge and doc don't have some fabulous secret plan to magically convince Dwight that he MUST sign in Boston.

In 2007 zero people thought that the Celtics would be able to grab both Ray Allen and KG. I think we've been harping on DH12 as being the only option without doing a total rebuild. There are other options such as getting a center like Bogut, trading for Josh Smith, etc that could help the Celtics stay in competition with the rest of the league. Granted are those options the absolute best? Maybe...maybe not. But there are other options, so provided this team actually spends the money correctly and doesn't overpay a middle tier free agent maximum money I'll say the cap room is more valuable. They still will have an all star point guard to build around, not to mention Paul Pierce. Overall its really not the worst situation to go to.

[PAOBoston]

The only picks worth more than cap space is lottery picks.  You really have little chance of landing a franchise player, or even an impact player outside of the lottery.  At least with cap space you get to chose the players you sign; for the most part you already know what they bring to the table.  Even with lottery picks you never really know who's going to make it and who's going to be bust.

that's not necessarily true. the point is to acquire as many assets as possible. that way you develop them, maybe you'll get lucky and one of them turns out to be really good, or you trade those assets for a more established player. you can have all the capsapce in the world but it wont do you any good if no great fa's dont want to come to boston.

Mid to low draft picks (which is what we have) will not land you anything of value.  Having a bunch of lower picks just means you'll end up with more garbage.  It's certainly possible to get lucky and strike gold with a later pick, but the odds are stacked against you.  Just look at what WAS in the NFL gave up to get the #2 overall pick in the draft.  

we traded a bunch of mid level draft picks and ended up with kg so i'm not exactly sure where you are coming from.

[KGs Knee]

Ok, so I just checked, and I can't believe I forgot about this.  Okafor has not played since Feb 10th (knee swelling), and has no time table for a return.

Nevermind, we don't need any more injured bigs.

[mctyson]

"@SamAmicoFSO: Cavs will stay in touch w/Hornets however. Hornets said to still be entertaining offers for either of 2 first rounders to dump Okafor deal"

Would you deal Jo, Dooling and Wilcox for Okafor and either Minnesota or No's first? This would be similar to the deal that Cleveland made to acquire Irving last year. Instead of $25 mm this would leave us with $12 mm of cap space (8 if Bass picks up his option. Three firsts in a very good draft would be better for rebuilding than the cap space imo. Also Okafor would be huge for us bringing back a perk like presence.

NO is not giving up draft picks - I don't think the league will let that happen.  I'd be shocked if they approved a trade that only returned expiring deals too.  NO will only take back young, cheap talent and/or draft picks.

[KGs Knee]

"@SamAmicoFSO: Cavs will stay in touch w/Hornets however. Hornets said to still be entertaining offers for either of 2 first rounders to dump Okafor deal"

Would you deal Jo, Dooling and Wilcox for Okafor and either Minnesota or No's first? This would be similar to the deal that Cleveland made to acquire Irving last year. Instead of $25 mm this would leave us with $12 mm of cap space (8 if Bass picks up his option. Three firsts in a very good draft would be better for rebuilding than the cap space imo. Also Okafor would be huge for us bringing back a perk like presence.

NO is not giving up draft picks - I don't think the league will let that happen.  I'd be shocked if they approved a trade that only returned expiring deals too.  NO will only take back young, cheap talent and/or draft picks.

This is probably true.  In reality, New Orleans can just amnesty Okafor if they want his salary off the books (they'd still have to pay him though).  I'm not sure trading away a lottery pick just so they don't have to pay him is worth it for them.

Besides, Okafor is injured right now, so he's of no use to us anyway.

[rondohondo]

"@SamAmicoFSO: Cavs will stay in touch w/Hornets however. Hornets said to still be entertaining offers for either of 2 first rounders to dump Okafor deal"

Would you deal Jo, Dooling and Wilcox for Okafor and either Minnesota or No's first? This would be similar to the deal that Cleveland made to acquire Irving last year. Instead of $25 mm this would leave us with $12 mm of cap space (8 if Bass picks up his option. Three firsts in a very good draft would be better for rebuilding than the cap space imo. Also Okafor would be huge for us bringing back a perk like presence.

NO is not giving up draft picks - I don't think the league will let that happen.  I'd be shocked if they approved a trade that only returned expiring deals too.  NO will only take back young, cheap talent and/or draft picks.

This is probably true.  In reality, New Orleans can just amnesty Okafor if they want his salary off the books (they'd still have to pay him though).  I'm not sure trading away a lottery pick just so they don't have to pay him is worth it for them.

Besides, Okafor is injured right now, so he's of no use to us anyway.

yea just look at what the clippers did last year trading Baron Davis and a draft pick to cleveland for Mo Williams. Guess what happened.....Kyrie Irving

just think of what the Clippers could have done. Instead of trading for cp3 , they could have traded Jordan,Gordon and picks for d12

a core of Howard,Griffin and Irving > CP3,Griffin,Jordan

That's why you don't make trades like these if you are New Orleans .

[Evantime34]

"@SamAmicoFSO: Cavs will stay in touch w/Hornets however. Hornets said to still be entertaining offers for either of 2 first rounders to dump Okafor deal"

Would you deal Jo, Dooling and Wilcox for Okafor and either Minnesota or No's first? This would be similar to the deal that Cleveland made to acquire Irving last year. Instead of $25 mm this would leave us with $12 mm of cap space (8 if Bass picks up his option. Three firsts in a very good draft would be better for rebuilding than the cap space imo. Also Okafor would be huge for us bringing back a perk like presence.

NO is not giving up draft picks - I don't think the league will let that happen.  I'd be shocked if they approved a trade that only returned expiring deals too.  NO will only take back young, cheap talent and/or draft picks.

This is probably true.  In reality, New Orleans can just amnesty Okafor if they want his salary off the books (they'd still have to pay him though).  I'm not sure trading away a lottery pick just so they don't have to pay him is worth it for them.

Besides, Okafor is injured right now, so he's of no use to us anyway.

yea just look at what the clippers did last year trading Baron Davis and a draft pick to cleveland for Mo Williams. Guess what happened.....Kyrie Irving

just think of what the Clippers could have done. Instead of trading for cp3 , they could have traded Jordan,Gordon and picks for d12

a core of Howard,Griffin and Irving > CP3,Griffin,Jordan

That's why you don't make trades like these if you are New Orleans .

I think they are happy with how things turned out to be honest.

[Smokeeye123]

The only picks worth more than cap space is lottery picks.  You really have little chance of landing a franchise player, or even an impact player outside of the lottery.  At least with cap space you get to chose the players you sign; for the most part you already know what they bring to the table.  Even with lottery picks you never really know who's going to make it and who's going to be bust.

that's not necessarily true. the point is to acquire as many assets as possible. that way you develop them, maybe you'll get lucky and one of them turns out to be really good, or you trade those assets for a more established player. you can have all the capsapce in the world but it wont do you any good if no great fa's dont want to come to boston.

Mid to low draft picks (which is what we have) will not land you anything of value.  Having a bunch of lower picks just means you'll end up with more garbage.  It's certainly possible to get lucky and strike gold with a later pick, but the odds are stacked against you.  Just look at what WAS in the NFL gave up to get the #2 overall pick in the draft.  

Horrible analogy, the NFL is COMPLETELY different then the NBA and stud impact players can be picked all through the first couple rounds, and frequently later on, to. Aaron Hernandez was a 4th round pick. Gronk was a second round pick.

[JSD]

So we get Okafor with only 2 and 1/2 years left and two first rounders for cap clearing contracts? Sign me up. We could use Okafor down the stretch and those picks for rebuilding.

It's a win/win

[the_Bird]

The only picks worth more than cap space is lottery picks.  You really have little chance of landing a franchise player, or even an impact player outside of the lottery.  At least with cap space you get to chose the players you sign; for the most part you already know what they bring to the table.  Even with lottery picks you never really know who's going to make it and who's going to be bust.

that's not necessarily true. the point is to acquire as many assets as possible. that way you develop them, maybe you'll get lucky and one of them turns out to be really good, or you trade those assets for a more established player. you can have all the capsapce in the world but it wont do you any good if no great fa's dont want to come to boston.

Mid to low draft picks (which is what we have) will not land you anything of value.  Having a bunch of lower picks just means you'll end up with more garbage.  It's certainly possible to get lucky and strike gold with a later pick, but the odds are stacked against you.  Just look at what WAS in the NFL gave up to get the #2 overall pick in the draft.  

....   there sure seen to be lots of folks on this board who think Marshon Brooks (#25) will be a 10-time All Star....

Whether they're right or not, we've acquired a lot of solid NBA players at around that draft spot.  Delonte, TA, Avery Bradley, Baby Davis early in the second - non All Stars, but a lot of very solid rotation guys.  We've gotten at least as many real contributors rafting around there than pure busts.  

So, I think you look to be acquiring those picks, not throwing them in to pick up veteran guys who aren't making us a title contender this year and who aren't re-signing in the summer.  

At the very least, having a couple of picks might let you do something on draft night; maybe someone you really like starts to slip, and you're able to package them and move up a few slots (would have been nice to have grabbed Danny Granger when he fell).  

[indeedproceed]

So we get Okafor with only 2 and 1/2 years left and two first rounders for cap clearing contracts? Sign me up. We could use Okafor down the stretch and those picks for rebuilding.

It's a win/win

If you think that Dwight Howard isn't happening, it isn't all that bad a place to be in.

[pearljammer10]

Just curious what other's think of this as a potential roster for next season.

C-Okafor
PF-Johnson
SF-Pierce
SG-???
PG-Rondo

Bench
Bradley
Moore
Pick#14 (Minny)
Pick#18 (Bos)
Pick#25 (LAC)

Additionally, we'd have about $10m in cap space if we renounced everyone else.

Haha priceless.

[the_Bird]

So we get Okafor with only 2 and 1/2 years left and two first rounders for cap clearing contracts? Sign me up. We could use Okafor down the stretch and those picks for rebuilding.

It's a win/win

If you think that Dwight Howard isn't happening, it isn't all that bad a place to be in.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again.

The Celtics next star will likely be acquired via draft or via trade, not as a straight free agent signing.

If it's going to be via draft, we need to start stockpiling as many picks as we can.

If it's via trade, we're going to need to start developing some young trade assets, guys like JJJ and Bradley and whoever else we draft.  We need the next Al Jefferson, the next Ryan Gomes, to help get us the next KG.  So, that's going to take a few years, so cap space this summer is probably moot.

So, take Okafor.  He'll help in the transition, so we won't be quite so unwatchably terrible.  In the summer of 2013, hopefully he'll be the next version of Theo Ratliff's Expiring Contract, and we'll be able to pair some of our young talent and some of our acquired draft picks to get someone decent.  

And, worst-case, he fills the biggest need on the team when healthy and he expires when Pierce does.  

If you can get two first rounders for taking him on, I'd do it.  Just one, no (unless it's a REAL good pick).

[JSD]

I cannot fathom this happennig. Lotto picks plus Okafor for nothing would also put us in position to resign KG and Allen for 2 more years for discount deals too.

Okafor (2 years $28 Million Left)
KG (2 years $16 Million Left)
Pierce (2 years $32 Million Left)
Allen (2 years $8 Million Left)
Rondo (3 years $26 Million Left)

Big MLE
Lotto Pick
Lotto Pick
JJ
Avery
Moore

We could compete, prepare youngesters and be major players in 2014