Let's play a game called "Split up the Cap Space"

[Quetzalcoatl]

Josh Smith is on the books for $13 mil next year, we could S&T Ray and Bass to the Hawks + a pick or something.  Hawks fans aren't too big on Smith right now

WOuld the Hawks rather have Ray ALlen and Bass next year at 13 mil... or Josh Smith for 13 mil?

I guess if you throw in a pick... maybe.  But that comes down to whether Ray ALlen has any interest in playing in Atlanta, I think.

He's expiring so they may want something for him instead of nothing.  Not sure if a year of Allen, Bass and a pick in the 20s is enough to get him but their payroll is $73 million right now.   I was listening to the Hawks announcers a bunch during our playoff series and they made it seem like Josh was out the door soon.

This Hawks blog has an article on him, it seems like he's unhappy with the Hawks' handling of his contract.  He almost certainly isn't signing an extension with them, but the problem is it's because he wants more money. http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2012/05/25/atlanta-hawks-on-josh-smiths-future/

The Hawks posters said the following things in the message board for the article:

1.) I don’t blame Josh for not committing to an extension. Hold this sorry group of owners (ASG) feet to the fire. Can’t blame him for still feeling under appreciated from his first contract negotiations.

2.) Can’t blame Josh for feeling that way. I’d be pretty p-ssed if I was in his position and I saw a scrub like Marvin getting extended and paid more than half of what Josh makes.

3.) Trade him to a Western team. The Hawks will not receive enough back to satisfy Smith’s most devoted fans, but they can get enough to help the team. The goal is always to help the team and not how to satisfy a player who is talented, but not a star.

Etc.  If you look, NONE of them are talking about keeping him, while more than half are saying complimentary things.  The negative comments are all about his offense, but I think it would improve playing with Rondo.  Nobody thinks they'll get proper value for him and everyone thinks they should rebuild. 

[LarBrd33]

Josh Smith is on the books for $13 mil next year, we could S&T Ray and Bass to the Hawks + a pick or something.  Hawks fans aren't too big on Smith right now

WOuld the Hawks rather have Ray ALlen and Bass next year at 13 mil... or Josh Smith for 13 mil?

I guess if you throw in a pick... maybe.  But that comes down to whether Ray ALlen has any interest in playing in Atlanta, I think.

He's expiring so they may want something for him instead of nothing.  Not sure if a year of Allen, Bass and a pick in the 20s is enough to get him but their payroll is $73 million right now.   I was listening to the Hawks announcers a bunch during our playoff series and they made it seem like Josh was out the door soon.

This Hawks blog has an article on him, it seems like he's unhappy with the Hawks' handling of his contract.  He almost certainly isn't signing an extension with them, but the problem is it's because he wants more money. http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2012/05/25/atlanta-hawks-on-josh-smiths-future/

The Hawks posters said the following things in the message board for the article:

1.) I don’t blame Josh for not committing to an extension. Hold this sorry group of owners (ASG) feet to the fire. Can’t blame him for still feeling under appreciated from his first contract negotiations.

2.) Can’t blame Josh for feeling that way. I’d be pretty p-ssed if I was in his position and I saw a scrub like Marvin getting extended and paid more than half of what Josh makes.

3.) Trade him to a Western team. The Hawks will not receive enough back to satisfy Smith’s most devoted fans, but they can get enough to help the team. The goal is always to help the team and not how to satisfy a player who is talented, but not a star.

Etc.  If you look, NONE of them are talking about keeping him, while more than half are saying complimentary things.  The negative comments are all about his offense, but I think it would improve playing with Rondo.  Nobody thinks they'll get proper value for him and everyone thinks they should rebuild. 

Ray isnt going to play in Atlanta.  He wants to win titles.  Maybe we can sign and trade Jeff green instead since we supposedly own his bird rights still

[chambers]

I'm going to detail where this 25 million can be spent later when I have some spare time.
To me people are really overspending in KG and Green in these mythical budgets.
I haven't heard it from the horse's mouth, but I really doubt KG is interested in playing for other teams. Why Jeff Green gets more coming off heart surgery and a role as a mediocre 6th man doesn't make sense either.
A title is worth more to KG than any money, do we honestly think he'll ask more than 5-6 million if it means we have another 6-7 million on a championship core player?
I can't see how Green goes for more than 4 million during his recovery/ prove it season.
I'd throw an extra 5-6 million in for a landry/odom/Ben Gordon type because of this. In fact if they both went for 10 million combined + 5 for bass we are looking at 9-10 million left to play with.

[Melanie5]

absolutely

[eugen]

I'm going to detail where this 25 million can be spent later when I have some spare time.
To me people are really overspending in KG and Green in these mythical budgets.
I haven't heard it from the horse's mouth, but I really doubt KG is interested in playing for other teams. Why Jeff Green gets more coming off heart surgery and a role as a mediocre 6th man doesn't make sense either.
A title is worth more to KG than any money, do we honestly think he'll ask more than 5-6 million if it means we have another 6-7 million on a championship core player?
I can't see how Green goes for more than 4 million during his recovery/ prove it season.
I'd throw an extra 5-6 million in for a landry/odom/Ben Gordon type because of this. In fact if they both went for 10 million combined + 5 for bass we are looking at 9-10 million left to play with.

Following your logic, seems to me that Cs have a chance to land Howard

[Chief]

Ok. I trade both picks for Ariza and Okafor. I sign KG for 3 years 8 million. I use the room exception on Andre Miller.


Rondo
Bradley-Wade Stopper
Pierce
Okafor-Bosh Stopper
KG

Miller
Ariza -Lebron Stopper
JJJ
Steamer


I fill out my roster with D-league players or vets willing to play for league minimum.

Ryan Hollins

Etwan Moore

Haddadi

Thabeet

Posey

[LooseCannon]

I've come to the conclusion that if the Celtics re-sign KG and renounce players to free up cap space to sign a free agent, the Celtics bench will be significantly worse next season unless Ainge drafts some awesome rookies.  If Ainge drafts some awesome rookies, I'd rather use Bird rights to bring players back and have the full MLE and the LLE to work with.

[BballTim]

Source?

I follow him on twitter...he himself said he was a restricted FA.  Though I guess he could be misinformed.

Peter May today said he was unrestricted.  It's a weird situation, because I think we extended him a qualifying offer 1 year contract and then after we learned about his heart issue we pulled it...   Whether he is restricted or not isn't really my concern... whether we have his bird rights matters, though.

Here we go.  Found this from January:

The Boston Celtics gave Jeff Green an unexpected gift. Green is out with his heart condition for the season, but he still managed to make the news as Boston withdrew their qualifying offer to the young power forward. The move now means that next season Green is an unrestricted free agent free to sign with any team of his choosing.
...

Before anyone thinks this is the end of Jeff Green in Boston there is a very important fact to remember. The Celtics still own Bird Rights on Green. This means they can pay out more money than anyone else and over the cap to retain his services.

So ... what that actually means is that we can say "the heck" with any of the mythical cap space, resign KG to whatever he wants, resign Ray to whatever he wants, resign Bass to whatever he wants, resign Jeff Green to whatever he wants, keep our two 1st rounders, offer the MLE to someone (Pietrus?) .... and march into next season with a slightly better team than the one we just had.

Anyone think they can create a better team by utilizing mythical cap space?

  It's hard to say without having any idea of who's available, but I'd be tempted to bring back KG/Pietrus/Wilcox/Green and maybe Steimsma and then either bring back Bass and Ray or see if I could sign and trade them for something. If you look at our playoff team, assuming you bring back Bass, KG will be a year older, but could be more effective with fewer minutes with a decent(ish) backup. Pierce will be older but hopefully healthier so that's a wash. Throw in a healthy Green and Wilcox and a healthy Bradley with another year's experience as a starter and you're looking at a team that's on the level with the Heat.

[The Walker Wiggle]

So ... what that actually means is that we can say "the heck" with any of the mythical cap space, resign KG to whatever he wants, resign Ray to whatever he wants, resign Bass to whatever he wants, resign Jeff Green to whatever he wants, keep our two 1st rounders, offer the MLE to someone (Pietrus?) .... and march into next season with a slightly better team than the one we just had.

Anyone think they can create a better team by utilizing mythical cap space?

No, that's the clearest route to the top and the one that I want the front office to take. Well except spending the MLE on Pietrus. (Apologies Peaches.) But I've got a real concern that Ainge will over think this. The free agent market has never been his strong suit.

[droopdog7]

Ok. I trade both picks for Ariza and Okafor. I sign KG for 3 years 8 million. I use the room exception on Andre Miller.


Rondo
Bradley-Wade Stopper
Pierce
Okafor-Bosh Stopper
KG

Miller
Ariza -Lebron Stopper
JJJ
Steamer


I fill out my roster with D-league players or vets willing to play for league minimum.

Ryan Hollins

Etwan Moore

Haddadi

Thabeet

Posey

Sign kg for three years 8 mil total?  No way in the world that happens.  I agree with an earlier post.  If we want kg back, it will cost us much more than some think.  I think 8 mil per year is about the minimum it would cost. 

Basically, if we want to resign kg, then forget about any cap space.  Also, I say resign green and let bass walk.

[Edgar]

No Bass or Pietrus for me and not $9M for J Green.

Ok... so you letting Green walk or are you giving him less than 9? 

I don't think I'd go above $7-7.5M for Green next year.

5

and I agree with the problem being KG performance
he will have a lot of hounds after him

[chambers]

I'm going to detail where this 25 million can be spent later when I have some spare time.
To me people are really overspending in KG and Green in these mythical budgets.
I haven't heard it from the horse's mouth, but I really doubt KG is interested in playing for other teams. Why Jeff Green gets more coming off heart surgery and a role as a mediocre 6th man doesn't make sense either.
A title is worth more to KG than any money, do we honestly think he'll ask more than 5-6 million if it means we have another 6-7 million on a championship core player?
I can't see how Green goes for more than 4 million during his recovery/ prove it season.
I'd throw an extra 5-6 million in for a landry/odom/Ben Gordon type because of this. In fact if they both went for 10 million combined + 5 for bass we are looking at 9-10 million left to play with.

Following your logic, seems to me that Cs have a chance to land Howard

I'm detecting sarcasm but if you'd like to point out the errors in my judgement please do.
If you're being sarcastic then sorry. I don't think we have a chance in hell of signing Howard regardless of capspace.

[mctyson]

I'm going to detail where this 25 million can be spent later when I have some spare time.
To me people are really overspending in KG and Green in these mythical budgets.
I haven't heard it from the horse's mouth, but I really doubt KG is interested in playing for other teams. Why Jeff Green gets more coming off heart surgery and a role as a mediocre 6th man doesn't make sense either.
A title is worth more to KG than any money, do we honestly think he'll ask more than 5-6 million if it means we have another 6-7 million on a championship core player?
I can't see how Green goes for more than 4 million during his recovery/ prove it season.
I'd throw an extra 5-6 million in for a landry/odom/Ben Gordon type because of this. In fact if they both went for 10 million combined + 5 for bass we are looking at 9-10 million left to play with.

KG made $20 Million last season, arguably his most productive season in Boston, definitely his most valuable season.  Under no circumstances is a guy who has been signed to max contracts his entire life taking a 75% pay cut for a "chance to win a title."  The Celtics don't guarantee him that next year, anymore than a dozen other teams in the league would have that chance if KG joined their team.

Jeff Green is 26 years old and, if he is cleared medically, should have zero problems recovering his old form.  No reconstructions of any tendons, ligaments, or cartilage.  Someone will want him for more than $4M.

[mctyson]

Ray isnt going to play in Atlanta.  He wants to win titles.  Maybe we can sign and trade Jeff green instead since we supposedly own his bird rights still

This is actually an intriguing option.  Our major trade chips are Rondo, Bradley, the 2 draft picks, JJJ/Moore....and Jeff Green.

Of those, we have to keep Rondo and Bradley.  The rest are expendable. 

If Atlanta was willing to do a Josh Smith trade for our 2 1st rounders and Jeff Green (and whatever else makes the salary work) that is something I would definitely take a long look at if I am Danny.

I know some people feel Josh Smith is not worth the risk, but he is an exceptional defensive player that gives us everything we lack right now - power, speed, athleticism, leaping ability at the 3/4. 

If we could pull that off and bring back KG, we could have the following starting 5:

Rondo
Bradley
Pierce
Smith
KG

That's the best defensive team in the NBA, and we are Finals contenders again.

[Chief]

Ok. I trade both picks for Ariza and Okafor. I sign KG for 3 years 8 million. I use the room exception on Andre Miller.


Rondo
Bradley-Wade Stopper
Pierce
Okafor-Bosh Stopper
KG

Miller
Ariza -Lebron Stopper
JJJ
Steamer


I fill out my roster with D-league players or vets willing to play for league minimum.

Ryan Hollins

Etwan Moore

Haddadi

Thabeet

Posey

Sign kg for three years 8 mil total?  No way in the world that happens.  I agree with an earlier post.  If we want kg back, it will cost us much more than some think.  I think 8 mil per year is about the minimum it would cost.  

Basically, if we want to resign kg, then forget about any cap space.  Also, I say resign green and let bass walk.

No, 8 million a yr for 3 years.

But I just noticed something. Make it 8 million a year for two more years ($16 million). Now Paul, Ariza, KG, and Okafor would expire together. Tons of money off the books when Wade, Lebron, and Bosh become free agents again.

Face it, Okafor and Ariza are probably far better than anything you coud draft in the early 20s. Plus, if we did bring in two rookies, would they play?