Are the Celtics now spending like a mid-market team?

[clover]

Zach Lowe ‏@ZachLowe_SI
Lakers' payroll for '13 currently sitting around $88.2 million for 10 players. Lux tax line at $70M.
Retweeted by Paul Flannery


Wyc used to say they'd be more than willing to spend big money whenever they were contenders--and the C's are supposedly planning on contending next year.

But with the Lakers over $88M for 10 players and the C's not expected to go over $74M in total, is if fair to say that the C's are only willing to spend like a "mid-market" team at best?

[wdleehi]

There is a new luxury tax out there.



Plus (this is a big one), keeping the money down in certain locations allowed the Celtics to use the full MLE vs. the lesser MLE. 

[StartOrien]

No

[Fafnir]

C's staying under the 74 million dollar apron allows them to go out and get Terry in FA. That's the reason they are going to limit themselves to that.

The Celtics are still going to be a leader in payroll in the nba.

[cman88]

We don't get terry if we spend over 74mill

[celtsfan84]

No, that should still put the Celtics pretty high in the spending rankings.  Plus, we have less ways of getting to that huge number, which is partly based off an immense Kobe extension and less reason to so we can sign Jason Terry.

The Lakers are on a plane of their own.  They just signed a $3 billion TV deal.

[Jeff]

if we somehow got our cap figure over the 74M luxury line, then we wouldn't be allowed to use the MLE under the new agreement - so no Jason Terry

[Fafnir]

The Lakers are on a plane of their own.  They just signed a $3 billion TV deal.

The C's are getting a ton of money from their own TV deal. Remember they took a 20% stake in the local network instead of revenue directly like the Lakers. This allows them to make their TV deal look smaller than it is by the amount paid to the team directly for rights.

The Lakers are certainly getting more, but the C's can't complain.

[indeedproceed]

Zach Lowe ‏@ZachLowe_SI
Lakers' payroll for '13 currently sitting around $88.2 million for 10 players. Lux tax line at $70M.
Retweeted by Paul Flannery


Wyc used to say they'd be more than willing to spend big money whenever they were contenders--and the C's are supposedly planning on contending next year.

But with the Lakers over $88M for 10 players and the C's not expected to go over $74M in total, is if fair to say that the C's are only willing to spend like a "mid-market" team at best?

I don't think that's fair to say. I think the Celtics would (because they have) spend as much money as they need to in order to win.

The problem is not that the Celtics are unwilling to spend, its that they're kind of limited under the CBA. They can't go out there and offer big money to Dwight Howard or Deron Williams this year, because Dwight Howard isn't a free agent right now, and Rajon Rondo's under an incredibly favorable contract.

Who else was a better option than Kevin Garnett and Jeff Green? Gerald Wallace? Joe Johnson's cap killing contract?

Actually Joe Johnson on these Celtics sounds like exactly the type of move I'd expect, but that notwithstanding...

I don't think is a matter of 'will they', I think its a matter of 'should they and can they'.

And what they can do, tehy shouldn't and what they should do, they can't. Not this off-season at least.

[clover]

A case could be made that having all the C's main Bird rights players back would be worth more than the additional $2M per on the MLE.

I'd say it's too early to tell if it is.  Would another $1M or $2M bring Ray back--and that be as valuable as Terry right there?  

Will they be able to fit all of Green, Bass and Krstic back?  (I'm not sure that they have full Bird rights on Wilcox, so whether he could fit in there as well.)

Isn't, for example, Ilyasova an UFA?

[wdleehi]

A case could be made that having all the C's main Bird rights players back would be worth more than the additional $2M per on the MLE.

I'd say it's too early to tell if it is.  Would another $1M or $2M bring Ray back--and that be as valuable as Terry right there?  

Will they be able to fit all of Green, Bass and Krstic back?  (I'm not sure that they have full Bird rights on Wilcox, so whether he could fit in there as well.)

They have the room for Bass and Green.  They have the bi-annual exception. 


I don't think Krstic is big on their list.

[Fafnir]

A case could be made that having all the C's main Bird rights players back would be worth more than the additional $2M per on the MLE.

I'd say it's too early to tell if it is.  Would another $1M or $2M bring Ray back--and that be as valuable as Terry right there?  

Will they be able to fit all of Green, Bass and Krstic back?  (I'm not sure that they have full Bird rights on Wilcox, so whether he could fit in there as well.)

Isn't, for example, Ilyasova an UFA?

They have room for Green/Ray/Bass still.

To get Ilyasove they'd have to get rid of two of those player to move their cap holds in all odds.

[TripleOT]

This past season, the Cs had the highest payroll int he league, at $88m, with KG and Allen making $30m, plus dead weight deals like Sheed's, and Shaq's taking up over $6m, JO at $6m, Wilcox at $3m.  

Around 20% of last year's payroll was dead money.  If the Cs retain Allen, at $74m they'll have Allen and KG back for half what they  made last year.  That savings will allow them to afford Terry and Green.  The dead money is gone, and that's the difference between the bloated $88m payroll and this season's $74m tab.

With a lousy arena deal and only fair local TV revenue, the Celtics' ownership should be thanked by every fan for their willingness to spend big money year after year.  

[mctyson]

The Knicks spend money like a big-market team every year.  Look what that has brought them.

[indeedproceed]

A case could be made that having all the C's main Bird rights players back would be worth more than the additional $2M per on the MLE.

I'd say it's too early to tell if it is.  Would another $1M or $2M bring Ray back--and that be as valuable as Terry right there?  

Will they be able to fit all of Green, Bass and Krstic back?  (I'm not sure that they have full Bird rights on Wilcox, so whether he could fit in there as well.)

Isn't, for example, Ilyasova an UFA?

Illy is a UFA, but spending money poorly is WAYYY worse for a team than not spending it at all. And the money it would likely take to steal him away from Milwaukee (5 yrs, 50 million, or so) is just such a huge risk to take.