Brandon Bass staying (per Bulpett)

[celticinorlando]

i think green has his deal in place...this has allowed danny to see what he has left to work with...just interested to see what happens if 1. ray walks 2. how much they have left to fill out the bench with pietrus, etc

[snively]

I'm very happy to have Bass back, especially at the numbers being talked about.

However, if we're gonna start KG at the 5, Bass at the 4 and Pierce at the 3, Doc absolutely MUST do something schematically to address the rebounding issue.  KG is very good but no longer dominant on the boards, Bass is a below average rebounder and age is starting to affect Pierce on the boards.

Mike

The hope is the some combination of Sullinger/Melo/FA big can come in and crash the boards.

[Mr October]

I'm very happy to have Bass back, especially at the numbers being talked about.

However, if we're gonna start KG at the 5, Bass at the 4 and Pierce at the 3, Doc absolutely MUST do something schematically to address the rebounding issue.  KG is very good but no longer dominant on the boards, Bass is a below average rebounder and age is starting to affect Pierce on the boards.

Mike

The hope is the some combination of Sullinger/Melo/FA big can come in and crash the boards.

Yup. I hope the rookies come ready to play. They'll be needed, especially if 1 or 2 bigs go down with an injury.

[celticinorlando]

would like to see JJJ contribute...not expecting it...think melo will board and play D..I know sully will....

still think we need a LEGIT center somewhere (Nads, Steamer)

[LooseCannon]

I suspect Ainge gave more per year to keep the contract at three years instead of four.  I think that a fair value would be something along the lines of a top ten sixth man.  A random team would have gotten more value giving Bass a full MLE contract with plans to start him than giving a similar contract to someone like Nick Young.

[WeMadeIt17]

Trade Moore and JJJ as a part of a package for a Center or something. If not I am ok with this as well but would be great if we could give NO something like JJJ Moore and a protected 1st rounder or even 2 second rounders for Kaman, and a increased salary that we couldn't have given him in FA. Would be a great lineup!

Rondo/Terry
Bradley/Allen (Hopefully!)
Pierce/Green/Pietrus
KG/Bass/Sully
Kaman/Melo/Sully

That would give KG much needed rest, Help in the rebounding department with Kaman, and we would have a very good bench something like this is streches.

Terry
Allen
Green
Sully
Melo

OR

Terry
Allen
Pietrus
Green
Sully

[LEHGOCELTICS]

Financially must signal that Ray must be gone...

Why, we had the Ray offer out there while we were pursuing Bass and Terry.  All of this has been explained.

The real concern now should be Jeff Green.  If he gets a big offer we cannot beat it and still use the MLE on Terry, I think.

I think we have a Green deal essentially in place.  We've also got some wiggle room under the $74 million hard cap right now.

OK, that's what I hoped but because we hadn't heard anything I was skeptical.

So now, excluding Allen and the Stiemer Q.O., it's basically the BAE and vet mins, correct?

Yeah, essentially.  We've got some free agents we can give a 20% raise to, and if we whiff on Ray, we have Krstic's Bird rights.  Basically, though, it's sign Ray, find a backup big or two, and maybe bring back Pietrus.

Where are we at approximately cap wise? Better yet, if we improve the offer to Ray, by about a million per, how much would we able to offer Krstic?

Hard to say, the figure for Jeff Green hasn't been given out by anyone.

I think that means our offer is conditional on how much "room" we have under 74 million.

What are we at now after the Bass signing?

[Surferdad]

Am I the only one not really happy with this?  Bass is a pretty good offensive player but his lack of defense KILLED us in the Miami series and in many situations throughout the playoffs.  I don't have a problem with him coming back if his role is significantly diminished to a 15-20 minute per night guy but we need guys who can guard the 3-4. At this point, who guards LBJ in the playoffs?  I sure hope it isn't Bass...

Watch the 4th quarter of game 7 of that Miami series.  Bass let Lebron get past him EVERY time down the court.  I was screaming at my TV that whole quarter to get this guy off the court - he is a liability.  

Not really all that happy either.  Bass is a good jump shooter but he is questionable as a defender and rebounder.  I would have taken him back for 3 yrs/$10M but it seems we gave him double that.

[RebusRankin]

Glad to have him back.

[cman88]

I thought Bass was one of our most consistent players last year...the thing is we ARENT getting a better big out there with what we have to offer....keep KG at the 5 and have Sullinger backup bass

[celticinorlando]

listen...boston is going to defend miami totally different this time around...there won't be a need for a double on Wade b/c bradley can handle him...boston will have PP. Green and Pietrus (hoping) to throw at lebron....You will have bass on whatever scrub center the heat start and KG on bosh...from there...sully and melo will protect the rim...

[Surferdad]

I thought once they had Bass on Lebron the defense played better. But that's why they need Green too - so they can play Green at PF if Miami goes small. Lebron hit that super deep three after some great D by Bass, and in game 6 Lebron was just a joke of on the money.

So team depth chart is looking like:

KG
Bass / Sully
Pierce / Green
AB /
Rondo / Terry

Would be real nice to add Ray and Camby to that.

If they do that, I will feel a lot better about throwing $20M at Bass.  It must be slim Pickens when you give that kind of dough for a backup PF who doesn't rebound.

[action781]

Go celtics!!!! 

Loving this offseason and our prospects for next season so far!

[cltc5]

If we can get the same officiating next year that the Heat got this year I like our chances. Did Stern ever say who's turn it was next year?

My guess is OKC

[Mr October]

I thought once they had Bass on Lebron the defense played better. But that's why they need Green too - so they can play Green at PF if Miami goes small. Lebron hit that super deep three after some great D by Bass, and in game 6 Lebron was just a joke of on the money.

So team depth chart is looking like:

KG
Bass / Sully
Pierce / Green
AB /
Rondo / Terry

Would be real nice to add Ray and Camby to that.

If they do that, I will feel a lot better about throwing $20M at Bass.  It must be slim Pickens when you give that kind of dough for a backup PF who doesn't rebound.

It is slim pickings out there for MLE level bigs and lower. If not Bass (and losing Terry), you'd be looking at Jamison, KMart, Diaw, or Camby (who the C's only had about a 15% chance of signing). Not good.