Jeff Green - what were our other options?

[Jeff]

sorry if I'm late to the party on this, but I'm just thinking through some of the "Jeff Green is overpaid" comments and I come to one logical question: what else could we do?

1) you could go back to Danny's decision to release his Bird Rights - in theory we could have signed-and-traded him this offseason - but for what return?

2) we could just let him walk to the highest bidder - but then we've got to spend up to the cap to use the MLE - I guess if you save the $9M you could have just given that money to Terry and be short of the cap, but then you don't get Green or the use of the MLE

3) you could play hardball with Green's agent and try to limit him to another 1 year deal - or a 2 year deal with team options - but then you run the risk of losing him - see option 2

what other options were there?

(again, I'm sure some of you covered this ground on the front page, I'm just going train-of-thought here)

[clover]

Yep.  Danny's already been doing this for a long time, and he knows the cost that can come from diddling when the alternatives are problematic.

And Falk is the best agent in the business--he knows when there's such great situational value to the C's as well.

Still, of course, this only fits with Danny also thinking Green will be worth his contract in the long run, and if turns out to have Pierce's replacement for the next decade all lined up, $9M is a bargain.

[the_Bird]

I don't think Danny had many options, which is why it ended up being such a rich contract.  Danny knew that he needed to replace Ray Allen (Ray was never coming back), so he had to make an aggressive push for JET, so the MLE was gone (once KG came back, any thoughts of cap space went out the window).  If you look at the roster for pieces you might use in a S&T to get a SF back....  there isn't much, either in talent or in dollars (if you assume AB, Rondo, and Pierce are staying).  It's JJJ, basically, Sean Williams' non-guaranteed contract, and not much else; hard to make the dollars work if you're trying to trade for someone making ~$6M.   

They couldn't use Bass in a dual S&T because we need him.

And, they NEEDED a young SF to absorb some of Pierce's minutes, ideally someone who could give depth at the 4.

So, I don't see how Danny had many options other than to essentially acquiesce to Green's contract demands.  If it wasn't Green, it was going to be scrambling for retreads like Rashard Lewis or T-Mac; as much as I think Green's overpaid, I also think there's a major dropoff between what he brings to the club versus the guys we could get on vet-min deals or with the BAE.  

[Who]

Grant Hill with the BAE

[the_Bird]

Grant Hill with the BAE

I know he's been healthy, but do you trust Grant Hill be be able to absorb the beating of a full season?  Our fortunes still rise and fall to a large extent with having a healthy, reasonably-rested Pierce in the playoffs.  Green, for all his flaws, can do enough to keep Pierce on the bench, more than I would trust Grant Hill to do at this stage of his career.  

[Interceptor]

The only thing that I don't like about JG's contract, is the fourth year. This would be assuaged if the fourth year was a team option. But as far as whether the money itself is worth it, at this point I trust Danny's scouting instincts, because frankly he has been destroying people in the draft. If he thinks JG is a player, I'm on board.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Grant Hill with the BAE

That's really not an alternative. We signed Green, we still have the BAE at our disposal to pursue Grant Hill, of course if he is interested at all in playing again.

[wdleehi]

What other team was bidding for Green?


Did the contract have to be 9 million to use the MLE?  



If the team had to get to a certain level, resign Dooling as well.  



Green the player is not the issue.  


I just do not understand why the contract is so high and so long.  

[the_Bird]

The BAE is probably being targeted towards a big, either Stiemsma or one of the leftover seven footers.  Do we need to use that to re-sign Chris Wilcox?

[the_Bird]

What other team was bidding for Green?


Did the contract have to be 9 million to use the MLE?  



If the team had to get to a certain level, resign Dooling as well.  



Green the player is not the issue.  


I just do not understand why the contract is so high and so long.  

'Cause Green's agent had Danny by the balls.  If Green signed for $5M somewhere else, the C's were going to be in trouble - they didn't really have another way of bringing in a young, athletic wing.

[coco]

I am glad we locked him up for the next 4 years.

He might be overpayed if you use him as a 4 and expect him to bang, guard bigs and be a leading rebounder, but if you use him as a 3...the price is right.

He is so good as a 3.  There are only 3 other 3s in the game with a compatible package of height, strenght and skills.  Durant, Melo and LeBron.  PP is already on the downside and so having a succesor locked in makes sense.  As long as Doc complies and plays him at the 3, the price is right.  Even a steal....

[wdleehi]

What other team was bidding for Green?


Did the contract have to be 9 million to use the MLE?  



If the team had to get to a certain level, resign Dooling as well.  



Green the player is not the issue.  


I just do not understand why the contract is so high and so long.  

'Cause Green's agent had Danny by the balls.  If Green signed for $5M somewhere else, the C's were going to be in trouble - they didn't really have another way of bringing in a young, athletic wing.

Who was offering 5?


And if the best offer out there is 5, why wouldn't 6 million not be better?

[Fan from VT]

There were a few options:

1. The MLE is now 4 years 20-22 million max. So why not go with 3 yrs 18 million or 4 years 26 million or so. Why 4 years 36? Who was giving him that? There were about 4 teams that could offer him more then the full MLE, and most of them are Cheap (Sac, Phoenix) or have players already there (Indiana) and are dysfunctional (Charlotte). So it really seems that they bid against themselves; if he didn't stay he most likely would have had to sttle at 5 million per years, so why offer 9 instead of 6-7? Weird, not smart.

2. Let him walk, then just do the best you can to piece the roster together. Green gives you slightly sub-average all around production for 35 minutes, so get two slightly sub-average players for 2-3 million each who can play 17 minutes each. Pietrus, T-Mac, Hill, Vlad Rad, Gerald Green, CJ Miles, Sam Young, etc.

3. Explore S+T's, see if you could get some more impactful pieces back from another team that really likes him but was over the cap and couldn't really bid on him...and if there weren't those teams, then what drove the bidding so high over the MLE?

[Fan from VT]

What other team was bidding for Green?


Did the contract have to be 9 million to use the MLE?  



If the team had to get to a certain level, resign Dooling as well.  



Green the player is not the issue.  


I just do not understand why the contract is so high and so long.  

'Cause Green's agent had Danny by the balls.  If Green signed for $5M somewhere else, the C's were going to be in trouble - they didn't really have another way of bringing in a young, athletic wing.

Who was offering 5?


And if the best offer out there is 5, why wouldn't 6 million not be better?

That's what's weird. THere are a lot of numbers between 5 and 9

[wdleehi]

What other team was bidding for Green?


Did the contract have to be 9 million to use the MLE?  



If the team had to get to a certain level, resign Dooling as well.  



Green the player is not the issue.  


I just do not understand why the contract is so high and so long.  

'Cause Green's agent had Danny by the balls.  If Green signed for $5M somewhere else, the C's were going to be in trouble - they didn't really have another way of bringing in a young, athletic wing.

Who was offering 5?


And if the best offer out there is 5, why wouldn't 6 million not be better?

That's what's weird. THere are a lot of numbers between 5 and 9

That is where I am stuck.  I haven't heard about another option.



The only thing I can think of is Ainge wants Green for trading purposes.