The Celtics targeting free agent guards O.J. Mayo or Courtney Lee

[TA9]

Does Mayo's bird rights transfer to Boston in a sign and trade? If so, doesn't that mean we can sign him over the cap like we would have with Ray Allen?

Im pretty sure that we retain his Bird Rights if we get him in a sign and trade with Memphis!

[Evantime34]

Mayo and Terry would be a deadly scoring combo off the bench. I think Courtney Lee would be a better defender and run with Rondo but I think once Avery comes back Mayo is a much better fit for the team.

[JOMVP]

Does Mayo's bird rights transfer to Boston in a sign and trade? If so, doesn't that mean we can sign him over the cap like we would have with Ray Allen?

Im pretty sure that we retain his Bird Rights if we get him in a sign and trade with Memphis!

That's what I thought. For that very reason I believe OJ Mayo is the more likely get because we can sign him to a deal he wants and fit it over the cap, rather than Lee who I believe doesn't have Bird Rights with Houston and would command around the same dollar value.

[JOMVP]

When I mean "deal he wants," I mean pay him more than some other contenders, the deal OJ Mayo wants is a deal no contending team would be able to give him, or want.

I feel like Mayo is the kinda guy who would rather go to a crappy team and get paid rather than play on a contender and get less money.

[j804]

I'm not even getting my hopes up. Is Memphis willing to wheel and deal with us?

It is weird we haven't heard anything about Mayo at all

[Reyquila]

You should take som Waltussin for that cough, mate. It dont sound good.

[17wasEZ]

From Twitter:

Sam Amico ‏@SamAmicoFSO

Mentioned most in NBA calls today: Whether or not Celtics can work out sign-and-trade for OJ Mayo, or perhaps Courtney Lee.


Ainge is working the phones.  Mayo would cap a superb offseason.

Superb offseason?  But the Celtics just lost a big time shooter to the Heat that was in his prime about 2 or 3 years ago and is coming off of another ankle surgery.   

Speaking of which, I wonder if Ray ever entertained the idea of asking for more money from Miami in a sign and trade. Not that Miami would have wanted to help the Celtics, but if Ray really cared about his old teammates, I imagine he could have helped them out by trying to get something in return for his lost services.

Just a thought..........

[Lightskinsmurf]

Mayo doesn't wanna be here LEE does.

[cltc5]

good grief are we getting one of these guys or not?

[anthony83]

Complicated I see the arrival of OJ Mayo, there are still teams that can offer him more money, Mavs, Pacers, Wolves?

But clearly in May would be a reinforcement of high quality for the Celtics.

[clover]

If Lee really wanted to come to Boston he would have accepted the BAE for one year. This guy is looking for money and Timberwolves can offer him that.

I don't agree... he is young, he has a limited window to make the most money he can. I don't believe just b/c you want to play for a team, it means you have to sacrifice your earnings, just to play for that team... it doesn't mean you don't want to play for that team, it just means it isn't your top priority/must a that time. Now, if he is at the end of his career and he says he wants to play for a team offering him more money but goes to a team offering less money, THEN he really didn't want to play for that team in the first place (*cough* Ray *cough*).

I'd think Houston getting told by Orlando absolutely no re: DW may be holding up any S&T they might entertain for Lee.

[gpap]

Would rather have Mayo than Lee. Either way, we need to get signing because Miami is getting better and better and I am getting enormously sick of hearing about "cap space."

[lon3lytoaster]

Mayo doesn't wanna be here LEE does.

It's not that he doesn't want to be here, it's just that he allegedly doesn't care about banners and tradition.

[Neurotic Guy]

It is an incredibly disconcerting thought that this might be David West, redux. 

West would have made a huge difference for us (what a bad decision by him).

[goCeltics]

as covered before on these forums we could pay mayo up to 6-7 easy for a package of dooling\jjj\williams\moore, as long as they timed the free agents signings correctly so they stayed under the tax at the time that they made the trade. However think memphis is tax territory and may be unwilling to take on further cent(moore and williams are non guanterred but dooling and jjj would be). So ainge might need a thrid team with cap space or an exception to take on dooling and jjj, cavs make some sense as they are way under the tax. At the same time c's would need to send memphis a pick(s) to make it worth their while too.

something like

c's get

mayo

cavs get

dooling + jjj + moore + williams

memphis gets

charlotte 2nd rounder + trade exception.
  
might work

The even bigger problem is the hornets will match gordon, so the suns will make a run at mayo and the blazers will match batum so the wolves will make a run at lee. Both teams could more easily offer more as they are under the tax