To the Celtics for lavishing Jeff Green with a four-year, $32 million deal in what could only be considered a "thanks for not taking it personally last year when we dropped you right before you had heart surgery so we could save $18 million in salary plus tax money" gesture. If you think of Green's contract as a five-year, $32 million deal (including last season), it's a little more palatable. (Thinking.) You're right, it's probably not.
Putting that contract in the context of a bigger picture, it makes more sense — the Celtics extended their relevance for three years by bringing back their nucleus (Rondo, Pierce, Garnett, Bass and Bradley), flipping Allen for Terry (a smart move because Terry thrives off the bench), then adding Green, stealing Courtney Lee (a hijacking!) and adding two rookie bigs (Sullinger and Melo). (Hold on, I'm shifting to the "we" tense like I'm on the team.) We hosted Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, with a chance to go to the Finals, and it didn't happen because one of the best 12 or 13 players submitted one of the single most spectacular playoff performances in the history of the league. Why not run it back and see what happens? Besides, what was the alternative … "creating" cap space to make a run at a free agent who never would have actually signed with us? Come on. If you're close enough to sniff the trophy, you keep going for it. Period.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8182319/game-nba-thrones-part-ii
Topic: bill simmons on the celtics off season so far (Read 5044 times)