What two max contract guys would you replace Pierce and KG with this offseason?

[pearljammer10]

However for funs sake...

Josh Smith would be without question my number 1 choice.

Chris Paul would be number 2 and I would pair him together in the back court with Rondo just because.

[Evantime34]

I think if KG and Pierce retire we can get Smith for under a max salary ($15 MM maybe?). My problem with that is if we add him I see us being a late playoff seed like Atlanta for a while. I probably wouldn't go after him unless we can clear more cap space to sign someone else (Pekovic please!) by shedding the salaries of Terry, Bass and potentially Lee.

Even though with just KG and Pierce retiring we only have about $10 MM in cap space (assuming we don't have to pay any of Pierce's guaranteed money via amnesty), if we could trade Bass and Terry to a team with a trade exception/a team under the cap we could clear another $11 MM. Then maybe we give up Courtney Lee to Minnesota as part of a sign and trade to get Pekovic.

In other words to sign one elite player and another very good player we would have to part with Bass, Terry and Lee (and that is assuming other teams would allow us to shed their salaries).

Here is another though because we obviously need a center (if KG retires), how much money would you guys give to Bynum? I would sign him to a one year max offer if he appeared to be healthy and go from there. If he is healthy we could compete, if not then we probably wouldn't be good and would get a high draft pick in a stacked year.

[pearljammer10]

I think if KG and Pierce retire we can get Smith for under a max salary ($15 MM maybe?). My problem with that is if we add him I see us being a late playoff seed like Atlanta for a while. I probably wouldn't go after him unless we can clear more cap space to sign someone else (Pekovic please!) by shedding the salaries of Terry, Bass and potentially Lee.

Even though with just KG and Pierce retiring we only have about $10 MM in cap space (assuming we don't have to pay any of Pierce's guaranteed money via amnesty), if we could trade Bass and Terry to a team with a trade exception/a team under the cap we could clear another $11 MM. Then maybe we give up Courtney Lee to Minnesota as part of a sign and trade to get Pekovic.

In other words to sign one elite player and another very good player we would have to part with Bass, Terry and Lee (and that is assuming other teams would allow us to shed their salaries).

Here is another though because we obviously need a center (if KG retires), how much money would you guys give to Bynum? I would sign him to a one year max offer if he appeared to be healthy and go from there. If he is healthy we could compete, if not then we probably wouldn't be good and would get a high draft pick in a stacked year.

I would make Bynum pay us to play here. Stay away, no thank you.

[green7]

if we let kg and pierce go i want a defensive championship squad.

Tony Allen,barbosa or pargoni, etc and trade bass,lee,crawford on draft night

used the 2011 mavs method

[Monkhouse]

I just have a feeling J-Smoove will come here..

How many times and years has rumors of J-Smoove coming here happened?

[gpap]

Chris Paul and Dwight Howard

[timobusa]

So if Pierce and KG are both gone (retire) I'm assuming both their contracts come off the books. Another option is trading Pierce as an expiring one year deal.

So if we could clear the cap room for Pierce and KG..(almost two max players or over 25 million), which free agents or realistic trade targets would you go after? Both must be acquired by all star deadline 2015

I've felt a decent option may be moving Pierce for Eric Gordon, and getting Josh Smith or Paul Millsap as a free agent.(sign and trade with Bass when Pierce and KG are gone).

Rondo
Eric Gordon
Jeff Green
Josh Smith or Paul Millsap
Stretch big

Gordon gives us that scoring punch but also stretches the floor like Harden.

I do admit that Gordon and Smith could lead us to a very disappointing few seasons given injury and attitude concerns.
But they could potentially give us a contender if we got the right role players off the bench and a defensive center.
Perhaps a better scoring PF like Millsap instead of Smith? Millsap would be cheaper and get us more points, just not as much defensive impact.

If we could work it to achieve two max guys, who would you go after that's a realistic possibility?
Even if its not 100 percent doable this year, who would you take over the next two seasons?

Nah I'd rather have a real Big. One who gets rebounds and blocks shots and defends the paint.
I'm getting tired of the stretch big. KG is the best stretch big, dont get me wrong, but its time for a real presence down the paint..

[Lucky17]

So if Pierce and KG are both gone (retire) I'm assuming both their contracts come off the books. Another option is trading Pierce as an expiring one year deal.

So if we could clear the cap room for Pierce and KG..(almost two max players or over 25 million) . . .

Unfortunately, even if somehow Pierce's and Garnett's guaranteed money were to count as zero against the Celtics' payroll next year, they are still looking at around $49 million in committed salaries -- not even enough for one free agent on a max contract.

http://data.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/celtics.jsp

Edit: or, what fantankerous said a few posts ago.

[slamtheking]

So if Pierce and KG are both gone (retire) I'm assuming both their contracts come off the books. Another option is trading Pierce as an expiring one year deal.

So if we could clear the cap room for Pierce and KG..(almost two max players or over 25 million) . . .

Unfortunately, even if somehow Pierce's and Garnett's guaranteed money were to count as zero against the Celtics' payroll next year, they are still looking at around $49 million in committed salaries -- not even enough for one free agent on a max contract.

http://data.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/celtics.jsp

Edit: or, what fantankerous said a few posts ago.

This is where my earlier suggestion comes in.  sign 1-year stopgap players, preferably smaller contracts to drop the payroll level for the following year and move the now-expiring deals of Bass/JET/Lee if at all possible.

go for the 2014 FA class instead

[Lucky17]

So if Pierce and KG are both gone (retire) I'm assuming both their contracts come off the books. Another option is trading Pierce as an expiring one year deal.

So if we could clear the cap room for Pierce and KG..(almost two max players or over 25 million) . . .

Unfortunately, even if somehow Pierce's and Garnett's guaranteed money were to count as zero against the Celtics' payroll next year, they are still looking at around $49 million in committed salaries -- not even enough for one free agent on a max contract.

http://data.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/celtics.jsp

Edit: or, what fantankerous said a few posts ago.

This is where my earlier suggestion comes in.  sign 1-year stopgap players, preferably smaller contracts to drop the payroll level for the following year and move the now-expiring deals of Bass/JET/Lee if at all possible.

go for the 2014 FA class instead

I agree. And I think this has been Ainge's plan for the last few years.

The Lee deal seemed like a break from that plan, though. I think I'd like to see him dealt for an expiring contract this offseason, if possible (Luke Ridnour?).

[PhoSita]

It's not possible, but if I could add two max contract free agents this off-season, I'd definitely go with Chris Paul and Dwight Howard.

Hey, if we're dreaming, we're dreaming, right?  Nobody else is worth a max contract this off-season.

[rondohondo]

I could be totally wrong , but I can swear that I remember reading that the c's could restructure a few contracts ( Maybe Bass and Terry?) so that they get less money on the front end of their contracts , and just have them be back loaded for the last year of their contract.


If this is how it works , maybe we would be able to offer a max next year ?

anyone else know anything about this ?

[Lucky17]

I could be totally wrong , but I can swear that I remember reading that the c's could restructure a few contracts ( Maybe Bass and Terry?) so that they get less money on the front end of their contracts , and just have them be back loaded for the last year of their contract.


If this is how it works , maybe we would be able to offer a max next year ?

anyone else know anything about this ?

You can only restructure contracts that are at least four years in length, and only after those current contracts are at least three years old (e.g., three years after the initial signing date).

www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q59

Under these criteria, I believe the only contracts that could potentially be restructured belong to Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo. However:

Only teams under the cap can renegotiate a contract, and the salary in the then-current season can be increased only to the extent that the team has room under the cap (and cannot increase the player's salary beyond the maximum salary). A renegotiation can only be used to provide a salary increase -- players can't take a "pay cut" in order to create more cap room for the team.

[Evantime34]

I could be totally wrong , but I can swear that I remember reading that the c's could restructure a few contracts ( Maybe Bass and Terry?) so that they get less money on the front end of their contracts , and just have them be back loaded for the last year of their contract.


If this is how it works , maybe we would be able to offer a max next year ?

anyone else know anything about this ?

You can only restructure contracts that are at least four years in length, and only after those current contracts are at least three years old (e.g., three years after the initial signing date).

www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q59

Under these criteria, I believe the only contracts that could potentially be restructured belong to Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo. However:

Only teams under the cap can renegotiate a contract, and the salary in the then-current season can be increased only to the extent that the team has room under the cap (and cannot increase the player's salary beyond the maximum salary). A renegotiation can only be used to provide a salary increase -- players can't take a "pay cut" in order to create more cap room for the team.

Roy made a fan post about how we could stretch Bass and Terry out over several years taking some of their money for this year off the books but giving us dead money in the future. (couldn't find the link though).

Either way I think we could get a team with a trade exception/cap room to take Bass or Terry.

[Lucky17]

I could be totally wrong , but I can swear that I remember reading that the c's could restructure a few contracts ( Maybe Bass and Terry?) so that they get less money on the front end of their contracts , and just have them be back loaded for the last year of their contract.


If this is how it works , maybe we would be able to offer a max next year ?

anyone else know anything about this ?

You can only restructure contracts that are at least four years in length, and only after those current contracts are at least three years old (e.g., three years after the initial signing date).

www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q59

Under these criteria, I believe the only contracts that could potentially be restructured belong to Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo. However:

Only teams under the cap can renegotiate a contract, and the salary in the then-current season can be increased only to the extent that the team has room under the cap (and cannot increase the player's salary beyond the maximum salary). A renegotiation can only be used to provide a salary increase -- players can't take a "pay cut" in order to create more cap room for the team.

Roy made a fan post about how we could stretch Bass and Terry out over several years taking some of their money for this year off the books but giving us dead money in the future. (couldn't find the link though).

Either way I think we could get a team with a trade exception/cap room to take Bass or Terry.

Stretch provision is used when a player is waived/bought out.

www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q63