If KG and Pierce want another round, would you let them?

[WeMadeIt17]

Of course. But if your going to do it you have to get help that fits.

[Atzar]

I'd prefer to trade Pierce and Garnett for young assets, if possible.

You go into next year with Jeff Green and a recovering Rajon Rondo as the focal points.  The main goal would be to develop talent and establish trade value.

In a perfect world, the team overachieves as Rondo proves that he's healthy and Jeff Green puts up the inflated numbers that come from being The Guy in an offense.  Sullinger and Bradley would need to take steps forward on offense.  Perhaps Williams and Crawford prove their maturity and worth as NBA-caliber players.  You'd also have a draft pick, assets from the KG/Pierce trades, and the slim odds that Fab Melo becomes useful. 

You obviously don't have a contender with that setup.  Just as obviously, it's not ALL going to go the way we hope.  But with just a little luck, you head into the trade deadline or the 2014 offseason with a pile of young assets who draw heavy interest from other teams.  That was how we eventually landed Garnett and Allen. 

[WeMadeIt17]

I think Danny tries to move the young pieces he has for cap or pieces. We'll see but this off-season is going to be very interesting.

[Mr Green]

KG has another season in him, and he is welcome back in my opinion for as long as he wants to be a Celtic. Kareem played until he was 40 so KG still has some legs under him. Danny will need to find a big who can defend, rebound and hopefully post up to reduce his minutes.

Paul could play next season also but he really needs to start coming off the bench as the sixth man.

[WeMadeIt17]

If KG plays next year it can't be at the Center. He would need a banger at the 5. Sully could spell KG A LOT, and give him rest till the playoffs.

[Atzar]

I think Danny tries to move the young pieces he has for cap or pieces. We'll see but this off-season is going to be very interesting.

For the most part, I think the young pieces will stay with Boston (unless they're part of some Pierce/KG deal).  Rondo needs to prove he's healthy.  Ditto Sullinger.  I don't think Bradley has great value after an underwhelming series against New York.  Lee really killed his trade value this year as well.  Jeff Green has looked worth his contract lately, but he could become even more interesting with a good offseason and a large role in the offense next year. 

With the possible exception of Bass, all of these guys have deflated value as trade assets right now.  So keep them and let them reestablish that value next year. 

[Fred Roberts]

Of course! Both are still weapons. Not what they used to be, but weapons nonetheless.

Paul really needs to take a pay cut and restructure. He isn't getting that $15M anywhere else so Danny kinda has the juice right now. I'm talking $8M per year over 2 years to match KG, then done. Take it or you both get packaged and shipped. If they really want to stay, money shouldn't be an issue. They both know they need more help around them .. . and they both don't want to play elsewhere.

They like each other, they like Rondo, Jeff, Avery (and probably Sully). That's 6 guys. Danny can tweak the rest of the roster as needed to bring in better PG and C help. I like T-Will. Keep him. That's 7. Danny needs to get craft with the rest of it.

[WeMadeIt17]

I think Danny tries to move the young pieces he has for cap or pieces. We'll see but this off-season is going to be very interesting.

For the most part, I think the young pieces will stay with Boston (unless they're part of some Pierce/KG deal).  Rondo needs to prove he's healthy.  Ditto Sullinger.  I don't think Bradley has great value after an underwhelming series against New York.  Lee really killed his trade value this year as well.  Jeff Green has looked worth his contract lately, but he could become even more interesting with a good offseason and a large role in the offense next year. 

With the possible exception of Bass, all of these guys have deflated value as trade assets right now.  So keep them and let them reestablish that value next year.

This is true. But if you package say this years draft pick with some of those guys, then it helps a little. I think Bass has some value as well. But we'll see very tough spot this franchise is in right now.

[Lucky17]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/227508/KG-Not-Ready-To-Make-Decision-On-Future

"One of the big reasons I came here was because of Paul," Garnett said. "Obviously, you want to be in the situation where it's better. I want to make sure that I'm always able to help a team and be in a position to give something. I demand a lot of myself, both physically and from a skill level. I'd be lying to you all if I said Paul didn't play into that factor. It's just too soon of a conversation for me right now."

[Kuberski1]

If given a 5% chance at a championship, or 5% at a top 3 pick, I'll take the former. I'd rather the team fail at winning than fail at losing.

Beutifully said.

If they both want to come back, then they both think they can make a run at it together again. And I will trust their judgement.

This.

It takes both skill and luck to win a ring, with luck basically meaning few or no injuries.  We haven't had much luck the past few years, and this all but sealed our fate (and note it's primarily the young guys who have been hurt, not the older guys).   If KG/Paul stay, and we did manage to have our full roster for next year's POs, we'd have a chance, however slim - and that's worth rooting for.

[gpap]

No. The way I feel right now is we are at a crossroads.

We can either start from scratch with a deep draft and free agent class coming up in 2014 or continue to bring back the same team and get bounced in round 1, every season.

I think the best option is try to unload as much salary as possible, tank next year and go into 2014 summer with a lottery pick and salary cap space to sign a couple big names.

Better to get really bad before getting really good again instead of being a 500 average basketball team, year in and year out.

[PhoSita]

I'd do everything I could to negotiate with them and other teams (contenders) find a suitable trade option so they can end their careers on a team competing for a title.

[Atzar]

I think Danny tries to move the young pieces he has for cap or pieces. We'll see but this off-season is going to be very interesting.

For the most part, I think the young pieces will stay with Boston (unless they're part of some Pierce/KG deal).  Rondo needs to prove he's healthy.  Ditto Sullinger.  I don't think Bradley has great value after an underwhelming series against New York.  Lee really killed his trade value this year as well.  Jeff Green has looked worth his contract lately, but he could become even more interesting with a good offseason and a large role in the offense next year. 

With the possible exception of Bass, all of these guys have deflated value as trade assets right now.  So keep them and let them reestablish that value next year.

This is true. But if you package say this years draft pick with some of those guys, then it helps a little. I think Bass has some value as well. But we'll see very tough spot this franchise is in right now.

Agree that Bass could help somebody.  But I think our current situation could be a lot worse.  Aside from Pierce, Garnett and Terry, our team is actually pretty young and filled with talented players on fair contracts.  We've been a dark horse contender for the past couple of years, but Ainge has sneakily built up some young, interesting talent on this roster at the same time. 

[KGs Knee]

I would bring them back because I just can not see us getting anything in return for them that we can't get closer to the trade deadline.

Bring them back, add a legit big to play next to KG, and go from there.  If by mid-season it looks bad, then move them and whoever else necessary to get well enough under the cap for summer 2014 to be a major player in free-agency.

Building through the draft is a crappy option, and should only be used as a last resort.

[crimson_stallion]

Absolutely.

If you don't think they are the players they used to be, then you can always offer them a reduced role - and it's up to them whether or not they accept.

These guys are all-time greats and proven winners who can undoubtedly contribute to a team.  Retooling and keeping Pierce/KG don't necessarilly need to be mutually exclusive.

Either way I sure as hell would not tank / rebuild.  We have too much talent and trade bait on this roster to go into tanking mode.  If you want to make major changes then you retool - keep your key pieces, ditch the pieces that aren't performing, shake things up a bit, and I think that's what will happen regardless of whether or not Pierce and KG return.

First think I'd do is hold on to the guys who have performed well in this playoff series because you already know you can trust these guys on the big stage.  Brandon Bass, Jeff Green, Jason Terry, Terrence Williams.

Then you bring back Avery Bradley because even though he struggled this post season, it wasn't his fault - he strugled because he was forced to play out of position.  He proved in last years playoffs that he can be a major contributer on the big stage, and his performance tonight was insiring.

Next, obviously, you bring back Rajon Rondo.  He may be questional in the regular season, but in the playoffs he is a superstar.

Next you bring back Jared Sullinger - after only a couple of months as a pro he was making a huge impact on this team on both ends of the floor, and he's the dominant rebounder and hustle guy that we desperately need.

So this gives us the following starting lineup:

C - [To be decided]
PF - Brandon Bass
SF - Jeff Green
SG - Avery Bradley
PG - Rajon Rondo

Plus the following bench:
F - Jared Sullinger
G/F - Terrence Williams
G - Jason Terry

That is already a VERY solid 7 man roster, with a defensvely dominant starting lineup and a very solid bench.

Now you just need to fill another 5 or 6 spots. To do this you have trade chips (Crawford, Lee, Fab, Wilcox) along with the $20M that will come off the books when Pierce and KG leave

Use a good portion of that $20M to sign a legitimate starting center - Tiago Splitter, Nikola Pekovic, Al Jefferson.  I've been against Jefferson up until now, but if Pierce and KG go he could be a perfect compliment for Bass up front.

Next you use the remainder of that space to sign a legit  scoring guard - Monta Ellis, Tyreke Evans, OJ Mayo,  JR Smith (much as I dislike him), Jarret Jack, JJ  Redick, Kevin Martin...plenty of capable scorers out there that would fit the team, and some of those would sign for fairly modest money.

Then you use remaining cap space (if any), exceptions and existing trade chips to bring in...

1. A legit backup PG (Jose Calderon, Kirk Heinrich, Jason Kidd, Chris Duhon, Greivis Vasques, Andre Miller, Beno Udrih).

2. A backup Center (Chris Kaman,

3. A backup swingman (Stephen Jackson, Matt Barnes)

Suddenly you have a roster like this (example):

C: Al Jefferson
PF: Brandon Bass
SF: Jeff Green
SG: Avery Bradley
PG: Rajon Rondo
-
C: Chris Kaman
PF: Jared Sullinger
SF: Matt Barnes
SG: Jason Terry
PG: Jarett Jack
PG/SG/SF: Terrence Williams

Then fill out the rest of the roster with vet-min role players and maybe bring back Wilcox and Randolf as end of bench bigs.

Something like the above is not too far fetched, so even if we did lose Pierce and KG there is no reason why we couldn't still be very competitive.