C's trying to s+t for Josh Smith

[Neurotic Guy]

Not crazy about Josh Smith, but if we get him I hope he plays as long as possible with KG. 

His contract has to be reasonable/tradable.  Rondo and JG are good players with deals that can be traded.  Smith's contract can't be an albatross for 5 years.  If not starting at 12-13M, I bet Ainge would be nervous about adding him.


Shouldn't Smith's salary be below max? -- Is he really good enough to be considered a max guy?

And, how does a player go from 72% to 63% to 52% from the line over the last 3 seasons?

[gpap]

The only argument I could agree with AGAINST signing Smoove is that either Millsap or Al Jeff would be a better acquisition.

That I would agree with as I think Millsap or Jefferson would give us more production in our front court.

But that said, I still wouldn't complain if we landed Smoove.

[Quinn]

Lob city east coast? Looks like Danny's trying to build a fast paced uptempo roster with a still heavy reliance on defense.

[vinnie]

Hope so much this doesn't happen. Although it will be fun watching the low-basketball IQ Smith jacking up threes all year at a 29 percent clip. Good grief.

[Kane3387]

This is what I've been advocating in a lot of larbird33's blow it up threads. Getting trade exceptions and assets to compete if not thus coming season then the one after it.

Acquiring the exceptions is feasible. For examine pierce and kg to Dallas for Marion. Pierce to Cleveland and kg perhaps to SA who has cap space. Nearly 18 mill. In those trades adding lee to Memphis in a salary dump to increase the exception.

Using the exceptions via s+t ala Steve Nash to lakers to acquire for example big al and josh smith. Both guys get deals with 10-12 mill annually. After what I saw Indiana do in the ECF,a core four of rondo, green, smith, and big al surrounded by other assets in the form of Bradley, melo, sullinger, and draft picks would have the ammunition to compete for a title.

Teams like 2004 pistons are becoming the way to build a contender now.

Then why can we find one example in the past 20 years?  (or more)

BC the new CBA just got implemented last year. Teams now have to build with either one or two franchise guys or 3-4 all star caliber guys to compete with the teams with 1-2 superstars.

[Kane3387]

If the Celtics want to rebuild, do not be scared of being bad.  Do not overpay for fringe all-stars.

With Rondo/Green/Smith Core we may as well rename our team the fringe allstars. 


Though it did work out pretty decent for Indy.  They gave miami a run for their money.

Imagine if they had Granger.

[cman88]

Smith Does have pretty bad shot selection...but I guess a question is, can playing with a pass-first PG like rondo change that?

Rondo should be able to get him better shots than he ever could on the Hawks

[danglertx]

Hope so much this doesn't happen. Although it will be fun watching the low-basketball IQ Smith jacking up threes all year at a 29 percent clip. Good grief.

Hire Antonie Walker to coach it... wow that would be like ironic irony.

[sofutomygaha]

If the Celtics want to rebuild, do not be scared of being bad.  Do not overpay for fringe all-stars.

With Rondo/Green/Smith Core we may as well rename our team the fringe allstars. 

Nowhere but on Celticsblog is Jeff Green a fringe all star.

[nickagneta]

Couple of things that seem to be being throwing around here:

San Antonio does not have $18 million in cap space. They could create that much space but to do so would have to renounce just about everyone who is free like Manu, Blair, Neal, Mills and Tiago and would have to give up their draft pick in the first round.

When trading a player for a trade exception you are only allowed to have that player be $100,000 over the value of the exception. So if we are trading a $15.3 million exception(acquired from Cleveland in a trade for Pierce)to Atlanta for Josh Smith, Smith's first year of his contract can be no higher than $15.4 million, which means he's not getting a max contract.

Atlanta does not want any salary coming back as they are in the midst of a massive rebuild. They will want picks.

Smith's max contract is limited to $16.4 mil approx, he'd only be giving up 1 mil in the first year, maybe a total of 5mil overall.  If he wants to play here, I don't see that being enough of a difference to dissuade him.

Tru dat. just letting people know it is not a max contract we are talking about. Some people here that and think $20 million a year.

Smith is probably, IMHO, worth about $12-14 million in today's NBA. There's just not a lot of players out there that can give you 17ppg/8rpg/3.5 apg/2bpg/1.5 spg

Still don't like his game. Way too Antoine Walker in him for my tastes. But having him sure beats sucking really bad for half a decade or more.

[Kane3387]

Smith Does have pretty bad shot selection...but I guess a question is, can playing with a pass-first PG like rondo change that?

Rondo should be able to get him better shots than he ever could on the Hawks

It be interesting. I mean the best PG he ever played with was...?

A "too young" Jeff Teague or a "too old" Mike Bibby?

I can't remember their point guard before Bibby. Maybe Acie Law?

[rondoallaturca]

Tru dat. just letting people know it is not a max contract we are talking about. Some people here that and think $20 million a year.

Smith is probably, IMHO, worth about $12-14 million in today's NBA. There's just not a lot of players out there that can give you 17ppg/8rpg/3.5 apg/2bpg/1.5 spg

Still don't like his game. Way too Antoine Walker in him for my tastes. But having him sure beats sucking really bad for half a decade or more.

This is my problem with Smith. He provides a very unique skillset and his athleticism and potential alone will drive his price up. However, he's just not a smart basketball player and is way too inefficient for my likings. I think you're very correct in that teams will be willing to pay $12-$14M, but I honestly wouldn't pay him anything past $10-11M. It's just not right paying Smith more than guys like Batum.

[rondoallaturca]

In addition, I'd like to remind everybody that Millsap is another PF that can be had this summer, and he will come with a significantly smaller asking price. He doesn't have as much potential than Smith, but he works way harder and is way smarter, and I'd be far more happy seeing Millsap in green than Smith.

[Eddie20]

Tru dat. just letting people know it is not a max contract we are talking about. Some people here that and think $20 million a year.

Smith is probably, IMHO, worth about $12-14 million in today's NBA. There's just not a lot of players out there that can give you 17ppg/8rpg/3.5 apg/2bpg/1.5 spg

Still don't like his game. Way too Antoine Walker in him for my tastes. But having him sure beats sucking really bad for half a decade or more.

This is my problem with Smith. He provides a very unique skillset and his athleticism and potential alone will drive his price up. However, he's just not a smart basketball player and is way too inefficient for my likings. I think you're very correct in that teams will be willing to pay $12-$14M, but I honestly wouldn't pay him anything past $10-11M. It's just not right paying Smith more than guys like Batum.

Not only is Smith a better player, but you mentioned efficiency, yet Batum only shot 42% from the field last year.

[Galeto]

Tru dat. just letting people know it is not a max contract we are talking about. Some people here that and think $20 million a year.

Smith is probably, IMHO, worth about $12-14 million in today's NBA. There's just not a lot of players out there that can give you 17ppg/8rpg/3.5 apg/2bpg/1.5 spg

Still don't like his game. Way too Antoine Walker in him for my tastes. But having him sure beats sucking really bad for half a decade or more.

This is my problem with Smith. He provides a very unique skillset and his athleticism and potential alone will drive his price up. However, he's just not a smart basketball player and is way too inefficient for my likings. I think you're very correct in that teams will be willing to pay $12-$14M, but I honestly wouldn't pay him anything past $10-11M. It's just not right paying Smith more than guys like Batum.

Not only is Smith a better player, but you mentioned efficiency, yet Batum only shot 42% from the field last year.

You're not understanding what efficiency means.  It's not overall field goal percentage.  It encompasses three point attempts, 2 point attempts and free throws.  In other words, it's true shooting percentage.  It's a basic concept.  League average true shooting percentage is 54 percent.  Smith has hit that mark once in his career and been at 50 percent the last two seasons.  That's really bad.  His career true shooting percentage is 51.7; again, that's bad. 

Batum shot only 42 percent from the field but because he took and made so many threes, his efficiency was much higher, to the tune of 56.6 to Smith's 50.  Batum's career TS% is a sparkling 57.3.