See through the madness for a moment and it will soon make sense. This is what Ainge is doing...
-He wants to trade at least 2 of the Bass/Lee/Wallace contracts. In exchange he's looking for expirings and hopefully a pick or 2. Even 2nd rounders.
What we all need to understand is that trades do not happen over night. So what Ainge is doing is showcasing those players. Meanwhile, players across the league will start going down with injuries. Example #1 is Tyson Chandler going down last night for 4-6 weeks.
Ainge doesn't need to showcase Hump right now because he doesn't have any intentions of moving Hump right now. And teams will take Hump back either way because he's an expiring contract and useful player. So Hump doesn't need to play up his value the same way Bass/Lee and Wallace do.
Priority 1 is sending Bass/Lee and hopefully Wallace (although I suspect Wallace is stuck here unless they waive him or take back a bad contract)
-Priority 2 is developing young players while losing games. you want to compete, but lose. If that makes sense. this team is built to compete and then lose in the 4th quarter. That's what happens when you don't have a PG, shooters or a guy who can create and make big shots.
So have patience. Bass/Lee/Wallace need to go. At least 2 of them. Ainge wants to get a better handle on the cap situation.
Hump is a big time trade chip. So you keep him and wait for a potential blockbuster at the deadline OR if a team with injuries comes calling you can get a 1st round pick, filler and young player in exchange for Hump believe it or not. He has value.
agree almost completely. TP for the reasoning.
I don't think Wallace can be traded this year without giving assets/taking on worse contracts, not likely he's traded this season. Maybe next, maybe in his last year.
Bass, Lee, Bogans and Humphries will be traded this year. Brandon and Courtney are playing for showcase reasons, while Keith and Kris have value as expiring contracts (anyway, they need to play to show other GMs they're still in good shape and able to help). So we basically are right on schedule in that department.
I don't think Danny will only take on expiring contracts, it would be smart to take on 2-year contracts to maximize return. Those 2-year contracts will be useful in the 2015 trade deadline, allowing the Cs to trade for soon-to-be free agents, while giving us another first round pick. Chicago and OKC are owed protected picks that could help in the future when they become unprotected.
Ideally, a good player on a playoff team is out for the season with a non career threatening injury. Then the Cs could send our vets there to get damaged goods and a first round pick or maybe more. If Andrew Bynum, Amare, Perk or Boozer weren't able to help their team this year and their team wants to win now, they could be targets, and later they could help us to get LaMarcus Aldridge and/or Marc Gasol.
We're tanking, we're developing the kids and we're showcasing Bass, Lee and Crawesome. In the end it all will make sense.