Slow Frontcourt when Asik trade pushes through..

[Yenohb]

If the rumored Asik trade will push through and Humphries leaves through free agency next summer..

Who will guard the Kevin Loves, the Blake Griffins, the Dirk Nowitzkis, the Paul Millsaps of the League?

Sullinger, Olynyk, Faverani and Asik front court won't cut it.. Too slow with regards to on-ball defense IMO..

Your thoughts?

[indeedproceed]

Sullinger can guard Love, as much as anyone can. Millsap is a good comparison IMO. They're similar players in a lot of ways.

Houston ran a Greg Smith-Asik frontcourt to good success last season, and I think a lot of the same principals hold true for us.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

I want to credit the guy who told me this when I was concerned about a Monroe-Sully pairing.

Mahc (I spell it like that) Gasol and Zach Randolph worked well in Memphis. Athleticism is not always THE thing.

[jc3celticsphan]

If the rumored Asik trade will push through and Humphries leaves through free agency next summer..

Who will guard the Kevin Loves, the Blake Griffins, the Dirk Nowitzkis, the Paul Millsaps of the League?

Sullinger, Olynyk, Faverani and Asik front court won't cut it.. Too slow with regards to on-ball defense IMO..

Your thoughts?

if asik can guard aldridge im not worried hes got some quick feet

[crimson_stallion]

If the rumored Asik trade will push through and Humphries leaves through free agency next summer..

Who will guard the Kevin Loves, the Blake Griffins, the Dirk Nowitzkis, the Paul Millsaps of the League?

Sullinger, Olynyk, Faverani and Asik front court won't cut it.. Too slow with regards to on-ball defense IMO..

Your thoughts?

We have two or three first round picks in the 2014 draft along with $25M in expiring contracts (Hump, Bogans, Crawford, Brooks) that we could use to potentially sign a max contract star AND a very good support player.

Plus Asik becomes a $15M expiring contract next year, so we could easilly trade him out along with a couple of picks for a very good starter.

We are in a position that we have not been in since the Big 3 era - we have a lot of future assets and cap flexibility.  We might be in the best 'bargaining' position of any team in the league right now. 

We'll be fine.

[crimson_stallion]

I want to credit the guy who told me this when I was concerned about a Monroe-Sully pairing.

Mahc (I spell it like that) Gasol and Zach Randolph worked well in Memphis. Athleticism is not always THE thing.

Please don't tell me you are comparing Marc Gasol with Omer Asik in terms of talent...

Gasol and Randolf worked well together because both are exceptinally good players and borderline All-Stars.  Asik is nothing even remotely close to that.

[pokeKingCurtis]

*IF we get Asik. But I hope it happens.



You can have all the foot speed in the world, but the ball moves faster than the man. Sully and Olynyk play fantastic positional defense. Sully especially.

The fact that we're talking about bigs makes quickness even less of an issue.

Won't say there won't be no problems but I'd be willing to bet there won't be too many problems.



One thing that would suck, though, IF we lose Bass is how we can't cheat defending Melo and LeBron. We currently, essentially, have 2 guys defending the SF when we play Bass. Switches and mismatches are a lot harder with Bass, from what I've seen.

I think I'll miss that a lot and I think Brad may miss that too. Of course, Bass and Lee being great guys, I'll naturally miss their personalities too.

[celticslove]

we fine when we had the old-slow shaq so i guess asik will do more good than harm to our team.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

If the rumored Asik trade will push through and Humphries leaves through free agency next summer..

Who will guard the Kevin Loves, the Blake Griffins, the Dirk Nowitzkis, the Paul Millsaps of the League?

Sullinger, Olynyk, Faverani and Asik front court won't cut it.. Too slow with regards to on-ball defense IMO..

Your thoughts?

so how do you know that deal goes through? it has already been turned down. we are not going to overpay for that guy.

[saltlover]

If the rumored Asik trade will push through and Humphries leaves through free agency next summer..

Who will guard the Kevin Loves, the Blake Griffins, the Dirk Nowitzkis, the Paul Millsaps of the League?

Sullinger, Olynyk, Faverani and Asik front court won't cut it.. Too slow with regards to on-ball defense IMO..

Your thoughts?

We have two or three first round picks in the 2014 draft along with $25M in expiring contracts (Hump, Bogans, Crawford, Brooks) that we could use to potentially sign a max contract star AND a very good support player.

Plus Asik becomes a $15M expiring contract next year, so we could easilly trade him out along with a couple of picks for a very good starter.

We are in a position that we have not been in since the Big 3 era - we have a lot of future assets and cap flexibility.  We might be in the best 'bargaining' position of any team in the league right now. 

We'll be fine.

I'm not trying to be rude, but I've corrected you at least once on this in another thread -- that is NOT how the C's salary cap situation looks.  At all.

Assuming that no trades are made, the Celtics have about $9 million of cap room after cap holds for their draft picks next year, assuming that their picks are around their current slot, and that the cap jumps to $62 million as currently projected.  If they want to re-sign Bradley, he will eat up most of that, and the C's will be left with the MLE, which is $5.305 million next year.  They do have the trade exception from Pierce, which they can use in a sign-and-trade, but sign-and-trades require the other team's cooperation, and cannot be counted on.

There is no max player coming next year.  There certainly is no max player and another free agent.  There might be someone at $10 million (less than half of a max contract) and someone at the MLE.  There might be someone at $8-9 million and no Avery Bradley.  Our cap situation isn't terrible, but we are very much over the cap this year, and some players get raises for next year, so that eats up a lot of the value in the expiring contracts.

Also, Asik's cap value, as has been explained on every other page of that 40 page thread, is $8.374 million this year and next yen lower than his salary next year.  The $15 million he's set to make is important to the people writing the Celtics (or the Rockets) checks, but is not important when it comes to the salary cap. He's not a giant expiring contract next year.  He's not a cap albatross next year.  His cap hit will be about $1 million less than Jeff Green's.

If the Asik deal went through, there might be at the very, very most $13 million of cap room, if we don't keep Bradley or Crawford.  Still, that's not a max player, and if you use that cap space to sign another team's free agent, that means you waive your ability to use the MLE and waive your ability to use the trade exception.

Please stop posting these incorrect statements.  It only creates confusion.  If someone corrects you, take that in.

Thanks.

[Fafnir]

I don't think Asik is slow footed given his size and he knows how to use that size effectively. We're a bit spoiled by having Bass be so quick as our PF, which also has its drawbacks with how small he is. Just a different style of D perhaps that the quickness based one we had with KG/Bass.

I think Sullinger is quick enough for most PFs, anyways if he can't guard that position then we have to figure something out as far as a third big. Because he has similar trouble with the bigger Cs in the league.

[Sketch5]

If DA is going after Asik, then there is an other move in the works, to either get worse of to compete this season.

We all know what getting worse can get us, I really think Parker would look good in green, but there are too many bad teams out there to compete.

So what about getting back into the mix this year. Now it would take an other player to get over the hump, but I think Asik does more good then bad.

Look at what Lopez did to Sully. He just shot over him over and over. It's really the reason why Brooklyn beat us the last game. He would also help with guarding Hibbert, and help keep Lebron and Wade out of the paint, not stop, but at least make them think a little.

It also moves Sully to the PF spot were he will be a force. Pick and pop, and back guys up closer to his size in the paint. He had issues with Drummond last night getting a shot off in the paint, Asik will help that.

I mean being small and fast has helped, but if DA has decided to make a play off run instead of tanking, big is were you want to go in the playoffs. I also think Sully will look faster in the PF spot, and even by the end of the season. The guy is still getting into shape, he looks faster and meaner than he did in the first week of the season.

[CFAN38]

If the rumored Asik trade will push through and Humphries leaves through free agency next summer..

Who will guard the Kevin Loves, the Blake Griffins, the Dirk Nowitzkis, the Paul Millsaps of the League?

Sullinger, Olynyk, Faverani and Asik front court won't cut it.. Too slow with regards to on-ball defense IMO..

Your thoughts?

The same can be said if the proposed Bass and Lee trade is reversed about Lopez, Hibbert and Aldridge. The current Cs dont have the length to match up with these players.

Team defensive principles will alow Sully and Asik to handle the quicker hybrid post players you list above. As other have mentioned Gasol and Randolph are the PF and C on an elite defensive team and neither are any quicker then Asik and Sully.

One thing I will add is that with the likely loss of Humph next season I would expect DA to add a quick 4/3 type player to the big man rotation. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Vitor moved in a trade and Iverson brought over to be the 5th big next year.

[moiso]

As Fafnir said, Asik isn't slow footed.  Last week a poster was arguing that he was slow, unathletic, and floor bound.  I wonder if some people with strong opinions base this purely on physical appearance because when you actually watch him play he is pretty athletic.

Yeah, Sullinger will always be on the slow side, but it has nothing to do with Asik.  Asik is a great compliment to Sully in my opinion.

[Evantime34]

With how Steven's defense is set up (going under screens, instead of blitzing them like Doc did) it is more important that the big men play good position defense than be extremely quick.

Though none are blessed with excellent speed both play great position/help defense. On defense, Asik/Sully would be a very similar pair to Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol.