Simmon's Love and Melo to the Celtics Scenario

[gpap]

I have even convinced myself that the C's could possibly make the deal without including their own lottery pick this year.

Probably not, because this is one of those situations where the team giving up the all-star will want to get the "best" assets you have. I believe the original KG deal still had Big Al and the number 5 pick we eventually traded for Allen in it.

We essentially paid a lesser price later for KG simply because we couldn't send anything else (except Rondo who we smartly kept)

If we have a lottery pick this year, any deal for Love starts with that pick + Sullinger.

Yup, and thus as I now see we likely don't make the playoffs and are in the lottery, I have sadly embraced the tank However, if our pick helps get an all-star however, it would've been worth it

[Chris]

I have even convinced myself that the C's could possibly make the deal without including their own lottery pick this year.

Probably not, because this is one of those situations where the team giving up the all-star will want to get the "best" assets you have. I believe the original KG deal still had Big Al and the number 5 pick we eventually traded for Allen in it.

We essentially paid a lesser price later for KG simply because we couldn't send anything else (except Rondo who we smartly kept)

If we have a lottery pick this year, any deal for Love starts with that pick + Sullinger.

You're probably right.  But it depends how hard Love pushes and how desperate Minnesota gets.

Of course, it also comes down to whether a team like the Lakers would put their lottery pick on the table. 

[badshar]

I have even convinced myself that the C's could possibly make the deal without including their own lottery pick this year.

Probably not, because this is one of those situations where the team giving up the all-star will want to get the "best" assets you have. I believe the original KG deal still had Big Al and the number 5 pick we eventually traded for Allen in it.

We essentially paid a lesser price later for KG simply because we couldn't send anything else (except Rondo who we smartly kept)

If we have a lottery pick this year, any deal for Love starts with that pick + Sullinger.

Or our friend Kevin McHale decided not to take to help us out

[badshar]

High seed in the East? likely

Championship team (or the makings of)? Not unless you add some serious defense at C and SG. If we were to somehow end up with KLove, I want no part of Melo. Not for the $$ he'd be asking for.

Would I complain if this was to happen? No, because the C's would at least be contenders again. I just don't see how a SF and PF with little defensive talents or defensive effort translate to a title.

I highly doubt he will ask for all that money when he is given the option of winning or getting money, considering what he has had to go through this season.

[Interceptor]

I highly doubt he will ask for all that money when he is given the option of winning or getting money, considering what he has had to go through this season.

He said so himself, in fact, during ASW, that he'd take a pay cut if it meant putting himself in a position to win. LBJ (another guy who "took a pay cut" to win) even gave him props for it.

[badshar]

Assuming we get Love and Melo and pair them with Rondo, we might still need another star if we want to legitimately contend.

[kozlodoev]

Let me say this again, in case you missed it last time. NO. MELO. Kthxbye.

Why not?

I mean I highly doubt Melo ever ends up in green, but why would you not want him on the Celtics?

He's an offensive all-star.

There is nothing about Carmelo Anthony's game, attitude or personality that I like or that will make me want him on my team.

[Interceptor]

^ Not even his shooting? I hate Marshmelo's attitude too, but he's having a ridiculous year.

[The One]

That threesome would be great.  Trading Rondo for Kyrie would be a dream come true.

Irving - Melo - Love...AMAZING!

[KGs Knee]

Let me say this again, in case you missed it last time. NO. MELO. Kthxbye.

Why not?

I mean I highly doubt Melo ever ends up in green, but why would you not want him on the Celtics?

He's an offensive all-star.

There is nothing about Carmelo Anthony's game, attitude or personality that I like or that will make me want him on my team.

So you don't like elite basketball players?

Interesting...


I'd love to have Melo on the Celtics, I happen to like elite basketball players.

[Boris Badenov]

Let me say this again, in case you missed it last time. NO. MELO. Kthxbye.

Why not?

I mean I highly doubt Melo ever ends up in green, but why would you not want him on the Celtics?

He's an offensive all-star.

There is nothing about Carmelo Anthony's game, attitude or personality that I like or that will make me want him on my team.

I'd be inclined to agree with you on the attitude front, but I think it's fair to say that Paul Pierce had some similar baggage at one point.

I'm not saying that I know for sure that Melo could change if he were in a better environment, but I think it's possible.

Honestly the one thing I've seen about him that is most concerning is his late-game performance. I don't trust his judgment or killer instinct in those situations.

Beyond that concern his overall performance this year, in a very difficult environment, has been nothing short of spectacular.

[ebrick0340]

Without saying whether I'd be either for or against trying to acquire these other two guys, let's look at potential deals that would work, see how palatable it would be for both Minnesota and New York, and then look below at how the Celtics could fill out the roster with solid MLE or vet min players to compliment their new star triumvirate.

For the sake of discussion, let's assume that the Celtics pick falls in the 4-6 range and the ATL/BKN pick falls in the 15-17 range.

For Minnesota, is #5/#16/Sullinger/Clippers 2015 #1 enough to get their attention?

For NY, is Green/Bass (exp)/Bogans (fully un-guaranteed)/Nets 2016, 2018 & Right to swap w/them in 2017 enough?

Obviously this cashes in pretty much all of our prime chips but that could be Ainge's preference instead of rolling the dice on the draft and so many young guys. Celtics would still have their own picks each year to find other role players, and would have the MLE/vet min to add a defensive-minded center & shooting guard (Bradley is gone in this scenario because they can't pay everyone), which would be very important. We've already seen how much easier it is to find solid role players once you have a contending core in place, though, so it could be done.

How would the roster look after this?

PG: Rondo
SG: FA (see below)
SF: C. Anthony
PF: Love
C:  Faverani or FA (see below)

Existing bench:

Olynyk
Wallace
Faverani
J. Anthony

Reasonable defensive-minded SG FAs:

Sefolosha/S. Brown (Not much depth here so they may have to explore minor trades to fill the SG role. I'm ignoring FAs like Ray Allen (obviously!  ), Nick Young and Vince Carter because they are all defensive liabilities.

Reasonable C FAs (again, thinking defense):

Gortat (would MLE be enough?)/Okafor/Oden/Lavoy Allen

As for the other backups, this summer's market is flooded with potentially cheap veteran point guards & small forwards so neither should be hard positions to fill.

FA PGs:

Stuckey/Chalmers/M.Williams/Livingston/Sessions/Hinrich/D.Harris

FA SFs:

Marion/Pierce(would love to see him retire here a champion)/Kirilenko/Granger/Ariza/C.Butler/Battier/M.Williams/R.Jefferson

Anyway, thanks for reading (whoever does  ).

[gpap]

That threesome would be great.  Trading Rondo for Kyrie would be a dream come true.

Irving - Melo - Love...AMAZING!

If Danny could pull this off, I would name my first son after him (lol.)

[wayupnorth]

That threesome would be great.  Trading Rondo for Kyrie would be a dream come true.

Irving - Melo - Love...AMAZING!

Irving - Melo - Love is significantly worse than Rondo - Melo - Love.

[D.o.s.]

I'm coming around to the idea that Irving is Marbury 2.0

Marbury was probably better, actually. At least to that point in their respective careers.