Grand Plan: Houston, Minnesota

[byennie]

Here's my latest scheme:

BOSTON: Asik, Lin, Love, T Jones (draft Marcus Smart and Gary Harris)
HOUSTON: Rondo (and a little more cap room for Melo)
MINNESOTA: Sullinger, Bradley, #25 (from Houston), 2 x future 1st rounders (Boston)

Our new lineup:

Smart (Lin)
Harris (Lin)
Green (T Jones)
Love (Bass)
Asik (Olynyk)

We have strong defenders at 4 spots. Love is our go-to scorer but Smart, Harris and Green can all be 15 ppg players. Lin, T Jones, Bass and Olynyk all scorers off the bench. Four guys still on rookie deals.

[Roy H.]

I think we can get close to that package just by absorbing salary; I don't think there's any need to trade Rondo.

Also, I'm doubtful that Love would re-sign here without Rondo.  He doesn't want to leave Minnesota only to end up in a similar situation.

[Lucky17]

Yep. Just acquire Asik, Lin, and Love using the other assets at Ainge's disposal. Wait until July if necessary.

After July 1:

1. Trade Sullinger, the expiring contracts of Bass and Joel Anthony, and the rights to the players taken at #6 and #17 (on behalf of the Wolves) to Minnesota for Kevin Love.
2. Trade a heavily protected future 1st round pick to Houston for Asik, using the Nets trade exception.
3. Trade the non-guaranteed contracts of Bogans, Babb, and Chris Johnson to Houston for Jeremy Lin.
4. Resign or sign and trade Humphries, Bradley, and Bayless to fill out the rotation.

Rondo/Lin/Pressey
Bradley/Bayless
Green/Wallace
Love/Humphries
Asik/Olynyk/Faverani

Still have the MLE, and multiple 1st rounders, contract filler, and assets to upgrade the rotation.

[KamikazeK]

If that's the plan, get me a new one. 

We don't need to lose Rondo in order to get Love and Asik.

[byennie]

I see where you guys are coming from, but keep in mind that ending up with Terrence Jones, Marcus Smart, Gary Harris AND Love, Asik, Lin could be more valuable than Rondo + Bradley who will require $20M+ to stick around. A Smart / Harris backcourt could be comparable to Rondo / Bradley.

See below - assuming we eventually do something with Wallace and Bass, these are the core players we'd end up with in my deal, versus absorbing Lin+Asik and dealing our picks in a Love deal.

8 players under contract longer for $50.5M or 7 players for $63M and rising with Rondo's free agency.

Smart ($4M) / Lin ($8M)
Harris ($2M)
Green ($9M)
Love ($16M) / Olynyk ($2M) / Jones ($1.5M)
Asik ($8M)
==
Total core (8 players): $50.5M

versus

Rondo ($13M) / Lin ($8M)
Bradley ($7M?)
Green ($9M?)
Love ($16M) / Olynyk ($2M)
Asik ($8M)
==
Total core (7 players): $63M

[byennie]

If not asking enough from Houston, maybe with Parsons in the deal:

IN: Love, T Jones, C Parsons, Smart, Harris
OUT: Rondo, Bradley, Sullinger, 2x future 1st rounders

(Houston gets Rondo; Minnesota gets Sully, Bradley, #25, cap room and multiple future picks)

M Smart / J Lin
G Harris / J Lin
C Parsons / J Green
K Love / T Jones
O Asik / K Olynyk

That's a hell of a young core (Smart, Harris, Parsons, Jones, Olynyk) on top of a Love/Asik front line and two very good 6th men types (Green and Lin).

[LarBrd33]

Sota says nope

Add #6 and #17 and maybe they consider it

[Nef-Oracle]

We're not going to win a championship with this team especially with Love who get injured all the time. It will take 2-3 yrs to Smart & Harris to get to the nba level, Houston won't give Parsons + pics, Lin is not a sg, Asik can't score... You have too many holes in your team guy. Love will walk away for sure.

[byennie]

Smart and Harris will not take 2-3 years to get to NBA level. Smart would have gone #2 last year and gotten full time minutes (like Oladipo). He can start in the NBA right now. Harris you could argue either way, but again, he was a sophomore producing at the highest level in college who is about to be a lottery pick in a stacked draft. He's not a 2-3 year project.

Lin is a combo guard who plays best with the ball in his hands.

Houston would easily move Parsons if they can get Rondo and Melo.

Love is hard to say, but I think that team plays defense and wins 50 games in the east, and we have the money to max out Love's deal and treat him right.

That team has the potential for 2-4 All-Stars in the next few years with good coaching and depth.

[arctic 3.0]

I'd go with:
Trade for love Martin and asik
Sign PP with mle
Resign bayless
Starting line up:
Rondo, Martin, green, love, Asik
Above average D at 1,3 and 5
Offense from 4,3,2
Bench of bayless, pierce, Oly and fav.
Bench isn't deep but we have a quality combo guard, vet leadership, and an emerging offensive weapon in Oly.
Could make second round
Then let Brooklyn's lotto picks start rolling in.

[byennie]

I should add: under this scenario, you can let Lin, Green and Wallace expire, ask Love to pick up his player option, resign Asik, and then go after a max free agent while Smart, Harris, Olynyk are all still on rookie deals. Love can wait to see that we get a max teammate before committing long term.

Imagine Love recruiting Durant to team up in 2016/17?

Smart ($5M)
Harris ($3M)
Durant ($20M F/A)
Love ($17M) / Olynyk ($3M)
Asik ($8M, resigned)
===
$56M

In the meantime, Parsons and Jones could have been resigned and then dealt if necessary to make room, but are assets nonetheless.

[Lucky17]

I should add: under this scenario, you can let Lin, Green and Wallace expire, ask Love to pick up his player option, resign Asik, and then go after a max free agent while Smart, Harris, Olynyk are all still on rookie deals. Love can wait to see that we get a max teammate before committing long term.

You seem to have compressed time in this plan?

Asik and Lin (2014-15) expire the year before Green and Wallace (2015-16) do.

Love can opt out after the 2014-15 season, so he's not necessarily biding his time while we waits for the plan to become apparent. You've basically got one season to convince him to stay, and if you've traded away Rondo to give the keys to a rookie, you're banking an awful lot on Smart making the leap very quickly.

[byennie]

You seem to have compressed time in this plan?

Asik and Lin (2014-15) expire the year before Green and Wallace (2015-16) do.

Love can opt out after the 2014-15 season, so he's not necessarily biding his time while we waits for the plan to become apparent. You've basically got one season to convince him to stay, and if you've traded away Rondo to give the keys to a rookie, you're banking an awful lot on Smart making the leap very quickly.

Love has a player option for $17M in 2015-2016. I don't think it's crazy for Boston to get him to commit to 2 years when the trade goes down. Agree that it's a bigger risk if that's not the case.

Smart is probably around the 5th highest rated PG prospect in the past 9 drafts, who is physically and mentally ready to play. How is he not at least an above average starter very soon as the likely outcome? I see him as one of the safer picks in recent memory.

Let Lin walk, and resign Asik after year 1.
Let Green and Wallace expire after year 2.
Summer after year 2, sign Love plus a max free agent, or have $30M+ to change the plan around the young core.

[Lucky17]

You seem to have compressed time in this plan?

Asik and Lin (2014-15) expire the year before Green and Wallace (2015-16) do.

Love can opt out after the 2014-15 season, so he's not necessarily biding his time while we waits for the plan to become apparent. You've basically got one season to convince him to stay, and if you've traded away Rondo to give the keys to a rookie, you're banking an awful lot on Smart making the leap very quickly.

Love has a player option for $17M in 2015-2016. I don't think it's crazy for Boston to get him to commit to 2 years when the trade goes down. Agree that it's a bigger risk if that's not the case.

Smart is probably around the 5th highest rated PG prospect in the past 9 drafts, who is physically and mentally ready to play. How is he not at least an above average starter very soon as the likely outcome? I see him as one of the safer picks in recent memory.

Let Lin walk, and resign Asik after year 1.
Let Green and Wallace expire after year 2.
Summer after year 2, sign Love plus a max free agent, or have $30M+ to change the plan around the young core.

Re: Love, the whole reason these rumors started is because he told the Wolves he would opt out. Presumably, because the club cannot compete.

I don't see why a season in Boston with two rookies in the starting lineup would make him reevaluate that plan of action. The transition from college to the pros is not an easy one. Smart (and Harris) are going to have to adjust. Frankly, I think that team struggles to play any better than current iterations of the Wolves have.

Put simply, I don't see why Love chooses not to opt out after one year in Boston with those teammates.

The best way to convince Love to resign a long term deal in Boston is to field a competitive team. Replacing Rondo with Smart, IMO, sabotages the club's chances to do that.

[byennie]

Rubio / Martin / Brewer / Love / Pekovic, coach Rick Adelman = 40 wins in West
(bench = Barea, Shved, Cunningham, Budinger...)

Smart / Harris / Green / Love / Asik, coach Brad Stevens
(bench = Parsons, Lin, Olynyk, Bass, Wallace, MLE = Pierce?)

That team is younger, much deeper, better coached, much better defensively, and has more offensive weapons as well. Wouldn't they project as 45-50 wins in the east right away, and a true contender if adding a max guy in 2 years?

The way I see it:

Smart + Lin + Harris > Rubio + Shved + Barea
Green + Parsons >>>>>> Brewer + Budinger
Love + Bass + Olynyk > Love + Cunningham + Turiaf
Asik < Pekovic (but hard to say, opposite skill sets)