Avery Bradley & Celtics Agree to 4-year, $32 million contract

[LooseCannon]

Okay, someone's going to have to explain to me the logic in resigning Bradley when we drafted Marcus Smart.  I'm confused.

NBA teams give minutes to more than 3 guards, and rookies are often not ready to consistently contribute.

True, but we're not contending, so the idea is to develop the talent we have, and Smart looks NBA ready, at least in terms of his body.  Young might take a bit longer, but they both need to get plenty of minutes - consistent minutes - to grow on the court.

I think they might be allowed to develop on a similar schedule to Kelly Olynyk.  Maybe Smart might get more minutes because of his defense and having fewer players in front of him compared to Olynyk while Young may be brought along slower because of his age and lack of defensive fundamentals.  I don't think Stevens is the sort of coach who believes in force-feeding minutes to young players.

Olynyk ended up averaging 20 minutes over 70 games.  I could see Smart averaging 20-25 mpg and not starting unless Rondo or Bradley is out and Young ending up getting 10-15 and possibly spending some time on assignment to the D-League.

[nickagneta]

the issue with thinking the cap will go up $3+ million every year it that it absolutely will not. yes it will go up again next year by a good amount, but then the owners will opt out of the current CBA after the 2016-17 season.

If one side opts out, it's going to be the players not the owners.  The owners got a rather one-sided deal last time and the players deserve to get back some of what they lost.

yes the owners won big, but NBA players have shown time and again that they are in general bad at saving up money. i could see the owners not opting out, but if the players opt out i think the small market owners, particularly Charlotte and Cleavland, will use that as an excuse to sit out half of a full season. they will wait for the majority of the players to run out of money, at which point the owners have all the leverage. unless the players association can get 75%+ of the players to save up enough money to be able to afford missing a full season of pay they will be taking a major risk opting out and i fully expect it will backfire on them.

One problem in your logic here is that during the lockout the owners were looked at as sympathetic due to  fabulously ridiculous notion that they were losing money. They painted the players as greedy and overpaid. Public opinion was clearly in the owner's corner and that helped more than players hurting financially to end the lockout.

This next work stoppage will be a strike and the owners are going to have to explain how they can possibly be losing money when franchises are selling at record profitable levels that are at levels that make these sales some of the most memorable in sports history. Greedy, scumbags make billions in profits but the players have to get less and less? Don't think that plays well anytime soon.

Public opinion will rear its ugly head once again and the owners will be giving back a good bit of what they just got from the players, if not more.

[PAOBoston]

My initial reaction this morning was ****.

The more I thought about it though, the more it didn't seem like a total mistake. Ainge is paying for future value, not past accomplishments. Bradley is just 23 and has improved almost every year since he's been in the league. This deal will take him into his prime years. Based on his trajectory, he still has some room for improvement. He might be overpaid in year 1 and maybe year 2 of the deal, but it's not out of the realm of possibilities that he's worth his deal by year 3 and maybe underpaid by year 4.  He's already made the 2nd team All NBA Defensive team and shot the 3 pointer at almost 40% last year. Those are pretty solid numbers. And based on what other players like Meeks got in FA, this deal doesnt look as bad. Stephenson will get north of 10 mil+ imo. So maybe it wise wise of Ainge to lock Bradley up before that deal goes through.

And, he's one of our guys. It seems foolish to just not pay someone you drafted and invested 4 years in training/developing to see the player actually make strides and improve every season. It sends a good message to the rest of the team. Work hard, improve, do as your told, and they'll take care of you. I'd rather overpay someone who gets what it means to be a Celtic than some street FA just chasing a payday.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

I'm convinced someone would have signed AB to an offer sheet exceeding what we gave him. I'd rather keep Avery at 4/$32 then lose him for nothing or match a larger offer.

[LooseCannon]

Is anyone surprised that in the poll on the blog front page asking if readers are happy with Bradley's deal, 43% say "Yes!" and 40% say "Yes, but they overpaid"?

I'm not sure how many front page posts in the history of the blog have more comments.  I wonder how this thread ranks among longest basketball threads in this forum that aren't game threads.

[DesertDweller]

I don't know but this looks suspiciously like last year except we have a ton of good front court guys.  what was the one thing we didn't have last year???  all of you that said a rim protector, stand up and take a bow.  but now we have all these above average assets and some great draft picks.
I told you Danny would pull the trigger this year and he will. I'm not sure who will go or who will stay and I don't know how many teams will be involved but when the smoke clears we will be sitting with Kevin Love or maybe someone better and neither Rondo or Bradley will be traded.

[mctyson]

The dude made All-Defensive team (2nd), averaged 15ppg as a 23 year-old, and shot 40% on 3PTs. Everyone is entitled to their theories about how to build a team or which players are worth the money, but the market for Bradley was at *least* a $32M deal.

This.

At 23 years old he is arguably the best on-ball defensive guard in the league.  He can defend both guard positions.  He is very simply a game changing defensive player that every team in the league would want on their roster.

Over a 4-year term, placing him most likely in the prime of his life and career, that type of player is without question worth $8 mil a year - on defense alone.  Add in that he is the best shooter on the team and it's a no-brainer to resign him.

He might be slightly overpaid because of his injury issues, and those that are against this deal because of his injury history have a point.  We can only trust that the Celtics view his problems as incidental.  They have the medical records and the staff evaluating him.  My guess is that Danny and the ownership would not have agreed to this deal if they felt his injury problems could be chronic.  If he is injury prone over the next 4 years then yes - this is a bad signing.

Given his achievements thus far (remember when he missed the playoffs and we claimed THAT was the reason we lost to Miami???) and the fact that he is basically graduating college age-wise, I think the deal is great.

[SHAQATTACK]

Just because another team is foolish enough to sign him at this price,  yes somebody might have , 

But two wrongs don't make a right.

We didn't need him that bad

Should have put the money on a quality player like Hayward or Parsons

Dump Green and Bass

Get a Center.

[DesertDweller]

Just because another team is foolish enough to sign him at this price,  yes somebody might have , 

But two wrongs don't make a right.

We didn't need him that bad

Should have put the money on a quality player like Hayward or Parsons

Dump Green and Bass

Get a Center.

This kid has worked his butt off and has done nothing but improve. I think you will change your mind this year as to his worth.
agree on the center, should have done this last year!!!

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Baxter Holmes @BaxterHolmes
Can confirm that the #Celtics & RFA Avery Bradley have agreed to a deal. Terms: 4-year-deal worth $32 million.

I think 8 million per will be well worth it.

nope. disagree completely. we overpaid. WTH

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

I have mixed feelings on this signing. I like Bradley and will be glad to see him play for the Celtics next year.

However, i mourn the loss of cap space. If the Celtics were to extend Rondo, they cannot afford another max player in 2015.

Here comes the long rebuild. Perhaps that was the most likely course anyway. The Celtics are way short on star talent to use in a big trade.

we need CAP SPACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sketch5]

Does any one think it's weird that DA first came at AB last season with 6M then this season offer the qualifying offer of a little over 3M, and gave in at 8M?

Either DA has some thing planed, if it works out or not, or he's really crappy at negotiating contracts with players....

[D.o.s.]

Does any one think it's weird that DA first came at AB last season with 6M then this season offer the qualifying offer of a little over 3M, and gave in at 8M?

Either DA has some thing planed, if it works out or not, or he's really crappy at negotiating contracts with players....

I think it's already in the thread, but it makes sense to me, especially if you consider that the Qualifying offer was a formality, rather than a legitimate "this is something you should take"

[MBunge]

I have mixed feelings on this signing. I like Bradley and will be glad to see him play for the Celtics next year.

However, i mourn the loss of cap space. If the Celtics were to extend Rondo, they cannot afford another max player in 2015.

Here comes the long rebuild. Perhaps that was the most likely course anyway. The Celtics are way short on star talent to use in a big trade.

we need CAP SPACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cap space is overrated.  I'd bet 10 bucks that if you looked at all the big free agent signings in the last 10 years, cap space is more likely to land a team a Carlos Boozer than a LeBron James.  And with the new rules specifically designed to inhibit superstar FAs from changing teams, cap space is going to be even more overrated from now on.

Mike

[Evantime34]

This article makes me think that by the end of the offseason we will not feel that 4/32 is an overpay.
http://www.basketballinsiders.com/enormous-contracts-are-the-nbas-new-reality/