Where would you go with the rebuild from here?

[number_n9ne]

Danny has tons of assets and multiple ways to go. But what direction would you take?

I think I'd try and trade for a star and use him to sign a second star. Build with young talent surrounding them. If Lopez goes to OKC and they still end up missing the playoffs, I can see OKC getting worried about their future with Durant's impending FA. I'd try and trade Bradley, Olynyk and the 2016 Nets pick, plus additional picks from the stash to pick up Westbrook. With Westbrook here I'd then look to sign someone with our mass amount of cap space... Someone like his good buddy Kevin Love. I'd like to keep the 2015 C's pick and hopefully pick up a pretty dominant center. I'd be happy with WCS, the kid is going to be an elite defensive center. We could then head into the 2015-16 season with a starting 5 of Westbrook/Smart/Crowder/KLove/WCS. Having two All-Star caliber players surrounded by a defensive minded set of young players would be an ideal situation in my opinion. Still tons of assets, room to grow, and picks to keep surrounding our core with young cheap talent.

Obviously this is all my opinion and a long shot, but what would you want to see happen?

[slamtheking]

until the Rondo trade, I was certain Danny was going to make his big moves this coming offseason. 

At this point, I think this offseason will primarily consist of:
- letting any players left on the roster with expiring deals just expire.  Bass or Thornton as examples if they're not traded.
- Drafting BPA with the C's and Clips picks in this draft.  probably try to move that Clips pick a little higher by trading that pick and a couple of second rounders IF he sees someone he really likes that won't drop to the Clips slot but will only require leapfrogging 3-4 picks to get that player.  I think he retains that Sixers second this year no matter what based on the position and that it's not a guaranteed salary.  I wouldn't be surprised if he took a flyer on a Harrison twin.
- determine which vets may be obtainable next season before the deadline and what the cost will be.  this is where I see Wallace becoming a good trade chip to match salaries in a deal.   that's the kind of contract you need when getting a well-paid player without having to ship out a lot of young players on small deals.    The Love deal this past season seems expensive considering how much his production is down and how good Wiggins is starting to look.  Hoping that's not the bar for future trades for all stars
- evaluate the value of those Nets picks in the next 3 drafts as well as the C's own picks to see which might be worth holding on to and which may be better to trade if the right deal comes around.

[Q_FBE]

Go after Kevin Durant at the end of next season and try to pair him with Kevin Love to add to our current core of players. Also, we should consider recruiting Lebron James should he opt out. We have a good leadership structure in place with our owner, our GM, and our coach so I am much more hopeful than I was 20 years ago with ML Carr, Rich Pond, and Paul Thanksdad Ga$ton. 

[CFAN38]

until the Rondo trade, I was certain Danny was going to make his big moves this coming offseason. 

At this point, I think this offseason will primarily consist of:
- letting any players left on the roster with expiring deals just expire.  Bass or Thornton as examples if they're not traded.
- Drafting BPA with the C's and Clips picks in this draft.  probably try to move that Clips pick a little higher by trading that pick and a couple of second rounders IF he sees someone he really likes that won't drop to the Clips slot but will only require leapfrogging 3-4 picks to get that player.  I think he retains that Sixers second this year no matter what based on the position and that it's not a guaranteed salary.  I wouldn't be surprised if he took a flyer on a Harrison twin.
- determine which vets may be obtainable next season before the deadline and what the cost will be.  this is where I see Wallace becoming a good trade chip to match salaries in a deal.   that's the kind of contract you need when getting a well-paid player without having to ship out a lot of young players on small deals.    The Love deal this past season seems expensive considering how much his production is down and how good Wiggins is starting to look.  Hoping that's not the bar for future trades for all stars
- evaluate the value of those Nets picks in the next 3 drafts as well as the C's own picks to see which might be worth holding on to and which may be better to trade if the right deal comes around.

I agree on all points. The only big moves I could see happening is if a young guy is available using the large TPE, or if a team needs to be bailed out of cap problems and the Cs use the big TPE (and are compensated for it). Other then that I think we will see the same group of young guys next season just with more youth added from the draft.

[Evantime34]

1. Keep what we currently have for the rest of the season and go into next year with cap space.
2. Use cap space and picks to make a sign and trade offer of either Jimmy Butler or Kawhi Leonard
3. Draft WCS with our first pick, then have a young defensive minded core of Smart, Bradley, Butler/Leonard, Sully/Olynyk, WCS to build around.

[hpantazo]

Use some of our assets to open up enough cap space this summer to offer max deals to Butler and Gasol. Then use the remaining assets to put pieces around them.

[manl_lui]

hopefully we get lucky, grab a #1 pick, and then sign/trade most of the other assets for another star long term.

[BitterJim]

My ideal (and not very likely) scenario would be to get a top pick (#1 would make it easiest) and make a package around it to get DMC from the Kings.  Then, use some remaining assets to get Favors from Utah (hopefully while keeping Smart and either our 2016 pick or the Nets)

At that point, I would try to improve the SF spot, but waiting until 2016 FA may be the best way to do that

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

I'm not seeing how we can S&T for a guy like Jimmy Butler or Kahwi Leonard, and still have a high enough pick to get a player like WCS.

[Csfan1984]

I'd draft S.Johnson and trade up from Clippers pick to get D.Johnson. Also perhaps keep Thornton at 5 or 6 million like him as a shooter and still young. Keep Crowder at 3millionish.

Keep development going
Smart/Turner/Pressey
Young/AB/Thornton
Crowder/S.Johnson*/Wallace
Sully/KO
Zeller/D. Johnson *

[LarBrd33]

From here:

Try to trade Bradley for an expiring and pick... or include him with Wallace to dump both of their bloated salary.

Probably trade Crowder for a 2nd while his stock is high.  I don't want to cut into cap space to sign a backup.

If necessary, we can can stretch Wallace's final 1 year 10 mil into 3 years 3.3 mil, but I'd try to avoid that as he's a valuable expiring contract next season...  SO let's assume he's still on the books.

That leaves a total of 15.5 mil on the books for Smart, Turner, Olynyk, Zeller, Young, and Sully ... + the 10 mil Wallace contract for a total of 25.5 mil on the books... + another 6 mil or so for our 2015 rookies leaves about 31.5 mil on the books.   With a 66 mil cap, we're looking about 35 mil in space...

Either sign two max-level players at about 17.5 mil... or three very good players at 11.6 mil.   Later in the season you can put together a package around Wallace + a couple of the extra young players + extra picks to bring in another great player. 

Could reasonably be a playoff team next year and since we have so many picks coming, we should have plenty of opportunities to add and enhance as we see fit.

[TheTruthFot18]

1. Keep what we currently have for the rest of the season and go into next year with cap space.
2. Use cap space and picks to make a sign and trade offer of either Jimmy Butler or Kawhi Leonard
3. Draft WCS with our first pick, then have a young defensive minded core of Smart, Bradley, Butler/Leonard, Sully/Olynyk, WCS to build around.

I'm in with that lineup (even include Draymond Green if the other two stay or get a max contract elsewhere).

[perks-a-beast]

First Danny should see if he could package Turner and Bass together to see if we can get young talent in
return. Bass is attractive because he's an expiring and Turner is well outplaying his short contract. The
two could be useful for a title team whose looking to add depth but without fattening salary. If Ainge could
pull off something like Bass + Turner + a second for C.J. McCollum + Dorrell Wright (ex) i'd be estatic.
McCollum is a great you player who could very well pan out to be a 20 point a night scorer if given the
oppurtunity. A move like this would take pressure of Bradley and Smart offensively, which will
ultimately improve our D at very little cost.

I'd keep Thornton and let him expire which is what I think will happen. Ultimately, his contract is just too large to move.

Then we play it out for the rest of the season, eventually ending up with a top 5 pick. I had a strong feeling the Celtics would grab Smart in the draft, I have that same feeling this year about Myles Turner. That would be great for the team considering Stevens loves bigs who can shoot. Not to mention it would drastically improve our interior D, which has been in rough shape for some time now.

Then the Celtics really need to make a strong sales pitch for Kawhi Leonard. I know San Antonio will be an attractive destination going forward as long as Pops there, but Boston is a younger team. They'll have a much stronger core moving ahead than a spurs team post Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli. There are a lot of good free agents out there like Butler and Draymond Green that I wouldn't mind seeing the C's chase after, but Kawhi Leonard is the only one I view as an absolute game changer. It's not often teams have the opportunity to sign a 22 year old whose already been a Finals MVP. I'd offer him the max.

Aquiring a point guard should also be a pressing issue for the Celtics this summer. The free agent class is underwhelming for PG's, but the Celtics have attractive trade pieces they could use to net some one legitimate here.  I'd see if Detroit would be willing to part with Jennings for the Rondo trade exception and a pick. He's only going to get them so far and think he's a better fit with the Celtics anyways

Imagine...

Marcus Smart         Brandon Jennings           Phil Pressey
C.J. McCollum         Avery Bradley                James Young
Kawhi Leonard       Jae Crowder                    Gerald Wallace     
Jared Sullinger       Kelly Olynyk                    draft pick
Myles Turner          Tyler Zeller                      FA   



I would be pumped if this was our roster going into next year and I don't think it's very far out of the relm of possibility. Would be a lethal team in 3-4 years.

[jambr380]

From here:

Try to trade Bradley for an expiring and pick... or include him with Wallace to dump both of their bloated salary.

Probably trade Crowder for a 2nd while his stock is high.  I don't want to cut into cap space to sign a backup.

If necessary, we can can stretch Wallace's final 1 year 10 mil into 3 years 3.3 mil, but I'd try to avoid that as he's a valuable expiring contract next season...  SO let's assume he's still on the books.

That leaves a total of 15.5 mil on the books for Smart, Turner, Olynyk, Zeller, Young, and Sully ... + the 10 mil Wallace contract for a total of 25.5 mil on the books... + another 6 mil or so for our 2015 rookies leaves about 31.5 mil on the books.   With a 66 mil cap, we're looking about 35 mil in space...

Either sign two max-level players at about 17.5 mil... or three very good players at 11.6 mil.   Later in the season you can put together a package around Wallace + a couple of the extra young players + extra picks to bring in another great player. 

Could reasonably be a playoff team next year and since we have so many picks coming, we should have plenty of opportunities to add and enhance as we see fit.

Yeah, TP - I was hoping to add salary through next year so that we could pick up additional picks and maintain our TPEs, but that ship has long sailed with all of the expirings we are acquiring. If we can get, say, Butler and D Jordan, that would be amazing. Using Wallace and however many firsts it takes to bring in another legitimate star at the SF or PF would then be my goal.

I like Avery, but he is the kind of guy a team keeps with their Bird Rights after they have their core. If we are going to sink way below the salary cap, then he is only going to eat up valuable space.

[Asher77]

Go after the best can't miss wing talent in the 2015 draft. We need young quick defenders who can run the floor. Johnson might look good and we should trade up with the Clip pick. ( would love to get both Johnson and Justise Winslow )

Develop the current guys this year and trade whoever it takes next year to put 8 guys together in 2016 that play with speed, toughness, and passion every game.

Go after a max FA in summer of 2016, add a 2016 lottery pick.

Smart
Young
Johnson
Winslow
2016 Lottery
2016 Max FA

See who sticks or gets traded from the group of AB, Zeller, Sully, KO, Crowder to add to those above 6.

To get these players only has us signing one FA and using 3 picks. We will have more cap space at disposal and alot of picks to use to move up in pick position, draft to fill the remaining roster slots or add to trades involving the second listed group of guys we are developing this year.

I think we have many options and after the 2016 summer we will be putting a young but exciting team on the floor each night.