Targeting Brook Lopez and Monta Ellis.

[gpap]

Some may not agree, but two guys I would absolutely target in the offseason are Brook Lopez and Monta Ellis.

Brook is a career 17 and 7 guy and was able to stay healthy most of the season this year.

I feel he's a guy who can give us scoring down low in the paint and rebounding.

If he opts out of his player option with Brooklyn, I would even consider offering him a max deal.

Ditto for Monta Ellis, who averages 19 ppg.

With Ainge looking for scorers, I'd love to add him to our front court and have Bradley either come off the bench or use him in a trade.

I feel adding these two guys would upgrade our team if they opt out of their respective deals.

[danglertx]

Some may not agree, but two guys I would absolutely target in the offseason are Brook Lopez and Monta Ellis.

Brook is a career 17 and 7 guy and was able to stay healthy most of the season this year.

I feel he's a guy who can give us scoring down low in the paint and rebounding.

If he opts out of his player option with Brooklyn, I would even consider offering him a max deal.

Ditto for Monta Ellis, who averages 19 ppg.

With Ainge looking for scorers, I'd love to add him to our front court and have Bradley either come off the bench or use him in a trade.

I feel adding these two guys would upgrade our team if they opt out of their respective deals.

I think you are 100% right.

Some might not agree, in fact most... if not all.

[Tr1boy]

no. I dislike Monta Ellis very much also. One moody player

[crimson_stallion]

Lopez is a 7'1" center who rebounds like a small forward, is a horrible defender, can't stay on the court for more than half a season, and makes over $20M a year

Ellis is a guy who really doesn't have any significant talent other than scoring - he's basically Isaiah Thomas minus the potential.

I don't see how either of these guys make sense on a team like ours.

[mr. dee]

One is an inefficient chucker and the other is a center that doesn't play defense. Neither have any upside in them and might be too expensive. Pass.

[gpap]

If we whiff on the top echelon of FAs like Love, Aldridge, Jordan, Gasol then I think both guys are good pick-ups.

I feel Lopez would provide more on defense than people give him credit for and Ellis is a scorer we desperately need.

[Monkhouse]

If we whiff on the top echelon of FAs like Love, Aldridge, Jordan, Gasol then I think both guys are good pick-ups.

I feel Lopez would provide more on defense than people give him credit for and Ellis is a scorer we desperately need.

Ellis is a scorer that is inefficient, and has one of the worst shot selections... As for Lopez, I wouldn't mind if he wanted a max contract.

I would rather prefer Ainge to sell the farm on DMC.

[MJohnnyboy]

I think Ellis and IT4 on the team is kinda redundant except Ellis can't shoot very well and he's older. Not to mention he's a headcase that worked well in Dallas until our old friend Rondo joined him. I don't see him leaving Dallas because he and Dirk are a great duo.

Lopez is playing great right now but he's injury prone, can't rebound very well, and isn't the ideal rim protector. I'm hoping he leaves Brooklyn for the sake of those picks but not for us.

[Granath]

I wouldn't touch either with a 10 foot pole. They don't fill needs on this team.

Lopez is a sieve on defense who has been oft injured and carries one of the worst contracts in the league. He provides scoring, but not much else. We already have big men who can stretch the floor. Why do we need another? Lopez does not fill a need. Plus, he's not opting out of his $16m this year.

Monte Ellis is an undersized SG who is known as a chucker. His EFG is LOWER than Avery Bradley and he brings significantly less on the defensive side of the ball. He's a significantly better facilitator (he doesn't get enough credit for his passing), but he's also going to be more expensive and will be 30 shortly after the season starts. Defensively, you can't put him on the court with IT unless you want to give up 120 points a game. Finally at age 30, by the time this group of youngsters is ready to contend (if ever), he'll be washed up and long gone. So where's the benefit?

Someone might claim that these guys are upgrades, but they're marginal upgrades and significantly more expensive ones. To add Lopez and Ellis you are looking at close to $30m on the cap. That's nowhere near the bang for the buck that this team needs. Seriously, you would be hard pressed to pick two worse candidates to be on this team in terms of contribution, salary, age, fit on this team and replacement value.

[LooseCannon]

If the Celtics had not acquired Thomas, I would have some interested in Ellis occupying the same sixth man scoring role behind Bradley and Smart, but the Celtics have Thomas and Ellis probably wouldn't accept that role.

[celts10]

Nice idea OP.

I would target one but not both of them. I'd probably pass on Lopez just because of his injury-history and his lack of defense.

I've always liked Monta a lot. He's not a good defender so pairing him next to Smart wouldn't be bad.

As for your question, I would go after Monta and skip on Lopez in favor of a more defensively-capable big like Monroe.

[BornReady]

Ellis is good but won't help us become a contender
He seems like Thomas as both are undersized scorers

Would not target brook Lopez he has a history of injuries and doesn't rebound enough for his size

[317]

the only way i would touch Lopez is if its only guaranteed for the first year, and even then only to hurt the Nets record. Ellis is a 29 year old who doesn't shoot the 3 ball very well and is no more then good at anything, please stay away from him.

[Celtics4ever]

Hope these are not our targets, so underwhelming.  Real life is often that way, but let's have some hope and dream some until we see where free agents are landing.   Ainge said we are going to try to go big.

[jambr380]

Nice post and I appreciate the a argument, but I hope we don't touch either player. Monta will go down as one of the most unknown top scorers ever and Lopez scares me to death. Neither seems to be a championship caliber player.