Bulpett - Big free agents not likely to land here

[colincb]

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2015/06/big_free_agents_not_likely_to_land_here

The C’s will not simply be identifying the best players and throwing money at them in hopes one or more accepts their dollars. The targets of their affection have to be able to fit a need now and for as long as it takes for the club to become (Ainge’s fingers crossed) a serious candidate to play in June. Said targets must also not get in the way of the Celtics’ ability to sign another major free agent next summer or otherwise inhibit the flexibility needed to properly rebuild.

So while the Celts definitely will make their best pitch for Kevin Love, hoping they can dissuade him from returning to Cleveland, some of the other players they’ve been rumored to be after are simply not on the dance card. According to league sources, they will not, as has been reported, be going hard after some of the next-level free agents who’ll be commanding more than their true worth once they hit the open market.

Ainge wasn’t offering or confirming any specifics in a quick phone conversation. He spoke mainly in generalities as he and his staff continued to prepare for both the free agent negotiating sprint and the flurry of NBA trades that are certain to come later in July.

“I have two thoughts going into this,” he said. “No.?1, try to get really good players, and 2, try to be responsible in our (salary) cap management.”

Fine with me IF true, but the whiners not so much. Looks like it will take a couple of years for the bad franchises to figure a way to p their cap away again. One problem was how the newbie head of the players union rejected the NBA's request to smooth the rise of the cap upward rather than the gold rush we're going to see instead.  Same pool of money either way for the players, but the end result is that the clubs that managed their cap well like the Celtics basically saw the clown outfits (like the Nets) receive a get-out-of-jail-card free.

[Evantime34]

Lately it seems that Danny Ainge has been using the local media to suppress expectations. This article (as his last few articles have been) are extremely pessimistic.

[cb8883]

Can we all just admit that the cap issue argument was laughable at best? Free agents do not want to come to Boston. Ever.

[PhoSita]

Lately it seems that Danny Ainge has been using the local media to suppress expectations. This article (as his last few articles have been) are extremely pessimistic.

Can you blame him, if that's the case, considering the response to the draft?

Problem with this story is that every team is going to have oodles of cap space over the next couple of years pretty much regardless of what they do this summer.  It would be difficult for the Celtics to do something in free agency this summer that would prevent them from having max or near max level cap space next year and the year after that.

[Who]

The huge cap increase has hurt badly.

Pretty much everybody now has space to add a max contract guy over next 2-3 years. Far more competition for Boston to deal with and almost all of those teams already have more high level talent on their roster than this Celtics team does.

Plus, with the cap about to spike up, it is near-impossible to overpay for quasi-star FAs this summer because all those deals will range between reasonable to bargains once the cap goes up so it's extremely difficult to pry away any of those restricted FAs.

[Donoghus]

Hasn't this been kinda apparent for a while now?  That summer '15 was going to look more like a bridge period than fireworks?

I think you'll start seeing things heat up at the trading deadline or next summer.  In the meantime, stop gaps. 

[cb8883]

Lately it seems that Danny Ainge has been using the local media to suppress expectations. This article (as his last few articles have been) are extremely pessimistic.

Can you blame him, if that's the case, considering the response to the draft?

Problem with this story is that every team is going to have oodles of cap space over the next couple of years pretty much regardless of what they do this summer.  It would be difficult for the Celtics to do something in free agency this summer that would prevent them from having max or near max level cap space next year and the year after that.

What good is cap room if no one wants to go to the city?

[Donoghus]

Lately it seems that Danny Ainge has been using the local media to suppress expectations. This article (as his last few articles have been) are extremely pessimistic.

Can you blame him, if that's the case, considering the response to the draft?

Problem with this story is that every team is going to have oodles of cap space over the next couple of years pretty much regardless of what they do this summer.  It would be difficult for the Celtics to do something in free agency this summer that would prevent them from having max or near max level cap space next year and the year after that.

What good is cap room if no one wants to go to the city?

Besides projecting your own slanted & twisted views, how do you know this to be true?

[Roy H.]

Lately it seems that Danny Ainge has been using the local media to suppress expectations. This article (as his last few articles have been) are extremely pessimistic.

I would rather the team do that instead of promising "fireworks" in an effort to get fans to renew season tickets.

[Who]

Another negative of the big raise in the salary cap is that teams that would usually consider blowing it up and starting over again ... do not need to so anymore because with the cap about to raise, they suddenly have new-found flexibility to add quality talent to their roster and get back on the right direction.

So there is a lot less talent available in trades from teams looking to rebuild. Both in the here and now + for the immediate future (next year or two). So Ainge has a lot less avenues to pursue trade wise to get one of those star players.

[Roy H.]

Lately it seems that Danny Ainge has been using the local media to suppress expectations. This article (as his last few articles have been) are extremely pessimistic.

Can you blame him, if that's the case, considering the response to the draft?

Problem with this story is that every team is going to have oodles of cap space over the next couple of years pretty much regardless of what they do this summer.  It would be difficult for the Celtics to do something in free agency this summer that would prevent them from having max or near max level cap space next year and the year after that.

What good is cap room if no one wants to go to the city?

Besides projecting your own slanted & twisted views, how do you know this to be true?

Because no Boston-centered team has ever signed a free agent.  Surely Patriots and Sox fans would agree.

[D.o.s.]

Fun reminder that If it's a truism it's probably false. 

[Evantime34]

Lately it seems that Danny Ainge has been using the local media to suppress expectations. This article (as his last few articles have been) are extremely pessimistic.

Can you blame him, if that's the case, considering the response to the draft?

Problem with this story is that every team is going to have oodles of cap space over the next couple of years pretty much regardless of what they do this summer.  It would be difficult for the Celtics to do something in free agency this summer that would prevent them from having max or near max level cap space next year and the year after that.

What good is cap room if no one wants to go to the city?

Besides projecting your own slanted & twisted views, how do you know this to be true?

Stop feeding the troll

[colincb]

Can we all just admit that the cap issue argument was laughable at best? Free agents do not want to come to Boston. Ever.

Can you admit that you're making a laughable claim? 

"We haven't ever had cap space, I don’t think, in the history of the Celtics," Ainge said this week, though he seemed to be asking more than declaring. "For sure since I've been here. So we need to use that space wisely. We can't just spend it just because we have it."

When exactly was the most recent time the Celtics had cap space? Our cap-crunching friend Ryan Bernardoni, better known by his online alias Dangercart, attempted to trace it back. Writing on Reddit, Bernardoni said the Celtics most recently used below-the-cap flexibility to sign -- wait for it -- Chris Mills to a six-year, $26.1 million contract on Aug. 22, 1997. Mills never appeared in a game for Boston and was traded two months later as Rick Pitino & Co. stumbled in the aftermath of missing out on Tim Duncan.

Bernardoni sums up the fallout as such: "For the next 17 years, the Celtics will rely on Bird Right, trades, the draft, minimum contracts and these new cap exceptions to make 280 player acquisitions without ever dropping below the salary cap."

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4719228/2015-boston-cap-space-journey

[cb8883]

Lately it seems that Danny Ainge has been using the local media to suppress expectations. This article (as his last few articles have been) are extremely pessimistic.

Can you blame him, if that's the case, considering the response to the draft?

Problem with this story is that every team is going to have oodles of cap space over the next couple of years pretty much regardless of what they do this summer.  It would be difficult for the Celtics to do something in free agency this summer that would prevent them from having max or near max level cap space next year and the year after that.

What good is cap room if no one wants to go to the city?

Besides projecting your own slanted & twisted views, how do you know this to be true?

When was the last time the Celtics signed a big name free agent? Don't give me that cap space argument either. Because that has been debunked this year. Don't give me KG because he was resigned. An actual true free agent.