Amir Johnson to Celtics

[gpap]

Slow and steady. We're still in rebuild mode, and can't expect to be instant contenders this season. Not the end of the world.

I'm all for patience.  What's the rationale for signing a guy like Amir Johnson when you're still rebuilding, though?  Is the idea that it helps the younger guys develop better?  How does aiming for the middle fit in the long term strategy?

Chill and take a deep breath.

Amir Johnson is a very good player

[gpap]

It's not that the deal in itself its outrageous, it's just that given the circumstances you rather work with the young guys we have (KO,Zeller,Sully,JJ) than to bring in another veteran

Ah yes. The obsession Boston sports fans have with "youth."

How about we start focusing more on wins than "youth"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1QpyGa61zs

[Roy H.]

I'm pretty sure they did not use the TPE for the signing because a contract needs to be 3 years for a TPE to be used.

I'm not aware of this rule.  (I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I've just never heard of it.)

[gpap]

I think this was a Stevens pick. Seems like he prefers players with some toughness.

Moves since Stevens.

Smart, Rozier, Amir, Jerebko, Crowder, resigned Bradley.

Definitely see a pattern and the type of player Stevens wants. Still don't like this signing.

Good point and that's the thing I like with Amir

Plays with a lot of toughness.

Might be 6'9 but plays like he's 7'3.

[crimson_stallion]

Because Amir is ALOT better than Bass and who cares about the money. Bass is undersized and we've seen enough of him.

This.

Amir shoots a similar percentage to bass from Midrange (Bass' main strength) and is not as good at getting to the line as Bass, and doesn't shoot free throws at as high a percentage as Bass.

Aside from these three areas, he is a superior player to Bass in every single aspect.

His ability to step out and hit the three on it's own is enough to justify taking him over Bass.  Factor in his improved defence, improved rebounding, improved passing, improved offensive versatility - he's a pretty big upgrade.

28 is very old in the NBA. Duration is fine for a role player on a contender but they just wasted 12 million a year because everyone else turned them down. Franchise is very sad right now. Could have not done that half hearted tank 2 years ago.

I like youth as much as the next guy, but 28 years old certainly is not "very old" in the NBA.

Stephen Curry just turns 28 next year...

28 is just the age at which players typically don't have upside anymore.  They basically are who they are.  Doesn't mean that can't still add to their game, just means they aren't going to take an extra step and jump from solid player to superstar.

But it's not like guys start drastically declining at 28.  That usually doesn't happen until around the age of 31 - 32 and by then this contract will be long expired.

[Tr1boy]

DId we seriously just use up 17 mil of our 23 mil in cap space.... for Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebeko?


Wow

would you been happier if we signed Caroll for 15 million a year?

[gpap]

Jay King on Amir Johnson/Celts

Haven't found one NBA person yet who dislikes it for the Celtics.

Come down to CelticsBlog, we're all NBA experts and we hate it!

More like people who think they're experts but really aren't.

[gpap]

Because Amir is ALOT better than Bass and who cares about the money. Bass is undersized and we've seen enough of him.

This.

Amir shoots a similar percentage to bass from Midrange (Bass' main strength) and is not as good at getting to the line as Bass, and doesn't shoot free throws at as high a percentage as Bass.

Aside from these three areas, he is a superior player to Bass in every single aspect.

His ability to step out and hit the three on it's own is enough to justify taking him over Bass.  Factor in his improved defence, improved rebounding, improved passing, improved offensive versatility - he's a pretty big upgrade.

28 is very old in the NBA. Duration is fine for a role player on a contender but they just wasted 12 million a year because everyone else turned them down. Franchise is very sad right now. Could have not done that half hearted tank 2 years ago.

I like youth as much as the next guy, but 28 years old certainly is not "very old" in the NBA.

Stephen Curry just turns 28 next year...

28 is just the age at which players typically don't have upside anymore.  They basically are who they are.  Doesn't mean that can't still add to their game, just means they aren't going to take an extra step and jump from solid player to superstar.

But it's not like guys start drastically declining at 28.  That usually doesn't happen until around the age of 31 - 32 and by then this contract will be long expired.

Much agreed on this one Crimson!

[slamtheking]

Like getting the players and like the non-guaranteed second years of the deals.  Amir's a steep first year price though.  really like Amir as a player.  see him as a center for us rather than a PF

[crimson_stallion]

For instance, Boston would probably trade their entire starting lineup for Okafor...

We all have the right to our own opinions / speculations, however I don't believe this for a second.

[gpap]

Are people confused? The cap is going UP. Not DOWN.

Most of the deals signed today league-wide will look great when the cap is adjusted.  Chill out.

I love the signing. Time to let Bass walk to a real contender. Or I wouldn't mind keeping Bass as long as we got rid of Olynyk.

As of right now we have 5 pfs signed on the roster Sully, KO, Johnson, Mickey, Jerebko and I would choose all 4 over Johnson and heres the kicker they are all much cheaper.

Where is he gonna get play time?? Why would we get rid of any of these guys when they are younger, better at the moment, and cost less?

Sullinger has a knack for being injured at inopportune times.
Bass will likely walk away to a contender.
KO is KO and I wouldn't shed a tear over losing a guy who who plays like a guard and not like a big.
Mickey is a rookie so there's that.
Jerebko...I'm all in. Love Jonas.

I'm not so sure Bass and Olynyk will be around in November so does 3 PFs sound so bad?

So your justification for this signing is assuming in the future Sully will be hurt and KO will be traded.

Let's say KO is traded and Sully stays healthy Amir will be the 4th big off the bench if Mickey doesn't show potential in the summer league so that would put the minutes at Sully(30), Jerebko(25) Zeller(25), Johnson(16)

So is he worth 12 mil a year for 16 min a game?

What are you talking about?

1.)Zeller is a center
2.)Amir plays with alot more intensity than Sully
3.)Sully is fat
4.)Mickey is a rookie. Why should an unproven player get any more minutes than Amir?

[danglertx]

Shoots a high percentage from the field, can defend decently, and last year stepped out to the three point line some and hit a very good .413.  I can see how maybe Danny thinks Amir can continue that. 

Jerebko, can play bigs and step out and hit the open three.

Harris, can play 4's and 3's and step out and hit the three.

Draymond Green, can play 5's down to 3's, can step out and hit the three, he hit some huge ones in the finals.

I think I see a pattern developing.  Stevens obviously wants to stretch opposing teams bigs out to the three point line, let the guards drive, and kick it out to shooting bigs.  Kind of like GS plays.

[crimson_stallion]

To all those out there worried about this signing and confused about why Danny would do it..

There is every chance that Ainge tried, but was not convinced that he would have a shot at getting a top (or even very good) free agent at comfortable price.  The deals that players were asking for may have all been deals that would have required a huge long-term investment by Danny, with a high risk of not paying off (e.g. Harris on $60M / 4).  It may be that he was not convinced that making those kind of large, long term commitments were too risky for the type of players that were available.

BUT

After making the playoffs last year, Boston have shifted from rebuilding mode to 'win now' mode, so they do still want to add pieces that they feel can help them win games.

These deals (if the reports are true) fit very nicely in to that category.  Amir Johnson gives us a legitimate improvement at the PF spot (in a bigger way than people probably realise) over the next year, and if the second year is guaranteed then it puts Ainge to remain in a great position when the big free agent spree hits after this season by either:

a) Including Johnson's $12M non-guaranteed deal in a trade
b) Declining the second year of the deal and having $12M in immediate cap space

So if anything that puts us in an even better position then we're in now because currently we don't have pure cap space, we only have TPE's that can be renounced or used. 

So if you don't see any free agent that's available to you, that you feel is willing to take a short term contract, and/or that you feel is worth committing to with a long term contract...then signing a guy like Amir with only a one year commitment makes perfect sense.

Same with Jerebko - he was great last year and showed real flashes of potential.  Now we get to trial him for one more year to see if it was just a fluke or if he has some real game in him.  If he does, we get him for an extra year - if he doesn't we can just let him go.

A 2 year deal with a second year non-guaranteed is the perfect type of contract for players like this, and for filling roles like this.

[gpap]

think of it this way. We replace Bass with Johnson.  Johnson is a better rebounder and shot blocker

But we didn't need to replace Bass.

Yes actually, we did. Johnson is an upgrade over Bass

[gpap]

I don't get it. Why does everyone say that they are happy to have the second year non-guaranteed? We just signed the guy and everyone already sees them as expiring contracts to get rid of.

I have no idea either.

I don't get people.