C's still have $4.8 million of cap space left

[Robb]

The best thing to do with the cap space would be to trade 2-3 of our guys for an expensive singular talent. We don't even have to do that during the summer.  We can just hold onto the space until mid-season and take a look at the landscape. I like the patience Ainge has shown so far in not reaching for guys that aren't actually going to make a difference.

No they can't. Once they sign Johnson, Crowder and the rookies and make the Lee trade they will have no cap space. It's use it before those transactions or lose it.

[saltlover]

The best thing to do with the cap space would be to trade 2-3 of our guys for an expensive singular talent. We don't even have to do that during the summer. We can just hold onto the space until mid-season and take a look at the landscape. I like the patience Ainge has shown so far in not reaching for guys that aren't actually going to make a difference.

This is 100% incorrect.  The Celtics only have temporary cap space, created by delaying the signing of Jae Crowder and the trade of David Lee.  Both of those things will happen before the start of training camp.  Had they already happened, the Celtics would be $5-6 million over the cap.  It is not for use during the middle of the season.

[saltlover]

With Jordan Mickey in the fold, we're now down to a little over $4.8 million left.  I'm interested to see if $525k of that is used to sign Jonathan Holmes to a 4-year deal with $100-200k guaranteed, or if we start seeing the signings of the other draft picks and Crowder, as well as the trade for David Lee.  Or perhaps Ainge has one more trick left up his sleeve.

[Evantime34]

With Jordan Mickey in the fold, we're now down to a little over $4.8 million left.  I'm interested to see if $525k of that is used to sign Jonathan Holmes to a 4-year deal with $100-200k guaranteed, or if we start seeing the signings of the other draft picks and Crowder, as well as the trade for David Lee.  Or perhaps Ainge has one more trick left up his sleeve.

I think four rookies on this years' team is too many. Unless we make a trade first (or Ainge knows one is coming shortly) I can't see adding Holmes to make him our 17th player.

[BudweiserCeltic]

With Jordan Mickey in the fold, we're now down to a little over $4.8 million left.  I'm interested to see if $525k of that is used to sign Jonathan Holmes to a 4-year deal with $100-200k guaranteed, or if we start seeing the signings of the other draft picks and Crowder, as well as the trade for David Lee.  Or perhaps Ainge has one more trick left up his sleeve.

Can you update the thread title, to keep it as recent as you can with new moves, etc.?

[saltlover]

Another potential option is to release Babb and then trade for Lee, as opposed to including him in the Lee deal.  This would give Ainge the flexibility to trade Lee immediately as opposed to waiting 60 days, if he wants to aggregate Lee's salary.  Of course, there are only two potential players Ainge could acquire that would make such a move useful -- Joe Johnson and Carmeo Anthony.

[Geo123]

Another potential option is to release Babb and then trade for Lee, as opposed to including him in the Lee deal.  This would give Ainge the flexibility to trade Lee immediately as opposed to waiting 60 days, if he wants to aggregate Lee's salary.  Of course, there are only two potential players Ainge could acquire that would make such a move useful -- Joe Johnson and Carmeo Anthony.

Anthony is not available to the Celts as long as Phil is there (and I don't want him anyway)..

[saltlover]

Another potential option is to release Babb and then trade for Lee, as opposed to including him in the Lee deal.  This would give Ainge the flexibility to trade Lee immediately as opposed to waiting 60 days, if he wants to aggregate Lee's salary.  Of course, there are only two potential players Ainge could acquire that would make such a move useful -- Joe Johnson and Carmeo Anthony.

Anthony is not available to the Celts as long as Phil is there (and I don't want him anyway)..

To clarify, I was referring to the few number of players on existing contracts making over $20.5 million this year, which is what Lee can bring back by himself without being added to other players.  I forgot Kobe, Bosh, Howard, and Paul from the list from the list -- but that's it.  I'm not suggesting any of those players -- and its why that bit of flexibility doesn't much matter.

[Celtics4ever]

I think Babb is going to be gone, it just a matter of when and where.

[clover]

I think Babb is going to be gone, it just a matter of when and where.

I thought even that was already decided.

[clover]

The best thing to do with the cap space would be to trade 2-3 of our guys for an expensive singular talent. We don't even have to do that during the summer. We can just hold onto the space until mid-season and take a look at the landscape. I like the patience Ainge has shown so far in not reaching for guys that aren't actually going to make a difference.

This is 100% incorrect.  The Celtics only have temporary cap space, created by delaying the signing of Jae Crowder and the trade of David Lee.  Both of those things will happen before the start of training camp.  Had they already happened, the Celtics would be $5-6 million over the cap.  It is not for use during the middle of the season.

Yep.

[Big333223]

The best thing to do with the cap space would be to trade 2-3 of our guys for an expensive singular talent. We don't even have to do that during the summer.  We can just hold onto the space until mid-season and take a look at the landscape. I like the patience Ainge has shown so far in not reaching for guys that aren't actually going to make a difference.

No they can't. Once they sign Johnson, Crowder and the rookies and make the Lee trade they will have no cap space. It's use it before those transactions or lose it.

My bad. I keep forgetting those deals haven't been signed yet.

[Surferdad]

The best thing to do with the cap space would be to trade 2-3 of our guys for an expensive singular talent. We don't even have to do that during the summer. We can just hold onto the space until mid-season and take a look at the landscape. I like the patience Ainge has shown so far in not reaching for guys that aren't actually going to make a difference.

This is 100% incorrect.  The Celtics only have temporary cap space, created by delaying the signing of Jae Crowder and the trade of David Lee.  Both of those things will happen before the start of training camp.  Had they already happened, the Celtics would be $5-6 million over the cap.  It is not for use during the middle of the season.

Yep.

So it seems a shame that they lost the trade exceptions because they were under the cap, is that the tradeoff for not signing guys sooner?

[BudweiserCeltic]

The best thing to do with the cap space would be to trade 2-3 of our guys for an expensive singular talent. We don't even have to do that during the summer. We can just hold onto the space until mid-season and take a look at the landscape. I like the patience Ainge has shown so far in not reaching for guys that aren't actually going to make a difference.

This is 100% incorrect.  The Celtics only have temporary cap space, created by delaying the signing of Jae Crowder and the trade of David Lee.  Both of those things will happen before the start of training camp.  Had they already happened, the Celtics would be $5-6 million over the cap.  It is not for use during the middle of the season.

Yep.

So it seems a shame that they lost the trade exceptions because they were under the cap, is that the tradeoff for not signing guys sooner?

I think what we got for it is more valuable than the trade exceptions we had (Amir's, Jerebko's, and Lee's contract).

They add more flexibility to potential trades (can match-up to higher salaried guys while the exception could only be used on guys that fit within it), and I see the TPEs as more valuable during free-agency than during the season, so having this big contracts extends the trade window (availability during trade deadline, the draft, and next year's free-agency in the case of Amir's and Jerebko's).

Of course, there are some trade-offs (can't provide the financial alleviation to other teams this year as a TPE would, but can still provide it for future years for example), but in general I think we're better off.

Keep in mind also that we could've manufactured cap space in excess of our biggest TPE if we wanted to during this free-agency period (about $16M or so in cap space). That there was nothing to be had at this moment should give you a hint that the TPE wasn't going to be of much use at this moment. And this was after agreeing to Amir and Jerebko (but before agreeing to trade for Lee).

We also got a 2nd rounder and PJIII using our cap space as well, and not sure if I'm forgetting any other assets we've acquired this Summer.

And that second rounder, not sure if protected, could be a very good one since it belongs to Detroit.

[Hemingway]

I wonder what the price for Big Al is. Sully plus our cap space gets us around 5-6 mil away from Jefferson's 13.5 mil (I forget the rule here, how close do we have to get to his salary to make it work?) some combination of the spare parts we have can probably make a trade work salary wise.

Does Big Al solve all our problems or make us a contender? Yes. Ok, no. But he might be a step in the right direction.