So what exactly are the options to trim the roster to 15

[chambers]

Does anyone else think that Danny signing Lee and Amir is a good way to keep Sully's next contract as cheap as possible?
Bring him in off the bench this year and see if he can keep his weight off, keep his stats down, and then save money when it comes time for teams to make offers to his RFA status. Too bad you can't put a weight clause in a restricted free agents contract.

I honestly think this could be part of Ainge's strategy. He's got 2 essentially expiring contracts in Lee and Amir, but at positions we don't really need.
If he wants to retain Sully as an asset, he's going to want to do it as cheaply as possible.

Would be a Danny Ainge kind of move.

[saltlover]

Does anyone else think that Danny signing Lee and Amir is a good way to keep Sully's next contract as cheap as possible?
Bring him in off the bench this year and see if he can keep his weight off, keep his stats down, and then save money when it comes time for teams to make offers to his RFA status. Too bad you can't put a weight clause in a restricted free agents contract.

I honestly think this could be part of Ainge's strategy. He's got 2 essentially expiring contracts in Lee and Amir, but at positions we don't really need.
If he wants to retain Sully as an asset, he's going to want to do it as cheaply as possible.

Would be a Danny Ainge kind of move.

I think that's part of the calculus, at least with the Lee trade (I think he just likes Johnson.)  But I also think a lot of it is we were exposed on the glad (maybe not exposed, it was a known weakness already) in the Cleveland series, and since we're now a competitive team, we might as well improve in that area.  If it forces Sully to compete for his minutes, great.  If it lowers is free agent value a bit, okay.  But mostly it's because we couldn't compete with teams that went big at the 4 and the 5.

[Big333223]

I think it's also possible that Stevens and Danny just don't care about going after inferior players just because they're technically "centers" when they could get more productive power forwards who can play the position. It seems like Stevens sort of favored this last season when he was playing Bass at center a lot.

[Celtics18]

Does anyone else think that Danny signing Lee and Amir is a good way to keep Sully's next contract as cheap as possible?
Bring him in off the bench this year and see if he can keep his weight off, keep his stats down, and then save money when it comes time for teams to make offers to his RFA status. Too bad you can't put a weight clause in a restricted free agents contract.

I honestly think this could be part of Ainge's strategy. He's got 2 essentially expiring contracts in Lee and Amir, but at positions we don't really need.
If he wants to retain Sully as an asset, he's going to want to do it as cheaply as possible.

Would be a Danny Ainge kind of move.

I had this same thought in regards to Kelly. 

I still think one of them gets traded before his rookie contract is up.  My hope is that it's Sully. 

[mctyson]

Does anyone else think that Danny signing Lee and Amir is a good way to keep Sully's next contract as cheap as possible?
Bring him in off the bench this year and see if he can keep his weight off, keep his stats down, and then save money when it comes time for teams to make offers to his RFA status. Too bad you can't put a weight clause in a restricted free agents contract.

I honestly think this could be part of Ainge's strategy. He's got 2 essentially expiring contracts in Lee and Amir, but at positions we don't really need.
If he wants to retain Sully as an asset, he's going to want to do it as cheaply as possible.

Would be a Danny Ainge kind of move.

Or force Sully to either make his case as an All-Star talented player who is worth resigning...or get traded.

[Celtics4ever]

Does anyone else think that Danny signing Lee and Amir is a good way to keep Sully's next contract as cheap as possible?

 

What would stop another team  from jsut offering more if this was the case, besides Sully's fitness record and athletic ability?    That kind of kills this theory.

[chambers]

Does anyone else think that Danny signing Lee and Amir is a good way to keep Sully's next contract as cheap as possible?

 

What would stop another team  from jsut offering more if this was the case, besides Sully's fitness record and athletic ability?    That kind of kills this theory.

Because if he gets less minutes, his value will drop on the free agent market. If he comes out and has a slightly better season that last year, his value will slightly increase.
 That's why David Lee is a good addition. IMO, He's going to...

A) Seriously make Sully, Olynyk and Mickey all compete for minutes with him & Amir. We are going to see who's got the heart to stick with it.

B) Show Sully, Olynyk and Mickey the work ethic of an NBA All Star. David Lee has a reputation for being an incredibly hard worker- just like Amir Johnson.

But yeah competing for minutes with two of the hardest working players in the NBA is excellent for our locker room and could help our payroll in a years time.

[Granath]

Does anyone else think that Danny signing Lee and Amir is a good way to keep Sully's next contract as cheap as possible?

 

What would stop another team  from jsut offering more if this was the case, besides Sully's fitness record and athletic ability?    That kind of kills this theory.

Like you, I don't agree that Lee was brought in to keep Sully's contract cheap.

Amir was brought in to play a stretch Center/defensive role. He'll get minutes at PF but he presents a big man matchup conundrum for other teams that the Cs didn't have last year.

Lee was brought in as a mentor to Sullinger who can offer scoring off the bench. He's 32 years old and he's coming off an injury - whether or not he wants to start isn't relevant. If he starts, Sully is a failure. Lee was brought in to play and upgrade the Brandon Bass role.

In short, Sully will still get his minutes as long as he earns them. I'm a rarity on this board - I think Sullinger will have a good year. His conditioning and offseason work with John Lucas should help him take that next step so long as he stays healthy.

Now as for his salary next year, I wouldn't worry about it. Other teams rarely make offers for RFAs. The cap hold during the middle of the FA frenzy is an absolute KILLER. Not to mention the one GM has to do all that hard work and then another GM can take advantage of it. There were some very attractive RFAs this year and a lot of cap space to go around. How many of them moved teams? None of them. The year before? None of them. So what are the chances that some team is doing to want to hang $10m of their cap out there for 5 days and lose out on the right to bid on numerous Free Agents hoping the Cs won't match on Sully's restricted status? Not very good. It shouldn't even be a concern.

[D.o.s.]

Slight detour back to the original topic: Have we discussed fighting until death or crippling injury?

[Celtics4ever]

Because if he gets less minutes, his value will drop on the free agent market. If he comes out and has a slightly better season that last year, his value will slightly increase.
 That's why David Lee is a good addition. IMO, He's going to...

A) Seriously make Sully, Olynyk and Mickey all compete for minutes with him & Amir. We are going to see who's got the heart to stick with it.

B) Show Sully, Olynyk and Mickey the work ethic of an NBA All Star. David Lee has a reputation for being an incredibly hard worker- just like Amir Johnson.

But yeah competing for minutes with two of the hardest working players in the NBA is excellent for our locker room and could help our payroll in a years time.

I don't think Their value can drop much lower, both these have finite ceilings.  Sully has to come in camp in shape and deliver or he is going to be seen as a skilled fat guy who struggles to stay on the court.   KO I am sure is seen as a soft skilled guy whose play waxes and wanes with his confidence.  Neither of these guys are seen as athletes.

The real difference, here as I see them as assets to where we are going, and you seem to see them as building blocks.   Both of them struggle at containing more athletic guys, I do not see either as a long term answer.  I suspect is hoping one of them pans out but I think he moves these guys if he can for a better player.

[D.o.s.]

^Agreed. I don't think Sullinger and/or Olynyk can really be guys we expect to see on the roster when we're contending for a spot in the Finals, rather than a spot in the playoffs.

[PhoSita]

A special kind of mental gymnastics here.  The team is bringing in established veterans to take the young guys' minutes to ensure that nobody else finds out just how good the young guys are.  It's all about keeping costs down!

Intentionally decreasing the market value of his own assets.  Yep, that sounds exactly like Danny Ainge.