Will Danny offer Harrison Barnes a max contract as a restricted free agent?

[Eja117]

I see max as guys like Durant. Barnes is a little more like Tobias and Kris Middleton or something

[chambers]

I hope not.  Not much of a fan of his.

Yeah, I like Barnes but I don't know if he's going to be more than a high level starter at best. And that's not the ceiling you want from a max salary free agent.

Remember that his max contract will only be 16.5% of the cap in 2017.
Mentioned it earlier in the thread but as a comparison, Jeff Green's $9 million a year deal was 15.5% of the cap in 2010.
I would probably gamble on Barnes becoming a better player than Green in the long run but I can see why associating the words 'max contract' with a 23 year old who's currently a 4th/5th option is daunting. But yeah, there will be $27+ million contracts when Barnes is making 18.5-19 million so by the time he reaches 25 years old that 19 million could look pretty reasonable if things went right.

Anyway, all we know is Danny loves the kid and if he gave Jeff Green that much $$$ Barnes could be on his to do list.

[Donoghus]

I hope not.  Not much of a fan of his.

Yeah, I like Barnes but I don't know if he's going to be more than a high level starter at best. And that's not the ceiling you want from a max salary free agent.

Remember that his max contract will only be 16.5% of the cap in 2017.
Mentioned it earlier in the thread but as a comparison, Jeff Green's $9 million a year deal was 15.5% of the cap in 2010.
I would probably gamble on Barnes becoming a better player than Green in the long run but I can see why associating the words 'max contract' with a 23 year old who's currently a 4th/5th option is daunting. But yeah, there will be $27+ million contracts when Barnes is making 18.5-19 million so by the time he reaches 25 years old that 19 million could look pretty reasonable if things went right.

Anyway, all we know is Danny loves the kid and if he gave Jeff Green that much $$$ Barnes could be on his to do list.

Danny's starting to get the pieces in place of a supporting cast.  Now he's going to have to go after the cornerstone and possibly a 2nd banana.  Barnes doesn't fit either of those molds, IMO.  I'd rather save what I'd be spending on him and continue to build.  Get the true cornerstone via either trade, somehow landing a top 2-3 pick in the upcoming draft, or sit tight and throw the money elsewhere when that guy does hit FA.

To me, Barnes seems more like a guy you bring in when you're a piece away.  Celtics are more than that & I don't think he's near a franchise cornerstone.

[Evantime34]

I think Danny does go after Harrison Barnes. The C's could easily make him an offer that blows other offers out of the water without giving him a max though. I predict we offer something that most people think is way too much without offering him the max.

Other than DeMar DeRozan and Dwight Howard there is no player in next year's free agent class I would rather the C's target than Barnes. Although he hasn't produced a ton so far, he is supremely athletic, can defend multiple positions  and has shown flashes of being able to do more.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

God I hope not.

We already have Jae Crowder, who's on a much, much friendlier contract. Why would we need Harrison Barnes.

I've seen ALL his NBA games. I know I don't have the credentials but trust me, he's not that good.

[Evantime34]

God I hope not.

We already have Jae Crowder, who's on a much, much friendlier contract. Why would we need Harrison Barnes.

I've seen ALL his NBA games. I know I don't have the credentials but trust me, he's not that good.

You don't think Barnes has a higher upside than Crowder? He's younger, bigger, more athletic and a better shooter.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

God I hope not.

We already have Jae Crowder, who's on a much, much friendlier contract. Why would we need Harrison Barnes.

I've seen ALL his NBA games. I know I don't have the credentials but trust me, he's not that good.

You don't think Barnes has a higher upside than Crowder? He's younger, bigger, more athletic and a better shooter.

He's inconsistent, offensively. He also never improved his ball handling.

And he's been in the team for 3 years, and has been showcased in his 2nd year as the MAIN GUY in the 2nd unit, and did not do well. If he really is worth that much money, and he has star potential, we should have seen it right now.

I won't mind having him, but not for the max. The good thing about Barnes is yes, he can play both Forward spots, which I think Jae can do as well (although he will be extremely undersized). Other than that, anything Barnes can do, Crowder can. So I don't see the point of paying him the max when we have a guy who may not as big and as young as he is, but can do what he does on the court.

[sofutomygaha]

I think Barnes would be a really, really good fit for us.

But what we're basically talking about here is how much he's going to be worth as a fraction of the cap in 2017 (108M).

What he turned down:
$16M/year (15% of the 2017 cap).
If the cap wasn't changing, this would be $9.5M/year.
SIMILAR TO: Lance Stephenson, Jeff Green, Iman Shumpert, Luol Deng, Omer Asik

What the 2016 max would mean:
$22.25M/year (21% of the 2017 cap).
If the cap wasn't changing, this would be $13M/year.
SIMILAR TO: Rubio, Nene, Tyson Chandler, Joakim Noah, Tony Parker, Reggie Jackson, Al Jefferson

What do I take from this?? Barnes needs to have a huge season to justify his asking price. Golden State's offer was straight-up market rate. We get to watch for a season, and Barnes is 23 and improving. Even though I like him a lot I wouldn't be a bidder unless he took a giant step forward.

[Evantime34]

God I hope not.

We already have Jae Crowder, who's on a much, much friendlier contract. Why would we need Harrison Barnes.

I've seen ALL his NBA games. I know I don't have the credentials but trust me, he's not that good.

You don't think Barnes has a higher upside than Crowder? He's younger, bigger, more athletic and a better shooter.

He's inconsistent, offensively. He also never improved his ball handling.

And he's been in the team for 3 years, and has been showcased in his 2nd year as the MAIN GUY in the 2nd unit, and did not do well. If he really is worth that much money, and he has star potential, we should have seen it right now.

I won't mind having him, but not for the max. The good thing about Barnes is yes, he can play both Forward spots, which I think Jae can do as well (although he will be extremely undersized). Other than that, anything Barnes can do, Crowder can. So I don't see the point of paying him the max when we have a guy who may not as big and as young as he is, but can do what he does on the court.

I believe the max will be around $23 MM for him once the cap goes up at the end of the year. While I wouldn't pay him that much I think the $18-20 range is reasonable given the inflation in the market and the lack of supply of good free agents.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

God I hope not.

We already have Jae Crowder, who's on a much, much friendlier contract. Why would we need Harrison Barnes.

I've seen ALL his NBA games. I know I don't have the credentials but trust me, he's not that good.

You don't think Barnes has a higher upside than Crowder? He's younger, bigger, more athletic and a better shooter.

He's inconsistent, offensively. He also never improved his ball handling.

And he's been in the team for 3 years, and has been showcased in his 2nd year as the MAIN GUY in the 2nd unit, and did not do well. If he really is worth that much money, and he has star potential, we should have seen it right now.

I won't mind having him, but not for the max. The good thing about Barnes is yes, he can play both Forward spots, which I think Jae can do as well (although he will be extremely undersized). Other than that, anything Barnes can do, Crowder can. So I don't see the point of paying him the max when we have a guy who may not as big and as young as he is, but can do what he does on the court.

I believe the max will be around $23 MM for him once the cap goes up at the end of the year. While I wouldn't pay him that much I think the $18-20 range is reasonable given the inflation in the market and the lack of supply of good free agents.

While I agree with the premise that the cap would jump and the market would dictate that that would be his market value, with all due respect, Evan, would you really offer him that much money knowing that Jae Crowder will be with us for 4 more years, for about $10 million less of that price?

[jambr380]

God I hope not.

We already have Jae Crowder, who's on a much, much friendlier contract. Why would we need Harrison Barnes.

I've seen ALL his NBA games. I know I don't have the credentials but trust me, he's not that good.

You don't think Barnes has a higher upside than Crowder? He's younger, bigger, more athletic and a better shooter.

People around here couldn't handle having Jeff Green on this team for $9M/yr, I can't imagine what would happen if we gave Barnes the max. Boston fans love guys with heart and intensity - this is not Barnes' game. I would rather have Crowder at his price than Barnes at $18-20M - even with the potential (and % of cap - which people are going to need a couple of years to get used to).

Frankly, I would also rather have Tobias Harris. While he projects on about the same path as Barnes, at least he can currently create his own shot. He should also come at a pretty decent discount once Orlando's SFs begin to develop. I really only think they signed him so they didn't lose him for nothing.

[Evantime34]

God I hope not.

We already have Jae Crowder, who's on a much, much friendlier contract. Why would we need Harrison Barnes.

I've seen ALL his NBA games. I know I don't have the credentials but trust me, he's not that good.

You don't think Barnes has a higher upside than Crowder? He's younger, bigger, more athletic and a better shooter.

People around here couldn't handle having Jeff Green on this team for $9M/yr, I can't imagine what would happen if we gave Barnes the max. Boston fans love guys with heart and intensity - this is not Barnes' game. I would rather have Crowder at his price than Barnes at $18-20M - even with the potential (and % of cap - which people are going to need a couple of years to get used to).

Frankly, I would also rather have Tobias Harris. While he projects on about the same path as Barnes, at least he can currently create his own shot. He should also come at a pretty decent discount once Orlando's SFs begin to develop. I really only think they signed him so they didn't lose him for nothing.

Why would we need to choose between the two? We have already signed Crowder and will have the cap space to pay both next season. Having a defense that features both would allow the C's to switch on everything like they prefer to do.

I'm not sure I agree that Barnes doesn't play hard similar to Green. Barnes doesn't always score a lot, but he rebounds at a much higher rate and is already a better defender than Green.

[Evantime34]

God I hope not.

We already have Jae Crowder, who's on a much, much friendlier contract. Why would we need Harrison Barnes.

I've seen ALL his NBA games. I know I don't have the credentials but trust me, he's not that good.

You don't think Barnes has a higher upside than Crowder? He's younger, bigger, more athletic and a better shooter.

He's inconsistent, offensively. He also never improved his ball handling.

And he's been in the team for 3 years, and has been showcased in his 2nd year as the MAIN GUY in the 2nd unit, and did not do well. If he really is worth that much money, and he has star potential, we should have seen it right now.

I won't mind having him, but not for the max. The good thing about Barnes is yes, he can play both Forward spots, which I think Jae can do as well (although he will be extremely undersized). Other than that, anything Barnes can do, Crowder can. So I don't see the point of paying him the max when we have a guy who may not as big and as young as he is, but can do what he does on the court.

I believe the max will be around $23 MM for him once the cap goes up at the end of the year. While I wouldn't pay him that much I think the $18-20 range is reasonable given the inflation in the market and the lack of supply of good free agents.

While I agree with the premise that the cap would jump and the market would dictate that that would be his market value, with all due respect, Evan, would you really offer him that much money knowing that Jae Crowder will be with us for 4 more years, for about $10 million less of that price?

Yes I would because I think playing them next to each other for stretches allows the C's to play exactly as they wish.

I'd much rather spend that type of money on Barnes than just sit on it. He has already proved that he can play at a championship level at a young age and that he fits the style we prefer to play. I think it is easy to say that is too much for him, but it is unlikely we are able to acquire a better player in free agency for a lower price.

I'm all for adding quality players to the team, with how draft pick laden our team is now and will be in the future, paying a lot for another high upside player isn't a bad idea.

[Csfan1984]

The banana premise may actually support signing Barnes. Given the team is mainly full of good 4th option players for offense and a great six man in IT. C's need a 1, 2 and 3. Barnes should at least be a good 3rd option and possibly become a #2. He would be just about 21% of the cap to start his second year if signed at the 23 million per max. Then it drops even more to about 18%. Using 20% of the cap on the 3rd best player isn't a bad deal.

[Quetzalcoatl]

He has too many games like 33 min played, 6 points.  That is like me in a rec league that is slightly too good for me.  I want a 2 way player at the 3 and don't want to settle