Max offers

[walker834]

Whiteside went like 20 consecutive games without a pass that lead to a basket. That's pretty bad.  Not Yinka Dare bad  but really bad.

I think he had like 3 assists in his entire career before this year.  That's averaging like 1 assist per year.  This year he's averaging 1 every 4 games or so so he is improving.

He's also not a good free throw shooter. In other words right now he's overrated and not a winner.  He'd probably make us worse as he is.

Paired with Amir and as a role player and shot blocker, rebounder and not a free throw shooter at the end of games he could be good.  Stevens could probably find a way to use him but not max money good though.

Some team is probably going to overpay for him like the Lakers.

I feel like we can keep our nucleus in tact and find better but who knows.

[__ramonezy__]

The economics of the NBA is all out of whack at the moment... Typically I wouldn't offer a max contract to a player who isn't even in the conversation of being a perennial all-star.

You don't give max contracts for potential, but performance... so I would be no on Barnes. Whiteside is too one-dimensional.... DeRozan is a maybe... but I would also have to say no.

For our specific circumstance... we are in the market for a star when there really is none available. So the only thing I would do is bank on player development and Nets picks cuz if we make a trade we won't get the value for our spend

[walker834]

I would  rather draft for potential or pay a guy like Marc Gasol for that reason.  We can draft the potential we want too that's the thing and not have to pay max money for it.

[walker834]

Ainge paid Lee and Amir based on their service.  They don't really hurt us at all. They are short term and do what is asked of them when they are out there. They also are vets and don't hurt us in the locker room when they aren't playing.

[Smartacus]

Whiteside went like 20 consecutive games without a pass that lead to a basket. That's pretty bad.  Not Yinka Dare bad  but really bad.

I think he had like 3 assists in his entire career before this year.  That's averaging like 1 assist per year.  This year he's averaging 1 every 4 games or so so he is improving.

He's also not a good free throw shooter. In other words right now he's overrated and not a winner.  He'd probably make us worse as he is.

Paired with Amir and as a role player and shot blocker, rebounder and not a free throw shooter at the end of games he could be good.  Stevens could probably find a way to use him but not max money good though.

Some team is probably going to overpay for him like the Lakers.

I feel like we can keep our nucleus in tact and find better but who knows.

My guess is that Whiteside will be in a Mavs uniform.

After striking out on Dwight and Deandre they've gotta be fiending for a top center and I don't think Cuban is the type to be scared off by a potentially massive "unmovable" contract.

[walker834]

I wouldn't be surprised.  The Celtics could take a chance on Whiteside, but he's behind a guy like Noel right now who isn't really the answer either.  I think the celtics are in good position to draft, improve that way, and also improve their free agent signings as far as getting a nice veteran.  Lee has been a disapointment, but we really could draft a young stud who has more potential than Whiteside or Noel for what we want, and sign a really good veteran like Gasol at the same time with the expiring contracts of Lee and Turner. Or split it on guys like Ryan Anderson and someone else who could really help us.

I'm just using those guys as examples but I hope you get the idea.  Is Gasol even a free agent?

[chambers]

Yes to Barnes, *maybe * to DeRozan if he keeps playing this way for the rest of the year and has a good playoffs.
For me, Whiteside is a clear no.

If the Heat don't keep Whiteside,  you have to ask yourself why...
They've spent the most time with him and given him his career, so if they don't keep him then there are obviously serious issues with the guy.

Personally I think he's a psychopath.
My wife is a psychologist and she thinks the same thing watching him on and off the court in interviews+body language.
He's not all there unfortunately and is a classic candidate for Larry Sanders 2.0

[Who]

If Crowder keeps on playing like this on offense as he has lately, I wouldn't pay Harrison Barnes big money in the summer. I think H.Barnes is a good starter but not a special player. Crowder is on a similar level if he can keep this recent offensive outburst going (big "if").

[Smartacus]

Yes to Barnes, *maybe * to DeRozan if he keeps playing this way for the rest of the year and has a good playoffs.
For me, Whiteside is a clear no.

If the Heat don't keep Whiteside,  you have to ask yourself why...
They've spent the most time with him and given him his career, so if they don't keep him then there are obviously serious issues with the guy.

Personally I think he's a psychopath.
My wife is a psychologist and she thinks the same thing watching him on and off the court in interviews+body language.
He's not all there unfortunately and is a classic candidate for Larry Sanders 2.0

Interesting, I could definitely see it. He does seem to lack basic empathy and doesn't care much about what people think about him.

He doesn't play the game with the media either, he was asked the other day about a dominant performance and instead of giving the usual team first schpeal he said he needed to pad his all star numbers. Refreshingly honest or borderline psychopathic?

I wonder if there are any more clinically psychopathic people in sports. Michael Beasley, Larry Sanders and Delonte West are probably the closest that come to mind.

[Smartacus]

I wouldn't be surprised.  The Celtics could take a chance on Whiteside, but he's behind a guy like Noel right now who isn't really the answer either.  I think the celtics are in good position to draft, improve that way, and also improve their free agent signings as far as getting a nice veteran.  Lee has been a disapointment, but we really could draft a young stud who has more potential than Whiteside or Noel for what we want, and sign a really good veteran like Gasol at the same time with the expiring contracts of Lee and Turner. Or split it on guys like Ryan Anderson and someone else who could really help us.

I'm just using those guys as examples but I hope you get the idea.  Is Gasol even a free agent?

Marc Gasol is not a free agent the only reason I even mentioned him earlier was to illustrate the type of hulking 7 footer that could work in our system.

The only way we would end up with him was if Memphis blew it up which looked possible earlier in the year when they were floundering but extremely unlikely now that they've turned it mostly around.

[walker834]

I think Whitesides biggest issue is he plays for the Heat and Wade and Riley run that team like it's the mafia.  I don't like labelling people like that though.  Some psychologists really don't have the experience, intelligence or education to do their jobs.  He's a kid.  Probably has issues and more just sad when people like that get lost in the shuffle of other peoples ignorance. Too much ignorance in this world even from supposed professionals in every profession really.

The Celtics could do wonders with him for all we know, but as it stands I would stay away from him which is kind of a shame in ways.  He's definately talented.

As far as Gasol, I didn't see you said that but I'm on the same page there.  He could fit here but not a free agent.  I was just looking down the list of potential free agents and there isn't a whole lot but some decent vets and midlevel guys who are due for a pay day.  I'm not sure who I'd target right now.  Noah, Barnes, Whiteside, Anderson, Duncan guys like that jump out at me but as far as being a really good fit I don't know.

I'm not offering any of these guys the max I know that.

Amir is locked up for a couple years and is really as good as anything.  noah and duncan aren't worth much more at this stage in their careers.  Pau Gasol is a free agent  but more of a PF.  He's not really a fit either.

[walker834]

If I'm the celtics I remain patient and draft.  We can get two young pieces this draft and let them develop then go after a guy like Marc Gasol in free agency in a couple years to be that icing on the cake. I wouldn't waste money long term on any of these guys.  Ryan Anderson I like but we have KO.  Ainge can look at trades too as far as getting a piece here.

[__ramonezy__]

Not sure if this is considered off topic, but the biggest problem with the Cs now is that we're playing to reach the playoffs instead of playing to win a championship.

As a result we aren't testing/developing our young pieces to see what we really have. Is KO a star-caliber PF/C? Is Smart our PG or should we move him to SG? Can RJ/Young shoot? As a result I feel like we're stuck.

Every game we play to win and we actually will win alot, but we do so without answering questions that we need to move forward and become championship contenders as opposed to playoff contenders

[walker834]

Not sure if this is considered off topic, but the biggest problem with the Cs now is that we're playing to reach the playoffs instead of playing to win a championship.

As a result we aren't testing/developing our young pieces to see what we really have. Is KO a star-caliber PF/C? Is Smart our PG or should we move him to SG? Can RJ/Young shoot? As a result I feel like we're stuck.

Every game we play to win and we actually will win alot, but we do so without answering questions that we need to move forward and become championship contenders as opposed to playoff contenders

I hear you but we have to be patient.  The thing is is players that fit us are going to come available.  Those players are just harder to find because teams want to keep them.  I'm not even talking about max guys but players coming off their rookie deals that we can outbid teams for.  Steven Adams is a guy I've always liked who has upside and is slowly developing, but I'm just using him as an example.

Ainge constantly scouts the league and college, overseas etc and knows the type of guys he's looking for.

I still wish Ainge traded up for Steven Adams when he took KO but might not have been in the cards at the time.  KO has been a nice fit himself.

I wish we had Adams instead of Amir and KO and were signing Ryan Anderson this offseason but that's me.  That was one draft where I saw things differently than Ainge.

Not to brag but I'm pretty good like that lol. I think Tony Allen, Marbury, David Lee, Shaq and that were the only times I didn't see what Ainge was doing before he did it. I'm not joking either. But I explore a lot of scenarios before I get to that point.

I could be wrong here too though because I agree with Ainge where we need more a big time player  at center.  So maybe the C's see something in Whiteside.  Who knows.

[pearljammer10]

I think the days of throwing out max contracts are over, they will go back to being only handed out to superstars as they once were. Taking a cap hit of about 30% of the maximum would cripple the financial flexibility for that team, especially if that player is only above average at best. That being said, Whiteside is probably worth a max, but I dont think he will be beneficial to the team.

I think it will the opposite is true. With so many teams having cap space I expect the cost of signing free agents to rise.

you would think so, but this years free agent class is quite lack luster. As the cap is rising in these coming years, it will fall as well, and those middle tier max level contracts are that much more deadly to the roster. Paying someone like Barnes 24 million for four years doesn't seem much of a good idea in the long run. I feel like handing out max contracts left and right has lead Brooklyn into the situation it is in now.

I think that just benefits those lackluster FAs and will make teams over pay those lackluster FAs with max contracts because they'll be desperate. Ainge is smart so I expect him to be patient. But I bet some players will get some crazy overpaying contracts that they don't deserve just because that's all that's available.