Getting a max Free Agent is now much more difficult

[Smokeeye123]

Trade bradley for a pick in the 8-12 range and draft a big. Not that hard and lol this is a great problem to have.

[Roy H.]

Trade bradley for a pick in the 8-12 range and draft a big. Not that hard and lol this is a great problem to have.

It would have to be a pick in a future draft (or we'd have to renounce KO) to clear the necessary cap space. Plus, the team probably doesn't want to move AB before getting a commitment from a free agent.

[PAOBoston]

This doesn't change that much. The smartest path always was to trade AB if we got Hayward.

And remember, that $400k gap is an estimate. It could increase with the actual cap numbers, or it could decrease.  If it remains and we have to lose Rozier, so be it.

Adding Fultz and Hayward while keeping KO would be a wildly successful off-season, even if we had to trade AB and Rozier. 

Horford / Zizic
KO
Crowder / Brown / Nader
Hayward / Smart
IT / Fultz

We'd also have the $4.3 million room exception to add a more rugged PF. The future picks we'd get in trade are just gravy.

Roy, do you think a lineup like this wouldn't work?

It
Fultz
Hayward
KO
Horford

I expect it would, but bringing Fultz off the bench would ease him into the league, while also keeping Crowder from bristling too much initially.

I think celts may be better off trading AB and Crowder for a big to play with horford, then using Brown as first guy off the bench being able to replace both Fultz and Hayward as needed

Bismack? You'd think Orlando would be all over this deal.

Bismack was a name I thought of too

I believe Biyombo was the highest paid player on the Magic this year. Not sure if it is really smart to commit that kind of investment in a defense only big man like that. Depending on what route they go with Olynyk, I would think the C's go after bigs that can stretch the floor and something cheaper if they really want a defense/rebound type of big.

[colincb]

I will never turn down the first overall pick, but getting a max free agent (of the Hayward and Griffin vintage) just became much more difficult.

If we let all the free agents/non-guaranteed guys go, dump Jackson, and convince Yab to stay overseas another year, we're at $28.8 million cap space, $1.5 million short of a max.  Even also moving Rozier would not create enough room.

If we instead keep Olynyk and trade Bradley (along with everyone else described above), they're at $29.9 million cap room, still about $400k short.  Moving Rozier in addition would work, but if you want a max player, get ready for some sort of significant trade.

Not according to my math:

      Player   2017-2018
1   Bradley, Avery   $8,808,989
2   Brown, Jaylen   $4,956,480
3   Crowder, Jae   $6,796,117
4   Horford, Al         $27,734,405
5   Rozier, Terry   $1,988,520
6   Smart, Marcus   $4,538,020
7   Thomas, Isaiah   $6,261,395
8   Top Pick           $7,026,240
9   Max FA         $30,300,000
10   Zizic                   $1,645,200
11   Nader              $815,615
12   2nd rounder     $815,615
                   $101,686,596

Replace Rozier with a $816K player and you're under the cap. Assumes everything you do including keeping Yabu overseas (probably should), dumping Jackson with a pick, and dumping KO, TZ, and JM. You might well get decent pick value back for Rozier.

I think you forgot to get rid of one of the minimum players when you figured the max room available to sign your max FA as the twelveth player under the CBA.

13 player slots are filled per the new CBA, you need to add another league minimum contract

Do you have a source for that?

Coon's old CBA FAQ:

A cap hold called an "incomplete roster charge" if the team has fewer than 12 players (players under contract, free agents included in team salary, players given offer sheets, and first round draft picks). This charge is equal to the rookie minimum salary for each player fewer than 12. For example, if there are 11 players included in team salary, then an amount equal to the rookie minimum salary is added to the team salary; if the roster is completely empty, then 12 times the rookie minimum salary is added to the team salary. This charge only applies during the offseason.

That FAQ hasn't been updated, but Bernardoni's "(Celtics Friendly) Guide to the New CBA" says:

The “incomplete roster charge” will continue to be based on a 12 player minimum.

I've checked a Bobby Marks updated cap sheet and he's using 12 players in the 18-19 and 19-20 years also to come up with the minimum salary for cap purposes.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/bos/salary/

[Roy H.]

^ Yeah, Tim Bontemps addressed that directly:

... the number of roster charges — meaning the number of spots that have to be accounted for in terms of the salary cap as teams are assembling their rosters — will remain at 12. This is a win for a team like Golden State, which could use every bit of cap room it can get when it tries to put its team together next summer when Curry is a free agent and Durant can opt out of the second year of his two-year deal.

[boscel33]

If they stay put and draft Fultz, our biggest needs are rebounding still.  Therefore, don't go after a max, but go after a FA like Noel.

[crimson_stallion]

Bradley is a role player. You don't let a guy like him impede progress and keeping him and giving him a big deal does just that. If you add Fultz, give Brown more minutes, and sign Hayward, there's no room for AB.

As fans are going to see in the next week, our core is nowhere near good enough. Keeping all or most of our current roster isn't enough. Way too flawed. Keeping guys like KO and AB is suicide.

Some fans won't like it, but AB will likely have to go. Same with Olynyk. They simply aren't good enough. Drafting a guy like Fultz and trying to get a guy like Hayward are, in the long run, huge upgrades over what we have.

Bradley is not a role player.

A role player by definition is a player who plays one specific role, and doesn't really do anything else.

Bradley is out top perimeter defender, he's one of our best perimeter shooters, he's one of our best outright scorers, he's a hustle guy and he's a glue guy.  He a very good starter, and is well beyond "role player" level.

[crimson_stallion]

If they stay put and draft Fultz, our biggest needs are rebounding still.  Therefore, don't go after a max, but go after a FA like Noel.

I'd still be keen to take a shot on Noel - I'm pretty convinced that he has tremendous upside.  His length, athleticism, defence and rebounding alone would fill a huge need for us, and at his age he still has a long way to go up. 

Would need to be a pretty reasonable deal though.  $10M - $14M a year I'd be interested.

[PAOBoston]

Bradley is a role player. You don't let a guy like him impede progress and keeping him and giving him a big deal does just that. If you add Fultz, give Brown more minutes, and sign Hayward, there's no room for AB.

As fans are going to see in the next week, our core is nowhere near good enough. Keeping all or most of our current roster isn't enough. Way too flawed. Keeping guys like KO and AB is suicide.

Some fans won't like it, but AB will likely have to go. Same with Olynyk. They simply aren't good enough. Drafting a guy like Fultz and trying to get a guy like Hayward are, in the long run, huge upgrades over what we have.

Bradley is not a role player.

A role player by definition is a player who plays one specific role, and doesn't really do anything else.

Bradley is out top perimeter defender, he's one of our best perimeter shooters, he's one of our best outright scorers, he's a hustle guy and he's a glue guy.  He a very good starter, and is well beyond "role player" level.

Bradley is a nice player. Maybe a notch above rile player but a step below all star. The issue with AB is are you willing to commit big bucks to him next season?

[max215]

Dumping Bradley or Crowder for negligible/no salary and renouncing Olynyk would work, right?

Sure, if you want to move on from two of our top 6 players.

Could be a net gain if we're adding Hayward.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Bradley is a role player. You don't let a guy like him impede progress and keeping him and giving him a big deal does just that. If you add Fultz, give Brown more minutes, and sign Hayward, there's no room for AB.

As fans are going to see in the next week, our core is nowhere near good enough. Keeping all or most of our current roster isn't enough. Way too flawed. Keeping guys like KO and AB is suicide.

Some fans won't like it, but AB will likely have to go. Same with Olynyk. They simply aren't good enough. Drafting a guy like Fultz and trying to get a guy like Hayward are, in the long run, huge upgrades over what we have.

Bradley is not a role player.

A role player by definition is a player who plays one specific role, and doesn't really do anything else.

Bradley is out top perimeter defender, he's one of our best perimeter shooters, he's one of our best outright scorers, he's a hustle guy and he's a glue guy.  He a very good starter, and is well beyond "role player" level.

Bradley is a nice player. Maybe a notch above rile player but a step below all star. The issue with AB is are you willing to commit big bucks to him next season?

"Commit big bucks" is not the big issue here really.

[colincb]

If they stay put and draft Fultz, our biggest needs are rebounding still.  Therefore, don't go after a max, but go after a FA like Noel.

I'd still be keen to take a shot on Noel - I'm pretty convinced that he has tremendous upside.  His length, athleticism, defence and rebounding alone would fill a huge need for us, and at his age he still has a long way to go up. 

Would need to be a pretty reasonable deal though.  $10M - $14M a year I'd be interested.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/news/nba-trade--free-agency-deadline-2017-wade-porter-noel/14f0f0j7a6oyz1btem4nvufon5

The only reason he was so cheap was that he is an impending restricted free agent who the Sixers did not intend to keep, not with a projected cost of around $90 million, according to league executives. That won’t be the case in Dallas, which has made clear to Noel that it will match any offer he gets this summer.

That would be for 4 years.

[TheSundanceKid]

Glad that we now have crystallisation on the cap situation. I've been against Plan A being Hayward for a while now and this just hardens my resolve.

I'm very on board with using the pick and Crowder to chase Paul George, possibly with a third, smaller piece in the deal (Yab or Rozier for example). There are several combinations for what we could do there but utilising the cap space, going over to re-sign KO and then trading for Paul George would be a perfect summer.

Failing that I would be re-negotiating Isaiah for the 0-6 year max and re-signing KO to go over the cap. Commit to this group to compete and grow our young guys as we go. I want to write a FanPost on that subject soon, I think it's something people always look at as the back up plan but it has a lot of merit and the path we should take.

[JBcat]

This doesn't change that much. The smartest path always was to trade AB if we got Hayward.

And remember, that $400k gap is an estimate. It could increase with the actual cap numbers, or it could decrease.  If it remains and we have to lose Rozier, so be it.

Adding Fultz and Hayward while keeping KO would be a wildly successful off-season, even if we had to trade AB and Rozier. 

Horford / Zizic
KO
Crowder / Brown / Nader
Hayward / Smart
IT / Fultz

We'd also have the $4.3 million room exception to add a more rugged PF. The future picks we'd get in trade are just gravy.

How much better do you think that team is better than this year's team?

IMO on paper talent is better, and more top heavy but on the court I'm not so sure.

My concerns is 1 our front court depth. Horford will be another year into his 30's, the inconsistent KO starting alongside him with Zizic the primary backup big.  The 4.3 mil to play with is not a whole lot.  Ring chasing cheap bigs will probably flock to the Warriors, Cavs, and maybe Spurs before us. I'm not expecting good quality to come from it, but hopefully I'm wrong.

Our backcourt D, part of the staple of our current team takes a big hit with Bradley gone.  Is Hayward going to chase around the Walls of the league while Thomas defends off the ball?  I can't picture that, and I'm not crazy about Thomas defending PGs most of the time in a deep PG league.

I think our overall D could take a hit.

Those are just my concerns. Instead of trading Bradley I'd look to trade Crowder one of Smart/Rozier for a PF like Favors and a future pick.  It's slim pickings out there for that salary range, but he is one guy I'd look at if we were to sign Hayward.  Of course for me that means we have to let Kelly walk, but we keep Bradley.

Horford/Zizic
Favors
Hayward/Brown
Bradley/Fultz
Thomas/Rozier

Still thin up front but I like it a little better.

[TheSundanceKid]

Dumping Bradley or Crowder for negligible/no salary and renouncing Olynyk would work, right?

Sure, if you want to move on from two of our top 6 players.

Could be a net gain if we're adding Hayward.

Nope definitely not, people are not giving Bradley enough credit for the player he has become and are not accounting for the dropoff from Bradley at SG. Smart is a PG who is playing SG minutes because of personnel, in reality the backup SG has been Rozier/Brown/Green. All good players but none ready to step into the role Bradley has on this team.

Bradley is a role player. You don't let a guy like him impede progress and keeping him and giving him a big deal does just that. If you add Fultz, give Brown more minutes, and sign Hayward, there's no room for AB.

As fans are going to see in the next week, our core is nowhere near good enough. Keeping all or most of our current roster isn't enough. Way too flawed. Keeping guys like KO and AB is suicide.

Some fans won't like it, but AB will likely have to go. Same with Olynyk. They simply aren't good enough. Drafting a guy like Fultz and trying to get a guy like Hayward are, in the long run, huge upgrades over what we have.

Bradley is not a role player.

A role player by definition is a player who plays one specific role, and doesn't really do anything else.

Bradley is out top perimeter defender, he's one of our best perimeter shooters, he's one of our best outright scorers, he's a hustle guy and he's a glue guy.  He a very good starter, and is well beyond "role player" level.

Bradley is a nice player. Maybe a notch above rile player but a step below all star. The issue with AB is are you willing to commit big bucks to him next season?

You should be willing to commit big bucks to him. He would still be significantly cheaper than the max FA players.