What if no marquee FA's sign with us?

[LilRip]

With the season winding down, I decided to crack open NBA 2k17 and take my shot at the C's offseason. So Dubs win the championship, Pierce retires, I draft Fultz...pretty much what we expected. Next comes the interesting part:

1. I renounce all our FA's clearing up a bunch of cap room (including KO).
2. I swing for a trade and land Paul George using AB+Crowder+2018 BKN pick+C's 2019 top 3 protected pick
3. I trade Rozier and Demetrius Jackson for future picks to free up some more cap

Essentially, I now only have IT, Smart, Brown, PG, Horford, and Fultz on the team.

4. During free agency, I meet with Hayward, Blake, and Millsap who all demand the max. I just have enough and I offer each one (hoping someone will bite). Unfortunately, no one does! (EDIT: they all eventually resigned with their original teams). I even try to lure Nerlens away from the Mavs but since he's RFA, they match and that option goes kaput.


I guess what I'm saying is...what do we do if all the big time free agents sign with their respective teams? Do we just draft Fultz, make a minor signing and call it an offseason? Do we shake up the roster?

--
Just to share, in the end, I signed various guys to short term deals. Guys like Shabazz Muhammad and James Johnson. Alan Williams (a rebounding PF from the Suns) as well as reupping Amir Johnson (for cheap!). I also signed a few minimum guys to fill up the roster like Afflalo and Vinsanity. All in all, my main rotation ended up being IT/Smart/Jaylen/PG/Horford with Fultz, Alan Williams and the two Johnsons off the bench.

[Darío SpanishFan]

Step 2 is a huge mistake.

[Boris Badenov]

It's a distinct possibility.

If it happens I wonder whether we will hear from the "Danny promises fireworks and never delivers" crowd one more time. That would really be something.

[KGs Knee]

With the season winding down, I decided to crack open NBA 2k17 and take my shot at the C's offseason. So Dubs win the championship, Pierce retires, I draft Fultz...pretty much what we expected. Next comes the interesting part:

1. I renounce all our FA's clearing up a bunch of cap room (including KO).
2. I swing for a trade and land Paul George using AB+Crowder+2018 BKN pick+C's 2019 top 3 protected pick
3. I trade Rozier and Demetrius Jackson for future picks to free up some more cap

Essentially, I now only have IT, Smart, Brown, PG, Horford, and Fultz on the team.

4. During free agency, I meet with Hayward, Blake, and Millsap who all demand the max. I just have enough and I offer each one (hoping someone will bite). Unfortunately, no one does! (EDIT: they all eventually resigned with their original teams). I even try to lure Nerlens away from the Mavs but since he's RFA, they match and that option goes kaput.


I guess what I'm saying is...what do we do if all the big time free agents sign with their respective teams? Do we just draft Fultz, make a minor signing and call it an offseason? Do we shake up the roster?

--
Just to share, in the end, I signed various guys to short term deals. Guys like Shabazz Muhammad and James Johnson. Alan Williams (a rebounding PF from the Suns) as well as reupping Amir Johnson (for cheap!). I also signed a few minimum guys to fill up the roster like Afflalo and Vinsanity. All in all, my main rotation ended up being IT/Smart/Jaylen/PG/Horford with Fultz, Alan Williams and the two Johnsons off the bench.

Only?

Thomas/George/Horford is enough as is, to keep Boston as the 2nd best team in the east.  It might very well be good enough to compete with Cleveland (I'm not buying the narrative some are selling that we can't compete with them).  If you strike out in FA trying to acquire a 4th star player you still have Fultz/Brown plus Smart.  I'd love to sign a guy like James Johnson in a scenario where we lose out on a max free agent.

That is still a fantastic place to be.  If Fultz/Brown can make the impact their potential suggests, in a few years, the trio of IT/PG/AH should still be close enough to their primes to have a short title window while Fultz/Brown continue to grow into the stars we all hope they can become.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

With the season winding down, I decided to crack open NBA 2k17 and take my shot at the C's offseason. So Dubs win the championship, Pierce retires, I draft Fultz...pretty much what we expected. Next comes the interesting part:

1. I renounce all our FA's clearing up a bunch of cap room (including KO).
2. I swing for a trade and land Paul George using AB+Crowder+2018 BKN pick+C's 2019 top 3 protected pick
3. I trade Rozier and Demetrius Jackson for future picks to free up some more cap

Essentially, I now only have IT, Smart, Brown, PG, Horford, and Fultz on the team.

4. During free agency, I meet with Hayward, Blake, and Millsap who all demand the max. I just have enough and I offer each one (hoping someone will bite). Unfortunately, no one does! (EDIT: they all eventually resigned with their original teams). I even try to lure Nerlens away from the Mavs but since he's RFA, they match and that option goes kaput.


I guess what I'm saying is...what do we do if all the big time free agents sign with their respective teams? Do we just draft Fultz, make a minor signing and call it an offseason? Do we shake up the roster?

--
Just to share, in the end, I signed various guys to short term deals. Guys like Shabazz Muhammad and James Johnson. Alan Williams (a rebounding PF from the Suns) as well as reupping Amir Johnson (for cheap!). I also signed a few minimum guys to fill up the roster like Afflalo and Vinsanity. All in all, my main rotation ended up being IT/Smart/Jaylen/PG/Horford with Fultz, Alan Williams and the two Johnsons off the bench.

Only?

Thomas/George/Horford is enough as is, to keep Boston as the 2nd best team in the east.  It might very well be good enough to compete with Cleveland (I'm not buying the narrative some are selling that we can't compete with them).  If you strike out in FA trying to acquire a 4th star player you still have Fultz/Brown plus Smart.  I'd love to sign a guy like James Johnson in a scenario where we lose out on a max free agent.

That is still a fantastic place to be.  If Fultz/Brown can make the impact their potential suggests, in a few years, the trio of IT/PG/AH should still be close enough to their primes to have a short title window while Fultz/Brown continue to grow into the stars we all hope they can become.

yeah it is why whoever we get (free agent wise) i would like no older than say 27 or 28 so they can be a part of our early title runs with the kids IF they pan out.

[hpantazo]

It's a distinct possibility.

If it happens I wonder whether we will hear from the "Danny promises fireworks and never delivers" crowd one more time. That would really be something.

We got fireworks, we got the #1 [dang] pick. Stop complaining about nothing.

[More Banners]

If no free agents sign, we keep space to absorb a max contract in trade without sending salary out (or very little) and essentially trading future picks for players now.

We end up okay I think.

If we end up only adding rookies and re upping Olynyk that might suck. But it will be interesting to see how they do.

Tough to pick up scorers in trade. They're highly valued.

Maybe we go the Melo route.

[celticsclay]

It's a distinct possibility.

If it happens I wonder whether we will hear from the "Danny promises fireworks and never delivers" crowd one more time. That would really be something.

We got fireworks, we got the #1 [dang] pick. Stop complaining about nothing.

we have already had fireworks. Any fan base outside of cleveland or golden state is jealous of us.

[hodgy03038]

If no free agents sign, we keep space to absorb a max contract in trade without sending salary out (or very little) and essentially trading future picks for players now.

We end up okay I think.

If we end up only adding rookies and re upping Olynyk that might suck. But it will be interesting to see how they do.

Tough to pick up scorers in trade. They're highly valued.

Maybe we go the Melo route.

The more I think about it the more I am warming to the idea as a fallback option.

[CelticsElite]

Melo as plan B has no loss. Its either Melo or running it back with scrubs and rookies. Might as well see what Carmelo still has

I always wanted Melo he plays and shoots like pierce at times.

[Granath]

What do we do? Is this a serious question?

It's simple. We sign a tier 2 FA to fill the front court position. We hold on to the cap space. We win another 50+ games while watching Brown and Fultz blossom into NBA stars. And we wait for another great 2018 Brooklyn pick.

We will likely not be going after 'Melo. He may not early terminate in 2018 so that contract runs two more years which precludes us from signing any good FAs in 2018. While I don't expect many great FAs to hit the market in 2018 there are still guys out there that would better help the Celtics than Anthony.

[tazzmaniac]

1) Maintain cap flexibility.   
2) Don't give large multi year guaranteed contracts to role players (e.g. KO). 
3) Don't trade Fultz, Brown or Brooklyn 18 for a star that won't make us a contender. 
4) Don't trade for Melo.  If he agrees to the trade, his no trade clause will make it difficult for us to trade him if we need to. 
5) Attempt to trade AB, IT and/or Smart for picks if they are unlikely to be re-signed next off season.
6) If IT or AB is a keeper, attempt to workout an extension now. 
7) Don't do anything that would hinder us from trading for AD if he becomes available next off season. 

[LilRip]

With the season winding down, I decided to crack open NBA 2k17 and take my shot at the C's offseason. So Dubs win the championship, Pierce retires, I draft Fultz...pretty much what we expected. Next comes the interesting part:

1. I renounce all our FA's clearing up a bunch of cap room (including KO).
2. I swing for a trade and land Paul George using AB+Crowder+2018 BKN pick+C's 2019 top 3 protected pick
3. I trade Rozier and Demetrius Jackson for future picks to free up some more cap

Essentially, I now only have IT, Smart, Brown, PG, Horford, and Fultz on the team.

4. During free agency, I meet with Hayward, Blake, and Millsap who all demand the max. I just have enough and I offer each one (hoping someone will bite). Unfortunately, no one does! (EDIT: they all eventually resigned with their original teams). I even try to lure Nerlens away from the Mavs but since he's RFA, they match and that option goes kaput.


I guess what I'm saying is...what do we do if all the big time free agents sign with their respective teams? Do we just draft Fultz, make a minor signing and call it an offseason? Do we shake up the roster?

--
Just to share, in the end, I signed various guys to short term deals. Guys like Shabazz Muhammad and James Johnson. Alan Williams (a rebounding PF from the Suns) as well as reupping Amir Johnson (for cheap!). I also signed a few minimum guys to fill up the roster like Afflalo and Vinsanity. All in all, my main rotation ended up being IT/Smart/Jaylen/PG/Horford with Fultz, Alan Williams and the two Johnsons off the bench.

Only?

Thomas/George/Horford is enough as is, to keep Boston as the 2nd best team in the east.  It might very well be good enough to compete with Cleveland (I'm not buying the narrative some are selling that we can't compete with them).  If you strike out in FA trying to acquire a 4th star player you still have Fultz/Brown plus Smart.  I'd love to sign a guy like James Johnson in a scenario where we lose out on a max free agent.

That is still a fantastic place to be.  If Fultz/Brown can make the impact their potential suggests, in a few years, the trio of IT/PG/AH should still be close enough to their primes to have a short title window while Fultz/Brown continue to grow into the stars we all hope they can become.

I say "only" because they are literally the ONLY guys on the team. It's a great core but they are only 6 people. That means I still need to sign or trade (using only picks) for 7 more people 

And I thought I ended up with a pretty decent offseason as well. It was just really interesting to me that signing Hayward (or a top tier FA) here seems to be a foregone conclusion when in truth, it's probably even more likely that he stays with the Jazz. My "prize" in FA was James Johnson. This, despite having all the cap space in the world.

[LilRip]

1) Maintain cap flexibility.   
2) Don't give large multi year guaranteed contracts to role players (e.g. KO). 
3) Don't trade Fultz, Brown or Brooklyn 18 for a star that won't make us a contender. 
4) Don't trade for Melo.  If he agrees to the trade, his no trade clause will make it difficult for us to trade him if we need to. 
5) Attempt to trade AB, IT and/or Smart for picks if they are unlikely to be re-signed next off season.
6) If IT or AB is a keeper, attempt to workout an extension now. 
7) Don't do anything that would hinder us from trading for AD if he becomes available next off season.

Aren't these two contradicting? If you sign IT and/or AB to market value, your cap space next offseason is essentially gone.

[LilRip]

What do we do? Is this a serious question?

It's simple. We sign a tier 2 FA to fill the front court position. We hold on to the cap space. We win another 50+ games while watching Brown and Fultz blossom into NBA stars. And we wait for another great 2018 Brooklyn pick.

We will likely not be going after 'Melo. He may not early terminate in 2018 so that contract runs two more years which precludes us from signing any good FAs in 2018. While I don't expect many great FAs to hit the market in 2018 there are still guys out there that would better help the Celtics than Anthony.

Does this mean sign an Amir Johnson type to another short deal? Because after Blake, Millsap, Ibaka, and Noel, that's the level of talent you're left with. That deal will probably run 2 more years too, btw, since I doubt anyone would accept a one-and-done type (unless we blow a lot of money on a one year deal maybe?)

Also, I'm curious what you mean by "hold on to the cap space". This is practically the last year (in a while) that we'll have significant enough cap space to sign a "tier 1" FA. Once IT re ups next year, there goes that space. What more so if we choose to keep Bradley and whatnot.