I'm Going To Miss Chasing Max Free Agent Targets In The Future

[Phantom255x]

LAST YEAR - We went hard after Durant and/or Horford and spent countless months on the rumors and tweets and investigating them and what not. And the days coming up to FA and the days leading to their decisions, this site kept going down (connection problems - YAY!), and there were TONS of people here on the threads. Unfortunately we did not land Durant, but we got Horford and it was the team's first marquee FA signing!

THIS YEAR - We had enough space for a max and targeted Hayward OR Griffin hard, and while Griffin was re-signed early on, we still spent countless months talking about him as a "Plan B" or a guy who could come over and experience a change in scenery of some sorts. The frenzy was ultimately about Hayward and trying to get him, and again, countless days spent on the "Hayward-to-Boston" rumors and what not, and then voila, WE GOT HIM!

GOING FORWARD, UNFORTUNATELY, we no longer have enough space for a max-FA (besides using Bird Rights to keep Isaiah), and that's probably the end of chasing marquee FA's for a while.

And I'll admit, I'll miss it a lot. Of course, we will hope our draft picks pan out well in the future (7/11 about to tear the league apart!), and there's still the avenue to make a trade or two for other star players.

But it's been pretty fun the past few years (and this year) going hard after max-caliber FA's and courting them to Boston and what not. I mean, check out the Hayward thread. 130 pages!
LOL. And at times, there were over 500 people viewing it too keeping track of what was going on. Similar with the Durant and Horford threads a year ago too.

I'm just happy we managed to finally take the "Boston is not an attractive destination" label out of the way, even though it is unfortunate we didn't land Durant and he's the guy we "missed out" on.  But I'll be optimistic and say going 2/3 in the past few years, chasing max-FA's is a good success rate too. 

Does kind of suck though, with the 2018 class possibly having the likes of Cousins, Paul George, even Lebron, and the Lakers may have enough cap space to acquire 2 max contracts (YUCK).

[SparzWizard]

Next biggest thing to look forward to?

Packaging a trade for Anthony Davis.

[JHTruth]

Next biggest thing to look forward to?

Packaging a trade for Anthony Davis.

Absolutely. If I had to take a wild guess about Danny's plans, he passed on Fultz because he's determined to nab Doncic and then trade IT with picks to NO for AD. Jaylen/Ziziz will be the solid starters, and Tatum, Doncic, and AD will be our three max guys going forward.

[Phantom255x]

Next biggest thing to look forward to?

Packaging a trade for Anthony Davis.

That's the dream, but probably not for another 2 years at minimum.

New Orleans have no reason to trade him whatsoever with him having 4 whole years left on his deal.

I'm still holding out hope for Porzingis, especially with another bad Knicks start and let's be honest, that organization is a mess and KP knows it. He also becomes a RFA in 2 years.

But yeah now it's mainly the trade market to look at (and drafts).

[JHTruth]

Next biggest thing to look forward to?

Packaging a trade for Anthony Davis.

That's the dream, but probably not for another 2 years at minimum.

New Orleans have no reason to trade him whatsoever with him having 4 whole years left on his deal.

I'm still holding out hope for Porzingis, especially with another bad Knicks start and let's be honest, that organization is a mess and KP knows it. He also becomes a RFA in 2 years.

But yeah now it's mainly the trade market to look at (and drafts).

I wouldnt be so sure about the AD thing. They have to make a call on Cousins this year, and if they retain him, he'll get a massive deal and improving the team will be all but impossible. If he walks, they would be admitting defeat and probably needing another rebuild. AD will probably demand out at that point as there would be no path forward.

[Phantom255x]

Next biggest thing to look forward to?

Packaging a trade for Anthony Davis.

That's the dream, but probably not for another 2 years at minimum.

New Orleans have no reason to trade him whatsoever with him having 4 whole years left on his deal.

I'm still holding out hope for Porzingis, especially with another bad Knicks start and let's be honest, that organization is a mess and KP knows it. He also becomes a RFA in 2 years.

But yeah now it's mainly the trade market to look at (and drafts).

I wouldnt be so sure about the AD thing. They have to make a call on Cousins this year, and if they retain him, he'll get a massive deal and improving the team will be all but impossible. If he walks, they would be admitting defeat and probably needing another rebuild. AD will probably demand out at that point as there would be no path forward.

I think it's possible AD demands he wants out, and Boston is a great place to go if he wants to win also. But I don't think it will be this year or next summer. Maybe the 2019 trade deadline AT THE EARLIEST. If Cousins-AD experiment doesn't work, they'll let Cousins leave or trade him for value and try again building around AD.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Too stressful for me.  Still trying to get my blood pressure and bowel movements under control again.

[JHTruth]

Next biggest thing to look forward to?

Packaging a trade for Anthony Davis.

That's the dream, but probably not for another 2 years at minimum.

New Orleans have no reason to trade him whatsoever with him having 4 whole years left on his deal.

I'm still holding out hope for Porzingis, especially with another bad Knicks start and let's be honest, that organization is a mess and KP knows it. He also becomes a RFA in 2 years.

But yeah now it's mainly the trade market to look at (and drafts).

I wouldnt be so sure about the AD thing. They have to make a call on Cousins this year, and if they retain him, he'll get a massive deal and improving the team will be all but impossible. If he walks, they would be admitting defeat and probably needing another rebuild. AD will probably demand out at that point as there would be no path forward.

I think it's possible AD demands he wants out, and Boston is a great place to go if he wants to win also. But I don't think it will be this year or next summer. Maybe the 2019 trade deadline AT THE EARLIEST. If Cousins-AD experiment doesn't work, they'll let Cousins leave or trade him for value and try again building around AD.

How will they rebuild? That's the problem, they'll have no significant draft picks, very little money, and what FA would even think of signing there after Boogie decided its a flop.

They don't have the assets and I seriously doubt AD is going to jump on board for another 3-4 year rebuild. He was getting frustrated already and that's why they went and gambled on Cousins.

[Phantom255x]

Too stressful for me.  Still trying to get my blood pressure and bowel movements under control again.

R-E-L-A-X.

You have about 350 days to recover! 

But yeah between July 1 - July 4 in these situations are VERY UNPRODUCTIVE.

Can't even enjoy Independence Day and Fireworks that well haha. (Did Woj just tweet? Is this a new rumor? Etc).

[Phantom255x]

Next biggest thing to look forward to?

Packaging a trade for Anthony Davis.

That's the dream, but probably not for another 2 years at minimum.

New Orleans have no reason to trade him whatsoever with him having 4 whole years left on his deal.

I'm still holding out hope for Porzingis, especially with another bad Knicks start and let's be honest, that organization is a mess and KP knows it. He also becomes a RFA in 2 years.

But yeah now it's mainly the trade market to look at (and drafts).

I wouldnt be so sure about the AD thing. They have to make a call on Cousins this year, and if they retain him, he'll get a massive deal and improving the team will be all but impossible. If he walks, they would be admitting defeat and probably needing another rebuild. AD will probably demand out at that point as there would be no path forward.

I think it's possible AD demands he wants out, and Boston is a great place to go if he wants to win also. But I don't think it will be this year or next summer. Maybe the 2019 trade deadline AT THE EARLIEST. If Cousins-AD experiment doesn't work, they'll let Cousins leave or trade him for value and try again building around AD.

How will they rebuild? That's the problem, they'll have no significant draft picks, very little money, and what FA would even think of signing there after Boogie decided its a flop.

They don't have the assets and I seriously doubt AD is going to jump on board for another 3-4 year rebuild. He was getting frustrated already and that's why they went and gambled on Cousins.

The second part is true, they got Cousins for that reason.

But if you're the Pelicans, you can trade away AD with just 1.5 or 2 years left on his deal and still get tremendous value in return.

Ultimately it's on Davis. If he's frustrated and makes it known he wants out, and Cousins is not working out for NOP, they might have to.

[JHTruth]

Next biggest thing to look forward to?

Packaging a trade for Anthony Davis.

That's the dream, but probably not for another 2 years at minimum.

New Orleans have no reason to trade him whatsoever with him having 4 whole years left on his deal.

I'm still holding out hope for Porzingis, especially with another bad Knicks start and let's be honest, that organization is a mess and KP knows it. He also becomes a RFA in 2 years.

But yeah now it's mainly the trade market to look at (and drafts).

I wouldnt be so sure about the AD thing. They have to make a call on Cousins this year, and if they retain him, he'll get a massive deal and improving the team will be all but impossible. If he walks, they would be admitting defeat and probably needing another rebuild. AD will probably demand out at that point as there would be no path forward.

I think it's possible AD demands he wants out, and Boston is a great place to go if he wants to win also. But I don't think it will be this year or next summer. Maybe the 2019 trade deadline AT THE EARLIEST. If Cousins-AD experiment doesn't work, they'll let Cousins leave or trade him for value and try again building around AD.

How will they rebuild? That's the problem, they'll have no significant draft picks, very little money, and what FA would even think of signing there after Boogie decided its a flop.

They don't have the assets and I seriously doubt AD is going to jump on board for another 3-4 year rebuild. He was getting frustrated already and that's why they went and gambled on Cousins.

The second part is true, they got Cousins for that reason.

But if you're the Pelicans, you can trade away AD with just 1.5 or 2 years left on his deal and still get tremendous value in return.

Ultimately it's on Davis. If he's frustrated and makes it known he wants out, and Cousins is not working out for NOP, they might have to.

It's not like AD puts fans in the seats, the Pels hardly have fans. Bottom five in attendance. IT would probably pull more fans than the current team lol. I'll bet the Pels would love a new start

[Celtics4ever]

What makes you think we won't be chasing one next year or close to it?    I honestly can't see Ainge paying Thomas the max.

[aingeforthree]

Next biggest thing to look forward to?

Packaging a trade for Anthony Davis.

Absolutely. If I had to take a wild guess about Danny's plans, he passed on Fultz because he's determined to nab Doncic and then trade IT with picks to NO for AD. Jaylen/Ziziz will be the solid starters, and Tatum, Doncic, and AD will be our three max guys going forward.

I think he's after Porter, Bamba, or Ayton.  I think an IT4 package for Davis could be right though.

I truly think Ainge views Rozier as his stud PG in the future, running the show.

[BitterJim]

What makes you think we won't be chasing one next year or close to it?    I honestly can't see Ainge paying Thomas the max.

Even if he let's IT go, we won't have even close to max money

[max215]

I won't. I prefer having max free agents  .