Marcus Smart RFA [Merged - finalizing 4 year deal]

[action781]

Zach Lavine scored 22 points per 36 last season while coming back from injury. The Kings future pg and c are not known for their scoring. It makes sense for them to throw big money at Lavine, even if it was an overpay. You can expect an overpay offer at Smart too if they make an offer, but not quite the one they offered Lavine because Smart doesn't give them as much of what they need -- scoring.

[loco_91]

No problem at all for him to get his money

But then don't ever mention "I'm all about winning" again cause you're not

You can be all about winning when it's game time, and still make the right decision for you + your family when it comes to the $$$.

If Smart is going to the Kings, I hope they'll make him a very wealthy man.

[Roy H.]

4 yrs $16 mill per probably gets him for Sac.  And they'd be better off paying him than LaVine.  The thing is if they don't overpay, my guess is that if the Celtics can get in the ballpark, he'd go with them and compete for a title vs getting every last possible dollar.

That ballpark means we’d probably have to let one of our starters go at some point. You can’t give a one-sided role player 15% of your cap.

If he gets $15 million, I’d sign Jamal Crawford and call it a day.

[celticinorlando]

Smart said tonight that he has no idea what’s going on with the Celtics.

[mmmmm]

If the Kings offer him 14M/Year or less, I match it.

If it's 15M a year or higher, then sorry Smart, I love you and thank you for everything, but bye bye! Then I'd really prioritize re-signing Rozier going forward and also bringing back Jabari Bird for sure this season.

Just keep in mind that any amount above $7.9M comes along with some extra costs that are pretty hefty.

1) That puts us in the luxury tax.   If we do nothing else to get back below the tax by the end of the year, then that starts the repeater clock.  Since we are almost certainly not going to come back down below the tax for two consecutive years in the next few seasons, we are going to get hit with the repeater penalties down the road.   Thus, you need to add on an additional cost of ~20M for the simple decision to go over the tax to sign Smart.

2) Alternatively, we can avoid going over the threshold by trading away salary.  That would mean finding some team with cap space (the number of teams with cap space is dwindling) to which we can trade a contract to without taking salary back.  This will also cost a draft pick to get them to take on the salary.  How nice of a pick would depend on the contract we expect them to take.  Losing this player (for example, Morris) plus the pick would be a cost you need to add on to the decision to go over the threshold to sign Smart.

3) At least a couple of teams (PHI, MIN) are interested in Jabari Bird and are only hesitating on making an offer sheet because right now, BOS has the room under the tax threshold to match without hesitation.   If Marcus walks to another team, we have no problem matching any offer and so likely no team will make an offer and we get to keep him on the QO/2-Way 75K deal.   If we sign Marcus to his QO of 6M, then we'll still have plenty of room to match any minimum level contract.  If, however, we use up all the space under the threshold in order to match an offer to Smart, then we would only be able to match Bird with over-the-tax dollars and another team will swoop in to make an offer sheet on Bird.   Losing Bird is not the end of the world -- he's just a 2nd round draft prospect / summer league hero at this point -- but losing him, too, would be a potential cost of going over the tax to retain Smart.

I'm not saying we shouldn't do this.  Danny and Brad may value Smart enough that they are willing to pay those additional costs on top of his salary.    But folks should be aware that paying Smart ~8M or higher means paying a lot more on top of that.

[Roy H.]

Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
about 10 minutes ago
New: After crossing paths with Danny Ainge, Marcus Smart spoke to the Globe and the Athletic tonight. On his status with the Celtics: “That’s what I want to know. I have no clue. I can only control what I can control.”

[Kuberski33]

I wouldn't overpay. You can replace most of what he gives you with guys already on the roster. The one thing you can't replace are those crazy plays he seems to make late in games but I think they can overcome the absence of that with just their better talent level. 

You can also - as Roy pointed out - bring in someone else who can actually shoot.

[jpotter33]

Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
about 10 minutes ago
New: After crossing paths with Danny Ainge, Marcus Smart spoke to the Globe and the Athletic tonight. On his status with the Celtics: “That’s what I want to know. I have no clue. I can only control what I can control.”

Yeah, none of this makes sense. Both Danny and Brad have said all along that they want Smart back, but they're not going to go out there and simply bid against themselves.

This whole situation reeks of Walters whispering crap in Smart's ear trying to get him to go for the payday in a crappier situation, e.g. Sacramento, because he knows Boston won't overpay Smart in the territory that he wants. Dude is shady and has recently screwed other free agents out of major money.

[saltlover]

4 yrs $16 mill per probably gets him for Sac.  And they'd be better off paying him than LaVine.  The thing is if they don't overpay, my guess is that if the Celtics can get in the ballpark, he'd go with them and compete for a title vs getting every last possible dollar.

That ballpark means we’d probably have to let one of our starters go at some point. You can’t give a one-sided role player 15% of your cap.

If he gets $15 million, I’d sign Jamal Crawford and call it a day.

Honestly, I don’t think % I’d cap means much in a period where the Celtics are going to be significantly over it for a number of years, with or without Smart.  I’d look at it as % of payroll.  Can you give an elite role player like Smart 10-12% of your payroll?  You probably can if it’s a 3-year deal (so runs out when Tatum enter contract #2 and when Hayward’s deal ends).  Trickier if it’s for four years, but you can probably move him as an expiring at that time to someone for a not-exorbitant price, at worst.

[mmmmm]

Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
about 10 minutes ago
New: After crossing paths with Danny Ainge, Marcus Smart spoke to the Globe and the Athletic tonight. On his status with the Celtics: “That’s what I want to know. I have no clue. I can only control what I can control.”

Yeah, none of this makes sense. Both Danny and Brad have said all along that they want Smart back, but they're not going to go out there and simply bid against themselves.

This whole situation reeks of Walters whispering crap in Smart's ear trying to get him to go for the payday in a crappier situation, e.g. Sacramento, because he knows Boston won't overpay Smart in the territory that he wants. Dude is shady and has recently screwed other free agents out of major money.

If Sacramento is willing to pay Smart millions of dollars more per year than the Celtics, then [dang] right Walters should be advising his client to take it.   He would be a terrible agent if he advised otherwise.   

Not only is Smart facing increased competition for his minutes on this Celtics roster, but Smart has also gotten injured each year due to his aggressive style of play and there is no guarantee he'd get a pot of gold at the end of a QO rainbow.

[mmmmm]

4 yrs $16 mill per probably gets him for Sac.  And they'd be better off paying him than LaVine.  The thing is if they don't overpay, my guess is that if the Celtics can get in the ballpark, he'd go with them and compete for a title vs getting every last possible dollar.

That ballpark means we’d probably have to let one of our starters go at some point. You can’t give a one-sided role player 15% of your cap.

If he gets $15 million, I’d sign Jamal Crawford and call it a day.

Honestly, I don’t think % I’d cap means much in a period where the Celtics are going to be significantly over it for a number of years, with or without Smart.  I’d look at it as % of payroll.  Can you give an elite role player like Smart 10-12% of your payroll?  You probably can if it’s a 3-year deal (so runs out when Tatum enter contract #2 and when Hayward’s deal ends).  Trickier if it’s for four years, but you can probably move him as an expiring at that time to someone for a not-exorbitant price, at worst.

Whether you want to call it % of cap or percentage of payroll, just make sure you add in ALL the costs of going into the tax in order to sign him.

[saltlover]

4 yrs $16 mill per probably gets him for Sac.  And they'd be better off paying him than LaVine.  The thing is if they don't overpay, my guess is that if the Celtics can get in the ballpark, he'd go with them and compete for a title vs getting every last possible dollar.

That ballpark means we’d probably have to let one of our starters go at some point. You can’t give a one-sided role player 15% of your cap.

If he gets $15 million, I’d sign Jamal Crawford and call it a day.

Honestly, I don’t think % I’d cap means much in a period where the Celtics are going to be significantly over it for a number of years, with or without Smart.  I’d look at it as % of payroll.  Can you give an elite role player like Smart 10-12% of your payroll?  You probably can if it’s a 3-year deal (so runs out when Tatum enter contract #2 and when Hayward’s deal ends).  Trickier if it’s for four years, but you can probably move him as an expiring at that time to someone for a not-exorbitant price, at worst.

Whether you want to call it % of cap or percentage of payroll, just make sure you add in ALL the costs of going into the tax in order to sign him.

Personally I see no reason to attribute that cost any more to Marcus than to Baynes.  The Celtics knew when they chose to re-sign Baynes that going into the luxury tax was a definite possibility, and if it comes to fruition because he gets the big offer he’s seeking and the Celtics match, presumably they were prepared for it.

[JSD]

wrong thread

[JSD]

edit

[jpotter33]

Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
about 10 minutes ago
New: After crossing paths with Danny Ainge, Marcus Smart spoke to the Globe and the Athletic tonight. On his status with the Celtics: “That’s what I want to know. I have no clue. I can only control what I can control.”

Yeah, none of this makes sense. Both Danny and Brad have said all along that they want Smart back, but they're not going to go out there and simply bid against themselves.

This whole situation reeks of Walters whispering crap in Smart's ear trying to get him to go for the payday in a crappier situation, e.g. Sacramento, because he knows Boston won't overpay Smart in the territory that he wants. Dude is shady and has recently screwed other free agents out of major money.

If Sacramento is willing to pay Smart millions of dollars more per year than the Celtics, then [dang] right Walters should be advising his client to take it.   He would be a terrible agent if he advised otherwise.   

Not only is Smart facing increased competition for his minutes on this Celtics roster, but Smart has also gotten injured each year due to his aggressive style of play and there is no guarantee he'd get a pot of gold at the end of a QO rainbow.

I'm meaning that I think Walters is exaggerating Smart's market value to him purposefully because he knows that Sacramento could potentially offer an extravagant deal that Danny won't match, making Walters more money. From the sound of the remarks coming from Smart versus the other reports we hear, it also sounds like Walters is misrepresenting to Smart what is going on to breed contempt in Smart and make him more likely to go with a higher offer on another team.

Agents should be concerned about more than simply the dollar amount of the contract. Value in a contract can go far beyond simply financial considerations, and Smart clearly values being in Boston, be it familiarity/inertia, the winning environment, Brad/Danny, etc. To Smart a couple million less per year could be worth it to stay in Boston.

It just doesn't seem that Walters has Smart's overall best interests in mind. And given his recent whiffs on contracts, there's certainly motivation/precedent there for this type of sketchy/questionable advising.