Post#191 » by Djh7475 » Thu Aug 3, 2017 8:50 pm
As someone who has fully embraced the way the Warriors have built their roster (first through the draft and with smart contracts/trades, then following through with some major FA acquisitions like Iggy and obviously KD), I am perfectly happy with the way the Celtics have handled the last several offseasons. I'm not only a fan of the way the Warriors built their roster, but the type of roster they've built (a few guards, a few meh big men, and a boatload of versatile positionless players that can hit the 3 and defend). That's why I'm excited about the fact that the Celtics are fully embracing positionless basketball.
After being short on versatile wings the last few years, the Celtics are suddenly overflowing with them. After having literally 1 guy that could create his own shot last year, the Celtics added Hayward, Morris, Tatum, and a year of development to Jaylen's game. Rather than giving up assets or cap space to sign a big man who would be a liability late in the playoffs just so that we could improve our rebounding ability, we brought in Zizic and Baynes for next to nothing. We not only kept all of our assets, but we added another premier draft pick and landed an allstar on top of it.
While some people knock the Celtics for not trading for Paul George because of how cheap he came (I think Jimmy would've cost us #3, AB, Crowder, and Smart to make the money/assets work so I was good with passing on that on draft night until we heard from Hayward), I don't think people realize how difficult it would've been to land Hayward and Paul George without gutting the roster. We don't have an overpaid player like Oladipo to make a deal simple, so we would've had to give up AB, Crowder, Smart, Rozier, and the cap space we used on Baynes just to make the money work.
Then next year, we be looking at a situation where we'd have $120M dedicated to 4 players with several high draft picks making $6-7M/year. Our tax bill would've gotten out of hand even if we only had IT, PG, Hayward, Horford, rookie contracts, and minimum players on the roster. As it stands, keeping Crowder on his ridiculously cheap 3 year deal, Rozier with 2 years left on his rookie deal, and after trading AB for Morris on a crazy cheap 2 year deal was by far the best thing we could've done financially. Those 3 guys could all play substantial roles for the Celtics while making a combined $14M/year for the next 2 years (versus PG making $30M or AB making $25ishM on his next deal).
Assuming Smart's contract comes in around $10M/year, Smart, Rozier, Crowder, and Morris combined would make around what AB likely gets on his next deal and substantially less than PG is likely to command (if he had even stayed - if he left, we would've gutted the good contracts from the roster for 1 year with most likely the same outcome). I get that the NBA is a star-driven league, but after picking up Hayward and spending 2 #3 picks on wings while Crowder, Morris, Ojeleye, and Nader give us a ton of present/future contributors on the wing, I think sending out enough money to bring Paul George in AND clear cap space for Hayward could've hurt us more than it helped.
I understand ownership will pay the tax, but it'd be smarter to put off insane tax bills until the the Warriors have to resign Klay (and Draymond will be due for a massive raise the following offseason). I don't see any financially feasible way for the Warriors to remain in tact for more than 2 more years, so Ainge would be wise to wait for our spending spree to occur AFTER the Warriors are forced to part ways with Klay or Draymond. We obviously shouldn't pack it in because injuries do happen, but the Celtics have literally played the last several offseasons as well as I could've reasonably hoped.
Rather than going all-in to lose to an all-time elite team in the finals, we've continued to add stars, elite young talent, AND future assets. Ainge has literally acquired an all-star for NOTHING the last 3 seasons (IT acquired with a late 1st we received for a trade exception, Horford and Hayward acquired with cap space). He's also added 2 #3 picks, high end role players on absurd bargain contracts, a ton of versatile prospects with upside to fill up the bench, and he somehow has 2 high draft picks coming over the next 2 years, a Memphis pick that could turn into a late lottery pick in 2 years, a Clippers pick that looks locked into the mid 1st round range, and we still own all of our own future 1sts.
If Ainge wasn't trying to build a contender during a time where the cap spike followed by a cap drop and a more difficult CBA made it impossible to catch one of the best teams in NBA history, I'd knock points off for him not being more aggressive. However, we are one of the 3-4 teams in the NBA that could win a title if one of the Warrior stars goes down with an injury, and we still have one of the best young cores in basketball with more reinforcements on the way.
With all of the contenders or near contenders around the NBA capped out for the forseeable future, we are also the most logical destination for superstar free agents. That sounds dumb because we are capped out for a while as well, but other contenders don't have the assets or tradable contracts necessary to facilitate a sign-and-trade for a superstar without gutting the roster. We are also the premier landing spot for superstar free agents, but I don't mind Ainge being patient and waiting for the door to close a little bit more on the Warriors domination.
All in all, Ainge has built one of the top 3-5 teams in the NBA, he's got more assets and young stars than any team in the league, he's maintained our flexibility to trade or acquire a player via S&T, and he's guaranteed that the Celtics will be extremely relevant for the next 6-7 years. If the Nets and Lakers give us 2 top 5 picks next year while Smart, Rozier, Jaylen, and Tatum take major leaps in their games, people will be talking about the Celtics in a few years the same way everyone currently talks about the Warriors.
If we land 2 of Porter/Ayton/Bamba/Bagley while Jaylen & Tatum look like stars in the making, we could win a title in a few years without even hitting our peak until a few years later. For everyone saying that OKC got an A+ for this offseason, what happens if Russ and PG walk next offseason? What is their ceiling regardless? How does their future look? What kind of flexibility do they have to get better? The Rockets have gotten a ton of A+'s as well, but all they did was build a team whose window lines up directly with the Warriors' around 2 players that will have a tough time coexisting. They are going to be in brutal shape in a few years without a title to justify it.
I give Ainge an A+. If I didn't intend to be a Celtics fan in 10 years, that probably wouldn't be the case. However, Ainge has shown the type of patience most fanbases wish their GM's were capable of. Also, we still haven't seen the Celtics play yet. Considering we've drastically outperformed expectations under Brad Stevens and finally have a roster built in his image, I'm surprised people still think they can look at our depth chart and count us out. IT and Hayward both take a ton of pressure off of each other offensively, and Hayward has never played with so much firepower and spacing. Our system and talent level should elevate everyone's impact. This year will be a great indicator of how we are or aren't away.
