GreenMachine wrote:Captain_Caveman wrote:If we not sold on Rondo at $20m or think he is a flight risk, how about Rondo/Wallace for Amare/Larkin/2015 pick swap rights with Clippers pick/2018 unprotected pick?
We'd end up with something like the following in a year:
Larkin
Smart/Bradley
Turner/Young
Sullinger/Olynyk
Zeller
4th, 16th, 31st, 34th picks in 2015 draft
Up to $37m or so in cap room
Bird Rights on Green and Bass
2016 picks - Own, Nets and Cavs 1sts; Sixers and Heat 2nds
2017 picks - Better of own/Nets 1sts
2018 picks - Own, Nets, Knicks 1sts
If we had to, I'd do it.
We could surly get better value for Rondo. And if we are trading Rondo... there is absolutely no reason to move Wallace. We would have tons of cap space and no one to spend it on...
Can we?
I think we are in a very tough situation with Rondo, and been saying that for a while. For starters, guy is an unrestricted FA next summer with excellent market value, and holds nearly all the cards in this. Ultimately, we either give him $20m a year or he goes to someone who will. Given that teams like the Lakers and Knicks probably would, his trade market is likely *very* small.
You can cross like 20-25 teams off the list right from the jump. Sacto could offer rivers flowing with chocolate and gold, and it wouldn't matter a bit, because he kills that dead on contact by saying he won't resign there. He probably already did that, in fact. And if it is clear that he isn't going to get that $20m a year from us, what obligation does he have to extort his new team for value?
It's been copasetic because we are propping him up as the franchise player and because the stink of giving him $20m a year would have been masked had he been able to recruit Love and Melo, or whoever, but if we decide not to pay him the big money he clearly thinks he is worth, it could get ugly in a hurry, particularly in midst of a protracted rebuild. We have always known this.
Conventional wisdom coming into this season was that we got Love or we trade Rondo. Don't forget that Ainge has nearly traded this guy like 50 times already and repeatedly slandered him anonymously in the press in order to reduce his market value on the first extension. There is no **** way he is going to turn around at this point, after 5 years of being underpaid, and see what Hayward got, and hear about the cap jumping in 2016 and decide to take $15m a year from us or whatever.
If we are not willing to back up the Brinks truck for him, he has gotta go ASAP to a team that he is willing to resign with - for whatever we can get.
There are other ways to play it, but what I am saying is totally reasonable (except maybe for the Rondo playing for Phil in the Triangle part, lol). If he gets dealt, it will look a lot like that... in a best case scenario, IMO.
Last, cap space is good for more than just free agents. It facilitates trades by removing CBA restrictions, and opens up the possibility of acquiring assets by taking on large expirings (Utah got two unprotected 1sts from the Ws last year for doing exactly that). We just got Zeller and a 1st for taking on Thornton, if you recall.