Offseason Free Agency/Draft Thread

[Pats19andO]

WHo do you think we should sign/re-sign/draft this offseason?

[The Rondo Show]

My dream (realistic) off-season:
Re-sign Sam Cassell, draft Brandon Rush (either at 30, or trade up w/the pick, TA and/or Pruitt as bait), convince James Posey to not opt out and sign Kurt Thomas for the full mid-level or part of it.

Perkins/K.Thomas
KG/Powe
Pierce/Posey
R.Allen/Rush
Rondo/Cassell

Oh, and make sure Tom Thibodeau stays on the staff. Give him head coach money to stay on as an assistant with Doc and give him a promise that he's the next coach of the Boston Celtics, whenever that time may come.

[Jammer]

1. Keep Tom Thibadeau as Associate Head Coach, even if it requires a raise.

2. Pray James Posey exercises his option for $3.46 million. He probably will, if he is assured when he expires that he will be renewed the following year (summer 2009) for 4 or 5 years with 8% raises each year. That's a wink-wink, but that type of guarantee will get him to come back without testing the free agent market.

3. Re-sign Tony Allen for 5 years at $14 or $15 million total. To get Tony in at this price, I presume that Scalabrine will be dumped somewhere so Tony's agent doesn't make a big stink of Scal getting $3.2 million next year, and $3.4 million the year after that, to wave a towel with a smile.

4. Re-sign Eddie House for whatever it takes. He probably can get more than the $1.5 million that he's making, perhaps as much as $2.2 million per. I say give him a multi-year deal.

5. Re-sign Sam Cassell for the veteran minimum ($1.27 million or so).

6. Look for ways to move up in the draft, or to buy picks.

[P2]

1. Waive Scal.
2. Get rid of the redhead.
3. Ban man boobs.

[RoyHobbs]

My dream (realistic) off-season:
Re-sign Sam Cassell, draft Brandon Rush (either at 30, or trade up w/the pick, TA and/or Pruitt as bait), convince James Posey to not opt out and sign Kurt Thomas for the full mid-level or part of it.

Perkins/K.Thomas
KG/Powe
Pierce/Posey
R.Allen/Rush
Rondo/Cassell

Oh, and make sure Tom Thibodeau stays on the staff. Give him head coach money to stay on as an assistant with Doc and give him a promise that he's the next coach of the Boston Celtics, whenever that time may come.

That's pretty similar to what I'm hoping for. Nice one.

(Although, what I'm really hoping for is that Jeff Foster opts out of his deal, and we sign him over Thomas. I don't see it, though.)

[BirdsBiggestFan]

Hopefully the first priority for the offseason is to have a victory parade.

[threrf23]

I like Foster as well. And Ron Artest.

Jason Williams is an unmentioned possibility for back-up PG. When healthy he's underrated. When he's not fully healthy he gets rest while Gabe Pruitt gets burn.

A big question is, do we consider sending TA away in a sign and trade, but might b a realistic package to get in return, and do we pull the trigger

[Dogen]

My dream (realistic) off-season:
Re-sign Sam Cassell, draft Brandon Rush (either at 30, or trade up w/the pick, TA and/or Pruitt as bait), convince James Posey to not opt out and sign Kurt Thomas for the full mid-level or part of it.

Perkins/K.Thomas
KG/Powe
Pierce/Posey
R.Allen/Rush
Rondo/Cassell

Oh, and make sure Tom Thibodeau stays on the staff. Give him head coach money to stay on as an assistant with Doc and give him a promise that he's the next coach of the Boston Celtics, whenever that time may come.

I agree this is a nice one. And basically realistic. If we dangle Pruitt as bait, I think the team needs to find another PG to bring along as a backup. How much can Cassell possibly have left pushing 40.

[Dogen]

Oh, and I'd bring Binky Gomes back.

[SonicYouth34]

The C's should sign Gomes, he'd be a great scoring punch off the bench and they should resign Brandon wallace, but that's just me. They also need to resign House, because he's dynamite off the bench, same with Posey

Rondo/FA pg/Pruitt
Jesus/House
Truth/Posey
KG/Gomes/Scal!!
Perk/Powe/BBD

For the pick the C's should look for a high upside guy, kinda like a Gerald Green type that they can mold into Jesus' replacement.

Also do the Celtics need to extend BBD and Powe this simmer as well?

[IVSKIN]

I would be pretty happy if Stephen Curry declares, and the C's get him.

We could let House walk, re-sign Cassel and Gomes if their interested, then keep things the way they are.

[threrf23]

I would be pretty happy if Stephen Curry declares, and the C's get him.

He does strike me as Monta Ellis esque. Though its always tough to predict how college game will translate to NBA game.

I didn't follow college ball much before the tournament...but among other things I'm surprised Roy Hibbert still seems to be considered a top prospect. He's got the size and all but if he can't use it to come close to dominating as a college senior, I don't see how he can make it in the NBA. I didn't have Georgetown losing to Davidson (because Davidson, during the season, seemed to have trouble against teams with size), but I did have Georgetown losing in the next round (to Georgia, which lost to Xavier but put up a good fight).

Taking a quick glance at NBAdraft.net's current predictions, I'm surprised to see Brandon Rush predicted as a 2nd rounder. Ths is a guy that - before the age limit, was talented enough to skip from high school to the NBA and possibly be a 1st round pick if I remember correctly....right now he's continuing to refine his all around game in college, and nobody can seem to come up with a glaring weakness of his - they just hold it against him that he doesn't dominate as he would seem to have the potential to do so....frankly this is a talented guy playing within himself and trying to improve on a team that has a shot at the national title, I'm inclined to say I'd be very happy if we could land him easily enough.

[kmgarnett21]

stephen curry is amazing. he's killin it in the NCAA tourney so far. 40 points in 1st game, 30 in 2nd game. amazing. he'd be a good 2nd round steal. his frame is so small though

[billfromBoston]

1. Keep Tom Thibadeau as Associate Head Coach, even if it requires a raise.

2. Pray James Posey exercises his option for $3.46 million. He probably will, if he is assured when he expires that he will be renewed the following year (summer 2009) for 4 or 5 years with 8% raises each year. That's a wink-wink, but that type of guarantee will get him to come back without testing the free agent market.

3. Re-sign Tony Allen for 5 years at $14 or $15 million total. To get Tony in at this price, I presume that Scalabrine will be dumped somewhere so Tony's agent doesn't make a big stink of Scal getting $3.2 million next year, and $3.4 million the year after that, to wave a towel with a smile.

4. Re-sign Eddie House for whatever it takes. He probably can get more than the $1.5 million that he's making, perhaps as much as $2.2 million per. I say give him a multi-year deal.

5. Re-sign Sam Cassell for the veteran minimum ($1.27 million or so).

6. Look for ways to move up in the draft, or to buy picks.

...the team will never compromise their salary cap market positioning for the 2010-11 season that way...Posey, TA, and House will probably get offers at deals that make sense, but Ainge won't pay the prices you listed for players that are replaceable at better dollar figures...

My guess is Posey is offered a two-year extention at the same rate...House the same way...TA is an interesting case...not likely he gets offered 3 million per from anyone on the open market, so I'd expect a qualifying offer year is in his future with the C's...but he may get re-upped for 3-4 years at 2-2.5 as he is probably worth that as a defensive specialist alone...plus its an easy deal to move packaged up with a Scalabrine, that makes a nice 6 million...

...if the Spurs dynasty has taught you anything it should be that after the main 3 contract players, the rest of the roster should remain liquid...obviously Rondo is an exception, but the role players around GPA aren't going to get cap-crippling mid-level deals or contracts for long years...won't happen...

[I love heinsohn]

-= original quote snipped =-



...the team will never compromise their salary cap market positioning for the 2010-11 season that way...Posey, TA, and House will probably get offers at deals that make sense, but Ainge won't pay the prices you listed for players that are replaceable at better dollar figures...

My guess is Posey is offered a two-year extention at the same rate...House the same way...TA is an interesting case...not likely he gets offered 3 million per from anyone on the open market, so I'd expect a qualifying offer year is in his future with the C's...but he may get re-upped for 3-4 years at 2-2.5 as he is probably worth that as a defensive specialist alone...plus its an easy deal to move packaged up with a Scalabrine, that makes a nice 6 million...

...if the Spurs dynasty has taught you anything it should be that after the main 3 contract players, the rest of the roster should remain liquid...obviously Rondo is an exception, but the role players around GPA aren't going to get cap-crippling mid-level deals or contracts for long years...won't happen...

All good points Bill.

I would also add that Ainge is likely to look at the following moves:
1. Adding a draft pick or dumping salary (Scal) in a possible TA sign and trade (we have his RFA rights).
2. Targeting a few specific MLE FAs early (a la Karl Malone), but without any Kapono-style multi-year deals. Long term flexibility is more important to DA than the total $$$ sticker.
3. If this team does not grab the brass ring, I would expect DA to look for a few younger Ime Udoka-type of young players that could step right in and fill a role. Here, I'm a little disappointed that Blatche from Wash will not be available...