dsorc wrote:Red2 wrote:with maggette signing danny has no leverage. who else would we spend the mle on? I suppose we could get more than one player but would any of them be more valuable to us than posey? I don't think so. it's time to pay the piper. danny took a shot and he lost so let's get james signed and move on
But he doesn't have to spend the MLE. We've got holes in three backup spots. Financially it makes no sense to use up all the MLE on one player. Talentwise, it makes no sense to use the MLE to fill one hole and then tie your hands at the other two positions since all you can offer is the min or the biannual exception which is almost the min.
1. There won't be enough of the mid-level left, after signing James Posey, to do anything except add a third year to Bill Walker's contract (like Leon Powe and Gabe Pruitt).
Posey will get at least $ 5.25 million, per year, if not more.
I don't want to hear anyone on the Celtics gripe about Posey as long as they haven't dumped Scalabrine. And even worse, the lunkhead who obviously wasn't familiar with Posey's game last summer, and who probably worked off stats and not what he did on both ends of the court, to not have locked Posey up last summer for 4 years at $5 million per. That could easily have been done, of course, the LLE would have had to be used to sign Eddie House first. Another blunder.
2. The issue with Eddie House is not dollars, it's years. The Celtics can offer House $1.8 million to start, with 8% raises each future season. The Celtics only want to offer him the vet minimum ($1.3 million, for one season). That's ridiculous. This could have been avoided by simply offering House a two year contract last year, but that's another blunder. The difference between $1.8 million and $1.3 million is inconsequential to a team getting anywhere into the playoffs, with an additional $50 in PROFIT available to a team going all the way. Time not to be penny foolish. House can do much better than the Celtics offer, the least they can do is have a shooter on the bench when needed. And get rid of Scalabrine before moaning about luxury tax. Teams with trade exceptions, teams with cap space, can just take him for a case of Budweiser in return.
3. Backup center - biggest problem, as PJ had length. The options would seem to be:
a: Mutombo, rumored to be re-signing with Houston. Historically, he has always gone to the biggest paycheck, which may explain why he doesn't have a championship.
b. Alonzo Mourning - 4 months younger than PJ Brown, on one kidney. A prima donna, but a hell of a good one for someone with attitude. Would be nice if he would play for minimum.
c. PJ Brown - pray he joins team in February again
d. Scot Pollard (has said that he will return for minimum). Looks like the Celts may not have a choice.
e. Chris Anderson of New Orleans - not as good as any of above players.
So, the Celtics, if they don't screw around, can sign Posey, Eddie House and Pollard for sure;
and if Jason Williams doesn't want to play for minimum, Tyronn Lue sure sounds like he will.
Oh, that would mean the Celtics ditch Pruitt to one of 11 teams with Trade Exceptions large enough to just accept Pruitt, or one of 3 teams with enough cap room to just accept Pruitt, in return for a second round pick.