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http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... n_bab.html

Shades of Paul Gaston.

if there's a second straight stingy off-season, I'll probably tune out. A championship will be too unlikely.

Great! I am looking forward to adding more minimum horrible players...Let`s resign Moore add a scrub SF, a scrub PG and call it a day...

If they don`t want to invest it is better to completely rebuild the team, the last thing I want to see is another year where we have nothing on the bench...

We won a title while under the tax. Being under the tax doesn't = cheap. No need to jump off the boat with the Globe report. Danny is pretty smart.

Kefa461 wrote:We won a title while under the tax. Being under the tax doesn't = cheap. No need to jump off the boat with the Globe report. Danny is pretty smart.

I have no doubt Ainge is one hell of a smart guy, but I dont think he is forms the budget, he is being told by owner how much he wants to spend, and by this report it doesnt seem he wants to invest for the big chance for the championship, he is satisfied with Celtics being one of 4-5 contenders.

Wyc was on Comcast's Sports Sunday saying he will go into the luxury tax if needed. He said he has been there before and will be there again. If it is the right guy, why not, but not for 5 years of Sheed or Iverson. That is just bad business.

Also, not sure if you want to be turning to Maz for Celtics' stories.

The Celtics have been luxury tax payers the past two seasons.

The only way they stay out of the luxury tax,

and add the center (Nesterovic?) and SF (Grant Hill) that Doc said the Celtics needed

is if they sign and trade for the center.

Even then, the Celtics would probably have to limit their roster to 13 or 14,
instead of the maximum 15 players allowed.

We'll go into the Lux Tax if the right player comes along. Not saying that player will be there though.

The article is written by Tony Massarotti. Massarotti is a baseball guy. He doesn't know what he is talking about when it comes to the Celtics.

Kefa461 wrote:We won a title while under the tax.

No you didn't. And you're already over the tax threshold for the next season. This writer has no idea about what he's talking about, you'd need a major downgrade in talent to get under the tax.

So we aren't going to get into a "bidding war" over Big Baby Davis due to the Luxury tax.....blah,blah blah....no need to stress.
In my opinion, the next Big baby is simply a Danny Ainge 2nd round pick away. Do the math here guys, 11mil/3 years to retain Davis, or spend a fraction of that to trade for an undersized PF in the second round. Guys like Gomes, Powe, and Davis are nice players to have, however we simply dont have the flexability to keep them all due to the big three that make the core of this team. We cant keep them all. We will use the 11mil towards a veteran player willing to take a "championship team discount" rather than a player looking for a big payday.

Comparing this ownership to Gaston is a gross over reaction. There are what, 3 owners out of entire league NOT concerned about the tax?

As previously noted, getting under the luxury tax would be a major squeeze, hurting the team's competitiveness.

I take comfort, however, from what you guys noted about the reporting source.

Can't be true. If it was true, this message would be as devastating as KG's injury; meaning: no title.

What happened to Wyc's open pockets of two years ago?

Meh, can't say I trust that article. I'll get pissed when I see them sign robert swift. He is like the Patrick O'Bryant of this off-season, when they signed him, you know they were gonna be cheap.

That article says nothing, has no quoted sources and really adds little to what we have already read.

Someone from this board could have written a better article.

I will venture a guess that the Celtics will do whatever is possible to bring the title back. As the GM, do you really think that DA would state in public that they want to pay the tax, never. He and the owners are very smart businessmen and will not tip their hand. All part of the game.

Celtics_Champs wrote:Meh, can't say I trust that article. I'll get pissed when I see them sign robert swift. He is like the Patrick O'Bryant of this off-season, when they signed him, you know they were gonna be cheap.

Hasn't DA had a man crush on him similar to Theo's man crush of Julio Lugo?


/shudders

I really don't like the idea of possibly paying Ray Allen 12 million.

Because we have a good amount of money available, but the article says that is mostly going to resign Ray.

He is not worth 12 million.

It's crazy. We won't see the big three winning the title again.

This is the most pertinent part of the article to me. I'm not even thinking about Davis, his backup position needs to be upgraded. Much of Ainge's focus this off-season needs to be on deciding on Ray's future with the Celtics. It's more important. Compensation is what I'm thinking about as it pertains to Davis. I'm waiting (curiosity) to see how much Ray's extension will be worth. How much does Ray see for himself? It has to be less than what he'll get next season ($18.7M) I would think. I mean his age has to factor into the amount and years. Maybe three years at $7M or $8M a year. I don't know...

I'm trying to think of a veteran player at the same position who's in the same situation as Ray. The player who comes to mind is Ginobili. He'll make $10.7M next season. I assume that players would like to remain with their current team. Moreover, Ginobili will turn thirty-two this summer and Ray will turn thirty-four this summer as well. How many more productive seasons do they've left? Hard to imagine both the Celtics and Spurs not having either player after next season. Also, Boston and San Antonio are at similar points right now. The Spurs have a young star point guard Tony Parker (twenty-seven), the Celtics have Rondo (twenty-three). These players are now the face of their franchise. Only Boston still must lock-up Rondo longterm. Duncan and Garnett are beginning to see the affects of playing so many minutes over their career. Both are thirty-three. One difference is Boston has Pierce. San Antonio has Finley who's a free agent and is thirty-six. While Pierce is thirty-one (turns thirty-two later this year) and under contract.



Next season, the Celtics already are projected to be over the threshold. For 2010-11 they already are approaching the projected cap number (some reports estimate it at $57.3 million for next year) with just four contracts: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Kendrick Perkins and Rondo. Though the Celtics will have some flexibility next summer, they will need much of that money to either re-sign Ray Allen or secure his replacement.

Never one to skirt the issue, Celtics vice president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has acknowledged that this summer will present the team difficult challenges. Those will continue into next summer, but the process starts now with Davis and, to a large degree, Rondo.