RealGM

In another forum someone mentioned Houston would be far enough under the cap in June to sign a Max Free agent if the could move Shane Battier for an expiring. With that said would Scalabrine and Tony Allen be enough to get it done?

This of course would not address the C's biggest need (backup Point Guard) but Battier would be a nice backup to Pierce. A second unit of Rasheed, Davis/Williams, Battier, Daniels and House would be formidable.

Although, I wonder if Houston would actually want to be that far under the cap. They are unlikely to get Labron or Wade. Maybe they could settle for Bosh or Johnson. They may prefer to try to get Johnson/Bosh for slightly less than Max or load up with other free agent.

Getting Shane has come up a number of times. I think the answer is that if we could get himfor expirings we would in a heartbeat. Having said that, (gotta love curb), hes just too good for them to trade. If they were going to trade him in an effort to get under the cap, we would have to outbid other contenders and even teams that hope to contend in the next year or 2 for his services. We don't have a lot to offer, Baby, late 1sts and cash. I have to think someone would and could pay more.

Hemingway wrote:Getting Shane has come up a number of times. I think the answer is that if we could get himfor expirings we would in a heartbeat. Having said that, (gotta love curb), hes just too good for them to trade. If they were going to trade him in an effort to get under the cap, we would have to outbid other contenders and even teams that hope to contend in the next year or 2 for his services. We don't have a lot to offer, Baby, late 1sts and cash. I have to think someone would and could pay more.

pretty much covers it

I was one of those who floatded the idea before. We don't have much to offer, but we do have some advantages that could work for us.

1. Battier has a been a good soldier there, and Morey might be willing to reward him by trading him to a good team where his chance of winning a ring would be very high.

2. The Celts are in the Eastern Conference

3. We do have the expirings to get the deal done.

4. Shane could very well want to come here. We would be a great fit for him.

The talent that we could offer might not be what some other teams could, but Morey might actually care what Shane, himself, wanted in a case like this.

And remember of course that Chris Bosh is from Texas...

Pretty good deal all around if Baby is included. HOU might do it if Adelman/Morey realize this season is a lost cause which it kind of is even though they're playing way above their talent level right now. This is the ideal trade for the Celts.

Pipe dream, but we'd get another great shooter and defender.

everybody wants shane battier. but hemingway summed it up best just not enough to get it done.

Hemingway wrote:Getting Shane has come up a number of times. I think the answer is that if we could get himfor expirings we would in a heartbeat. Having said that, (gotta love curb), hes just too good for them to trade. If they were going to trade him in an effort to get under the cap, we would have to outbid other contenders and even teams that hope to contend in the next year or 2 for his services. We don't have a lot to offer, Baby, late 1sts and cash. I have to think someone would and could pay more.

hairybyrd wrote:Pretty good deal all around if Baby is included. HOU might do it if Adelman/Morey realize this season is a lost cause which it kind of is even though they're playing way above their talent level right now. This is the ideal trade for the Celts.

Baby is not an expiring contract and would totally defeat the purpose of them giving away Battier.

If the Rockets do it they aren't going to want anything for him, literally. The value will have to be a future first round pick and not one this year.

If they would I think Boston certainly would and the advantage we may have is that we are as likely as any contender to have slid up the draft board a year from now.

sully00 wrote:If they would I think Boston certainly would and the advantage we may have is that we are as likely as any contender to have slid up the draft board a year from now.

I think if you polled realgm you might find people think we are likely to slip from being a late 20s pick but I doubt GMs think this way. We have too much money tied up, to many aging stars and too much recent success to blow this thing up. Sure we could see a major injury or two but even with 4 or 5 of our top 7 guys now (plus Shane) we probably still get a pick in the 20s.

The one and only way I could see a trade like this going down was if we gave Tony some minutes and he started looking good.

It would be interesting to know what the other contenders and wannabe contenders have for expiring contracts. Then we would know how many teams we would be bidding against.

Hemingway wrote:

sully00 wrote:If they would I think Boston certainly would and the advantage we may have is that we are as likely as any contender to have slid up the draft board a year from now.

I think if you polled realgm you might find people think we are likely to slip from being a late 20s pick but I doubt GMs think this way. We have too much money tied up, to many aging stars and too much recent success to blow this thing up. Sure we could see a major injury or two but even with 4 or 5 of our top 7 guys now (plus Shane) we probably still get a pick in the 20s.

The one and only way I could see a trade like this going down was if we gave Tony some minutes and he started looking good.

It would be interesting to know what the other contenders and wannabe contenders have for expiring contracts. Then we would know how many teams we would be bidding against.

But it isn't an issue of what we have committed it is whether Boston kind of fades like the Pistons did. Figure we make another long run this season, while we may have another championship run in us we may decide that it is going to be from the 4th seed not the one or two.
Compare that to the

Lakers (who probably aren't interested) but not likely to fade, they would have to move Fisher and Farmar.

Spurs (they could use him) could fade but probably can retool may not win but will likely contend. They have contracts to deal.

Cavs (not happening got to keep the cap clean) we know what they are all about. They have the contracts.

Magic (don't have the contracts) set to contend for a while.

Nuggets (don't really have a need or the contracts) have a good mix of youth and age.

Hawks (wildcard) Most unpredictable situation in sports.

Suns (no idea) Amare pending.

Mavs (maybe) They are going for broke like Boston and likely have a crash in front of them. They have the pieces to make a deal in Howard, Gooden, and Tim Thomas but they all may be a better fit for Dallas at this point than Battier.

The Rockets love Battier and he is 31 not 34 so he has some tread left. They can make a deal another way but they have a clear advantage in FA especially with Bosh, who based on his game would likely be as excited to play with Yao as he would DWade.

Basically it is primarily SA, maybe DAL. The Cavs are there and could move Big Z for him but they could probably do better, the Suns if they can save $3.75 might be interested. Of those 4 who is going to have the worst draft pick two drafts from now?

The way things are going Bosh might be in HOU before the deadline anyhow.