Celtics Off-season

[Rocky5000]

We must keep tony. He looked very good playing in the finals. Maybe the time off has helped him heal up better. We actually played more than 100 games this year if you count preseason, everyone is tired, including the fans. Having depth is more important when you have to go so deep into the postseason.

I think it's obvious to most of us that we need to keep James Posey. I just hope he and everyone else, can keep up the intensity that allowed them to win this championship. Will they let up now that they've won a ring and get complacent? Will they get the Detroit attitude that has kept them from winning another?

[billfromBoston]

Posey is a keeper, but you absolutely CAN NOT give him more than a 3 year deal (or 2 year extension to current deal)...

This is a critical off-season for Boston...the biggest mistake title teams make is over-rewarding the players with contracts that negatively impact the salary cap flexibility during re-building...

The most important thing for the Celtics long-term viability is to have substantial cap space during Pierce's walk year...with Ray/Pierce/KG expiring in back-to-back-to-back seasons, it will be IMPERATIVE for Ainge and company to capitalize.

In 3 seasons, Perk/Powe/Rondo will be in their primes and chalk-full of championship contending experience...this year's draft pick will be just emerging as an experienced contributor...GPA will still be highly productive, but likely falling off from the 1-2-3 option level of production...Now, Rondo should be ready to take a substantial playmaking/offensive burden from the GPA trio, but the team will be in need of a go-to wing option who can take over for Pierce/Allen as they decline...

The team may or may not re-sign both Pierce and Allen, depending on cost and production, but the window will be ripe for plucking the top FA wing on the market at that time...so as good as Posey/House/etc have been, you cannot jeopardize the cap flexibility of the team by taking a 5/6 million dollar chunk out of the projected cap money they'll have...

Assuming the team re-signs Rondo/Powe and keeps Ray/Paul for 6-7 million each, Boston would still have between 10-14 million to spend...they can use the LLE and veteran exception to round out the remaining roster spots around the existent core...

Posey is a GREAT role player, but he is a role player...he makes very good teams great, but is not good enough to make the team a title contender beyond the GPA prime window (3 years)...in order to extend this team's window of title contention, the Celtics need to have Rondo develop into an All Star (likely IMO) and hit the FA market hard in 3 seasons...

Bottom line: pay Posey the full MLE if that's what it takes, but only for 3 seasons more...if he demands an extra year or two it will hurt the teams ability to compete going forward and Boston will run the risk of sliding back into another extended period of mediocre-to-poor play...

MLE deals are franchise killers when not used judiciously...look around the league and you'll see many teams who have no cap room because they have mis-matched MLE or equivilent deals all over the place...

[Dirty Water]

If we end up losing Posey, we got to keep TA. One or the other, imo... although I'd much rather keep Posey.

[Marley2Hendrix]

available points: Duhon, Lue, Jason Williams, Arroyo
eh. Duhon's my choice of this lot because he can space the floor w/ the 3 & plays tough D along w/ the ability to easily initiate an offense, but none of them possess the right combo of size or defensive ability to warrant signing them over rolling the dice w/ a House/Pruitt combo next year. A wildcard I would take a shot at is Beno Udrih, but I don't see Sac letting him go.

Posey replacements if he demands a 3+ year MLE Deal: Najera/Barnes/Nachbar

all a step down from lord james posey, Nachbar's my favorite, but he would demand the largest contract, Barnes might take a 1yr flier on the cheap on a quality team to boost his stock, and Najera might just want to get out of the dysfunction in denver... nonetheless, Pose is a leader here, and retaining him (within reason) should be priority 1. If not, who's to say a Barnes for the LLE and Diop at the MLE would be a downgrade?

Replacements as PJ walks w/ his cocky smile into the sunset: O'Bryant, Diop, Chris Andersen (sucked in limited time this year), Elson.

shudder. Not a good lot at all beyond Diop which is the only reason there might be a bright side should Lord James part. Honestly, should baby show the physical maturation of Perk from year 1-2, he could start in place of an injured perk and handle being our backup 5. His girth keeps anyone out, makes up for the height, decent enough reach, but most importantly he has the agility to be outstanding on rotations. The backup 5 might be best served by #30 or some trader danny magic.

Backup 2/3 - Tony Allen, Maurice Evans, #30.
Allen won't field a big offer from anyone. Give him another low level qualifier.

looks to me that we got options abound, especially if teams come knocking for baby/powe/allen. I can't promote trading rayray yet since I think the team will be considerably better next year after the gelling and improvements from the young guys (specially Rondo). Posey will be the anxiety provoker of the offseason, but we'll know quite a bit more after the draft where Danny's headed.

[UGA Hayes]

I'm ambivalent about bringing Posey back. While he was instrumental to the team I worry a bit about his age and that he had a pretty mudane regular season. Like eric said if we bring him back I'd hope it would be a really short contract. Its hard to be even keel about what to do with players after winning a championship but I do think there is a very real threat of keeping guys on the decline. We will see what happens. I feel the same way about Ray, yet its almost impossible to stab a guy in the back like that, even if deep down I believe trading him while his stock is incredible high is the smartest longterm move. It won't happen, of course, but it is food for thought.

[Brooklyn Zoo]

Keep at all costs:
Posey
House

Keep if conveient:
Tony Allen

Allow to Retire:
PJ Brown
Cassell

Free agents worth looking at:
Matt Barnes
Mikael Pietrus
Earl Barron
Ryan Gomes

[captain_cheapseats]

Posey: I really want him back, but I'd be very surprised if it happens. At the end of the day the Celtics want Posey, while there are other teams that need Posey. I think we'll make a solid offer, but a team like NO/SA will out bid us.

House: Impossible to even make a guess. I'm sure the Celts will make him an offer, but because he's an unusual player, there's really no way to know what the market for House is. For what it's worth, I for one hope the Celts manage to keep him.

T. Allen: Ask Eddy Lassert (sic?). If the Celts think TA can get healthy, and that his knees will hold up in the future, they'll do whatever it takes to keep him. If not, he's probably gone.

Brown/Cassell: Will likely retire.

[celticfan42487]

The diffrence between a contract extention of 20% and a MLE use by the Celtics for Posey is about .5 million.

Posey fits everything that is good about this Celtic team, but I don't know if we can just use of MLE like that on re-signing someone.

There is an ABUNDANCE of back-up Centers available. Only Mutombowombo would bring more then PJ and is a real possibility to take a sweatheart deal. that said I don't have the list in front of me right now but by my count there are about 10 worthy back-up Centers in free agency. Championship possibilities in the eyes of Kurt Thomas,Mutombo,Ratliff.

Try your best to give Posey maybe a 1 year, max raise, trade kicker, no trade option.. the works. But keep the MLE. We need that flexiability for a back-up Center or maybe back-up PG.

If we keep Posey,Ray,Pierce, and KG. Well then we have our core intact. Of course Rondo and Perk will be here too!

[GuyClinch]

The C's need a wing defender, backup PG and center/bigs with length and toughness. I am okay with getting one of those guys in the draft. I'd suspect backup PG would be the easiest guy to draft.

Pete