Ray Allen contract extension?????

[Kefa461]

His agents with other players agents are working on it now.....

Sources indicate that players already are hearing from their agents in this regard: Forget about 2010. Don't face the possibility of a lesser contract and a reduced number of years. Go for the sure thing.

In James' case, this wouldn't be a big deal. He's a native of Ohio, the Cleveland Cavaliers are on the rise, and he might have a championship on his resume by June. Other potential free agents who wouldn't mind a simple contract extension would include Manu Ginobili (San Antonio), Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas), Yao Ming (Houston) and Ray Allen (Celtics).

But this could be a huge blow to Bosh, who wants so badly out of Toronto, to say nothing of Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, Tracy McGrady, Michael Redd, Joe Johnson and Shaquille O'Neal, all of whom want badly to test the market.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 16ETPK.DTL

[canman1971]

It is such a tough market right now and Ray is not getting any younger, although he is in great shape. I think if it works for both sides financially, it could get done, but I am not sure what that is. Ainge seems to have a plan in where he wasn't looking at anybody who wanted more than 3 years. However, that might be more who the players were than Danny's reluctance to go beyond KG's and Pierces contract. Would he accept a 2 extension to put him on line with KG? Maybe 14-15 per? Not even sure Danny would go that high. It should be an interesting summer with what happened in baseball and the CBA coming up in a couple of years.

Or

Is Allen's contract next year the bridge to post PGA era? In this financial crisis, many players could be available and Ray's contract expires just in time for the big 2010 class.

[humblebum]

The thing with Ray is that he's probably going to be the most effective player late in his career relative to Pierce and KG. I could easily see Ray being highly effective at 37 years old. Pierce and KG will most likely be much lesser players by age 35. Now that doesn't mean that the team will keep Ray, but I definitely think he has a lot of value to teams. I mean how man 50%, 40%, 90% guys are there out there? I for one hope that the Celtics can get Ray on a cheap extension... I value the floor spacing and shot making that Ray brings to the team.

[Kefa461]

Maybe a hometown discount with getting more talent might be in line.....

[MVP16]

The first order of business is to worry about what to do this offseason with Leon, Baby, Marbury and looking at other free agents. Next is getting a contract extension for Rondo. Then maybe think about Ray, but I don't know why we would do it unless Ray signes a friendly deal for us. 14-15M is way too much...1/2 of that is what he's going to be worth after next season IMO. He's going to be a 35 year old sg. Maybe 2 year 14 million contract extension.

[TheSheriff]

The first order of business is to worry about what to do this offseason with Leon, Baby, Marbury and looking at other free agents. Next is getting a contract extension for Rondo. Then maybe think about Ray, but I don't know why we would do it unless Ray signes a friendly deal for us. 14-15M is way too much...1/2 of that is what he's going to be worth after next season IMO. He's going to be a 35 year old sg. Maybe 2 year 14 million contract extension.

Ray is playing great for the celtics and is having an amazing year, but Danny, unlike fans cannot afford to get sentimental and screw the celtics on the cap for years by signing guys on past performance. Look at Ray best comparable player: Reggie Miller:
age 35 18.9 ppg (17.3 per 36)
age 36 16.5 ppg (16.2 per 36)
age 37 12.6 ppg (15.0 per 36)
age 38 10.0 ppg (12.8 per 36)

useful numbers but not max contract numbers. And if you remember Miller's defense didn't get any better with age.

If a team decides that one of the marque guys from the class of 2010 is going to be traded this summer the Celtics have to consider it, even if it might mean taking a slight step back in 2010. The truth is Ray will take a step back 2010 and beyond, and Miller's decline is probably a best case scenario

[ParticleMan]

I wouldn't mind 2 yr @ 10 mil per for Ray. I agree he will be declining but still pretty valuable, and if he gives us Reggie numbers up to age 36 I'll take that in a second. Plus he's a great locker room guy and statesman. Remember we will be developing some young hotshot SG; if not Walker or Giddens, Danny will draft some hotshot over the next few years. Ray and Pierce would be great mentors, and would give the young kid(s) a legit benchmark to break into the rotation, rather than just be handed PT.

More generally, I love how this article is now starting to say what I've been saying all along: All these teams setting up for the big 2010 FA class are going to be sorely disappointed. People see these big classes 2 years ahead of time and assume all those guys will actually be FAs. But most of them won't. They will re-sign, or get traded, or whatnot. More importantly, all the GOOD players will go off the market. So what you're left with is the dregs, guys who think too much of themselves to take a reasonable deal in the first place, and then teams end up overpaying for the Larry Hugheses of the world.

Free agency is simply never a good way to build the core of a team.

[Hemingway]

I think this notion that Ray is a great trading chip as an expiring contract, one that will get us a younger star, is flawed. The reason for this is there will be other expiring contracts and Ray as a player has a great deal f value to us, but probably not the team trading away a younger star. Lets look at some scenarios: Bosh and Wade are two potential targets. But if Miami and Toronto trade away their star player, the are likely going into rebuilding mode. Rebuilding is not a great place for Ray. He would not be happy n a sub par team and the team would not be happy with the extra wins he give them. If you are rebuilding you want to finish with a good lotto pick, not hover around .500 for a few years. The only teams to which a trade of Ray Allen would make sense would be a team with championship aspirations AND a disgruntled young star player. I can't think of anyone who fits this bill (and to those thinking PHX, Shaq is probably gone and even if he isn't Nash, Shaq and Ray are not enough for a ring.)

The only situation I can see, and it is a long shot, is the Celtics deciding to take a huge finacial hit and make a trade where Ray is cut and sent back. For this we would likely not get a great player in return, be stuck with a bad contract and almost certainly have the highest payroll in the NBA by far. It MIGHT be a good idea if we figure that who ever we get can help us a bit and in a few years is an expiring contract that can land us someone in a sign and trade or strait up trade. In this scenario, we could resign the big 3 to smaller contracts and eventually get our payroll down.

The most probable case is we simply resign the big 3 when they come up, add MLE guys each year, resign our own guys and hope and pray a young potential star comes here on the cheap to play with Rondo and the twilight of the big 3 and whoever else the MLE brings us. We can probably hover around the top 10 mark for a long time with what we have and that is probably better than a total rebuild as with Rondo and the now older big 3, we would be one star away from top tier once again.

[Havlicek17]

I don't think the CBA allows players to negotiate with any of the money from the final year of their contracts to smooth out the hump so to speak. Example: Lower Ray's final year $18.8 Mil to let's say $12-14 mil and sign a two year extension for $12 to $14 Mil each. So, I don't know why we would sign him before his current deal expires, except that we want to keep him out of free agency and in the fold, but maybe I am missing something.

Given his skill set, team chemistry, etc, I'd like to see Ray stay with the Celts, and I believe Ray will end up signing a 2 to 3 year extension for $8 to $10Mil/per year. That drop in salary will let us sign Rondo, keep the starting 5 intact and contending for championships beyond 2010.

[JMillott]

He'll be 35 in the first year of any new deal he signs, I can't see any teams lining to offer him more then say 8 million a year. As such he'll either get a 2 year 20 million dollar deal or hopefully a 3 year 25 million dollar deal to stay.

The only way he doesn't comeback is if Joe Johnson expresses interest in returning to Boston, we have no shot at Wade because he'll either re-sign with Miami or tag up with Bron, Bosh, Amare, etc to be a Knick.

My personal opinion is that Riley will keep Wade while talking a marquee guy into joining him which isn't a hard sell in Miami.

I do think Joe Johnson is a very strong possibility here that summer since he'd fit our projected needs and we'd fit his. With Pierce heading into his post prime at 33 we're going to be needing more from SG then just shooting going forward, we'll need a shot creator and shot maker.

Short of Kobe, Roy and Manu the next best SG of that type is Johnson

[TheSheriff]

I think this notion that Ray is a great trading chip as an expiring contract, one that will get us a younger star, is flawed. The reason for this is there will be other expiring contracts and Ray as a player has a great deal f value to us, but probably not the team trading away a younger star. Lets look at some scenarios: Bosh and Wade are two potential targets. But if Miami and Toronto trade away their star player, the are likely going into rebuilding mode. Rebuilding is not a great place for Ray. He would not be happy n a sub par team and the team would not be happy with the extra wins he give them. If you are rebuilding you want to finish with a good lotto pick, not hover around .500 for a few years. The only teams to which a trade of Ray Allen would make sense would be a team with championship aspirations AND a disgruntled young star player. I can't think of anyone who fits this bill (and to those thinking PHX, Shaq is probably gone and even if he isn't Nash, Shaq and Ray are not enough for a ring.)

That's the thing. You either hope that a guy like Melo needs out of a bad situation (not saying that would happen, but just using it as an example) this summer or you look for a team that knows it is going to lose its superstar. To make either trade you are going to have to include something more, probably draft picks and maybe young player or two. Those might be tough situations, and probably won't arise, i am just saying that if the situation does arise, i would not be adverse to trading Ray.

[Collinto]

The only guy who is getting Ray's contract slot is Rondo. If you traded him for anyone else, that would bring on atleast 15 million in contracts, along with the 10-12 million Rondo will get, and the 40 or whatever that Paul and KG get and they are at 65+ million on 4 players with a cap number that is coming down.

Unless Ray and Rondo are traded together it makes no sense. And that scenerio seems extremely unlikely....although possible next trade deadline if a star needs to move due to the economy or the player forcing his way out, think Wade, Paul, LeBron, etc.

[Hemingway]

^ Very true point. I think the idea of trading Ray had sort of hinged on us signing Rondo to a Perk type deal, but the way he has played recently he has probably set a higher price for himself.

I would be very interested to see how much money the team is currently making. We could add a lot to our payroll and get another star if we wanted to spend a heck of a lot (and of course found a trading partner.)

But when the big 3 all finish their current contracts we are going to be in a hairy spot. Rondo will be our only near max guy but I think we are fooling ourselves to believe we will be under the cap by enough to sign someone outright.

I think DAs plan is this: The dream sceanerio would be to have a Durrant type (young star on rookie deal) decide to come here for what we can pay, MLE money. Probably not going to happen but Danny will try. The second best case is to look at the big 3 each year as they expire and see if we can make a trade where we get the player back. This is less probable this summer but increasingly more possible each year. Think about when KG is in his last year. We will have Ray and PP on new, lower deals and only rondo making big money. If we could trade KG for a player with say 2 years left things could work. If there is a player out there who a team just wants to get rid of, they might do it for KG and cash or a pick and send KG back. Then when the new max player is an expiring, hopefully Danny has acquired enough chips to make another deal and bring in another star to play with Rondo and our declining former stars.

The team as is can probnably stay pretty competitive and attract top MLE guys each year, even as the 3 trail off.

[TMU]

Does anyone know if the Celtics hold his Bird rights?

[Hemingway]

I believe we do hold Allen's Bird rights but I don't think it will matter. His next contract will be smaller than his current one.

[Bluewhale]

Noway Rondo get more than 8M contract.

[JR Hawks]

Ray is too inconsistent (see today's Milwaukee game and numerous others like it this and last year for proof) to merit big money for his next contract. Offer him MLE type money and let him walk (or trade him) if he doesn't like it.

[SuigintouEV]

I think this team needs to run more wing post-up isos for Ray when he has a mismatch.

Back in seattle he'd iso around the 17foot line and either get an easy shot or fouled.

nowadays everything is pick n roll when he has the ball, and he's mostly an off-ball reggie miller type shooter. He used to have the kobe type game when you put smaller guys on him. i miss that: against the lakers this year when fisher was guarding him, my thoughts were just "ray's hot, isolate him, no way fisher can guard that" but then i remembered that ray allen is just a shooter in this doc rivers offense, when he's not questionably handling the rock 30 feet from the basket.

[Spud34]

Ray is too inconsistent (see today's Milwaukee game and numerous others like it this and last year for proof) to merit big money for his next contract. Offer him MLE type money and let him walk (or trade him) if he doesn't like it.

I concur.

[The Corey's]

i'm all for extending ray, but not at the $20 mil a year he makes now, or whatever it is. 18 maybe.

he is definitley worth having on the team, but that price has to come down after next season for him to stick around.