Portland's now the ideal trade partner for Davis

[campybatman]

I'm uncertain if these teams have a definite interest in Davis or could've an interest in the coming weeks. But the player that they can offer Boston at small forward might make sense for Boston to acquire. And they've a reasonably contract.

I base my list on either a personal interest in that player, or from what I've read with Boston being linked to that player.

I like that Butler has an expiring contract and has a strong perimeter game. He would be my choice.

Azubuike might be more of an off guard, I don't know for sure.

With Miles, it could depend on whether or not he's a better player right now than Walker and Giddens.


Utah - Might still trade Boozer, Millsap has agreed to an offer sheet from Portland. Deep at small forward with Kirilenko, Harpring, Korver and Miles.

Player Ainge could target: CJ Miles ($3.7M in 2009-2010; 3 years)

New Orleans - Not much in depth after David West, deeper at small forward/shooting guard with Stojakovic, Butler, Posey, Wright and Peterson.

Player Ainge could target: Rasual Butler ($3.9M; expiring)

Golden State - So deep at small forward and at shooting guard combined it's redundant. They've Jackson, Maggette, Azubuike, Randolph, et al.

Player Ainge could target: Kelenna Azubuike ($3.1M in 2009-2010; 2 years)

[TMU]

I like that Butler has an expiring contract and has a strong perimeter game. He would be my choice.

Agreed. If the Celtics must trade with the Hornets, the deal must involve Butler NOT Posey. Butler is a dangerous long-range shooter, a clutch player, and a decent perimeter defender. He's one of the better role players in the league and he would provide depth to the Celtics bench. He's 29 and nearing his prime.

No financial burden either.

[Papa Irish31]

Azibuki is only 6'5 so i guess technically he is more of a shooting guard than a small forward, you can play him at small forward but i wonder how he would fair guarding pierce's man which at this point looks like it could possibly be any one of these guys for a playoff series

lakers-artest 6'8
cavs-lebron 6-8
magic-rashard 6'10
denver-carmelo 6'8
san antonio-jefferson- 6'7
atlanta-johnson 6'7 or smith 6'9, and possibly williams 6'9
dallas-marion 6'8, howard 6'7
toronto- hedu 6'10, barniogni 6'10
indiana- granger 6'8
detroit- prince 6'8
philly- young 6'9, iggy 6'7
miami- beasley? 6'8

so if they think he can guard the majority of those guys i would be really excited, i love the guys game he can knock down threes and plays tough D, its just about whether he has the length to guard those guys

im not too impressed with miles or butler, i think there are better options out there than them, especially ones where we dont lose big baby

id rather look at trying to get travis outlaw (S&T with big baby if millsap falls through) james posey (trade involving expiring contracts), andres nocioni (Trade involving exp. contracts), matt barnes (sign or sign and trade with pheonix for tony allen) maybe matt harpring if his ankle problems get cleared up, or some other options before i would resort to miles or butler

and if big baby is sign and traded to new orleans they better have to give up wright and butler

[campybatman]

Actually, Butler's thirty... Still, he's a cheap option who can add instant depth at small forward and shooting guard.

I intentionally didn't mention Portland because they wouldn't have a need for Davis unless their offer to Millsap is matched by Utah which is a strong possibility. I would've an interest in Outlaw but he has a desire to start. For that reason, it might be a risk trading for him knowing he wants to start and could decline a contract extension with Boston, and seek an opportunity in free agency next off-season toward starting for another team.

I haven't read this officially anywhere, but, apparently, according to a post on CB, Charlotte has an interest in Davis. They've some options but they're players with pricey contracts that, if I'm Ainge, I don't want to take on. I suppose you could target Bell, but he's primarily a shooting guard.


Nocioni - A tough, gritty player that you would like to have on your team like a player like Najera ($3.1M in 2009-2010; 3 years). But his salary is undesirable and negates whatever financial freedom Ainge might see himself having in 2010 or further ahead. Actually, I would prefer to trade for the latter when you consider Nocioni's contract ($7.5M in 2009-2010; 4 years). Yikes! You'll like to add depth but not a player that will be costly. You gain little future salary flexibility (likewise with Posey) from taking on Nocioni's contract. Whereas, you could with Najera...

Barnes - Reportedly, Cleveland has an interest... I've never read Boston's name linked to him before, but he's still available as he was last off-season when Ainge could've signed him then.

Harpring - Interesting alternative to Miles and an expiring contract. However, his contract ($6.5M) is a lot even if for one season. And like Butler, he might be a one-year rental. A decent defender but not a player I would trust to be able to stay in front of any of the more talented, starting small forwards in the league. He was a good rebounder, but doesn't he tend to get injured?

Wright - He's intriguing from a talent standpoint. But hasn't done much in the league so far. He might be more of a power forward. I wonder from a depth perspective, could Wright be better than both Walker and Giddens.


Also, I'd read that Orlando could've an interest in Marquis Daniels.

[campybatman]

Looks like my presumption was right, Utah would've an interest in Davis.

If the Jazz don't match the four-year, $32 million offer sheet backup power forward Paul Millsap signed Friday with Portland, they have at least one viable alternate option.

He's Boston Celtics restricted free agent power forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis, and he'd come to Utah without whining about big bucks.

Davis, a Louisiana State product, probably could be had for midlevel-exception money — a multiyear deal starting at $5.854 million, which is about $6 million less than Millsap would cost Utah next season.

"By all means we would be interested," Davis' agent, John Hamilton, said Saturday.

"This (Utah) was one of the teams that was very interested in him when he was coming out (of LSU in 2007), and in fact we thought he'd be drafted by them. So, absolutely: We'd be interested."

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7053 ... ack=rss-38

[Avalanche]

so... we had interest in CJ Miles, and they have interest in Davis...

Though, baby becomes BYC if we sign and trade him no? would have to look at both rosters to see how that could fill out so it works

[campybatman]

If Utah were to actually turn their attention to Davis, they probably wouldn't have an interest in trading for him. They'll want to sign him outright, and hope that Boston won't match their offer. It would've to be Ainge that goes to Utah to seek a deal between the two teams in order to get something out of it and allow Utah to have Davis. But Utah could then say never mind.

Davis and agent have to be rooting for Millsap to Portland and Boozer to Detroit.

After reading this, I've to wonder if Ainge is better off letting Davis go. Because it reads like it'll be tough to get a player back for him in a sign-and-trade. It's feasible but sounds hard to do depending on the trade partner. If Ainge wants to keep Davis, he'll have to wait this out some more.

14) If it looks like we're going to lose BBD as a free agent, could we sign and trade him to another team?

Nothing prevents us from signing and trading BBD using the Early Bird exception. However, Base Year Compensation rules (as explained in Question 13) make it pretty tough to pull off such a trade. For instance, if BBD signs for $4.0 million in his first year, there is *no* 1-for-1 trade that could be made for him under BYC rules. There may be some wiggle room by including a minimum salary player, but there's not much.

By example:

Let's say BBD signs for $4 million in the first year, and we want to trade him to Team X.

For BYC purposes, BBD's salary counts as a $2 million salary outgoing from Boston. To fit within trade rules, the most salary we can take back from another team (Team X) is 125% of that amount, plus $100k. That amounts to $2.6 million.

Does that mean we can acquire a player making $2.6 million, then? No. The trade has to work from Team X's end, too, and from their end, they have to count BBD's entire $4 million salary. The absolute least amount they could send out in a trade of a $4 million salary is $3.12 million. As you see, that's still more than the $2.6 million Boston can take back.

Now, one way around this would be to include a minimum salary player in the team (going from Team X to Boston), because minimum salary players don't have to be counted as incoming salary in a trade. For instance, let's say we want to trade BBD's $4 million salary for a player making $2.5 million and a minimum salary player, making around $800k. Can we do that? Yes.

As noted above, Boston can trade BBD's hypothetical $4 million salary for a player making up to $2.6 million. In this case, the $2.5 million player fits under this restriction. Because minimum salary players can be included in a trade at any time without counting against outgoing salary, from Team X's end, it is only sending out $2.5 million in salary (when, in actuality, the real number it is trading is $3.3 million). On the other hand, remember that Boston has to take back at least $3.12 million in salary. Does it meet this requirement? Yes, because Boston can elect to include the actual amount of salaries it is taking back, or in this case, $3.3 million.

The lesson to learn here is that a sign-and-trade with BBD is possible, but it's not probable, due to the small margin of error with which the Celts have to work in terms of matching salaries.

http://www.celticsblog.com/2009/6/3/896 ... uation-and

[old rem]

Azibuki is only 6'5 so i guess technically he is more of a shooting guard than a small forward, you can play him at small forward but i wonder how he would fair guarding pierce's man which at this point looks like it could possibly be any one of these guys for a playoff series

lakers-artest 6'8
cavs-lebron 6-8
magic-rashard 6'10
denver-carmelo 6'8
san antonio-jefferson- 6'7
atlanta-johnson 6'7 or smith 6'9, and possibly williams 6'9
dallas-marion 6'8, howard 6'7
toronto- hedu 6'10, barniogni 6'10
indiana- granger 6'8
detroit- prince 6'8
philly- young 6'9, iggy 6'7
miami- beasley? 6'8

so if they think he can guard the majority of those guys i would be really excited, i love the guys game he can knock down threes and plays tough D, its just about whether he has the length to guard those guys

im not too impressed with miles or butler, i think there are better options out there than them, especially ones where we dont lose big baby

id rather look at trying to get travis outlaw (S&T with big baby if millsap falls through) james posey (trade involving expiring contracts), andres nocioni (Trade involving exp. contracts), matt barnes (sign or sign and trade with pheonix for tony allen) maybe matt harpring if his ankle problems get cleared up, or some other options before i would resort to miles or butler

and if big baby is sign and traded to new orleans they better have to give up wright and butler

Azubuike started at SF most of the season,did not play much SG this year....actually was PF (sort of) in some Nellyball lineups...but Big Baby is not gonna work for GSW who wants guys with SPEED.

[ParticleMan]

^^^ you might be surprised to learn that Baby is one of the faster forwards on the team. people think he is slow and plodding because of his weight, but it's actually not true, he is quite nimble and fast. not only for a guy his size but also for a PF in general. i remember last year in the offs he jumped out, poked the ball away from a guard (forget who), chased it down and beat the guard off the dribble down the floor for the layin. the main downside to BBD is that he doesn't have great hops, and he has short arms. but i think he might fit in well with Nellie, who likes active, pesky, nimble bigs.

Azubuike is a bit short but he is a solid player. if GS wanted to lessen its glut at the wing, and get a true PF to play PF, this might work.

[No1CeltsFan]

I love Azubuike.

He can shoot the 3, go to the hole, create off the dribble, rebound and defend. I think he's a prototypicle 6th man. He can slide into a starting job if need be for a short period of time too. He's just an overall perfect fit for us.

However, I dont get people saying Davis fits in to the Warriors system. I don't get that at all. How can you see Davis running with that team, for 82 games a season. No way.

Also, I love Butler. I fell in love with him last year because he was on my Fantasy Team, so I started to pay attention to him.

He's a terrific scorer. He can shoot the 3 ball as good as anyone in the league. He shoots very solid % from FG, FT and 3PT range. He rebounds well enough, even though he has a slight, wirery build.

If we could get one of those 2, the Celtics would be lucky. If I had to pick, it would be Azubuike, but not by much.

[TheOGJabroni]

I really think some trade needs to be made with New Orleans. We know that their owners are dying to cost expenses (see Tyson Chandler fiasco). They have a handful of players that could really help out the C's:

Antonio Daniels
Morris Peterson
Rasual Butler
James Posey
Julian Wright

Not everyone may agree with everyone on that list but I'm sure anyone can find at least a couple people on there that interests them. We have a few cheap expiring contracts that could really make a deal with NO work. Personally I'd love to see Daniels and Butler/Peterson on this team (Wright as well, but he might be a long shot since it looks like NO really likes what he brings to the table).

After checking it out with the trade checker, Daniels AND a player like Butler/Mo Pete may be hard to acquire. But a deal like Eddie House and JR Giddens for Butler could be done. http://www.realgm.com/src_checktrade.php?tradeid=5190655 I don't know what other people's opinions on this is, or if NO would even do it but personally, I like the deal.

Perkins / Sheed
KG / Sheed / Baby
Pierce / Butler
Ray / TA
Rondo / (LLE)

This would be a very solid defensive second unit as well. All we would need is a PG, but maybe we could even give Pruitt a chance with that unit. He can hit the three and if he can prove he can set up an offense, he would be perfect.

[TheOGJabroni]

OR

There was talk about wanting to do a S&T for Baby on the Hornets board, so what about this:

Glen Davis (S&T - match Butler's contract)
Eddie House
Tony Allen

for

Rasual Butler
Antonio Daniels

It would have to be two deals technically because of the S&T I believe, but you get the idea.

Perk 32 / Sheed 16
KG 32 / Sheed 16
Pierce 32 / Butler 16
Ray 32 / AD/RB 16
Rondo 36 / Daniels 12

With Pruitt, Hudson, JR, Walker, Scal, Swift rounding out the rest of the roster. Leaving us with 14, giving us the opportunity to stay flexible. Maybe resign Leon Powe for the vet. min. when he is healthy if no other team picks him up.

[campybatman]

I don't think Boston would be allowed to take back a lot in salary if attempting to do a sign-and-trade, if I understand the information detailed in that link right. It would've to be a lesser salary, Butler, Wright or Armstrong. I would be open to either player for Davis.

[amaj10]

I love Antonio Daniels, but hes an expiring so not sure NO would be trying to move him, he'd be a great fit though. I guess if we swapped TA and Scal for Daniels they could buy out Scal, give TA Daniels' minutes, that would save them a few million and get a rotation player.

[GreenDreamer]

The dream scenario with the Hornets would be acquiring Butler and Wright. That would give us a 2/3 and a 3/4 with length who can shoot. Honestly, I don't know they even acquired Posey with Wright already there. It wasn't as if Wright was bad last season, and he had to play the 4 just to get on the floor. The guy is a natural three who can shoot as is looooong. His arms go on forever. Could be a great defender with his athleticism. I've liked him for a long time.

I doubt this happens, though. I dislike Daniels. He is washed up and was terrible backing up Paul this season. I really don't have a use for most of their team.

[campybatman]

Not to mention, Daniels is thirty-four.

If New Orleans want to get a deal done, they need to get the discussions going now. Hurry, before Detroit decides they want Davis over Gooden.

[eris]

NO would probably trade Posey or Peterson for Scal + Tony. Scal and Tony will make about 5.9 million next year compared to Posey's 6.0 and Peterson's 6.2 million, saving NO a little bit next year, *but* the big savings is down the road when Tony and Scal expire at the end of next year while Peterson's contract extends one more year and Posey's extends 2 more years. This is assuming, of course, that NO is looking for financial deals as much, or more than talent deals.

Peja and Chandler are the *real* drags on the Hornets financially, but I don't think Boston could, or would, take either of those guys.

[GuyClinch]

^^^ you might be surprised to learn that Baby is one of the faster forwards on the team. people think he is slow and plodding because of his weight, but it's actually not true, he is quite nimble and fast. not only for a guy his size but also for a PF in general.

Sure he is fast for PF - but he is also 1/2 foot shorter then most of them.

[ParticleMan]

^^^ you might be surprised to learn that Baby is one of the faster forwards on the team. people think he is slow and plodding because of his weight, but it's actually not true, he is quite nimble and fast. not only for a guy his size but also for a PF in general.

Sure he is fast for PF - but he is also 1/2 foot shorter then most of them.

lol c'mon, he's not that short. he's 6-9. it's powe that's short. it's just that BBD can't jump worth crap, and he has short arms, so he plays shorter than his height. plus he looks short cuz he's so wide

[campybatman]

Apparently, May is drawing some interest from Portland.

Charlotte can consider Davis. They could offer Bell or Henderson.

May told me via email Monday night that he'll work out for Portland and Sacramento Tuesday, Cleveland Wednesday and the Clippers on Thursday. Most NBA executives are in Las Vegas this week for the annual summer league. So with May saying he's in good health and conditioning, it's logical for him head to Vegas for some informal auditions.

May became an unrestricted free agent after the Bobcats chose not to make him a $3.6 million-plus qualifying offer. However, with the Bobcats still needing a backup power forward, general manager Rod Higgins has said he's open to the idea of re-signing May.

http://blogs.charlotte.com/inside_the_n ... vegas.html