Celtics to pursue Harrison Barnes in Free Agency

[ConstableGeneva]

Expect the Celtics to be associated with almost every speculation and rumor out there. That's what happens when you have tons of cap space and assets at your disposal and a GM known for his wheeling and dealing. 99% of them won't turn out to be true. The 1% is #KDtoBoston, obviously.

[BRUNiNHO91]

He's better than Crowder IMO. He's not 13 million a year better than Crowder though. But it's an upgrade at the position if you don't factor in the money. Danny loves Barnes he wanted him in the draft and he tried to trade Pierce for him in 2013. This should not come as a surprise.

What I can see happening is Boston flipping some sort of Avery + Crowder + 3 for Jimmy Butler like the rumor before the deadline said we would. Sign Barnes after.

Isaiah, Butler, Barnes is a much better starting 1-3. It's more expensive but it's much more potent offensively and just as good defensively. Apparently Hassan Whiteside is a guy we want also. If we could get both guys and draft a PF to step in and start for us we would be a really good team. Barnes with more shots a game could become a future all star. Personally I wouldn't do it though..imo it's a long shot he chooses us anyways. A lot of teams would want him.

[London2Boston]

No thanks.

[ParticleMan]

can he and crowder play together?
because crowder needs to start,he sets the whole tone for our D.

[GreenBloodedC]

I'm preparing myself to laugh my ass off at the team that would overpay this guy. Can't believe it might be us. LOL

[SichtingLives]

Thing is I see less than half-a-dozen free agents who check as many boxes for our fit and identity as Barnes does. If he's your Ray Allen type addition, you could do a lot worse.

[Ed Pinkney]

I would rather the Celtics pay someone like him instead of Sullinger or Zeller. Four years 80 million is not a horrible deal and is movable with the rising cap.

[87rottweiler]

Not an awful potential pick-up but clearly the not the game-changer we've been hoping for.. that said, draft/free agency/trade periods must be judged in their entirety and not on a move by move basis

[Bleeding Green]

Danny Ainge isn't signing Harrison Barnes unless its for a one year deal with a non-guaranteed second year.

[brackdan70]

can he and crowder play together?
because crowder needs to start,he sets the whole tone for our D.

I think both Barnes and Crowder can play 3 or 4 so yeah....Barnes is not my first choice for fireworks though .

[azwfan]

Warriors fan here. I'm not going to pretend to know your team well, but i do like the way you guys play and you played us tough this year. At any rate... i'd rather have Crowder over Barnes... easily. Like without any hesitation. Could be grass being greener type of thing, but i LOVE Jae Crowder and... well... Barnes he's on my team so i support him. I think most Warriors fans on the GSW board would rather have Crowder over Barnes also.

This isn't to say Barnes doesn't have value... or that he sucks (even though i may scream that quite a bit). Its just that he's a complimentary player. He plays solid D... not great. He's versatile on defense... but not super versatile like Green. He's got great size for a SF... but doesn't seem to be a good perimeter defender (though i thought he did well on Durant). He is a pretty good big man defender in the post. Not very good at help D. Seems to take a lot of bad fouls (reaching in when he's terrible at it). He's not a very good rebounder... but he does have a tendency to get BIG rebounds (or maybe i'm just surprised he did something). He can knockdown wide open 3 pointers. He has a little bit of a mid range game that when he has his confidence going he can make at an acceptable clip. You do not want him dribbling the ball. He's a beast posting up Tony Parker and Kyrie Irving... anyone else might be asking a bit more than he's capable of in the low post. He does seem to have his moments in the postseason... i think he plays well under pressure but not at a star level or anything - just better or at least the same as regular season.

Bottom line, i want the Warriors to retain him, but boy oh boy i hope its not for the max (or really anywhere close to it). I think our offer of 16m/yr was too much this past fall. I do think he's tough and would fit in with your team. And its not like you guys have any bad contracts... everyone needs 1 right?

[ParticleMan]

^^ good summary of how i feel as well.

no way i want him replacing crowder, i'd rather have crowder anyday. but alongside, maybe, if crowder can play the dray green role which i think he can but not as well. in that case barnes could work.

but for the max?? ... oof...

[Fidel Sarcasmo]

He's better than Crowder IMO. He's not 13 million a year better than Crowder though. But it's an upgrade at the position if you don't factor in the money. Danny loves Barnes he wanted him in the draft and he tried to trade Pierce for him in 2013. This should not come as a surprise.

What I can see happening is Boston flipping some sort of Avery + Crowder + 3 for Jimmy Butler like the rumor before the deadline said we would. Sign Barnes after.

Isaiah, Butler, Barnes is a much better starting 1-3. It's more expensive but it's much more potent offensively and just as good defensively. Apparently Hassan Whiteside is a guy we want also. If we could get both guys and draft a PF to step in and start for us we would be a really good team. Barnes with more shots a game could become a future all star. Personally I wouldn't do it though..imo it's a long shot he chooses us anyways. A lot of teams would want him.

THIS IS A MONSTER OVERPAY. Jimmy butler is not that elite. Your talking about two different positions where Our guys hit defensive 1st team and Crowder was 1 vote away from hitting defensive 2nd team and knocking off Paul George. Both those guys score about 15ppg. They're 25, both on amazing, insane contracts for the times that every team in the NBA wants to get their hands on so they can free up cap room to sign another player whose marginally better for twice or 3 times their contracts. And on top of that, you think we throw in the 3rd pick of the draft too? Whose coming up with this stuff? I only trade that package for Paul George. And even then, I'd be sad to see them go. The Pacers will spread out their talent at 3 different positions making them a more well rounded team. But Jimmy Butler is no Paul George.

[Fidel Sarcasmo]

I'm preparing myself to laugh my ass off at the team that would overpay this guy. Can't believe it might be us. LOL

I sware, I think DA is sometimes the luckiest GM in the world. he attempts to trade Pierce for Barnes because at the time he sees a future allstar. Golden state declines that deal. But fast forward 4 years later. Harrison Barnes will never be an allstar. If that trade goes down, this Brooklyn Package never gets made. I call that LUCKY. It's like the stars line up so that way he isn't able to make a monster mistake which he fully intends to pull the trigger on. I hope he gets exactly what he wants this time, but I also want him to get lucky again by not making or being able to pull the trigger on a future mistake. He's under a lot of pressure to win, regardless of his rhetoric about it's his job to make sure the organization doesn't set themselves back. I dont want barnes at the money he's going to want and get, just because I think he's only going to become marginally better from where he is right now and thats not enough for me.

[Curmudgeon]

Barnes is 23, roughly the same age as Buddy Hield. He's not a finished product, and it'ss ridiculous to predict that "he'll never be an all-star."

He shot nearly 38% from eyond the arc despite low usage. He's a starter on a championship team (soon to be two championship teams). He defends and he rebounds. Even so, his upside is substantial.

[HeartBreakKid]

Barnes is 23, roughly the same age as Buddy Hield. He's not a finished product, and it'ss ridiculous to predict that "he'll never be an all-star."

He shot nearly 38% from eyond the arc despite low usage. He's a starter on a championship team (soon to be two championship teams). He defends and he rebounds. Even so, his upside is substantial.

He's a starter on a championship team, but he's probably not a top 5 player on that team, so I don't see the relevance. Iggy and Bogut are better than Harrison Barnes on a per minute basis, and it's not close (nor was it close last season either). You could make the argument that Shaun Livingston is more important to the Warriors than Barnes is also.


I don't understand the first sentence, why did you say he shot 38% despite low usage? Typically speaking, the lower your usage is the better your efficiency should be.

[pac213up]

Obviously you cannot take this seriously....a fall back to KD....lol. Save the cap space. The Celtics have enough of these types of players.

[jfs1000d]

Barnes is 23, roughly the same age as Buddy Hield. He's not a finished product, and it'ss ridiculous to predict that "he'll never be an all-star."

He shot nearly 38% from eyond the arc despite low usage. He's a starter on a championship team (soon to be two championship teams). He defends and he rebounds. Even so, his upside is substantial.

I gotta agree with Curm here.

He's a 4th option on a team with 2 player shooting 20 plus times a game. He scores 11.7 points on 8 shots a game. This guy has much more talent that is not being used. Look at Isaiah Thomas and Crowder. They were bench players and role players when we traded for them.

You pay for anticipated future performance, not past results. Past result is a way to identify production, but if you think you can increase Barnes' role, you do it.

Barnes is in year 4.

Think about this. He skipped 3 years of college.

So, to some 4 year players in the draft, he is age-wise an NBA rookie. This guys has a long way to go.

[BRUNiNHO91]

He's better than Crowder IMO. He's not 13 million a year better than Crowder though. But it's an upgrade at the position if you don't factor in the money. Danny loves Barnes he wanted him in the draft and he tried to trade Pierce for him in 2013. This should not come as a surprise.

What I can see happening is Boston flipping some sort of Avery + Crowder + 3 for Jimmy Butler like the rumor before the deadline said we would. Sign Barnes after.

Isaiah, Butler, Barnes is a much better starting 1-3. It's more expensive but it's much more potent offensively and just as good defensively. Apparently Hassan Whiteside is a guy we want also. If we could get both guys and draft a PF to step in and start for us we would be a really good team. Barnes with more shots a game could become a future all star. Personally I wouldn't do it though..imo it's a long shot he chooses us anyways. A lot of teams would want him.

THIS IS A MONSTER OVERPAY. Jimmy butler is not that elite. Your talking about two different positions where Our guys hit defensive 1st team and Crowder was 1 vote away from hitting defensive 2nd team and knocking off Paul George. Both those guys score about 15ppg. They're 25, both on amazing, insane contracts for the times that every team in the NBA wants to get their hands on so they can free up cap room to sign another player whose marginally better for twice or 3 times their contracts. And on top of that, you think we throw in the 3rd pick of the draft too? Whose coming up with this stuff? I only trade that package for Paul George. And even then, I'd be sad to see them go. The Pacers will spread out their talent at 3 different positions making them a more well rounded team. But Jimmy Butler is no Paul George.

Yeah I would too except Paul George wouldn't even be in play for that package. You'd have to stick in another 2 BKN picks in there to get him and even then Indiana probably still doesn't do it. These teams have no reason to trade these guys..unless we blow somebody away we are never getting an above average star in here. Jimmy Butler would make first team all defense if he played for us..except he would do it putting up 20+ ppg and being an All Star. He's also 26 years old so it's not like you're trading for a 30 year old. He's making less than 20 million per year the rest of his contract which is pretty much a bargain for the best SG in the East considering that's probably what any random Joe and Bob will get now. Locked up until 2020. Again I'm not coming up with this, this is just a package that was rumored to be very close to being done last year at the deadline and while I do agree it's an overpay, I do understand it's what is needed to get such a deal done. NY overpaid for Melo, Cleveland overpaid for Love. It is what it is. I think the shot at getting the 1st pick probably took Danny out of it back then, but now that it's the 3 I can see them going back to it if he values Butler and Barnes as much as we think he does. Bradley's value is probably higher now after making 1st team defense so I'd expect Danny tries to keep him or maybe take Crowder out of the deal and work something else out. But it's just an idea to kind of make sense out of us going after Barnes.. I don't think it makes sense to go after him if Crowder is here.

[Curmudgeon]

People call Barnes an overpay, but he costs you nothing in the way of assets (other than cap space). Yet some of the same folks are willing to give up the sun, moon and stars for Kevin Love who eatd up even more cap space, whose production has declined, who can't defend a chair, who has an injury history and who is much older than Barnes.