Odd Man Out??? - Hunter Waived; Young Stays

[Parliament10]

BUBBLE WATCH: BATTLE FOR THE LAST CELTICS ROSTER SPOTS
By A. Sherrod Blakely
http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/a-sherrod-blakely-boston-celtics-bubble-watch-battle-for-final-roster-spots#slide-1





Five Players Fight For Final Roster Spots
Dana Gauruder | October 6th, 2016

http://www.hoopsrumors.com/boston-celtics

Jordan Mickey, James Young, Demetrius Jackson, R.J. Hunter and Ben Bentil are the players on the bubble for the Celtics, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com reports in a slideshow presentation. The fate of Mickey and Jackson may hinge on whether the Celtics decide to carry 14 or 15 players, while Young has helped his cause with a strong showing early in training camp, Blakely continues. Hunter has struggled with his shot thus far while Bentil, a second-round pick, is likely to fall victim to the team’s frontcourt depth, Blakely adds.

A. Sherrod Blakely lists 5 Players on the Bubble. -- But there's really 6, including Gerald Green, who has yet to play this Preseason.
Young, Green & Hunter all play the same positions essentially.
Yet, if they can bring the ball up, then that limits the need for Jackson.

Mickey, needs to get in the Swing of things, or he could be the Odd Man Out.
Bentil, is the long shot.

[jmr07019]

A lot was made of our roster crunch this offseason but these players aren't that talented. Only Young was selected with a pick that you expect to get something with.

[Disinformation]

Tough choices for me after Green and maybe now Young. What's Bentil's contract situation?

[Gant]

The question on Green is how many minutes he'll be getting, not will he make the roster.

Mickey will almost surely make it due to position.

Seems like Bentil is very likely to be cut, as indicated by his lack of playing time and inability on D.


That leaves 3 guys for two spots: Jackson, Hunter, and Young.

Jackson's contract is surprisingly large. He's far from a lock but they must think a lot of him to sign him to that deal. (How much is guaranteed? Does anyone know?)
Plus, any meaningful trade would probably have a guard going out, in which case he'd fit as insurance.


If all of the above comes to be, it's Hunter vs. Young for the final spot. Young has looked better so far in the actual preseason games, but there's a lot of time to go.

[Murta]

A lot was made of our roster crunch this offseason but these players aren't that talented. Only Young was selected with a pick that you expect to get something with.

Indeed. It's still tough to cut players selected only a year or few months ago with decently high 2nd rounders. It'd be great if Danny could squeeze some value from W. Conference teams instad od cutting 'em. But for a no second did I think any of them is important for Cs' future.

Too bad Danny missed out on Rodney Hood in 2014. It's usually better to gamble on multidimensional upperclassmen in later part of the draft than highly recruited freshman who failed. But, then again, he did select Bradley at a lower spot.

[jfs1000d]

The question on Green is how many minutes he'll be getting, not will he make the roster.

Mickey will almost surely make it due to position.

Seems like Bentil is very likely to be cut, as indicated by his lack of playing time and inability on D.


That leaves 3 guys for two spots: Jackson, Hunter, and Young.

Jackson's contract is surprisingly large. He's far from a lock but they must think a lot of him to sign him to that deal. (How much is guaranteed? Does anyone know?)
Plus, any meaningful trade would probably have a guard going out, in which case he'd fit as insurance.


If all of the above comes to be, it's Hunter vs. Young for the final spot. Young has looked better so far in the actual preseason games, but there's a lot of time to go.

Green is making the team. I think Hunter and Bentil are gone.


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[ConstableGeneva]

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[Parliament10]

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Plot Thickens . . .

[jmr07019]

A lot was made of our roster crunch this offseason but these players aren't that talented. Only Young was selected with a pick that you expect to get something with.

Indeed. It's still tough to cut players selected only a year or few months ago with decently high 2nd rounders. It'd be great if Danny could squeeze some value from W. Conference teams instad od cutting 'em. But for a no second did I think any of them is important for Cs' future.

Too bad Danny missed out on Rodney Hood in 2014. It's usually better to gamble on multidimensional upperclassmen in later part of the draft than highly recruited freshman who failed. But, then again, he did select Bradley at a lower spot.

Absolutely. You never want to waste assets. I don't think teams will offer us much for Hunter or Mickey though but we could probably get something for Young.

Let's say a crappy, high lotto team likes the way Young looks and offers an unprotected 2nd for him? Do you take the trade and keep Hunter? Or do you keep the better player and cut Hunter? I'm not sure what I would do but I would lean toward keeping Young. We might be able to keep him under wraps for the next 2 years and then sign him to a cheap extension (say 4 years 24 million) and then have a legit rotation player on waaaay under market deal.

[Slartibartfast]

Too bad about Bentil's D. I thought someone with his scoring ability was a pretty safe bet. Looks like I was wrong.

[Parliament10]

A lot was made of our roster crunch this offseason but these players aren't that talented. Only Young was selected with a pick that you expect to get something with.

Indeed. It's still tough to cut players selected only a year or few months ago with decently high 2nd rounders. It'd be great if Danny could squeeze some value from W. Conference teams instad od cutting 'em. But for a no second did I think any of them is important for Cs' future.

Too bad Danny missed out on Rodney Hood in 2014. It's usually better to gamble on multidimensional upperclassmen in later part of the draft than highly recruited freshman who failed. But, then again, he did select Bradley at a lower spot.

Absolutely. You never want to waste assets. I don't think teams will offer us much for Hunter or Mickey though but we could probably get something for Young.

Let's say a crappy, high lotto team likes the way Young looks and offers an unprotected 2nd for him? Do you take the trade and keep Hunter? Or do you keep the better player and cut Hunter? I'm not sure what I would do but I would lean toward keeping Young. We might be able to keep him under wraps for the next 2 years and then sign him to a cheap extension (say 4 years 24 million) and then have a legit rotation player on waaaay under market deal.

There are Always up to 15 players on a Team. The bottom 5 or 6, DON'T have to be All-Stars. -- They just have to be viable. -- There's no real need to change these players, unless there's an obvious deal to be had.
I vote, to stand pat.

Looks like Hunter, has moved to the Bottom of the Totem Pole, nevertheless.
Doubtful that teams would trade us for either of them. Knowing that we have to drop someone.

[jrob23]

I don't even think there is even a battle any longer. Hunter and Bentl are as good as gone. I'll never understand why Nader wasn't given an opportunity to even compete for a role. Sadly, he's probably better than any of them besides Green.

[ParticleMan]

i think Ainge is willing to take a 2nd rounder for any of our 10-15 guys, including JY. atm i agree hunter and bentil are the odd guys out. bentil has a very small guarantee, basically i'm guessing it was a wink-wink deal to throw him some cash in exchange for some loyalty in joining the red claws when we cut him. hunter hopefully still has a bit of value. of all those guys i'm guessing the one he wants to part with the least is mickey, then maybe JY. but i'd part with either for a good 2nd rounder.

[SMTBSI]

Bentil's gone. As for #2...

I wonder if it could be Jackson after all. That contract is kind of sneaky. Fully guaranteed this year, then two fully nonguaranteed years, and then a team option. I could see a team liking the flexibility of having a guy locked up on essentially three straight option years.

You picked him smack dab in the middle of the 2nd round, which was considered a steal, then locked him into a long-term contract with continuous easy-outs... Worse comes to worst, you would have to think that you could at least convert that back into an unprotected future 2nd, no?

And sure, nobody is going to pay you anything for him if they know he's getting cut. But, you can just play it as "We're cutting Hunter unless we can get a 2nd for Jackson", and it wouldn't even have to be a lie.


Now, maybe you feel you need the emergency PG depth, but, needs aside that might be the best value play right now.



Then again, half the teams in the league passed on him the first time around, so...

[cloverleaf]

The question on Green is how many minutes he'll be getting, not will he make the roster.

Mickey will almost surely make it due to position.

Seems like Bentil is very likely to be cut, as indicated by his lack of playing time and inability on D.


That leaves 3 guys for two spots: Jackson, Hunter, and Young.

Jackson's contract is surprisingly large. He's far from a lock but they must think a lot of him to sign him to that deal. (How much is guaranteed? Does anyone know?)
Plus, any meaningful trade would probably have a guard going out, in which case he'd fit as insurance.


If all of the above comes to be, it's Hunter vs. Young for the final spot. Young has looked better so far in the actual preseason games, but there's a lot of time to go.

Jackson is fully guaranteed and IMO being kept. Partly in case Danny ends up needing to trade one of his three current points for an impact big.

[cloverleaf]

i think Ainge is willing to take a 2nd rounder for any of our 10-15 guys, including JY. atm i agree hunter and bentil are the odd guys out. bentil has a very small guarantee, basically i'm guessing it was a wink-wink deal to throw him some cash in exchange for some loyalty in joining the red claws when we cut him. hunter hopefully still has a bit of value. of all those guys i'm guessing the one he wants to part with the least is mickey, then maybe JY. but i'd part with either for a good 2nd rounder.

The 10th guy is GG. I don't think they give him up for a second. And, at this point, TZ and JJ are useful vet insurance plus useful contracts for trades. So they're not going. Likewise I don't think they're changing their mind so quickly on Jackson. Bentil or Hunter, yes. Possibly Mickey too. JY I think is showing enough to be beyond that.

[Smitty731]

From what I've been able to get it feels like Jackson and Mickey are locks to make it. Green is close to a lock, but has to prove he's healthy. He's insurance in case Brown has rookie struggles.

Bentil would have had to have a huge camp/preseason to make it and he hasn't. So, he's ticketed for Maine.

That leaves Young and Hunter battling (unless Green is just not healthy). The team is likely to prioritize that Hunter has an extra year of team control. But the reality is that neither player has shown much at all. The team continues to be disappointed with Young's lackadaisical approach to thing. And Hunter works hard, but hasn't shown much.

No matter what, neither Young or Hunter are projected to play very much at all, mostly because both are so hopelessly lost on defense.

[AKFO]

Trade Hunter for a future second. At the very least a team like GS or Milwaukee would take him.

[Froob]

Shame this two way contract thing is unlikely to unfold before the cuts.

[Froob]

Trade Hunter for a future second. At the very least a team like GS or Milwaukee would take him.

Would they though? What's one thing he does well?