Greg Stiemsma

[baller_12]

We need to throw as much money at this guy as it takes to get him. We need his 7'0 frame and defense like it's going out of style.

[Grits n Gravy]

We need to throw as much money at this guy as it takes to get him. We need his 7'0 frame and defense like it's going out of style.

if it's anything over 4-5 million then it would be a waste imo...we'd be better off keeping darko as a) it's not like this role should play a ton baring injury(10-15?) and b) darko's contract might have some value next summer as a non guaranteed if waived before end of july)

the rotation would be
pek/love/stiem
love/williams

so i'd be happy to have darko as a complete back stop for one more year then target a center through the draft to play back stop for injuries

[Klomp]

The real reasons we want him

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzCzZZFYqM8[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y2XcsRQltk[/youtube]

[wolves_fan_82au]

We need to throw as much money at this guy as it takes to get him. We need his 7'0 frame and defense like it's going out of style.

i wouldnt go that far but he would be a nice back up center

[Klomp]

He reminds me a lot of a young Brad Miller.

[[RCG]]

I think ~$4 million would be a fair offer. Wish they would've kept him when we had him on our summer league team though...

[Klomp]

BTW he is a restricted free agent, so that could affect the amount we give him, depending on how badly we want him.

[Swish4]

He's OK but I think I'd add a couple guys at near minimum who can guard the rim. No reason to throw that much money at the position IMO.

[Grits n Gravy]

I think ~$4 million would be a fair offer. Wish they would've kept him when we had him on our summer league team though...

i agree..anything over 4 would be a complete waste imo...better off waiting until next year and targeting someone in the draft or an unrestricted free agent...stick with darko as an injury back stop...or amnesty darko and sign a big body cheap guy

[Klomp]

I've seen a lot of people defend the Darko contract, but aren't willing to pay that much for a better, younger center in Stiemsma? Is it because he's a Sconnie?

[Grits n Gravy]

I've seen a lot of people defend the Darko contract, but aren't willing to pay that much for a better, younger center in Stiemsma? Is it because he's a Sconnie?

can't speak for anyone else but i defended the darko contract because a) there was no pek at that time and b) love wasn't playing center and playing it well

now that we have pek and love being the back up center with williams sliding into the 4, the minutes just aren't there or as valuable as they were a few years ago...besides injury that spot would be looking at 5-15 minutes a night...not worth spending too much on imo when we could hopefully lock someone up in the draft cheap or just sign a big body in case of injury.

whatever reasonable contract we throw probably gets matched thus wasting time and cap space...better targeting a rook or unrestricted guy next year.

[[RCG]]

I've seen a lot of people defend the Darko contract, but aren't willing to pay that much for a better, younger center in Stiemsma? Is it because he's a Sconnie?

i think it is perfectly reasonable to want to go up to Darko's $4.75 million on a contract for Stiemsma. After all which one would you rather have? Of course Darko would have to be gone. But I agree if Love can slide over to C as a back-up it sure would help but I'd rather have a decent insurance policy if Pek misses a couple games, like Stiemsma.

[Klomp]

I've seen a lot of people defend the Darko contract, but aren't willing to pay that much for a better, younger center in Stiemsma? Is it because he's a Sconnie?

can't speak for anyone else but i defended the darko contract because a) there was no pek at that time and b) love wasn't playing center and playing it well

now that we have pek and love being the back up center with williams sliding into the 4, the minutes just aren't there or as valuable as they were a few years ago...besides injury that spot would be looking at 5-15 minutes a night...not worth spending too much on imo when we could hopefully lock someone up in the draft cheap or just sign a big body in case of injury.

whatever reasonable contract we throw probably gets matched thus wasting time and cap space...better targeting a rook or unrestricted guy next year.

I guess that's a fair point, but I think you are underestimating the importance of having a solid backup defensive center who can block shots, and who isn't a complete liability on offense.

Clearly we are going after Greg hard, which indicates that Adelman likely sees the importance of adding someone like him. Someone in the draft wouldn't get playing time, and I'm not sure signing someone in case of injury is the way to go either. Last year we had a full 15 man roster too, so if we continue the trend, we'd have to waive someone else first. Not something I see happening. Not under this coaching staff.

[Klomp]

While the Celtics have a lot to be encouraged by early in the free-agency process, action elsewhere around the league might have provided a dose of bad news for the team on Sunday night. Before we spoil the surprise of this exercise, let's play a game with an anonymous player comparison:

Player A: 3.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1 bpg, 14.7 mpg, 50.6 FG%, 45.6 FT%, 66 games (2 starts)
Player B: 2.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 13.9 mpg, 54.5 FG%, 70.7 FT%, 55 games (3 starts)

Pretty similar, right? Now just check out these basic per-36 minute numbers.

Player A: 7.6 ppg, 13 rpg, 2.5 bpg
Player B: 7.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 4 bpg

And just in case you were wondering about some advanced metrics:

Player A: 13.4 PER, 20.1 REB%, 5 BLOCK%, 25.2 TO%; Ratings: 97 offensive, 92 defensive
Player B: 13.6 PER, 13.6 REB%, 8.5 BLOCK%, 19.2 TO%; Ratings: 107 offensive, 90 defensive

Ready for the bad news, Celtics fans?

Player A is Chicago Bulls second-year center Omer Asik. Player B is Celtics rookie center Greg Stiemsma. Both are restricted free agents this summer.

Asik owns a $2.3 million qualifying offer from Chicago, but Sunday night agreed to sign a three-year, $25 million offer sheet from the Houston Rockets that includes a whopping $15 million base salary in the final season.

Stiemsma owns a $1.05 million qualifying offer from Boston and visited with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday to kick off free agency. You can't help but wonder if some aggressive offer sheets -- maybe not to the level of Asik, but certainly more than Boston would prefer to spend for a backup center -- might tumble in soon.

Don't misinterpret. Asik is a phenomenal rebounder, far better in that aspect of the game than Stiemsma at this point. Asik is also 10 months younger and has an additional year of experience under his belt, but their stat lines are alarmingly similar.

And before you bark about how good Asik is defensively, hear us out. There's no denying Asik's talents on the defensive end. Of all NBA players with at least 250 defensive possessions against them last season, he ranked No. 1 allowing a mere 0.653 points per play, according to Synergy Sports data.

Stiemsma? He ranked No. 7 at 0.711 points per play and often was the first big off the bench to spell Kevin Garnett, so it's not like his numbers were overly inflated by sharing court time with Boston's defensive anchor (it did help that Stiemsma and Brandon Bass worked together often, as Bass and KG were two of the six players ahead of Stiemsma).

The point here isn't to suggest that Stiemsma deserves a $25 million offer sheet. You can question Houston's decision to throw that much money at Asik, even if that third year would put the Bulls in a tough spot if they decided to match the offer.

But you can make the case that a young, defensive-minded center like Stiemsma deserves a quality raise over that $1.05 million offer sheet he holds. It would be much easier for the Celtics to get him to ink that than have to fend off a long-term, quality-money offer from a team with enough cap space to give him a modest boost. If another team came in and offered even two years and $4 million, that's the biannual exception, which could be a nice chip to lure another outside free agent.

The Celtics also are in a tough spot because they don't own Stiemsma's rights, limiting the raise they can offer without using an exception given that they are over the cap.

Remember, too, that Stiemsma played much of his rookie season in pain, so much so that there was fear he might need surgery on his foot after the season (he won't, as doctors believe rest and rehab will be enough to get him healthy again).

The Celtics found a diamond in the D-League rough last year and Stiemsma made incredible strides in a shortened season in which he didn't have much in the way of practice time. It's a good gamble for a team to spend some money to bring him in and hope he can continue to blossom.

The question is how much will it be worth for Boston to keep him around?

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/ ... ews-for-cs

[Grits n Gravy]

don't get me wrong i'd absolutely love to have him here but it's so unlikely that boston lets him get away that it would be a waste of time commiting cap space and time waiting when there are other real targets out there. definitely want a legit rim protecter on the team and the trade you mentioned with jj and greg would be a real dream.

i'll be one of the few but i'd really love to have randolph back...bouncy, can blocks some shots, runs the floor and rebounds...define him a role in those 10-15 minutes or so and he can be really helpful for us.

[Foye]

Honestly, is Stiemsma even better than Darko?

I don't think so.

[Biff Cooper]

$4M per year is too much imo. He's a decent defensive center with little offensive game. I'm interested in signing him, but we shouldn't overpay.

[WhateverBro]

You guys don't want to overpay for him.. He's a great, great shot blocker and has a pretty nice touch around the basket but that's it. He doesn't rebound well for his size or position and he's very slow.

I don't think Celtics will match an offer at 4 mill, max 3 I would think.

He's shot-blocking is excellent though, reminds me alot of Eddie Griffin when he played in Minnesota. Neither one could jump particulary high but their timing was incredible and blocked so many shots because of it.

[Slartibartfast]

C's fan here.

The Celtics don't have his bird rights and their MLE is going to Jason Terry, so the Celtics can't match anything above the BAE ($1.96 mil I believe).

So if it's between Boston and Minny, a 2 year, $4.5 mil deal would beat anything the C's could offer.

As for a scouting report, Greg is a tremendous shot-blocker, a limited but improving pick and roll defender (a little slow, but committed), an okay rebounder, a very competent mid-range jump shooter, and a smart offensive player (not scared of the ball, solid passer and decision maker). On the downside, he's a terrible post defender, a foul magnet, and he has no post game.

[zauchary]

The dude almost averaged 5 blocks a game at every other level when he got good minutes. He's not really like Darko to me at all. He's active with a great motor and has a high IQ. Keep in mind that the Celts also drafted fab melo. I'm pretty sure that keeping Ray Allen is more important and that he could be had for 2-2.5, which is a bargain for a team that really needs an anchor. I always envisioned bringing in a defensively dynamic C to start next to love and bring out Pek early in the first quarter much like a Ginobli/Harden.