It's The Offseason Already?

Number one off season issue to address. Sign Tom Thibodeau to a three year deal. As much as Doc impressed, Thibodeau is the man who created the defense.

I can’t see TT leaving until he’s got an offer as head coach—and then there’ll be no keeping him. (But maybe his little flip-flop last year will scare other owners off for awhile.)

Oh God please keep TT! I’d love to see PJ back. No need for Sam. Please sign House and Posey. Lets work with Pruitt. Not a disaster to lose PJ but probable disaster to lose Posey, and I sure think the guys seems to love House and he’s a nice fit too.
Can we do this and not rock the boat much please?

I know no one likes him anymore but Id love to see TA stay too. My most unrealistic hope I guess and I know no one else cares. I just think he will come around and needs more time.

It may seem silly at this point,l but the Celtics really need to look to the future. Cassell, PJ Brown and Pollard need to be replaced by young players who can be developed.

Keep Posey at the appropriate price.
Keep Eddie at the appropriate price.
Match offer for Tony. He is going to be fine next season.
Let PJ and Sam go.
Get BA 2 quard or PG with the pick. Groom him to take Ray’s place in a couple of years. PG should be one with a good jumper. Too bad Delonte would not come back, he would be good back up for Rondo at this stage.
Bottom line: Do whatever it takes to Repeat!!

Nice briefing, Jeff.

The Posey issue deserves two Green Stars.

Also, BB and Powe coexisting as primary backups doesn’t sit right, but that’s another thing, and more unlikely.

We’re back to needing a backup point guard (the C’s wouldn’t ask Cassell back, right?). We probably shouldn’t draft one (everyone knows you can’t rely on young point guards). What’s Tyronn Lue doing these days. For that matter, where are Brandon Wallace and Esteban Batista?

I imagine P J Brouwn will retire while on top and we wont have a roster spot for Sam Cassell as there will be a few better vet pg who want to have a shot for a ring and wont care about the money. That said, we need a big man. We were so vulnerable when Perk couldnt go in game 5, the 6 or more possessions that Perk shuts down a gasol or a odom and gets a clean stop or a foul were 6 or more that KG doesnt have to risk getting a foul or tiring out. I think KG only had 13 seconds of floor time in the 2nd qtr of game 5 and when in had to play tentatively and out of his comfort zone.

Posey has a player option. I don’t believe he’ll opt out, and I believe that Danny will offer him a contract that expires about the same time as KG and PP. House, I’m not so sure about, but I’m certain there will be an effort to retain him.
PJ will retire.
Sam will retire.

I agree with Brick. I think TA should be retained. It wont cost the team much and I think he’s going to be an important role player even if he never fully recovers from injuries (personally I think he will recover and will be back to the old Tony Allen by the middle of next year).

Don’t forget that Powe is only limited salary protection and Davis is a free agent.

It’s going to be a busy busy offseason. Expect the Celtics to pursue some more players (especially at the center position).

tmcdon- where did you see Brick stating above that he thought we ought to re-sign TA? Did I miss something?

I agree on the rest, however isn’t BBD a free agent the following year, not next?

The Celtics basically ended the year with a rotation of:

Starters: Perkins, Garnett, Pierce, R. Allen, Rondo
Rotation: Brown, Powe, Posey, House
Reserves: Cassell, BBD, T. Allen
Roster Spots: Scal, Pruitt, Pollard

Let’s assume that Pollard, Brown, and Cassell all retire or go somewhere else, Posey doesn’t opt out, and House is resigned at the minimum. Everyone else moves up:

Starters: Perkins, Garnett, Pierce, R. Allen, Rondo
Rotation: BBD, Powe, Posey, House
Reserves: Pruitt, T. Allen
Roster Spots: Scal

I see there are two things the Celtics can do:

1. Improve the roster tactically for next year
2. Improve the roster strategically for years to come

Strategically the goal has to be to acquire a high level NBA talent for the future when one of the New Big Three sees their level of play decline or retires. The best bet here is to “gamble” on European talent later in the draft. Not only does it give you an avenue to get elite talent, it also often allows you to retain the roster spot (if they play over seas for a few more years) for tacticaly purposes. The C’s are unlikely to break up the current elite guys (so from a salary perspective will be unable to trade for an elite talent) – so the only other alternative is to acquire a high draft pick via trade. I think Danny should also pursue this avenue, by trading this years pick for a future pick if possible.

Tactically:

Here things get harder. At the end of last year the Celtics had many players in the 5/6 range (on a scale of 1-10) in terms of talent. They were able to roll over the ten of those players for Ray Allen (an 8) and KG (a 10). Now to improve the bench they need to again roll over a bunch of lower guys to get better talent. Big man seems to be a position that could be improved, but Powe showed he’s a very good reserve PF, and there aren’t many good Centers, not to mention available Centers, in the league. Posey seems impossible to improve on. And that leaves PG, where I think Rondo would be almost impossible to upgrade.

That means they could improve the backup guard – Tony Allen and House are both flawed players both in their game as guards off the bench, and in how they compliment the starters. They could also improve one of the big men spots. With the full MLE avaialable (assuming they don’t use it on Posey) and some redundant players – they could make a move or two to address the tactical needs.

As for the getting younger, the continued development of these guys will help

Perkins: 5 years
BBD: 1 year
Powe: 2 years
Tony Allen: 4 years
Pruitt: 1 year
Rondo: 2 years

PJ, Cassell and Pollard are the anticipated vacancies.

House may look elsewhere for consistant playing time after the Sam debacle.

TA—would love to keep him (biggest supporter) but will probably not be offered much more than the minimum required.

Posey—not sure if this is permitted but can he be offered a multi-year extension that kicks in after next year (Veal would be in the last year of his contract and more attractive trade bait) and if so, could enough be offered to make it attractive for him to stay.

BBD/Powe, not adamant these guys can’t both stay. They seem to have a good chemistry on the floor together—lot’s of hustle. Against most teams, they work out pretty well.

A younger PJ-Type center would be a good pickup to shore up the frontline. A vet PG with solid ballhandling skills would be good as well—-if Eddie leaves then the PG needs to be a shooter (just not a shoot-first PG like Sam).

Posey is the key, the rest can probably be handled through other free agents. Danny may be able to pull yet another rabbit out of his hat and get another contributor (or 2) out of this draft like he’s done every year.

One thing about Ainge is he has the franchise in good position via [url=http://hoopshype.com/salaries/boston.htm]contracts[/url] and [url=http://www.realgm.com/src_future_draftpicks.php]our own draft picks[/url]. Whatever he gave up for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, it didn’t leave a huge mark on the Celtics position via a vis bad contracts or loss of draft picks.

Let’s assume the window with the current core is two more seasons (i.e. until RA’s deal): for the next two years the goal should be number one keep the roster full with talent to compliment the core guys (NBT Rondo ( Perk ?)) AND to look a few years down the road to get some talent. That means resisting the urge to splurge on bad MLE signings (hello Luke Walton!) and to avoid losing your picks years in advance.

Posey simply has to stay. The guy does too many things well thanks to Pat Riley.

Don’t be giving Pat Riley a lot of credit for Posey. Posey was much the same kind of player all through college at Xavier, where he was coached by the late Skip Prosser. The kid always had an intuitive sense for hustle, team play, and fundamental skills.

posey is a keeper at any cost. a lot of us were hoping ryan gomes would come back but i don’t see a spot for him unless we lose posey. we need a backup center real bad because i can’t see pj staying. i think tony is expendable, but we need a backup to ray.

Hasn’t Posey already indicated he’s going to test the market?

I had thought it was Brick that said the team should sign TA, it wasn’t. My bad.

I think Davis only signed for one year. I could be wrong, but in this instance I’m fairly sure Davis is a FA.

As for Posey, it would be smart of him to test the waters and see what he is offered. However, unless it exceeds the full midlevel by a significant about (more then 2 million) I can’t see Danny not resigning him. He’s too important.

Ok, and then again, I could be wrong! Davis is not FA. Posey is player option, House is a FA.

I know I’m gonna get hammered if anyone sees this, but . . . I believe Danny is going to take a look at Kwame Brown on the FA market.
  He’s going to come MUCH cheaper than the $9 mil he was making.
  He’s 27 and about to enter his prime as an NBA player.
  He has A LOT to prove to himself and everyone else after being maligned in the Gasol trade.
  There is no pressure on him in Boston. With so many established stars around him he’s very free to play under far less pressure/scrutiny than almost anywhere else.
  He’s bigger, far more mobile, far more athletic than Perk.
  He will come off the bench, but Perk is not so established the Brown wouldn’t be unable to win the starting spot.
  Perk’s shoulder is going to be something of a concern now that it has been strained again.
  With Thibbs still in the fold, Clifford Ray to help, the overwhelming team atmosphere and support, this is potentially a place that Brown could thrive in a big way.
  At this point, with the success of this team, Brown is an excellent gamble.