“No word yet on whether the Celtics intend to extend Tony Allen a $2.74 million qualifying offer. The deadline is today.”

Hasn’t Ainge insinuated a few days ago that they won’t make the qualifying offer? I think Tony won’t return for that price.

So, who do you guys like at the backup C slot? Skinner? Kurt Thomas? Elson?

I have a hard time believing that Kwame made it into the top 10, but Skinner isn’t even in the notable free agents list.

Oh, and as far as Tony Allen is concerned: even if Ainge made the pick, as he claims, without thinking about his current roster, reassessing what is available should easily lead him to the conclusion not to extend a qualifying offer to Tony, given his roller coaster performance this season.

If someone else gets him, good for him. But since we now have some options at the wing, I think he’ll choose to wait and see whether he can resign Tony at a cheaper price. Everything we can save towards resigning Posey will be a plus.

We better sign POSEY.

You mean Chad Ford, not Chris Ford.

When the Celtics signed Posey last year they gave him the option to opt out this year. I’m sure they anticipated this and have a plan in place to resign him. Of all the free agents available Posey is the best fit for this team. With all the money invested in players and a team that can compete again for the championship it would not make financial sense not to resign him. I think he’ll accept the $6-7 mill range, which might be a bit high, but I think he’s earned it. The problem will be the length of contract. I think that Danny Ainge and Mark Bartelstein have a good relationship and I think Bartelstein is a reputable agent. I can’t imagine Pose wanting to go elsewhere. I really think that not only is this doable, it’s a necessity in order to optimize the potential of the team.

If Ainge extends a qualifing offer to Allen, Tony would be foolish not to accept. He won’t see that much on the open market for next season. Ainge probably knows this and either plans on not extending the offer or has a trade in mind if he does. On Posey, how many minutes a game did he avergae last year? I know he’s very valueable and our bench was important in the playoffs for us. But having Posey did not keep the Miami Heat from free falling the year after they won the championship. Don’t get me wrong, I want to see James back and all but something tells me that Ainge feels he could replace Posey if he had too. He has the stars in place as the foundation and may have other options for good bench help out there. Hopefully they come to a agreement. Seems like a three year deal could work.

celty86, the Miami and Celtic situations are very different as far as Posey is concerned. Posey is not a franchise player and could not keep a team like Miami, where the franchise players didn’t seem to care anymore, from falling out of grace. I don’t see this happening to this Celtic team which increases Posey’s value to them. I really don’t think they get home court advantage or win it all without Posey (this year). He’s that important. I don’t see any free agents out there that could replace Pose on or off the court. You don’t see too many players diving for loose balls when your team is up by 30 points. I also don’t see as versatile a player out there. There are just too many tangibles and intangibles that make Posey invaluable to the Celtics. As to Tony Allen I would like to see him come back for one year at a reasonable salary in the $1 mill range. He can help this team alot if he can get back to where he was before the injury. On his part he could increase his value the following year.

we want and like posey and he likes the c’s. i don’t blame him for trying to maximize the dough. if someone wants to pay him more and longer—lettem.as great as he was and he fit the c’s like a glove,it’s all a business.

If my boss would let me quit today and resign for twice the money tomorrow I’d do it in a heartbeat! Do your thing Posey! We better step up and pay you to stay.

I don’t put a whole lot of faith in someone’s opinion that included Gerald Green on the list of notables, but not Eddie House…

I’m not ready to dismiss TA so cavalierly. He’s nice insurance for relatively little money.

The question is are we better off paying him for insurance, or keeping Bill Walker, for example.

The five year contract of Scalabrine is coming back to haunt us. In the world of the luxury tax, Veal will effectively cost us over $6 million a year for the next two years. That’s a lot of money for a fanny patter, and could cost us valuable help.

yeah but scals contract could be valuable for trades next season

The only player on those lists who seems “get-able” and who would seem to potentially be as important a player on next years’ squad is Kurt Thomas. If we’ve got to use the MLE to re-sign Pose, use it.

Sign Posey and Allen and grab Thomas. 20 odd years of suffering merits more than one championship and no serious runs. With Bynum returning, if the Lakers snatch Posey, then our day in the sun will have been all too brief.

Veal has already stolen 9 mill. If he is willing to retire in return for hoisting his jersey, then I say do it.

Anyone else a tad bit concerned with Ainge’s comment?

“I’d hate to say whether or not we will be able to. We’ll see what happens.”

What I would’ve liked to hear him say is something like:

“We realize how valuable he is and will make every effort possible to resign him.”

I know it’s just a quote but that really makes me uneasy…

Part of it is just how the draft chips fall. BGJ and TA have just a tweak less leverage than they had a few days ago. (Whereas Rondo should be teeing up nicely for his new contract, no?)

celticsfansince55- Not very fair to say he stole 9 mil. He was given 9 mil to perform a job. He has given it 100% since he has gotten here and has been a model citizen and team player. I am willing to bet if all our employers based our paycheck completely on success of our results versus our efforts, we could all be accused of stealing our paychecks.

TrueGreen,

I hear what you’re saying and i didn’t mean to imply that Posey is a franchise player, which he, of course, is not. The C’s are concerned about going 4 years and Posey could well get an offer for that long. I’m sure that is the basis of Ainge’s comments. As for possible replacements, what about James Jones from Portland or Mickael Pietrus from Golden State? Steve Blake is a free agent too in case the C’s are looking beyond Eddie House for a backup to Rondo.

Anyone else a tad bit concerned with Ainge’s comment?

“I’d hate to say whether or not we will be able to. We’ll see what happens.”

What I would’ve liked to hear him say is something like:

“We realize how valuable he is and will make every effort possible to resign him.”

I know it’s just a quote but that really makes me uneasy…

If someone offers Posey a deal above the MLE and he chooses to take it, we simply cannot offer him more.

As for Scal’s contract, not having him will not put us under the salary cap, so it wouldn’t help us at all with the ability to sign other players, especially given in mind that the ownership hasn’t been shy about splashing the extra cash for quality players. I don’t see what the big deal is with his contract.

mpcu40-considering the fact that he has busted his tail all year long at practices, shootarounds, strength training, offseason committments, and such, the only difference in his effort and the starters, is about 30 minutes of playing time in 100 games. That’s 50 hours in the entire year of work less than the starters. I think KG’s 25 million is much more obscene that Scal’s 3 mil. Before you go off on productivity, I realize he isn’t near the player we thought we were getting when we signed him, however he hasn’t been given the consistent chance to be that guy. From what I see in him, he could be contributing plenty to earn that 3 mil if he had the playing time. If he played all year like he does when he gets consistent minutes he would be much closer to that worth. Maybe not quite, but IMO he is no less valuable than TA and his 3 mil contract. Even with no PT.

TA is much more valuable than Scalabrine. The problem is that they are stuck with Veal, whereas Ainge has a cheap replacement for TA.

Master Po: Posey is playing smart and nothing is wrong with that. I just we hope we keep him BUT NOT on a long term contract as that makes for laziness.

I don’t think Posey is that type of player. From the media it seems the sticking point is the length of contract. For arguments sake let’s say it is. Losing Posey makes the Celtics worse next year and probably for longer as well. If we are going to win another championship we need Posey. There is no one else available that can replace him for us. On the other hand, he may not be as valuable to another team. It’s the fit. I don’t think he can help the Lakers as much as he can help us. I don’t think he would enjoy playing for the Lakers as much as he likes playing here. I just don’t see how we can’t work this out. Of course we know nothing about what’s going on behind the scenes. We owe it to ourselves and Posey to give him a fair, maybe above fair contract. He came here and delivered. The Patriots are cold when it comes to this stuff. The Celtic reputation is based on loyalty. If we want good players to come here in the future we need to show loyalty to a player that deserves it. Posey qualifies here. I think he should be here as long as PP, RA, and KG are here. Posey enhances their value. These owners seem willing to pay the money when it’s worth it. I think this will get done.

Why didn’t House even get listed on Chad Ford’s free agent page?