Ryan Gomes resigns with Timberwolves - Revisted

by The Walker Wiggle on Jan 12, 2009 3:40 PM EST

Britt Robson - one of the best writers on the NBA beat - wondering aloud in his column today if Ryan Gomes wouldn't have been an ideal Celtics' free agent signing, and the cure for what ails us now:

Craig Smith also got a fairly early hook from Sichting, so it was a misery-loves-company scenario when the benched Jefferson sat down beside him in the third period. But Ryan Gomes wouldn't let the dolor take hold, engaging both Jefferson and Smith and leading the cheers from the sidelines as the Wolves climbed back into the game. It's just another way Gomes adds value to his solid two-way skills. This is a guy on good terms with everyone on the team, both in the locker room and on the court, and not in a mascot-Madsen manner either. Watching the Celts lose to the Cavs the next night, it became glaring how thin Boston's bench is this season, and how much they missed the boat by not going after Gomes. Sure, Gomes was restricted and Minnesota could match, but the Wolves wound up paying about $7 million for two seasons. Meanwhile, Boston spent about $5.6 million on Eddie House and $5 million on Tony Allen over the next two years. Gomes was a fan favorite in Beantown (And why not? It's an intelligent fan base and Gomes is a player for who looks better to the cognescenti than the average joes.) and would have become a poor man's James Posey without much accomodation on either side in terms of skills and systems.

This was all debated here beforehand, but not meaningfully since. Given the way it shook out - Posey signs with New Orleans, Gomes signs a modest contract in Minnesota, Boston forgoes veteran help - is there more regret?

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they would have matched anyway

so all we did was avoid having that money locked up for a week while other free agents were signing elsewhere

…of course we didn’t really sign anyone anyway, so it would have been a good move, but my memory is shaky on the timing of it all – we might have still had a shot at Posey at the time

oh well

"Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me." Michael Scott

by Jeff Clark on Jan 12, 2009 4:13 PM EST reply actions

No Jeff, you’re right that Posey hadn’t yet signed with the Hornets when Gomes re-signed; though it was already becoming clear that he and the Celtics had reached an impasse.

But is it certain that Minnesota would’ve matched? They had just committed a surprising amount of money to Craig Smith, had drafted Love and added Mike Miller, both conceivably cut into Gomes’s minutes (at PF and SF respectively), and there was much talk at the time of finding more minutes for Corey Brewer. Gomes has emerged as the starting SF now, but this was far from obvious at the start of the season.

Sure, it would have taken more than the $3.5 million per that Minny gave him. But, after seeing how Ainge choose to spend Boston’s MLE, who would be dissatisfied if we’d given Ryan Posey’s money?

by The Walker Wiggle on Jan 12, 2009 6:04 PM EST reply actions

Interesting post

I don’t think Gomes would be a very good fit in this team though, especially as a backup wing. At least, not nearly as good as Posey. What do you mean by Posey’s money?

I don’t know… signing Gomes would mean that we’d still need a backup wing who could indeed guard the perimeter (Gomes is too slow to guard most players) and, obviously, a backup guard. And the backup center that hopefully we’ll still bring. Yeah, he would have been useful because he’s a decent role-player, but he’d be kind of redundant in the roster.

by cordobes on Jan 13, 2009 2:01 AM EST reply actions

Wolves would have matched.

He would have been a very good fit, is developing very nicely as a defensive player with the Wolves, and is a better all-around player than Posey. But it’s very difficult to steal a RFA from another team and is pretty rare. Unless a GM is really low-balling a player , there’s no upside to another GM coming in just to bid up a player. All in all the rules are heavily stacked against the RFA.

by colincb on Jan 13, 2009 3:05 AM EST reply actions

Ainge is a late pick draft machine.

This can only speak to Ainges drafting prowess. Look at all those late picks he made that are becoming solid contributers all over the NBA. Gomes is a starter on a bad team, but would be a regular contributer on a good team. Delonte West was the 2nd best player on the cavs in last years playoffs and doesn’t get nearly enough credit for the Cavs success this year! Powe has fallen of late, but would be killing if the C’s could put a PJ or another Big next to him. And then there’s Big Al, picked after Robert Swift, and is maybe the best low post scorer in the NBA, but definitely among its young bigs.

Honestly, I wish we could have all of these guys back, but the alternative is well worth it! We traded young talent for a 3 year window of true title contention. And the C’s won it all in the first year. They won a championship with Paul Pierce as the main guy, and I thought that window closed a long time ago. I honestly don’t know if we’ll really have a legit chance of winning it again since the other contenders have much more flexibilaty to get better, but even if that’s te last banner we see in another 22 years, it was well worth it.

by GreenPete on Jan 13, 2009 10:43 AM EST reply actions

The above article/quote is not a true picture of the situation.

Minnesota gave Ryan Gomes $22mil over 5 seasons, only the first two numbers are guaranteed and that’s the numbers the writer has chosen to use … but the total shows how high a number it would have had to been for Minnesota to decline matching the contract.

Anyway, not a big fan of Gomes mainly for the reasons Cordobes described above. Gomes is a player without a position and defensive flaws, and would have left the squad with several other needs to fill.

by Who on Jan 14, 2009 4:08 AM EST reply actions

Of the potentially-available ex-Celts we could have gone after last summer, Delonte would have been a better fit. An improvement over House, even more beloved around here than Gomes, a hard-nosed gamer, and it would have taken a piece away from Cleveland. Cavs already had signed Boobie to a good-sized deal and traded for Mo Williams, so it seemed like Delonte might have been even more get-able than Gomes.

Still like Gomes, he’d help the bench but I’m not sure we’d have any more "W"s if he was here.

by theBird on Jan 14, 2009 4:56 PM EST reply actions