There is no doubt that many of us didn’t think much of the Celtics chances without KG. But didn’t this very blog predict the Celtics to win in 6? If so, then we were actually not as good as we thought we’d be.

There are many restricted free agents in 2009. But the unrestricted free agents that can possibly help us if we are able to clear cap space is:

Zaza Pachulia
Mike Bibby
Juwan Howard
Ben Gordon
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Devan George
Chris Anderson
Anthony Carter
Rasheed Wallace
Kwame Brown
Allen Iverson
Jamal Crawford
Ron Artest
Marquis Daniels
Jamall Magloire
Jermaine O’Neal

Just to name a few. The list is much longer. So if Danny can play his cards right and maneuver some cap space and bring a couple of players in, we should be in good shape.

As upset as I was after the Orlando Series, I’m coming back down to earth and we need to focus on our needs to build strength

Thanks Jeff for this info for future reference going forward next season…also thanks for all the informative articles you brought us this past season.Keep up the great work.

giddens and walker will be evaluated in the summer league. we know enough about the rest. i hope we keep powe, for sure. the pre-talk was on rasheed who would be serviceable, but only on a short leash contract. pruitt is our other question mark and the good news about him is he’s cheap.

and Perk could use a backup with size.

I’d also like to see Ilgauskas somewhere other than Cleveland.

I actually think he holds back CLE, as talented as he is, the faster CLE plays the better and he slows them down.

How much difference a few days. make. I did a fanpost last week about making Ray Allen the sixth man and was vilified by several folks on this board. Now may on the blog are calling to trade Allen! That is not the answer to the C’s problems. If fact, there is not much tinkering to do with this lineup. We have to play Walker and Giddens more. The Magic were not afraid to play Courtney Lee, a rookie, this year, nor were the Rockets reluctant to play Aaron Brooks. I love Scal but this is a business, he is coming off three concussions and is a liability on defense. Love his heart but we need a more talented back up. Resign Steph and BBD. Resign Powe and hope his rehab goes well. Get KG healthy. Dump Tony Allen and get a quality big and a quality back up center. But keep the core of 7-8 guys together. Not much wrong with this team. Injuries killed us. Plain and simple. We have another title run in us folks.

Luxury Tax = $70.1 million

Projected for next season.

Unless we get back a young future all star, I wouldn’t even entertain the thought of trading Ray Allen.
Some of you guys are way to quick to push the panic button /

Erden’s a 7 footer with leaping ability, and couldn’t possibly prove to be less valuable than Mikki Moore. (I don’t figure the Celtics could possibly afford Zydrunas Ilgauskas.)

He could’ve helped this year!

http://www.celticsblog.com/2009/5/3/863784/in-hindsight-someone-we-couldve

I’m still confident on my starting five with:

C- Perkins
PF-Garnett
SF-Pierce
SG-R.Allen
PG-Rondo

I would love to have on the bench:

PG-Marbury, SG-House, SF-Posey: trade Scal n T.Allen for him or somebody who can play defense n score some buckets, PF-Big Baby Davis, C-Rasheed Wallace or Chris Andersen,
Pruitt n Walker are not going anywhere since their contract are guarantee. Still keep Powe at the last roster spot since he wont be playing soon n for past service due.

paculia wold be a great addition. we also need scoring off the bench. hopefully tony allen is gone along with moore. I’m on the fence about marbury but I’d say that you either go with pruitt or marbury but not both. I know we fought hard but I’m very disappointed in how this ended. Game 6 was there for the taking and we gave it to them. the fatigue that hit us in the 4th qtr of game 6 carried over to game 7. ray’s slump cost us this series. I love ray but he and paul never had good games at the same time. AND Doc was outcoached in this series

Thanks to Jeff and all the other Celticsblogger for the excellent coverage and analysis this year. It has been a real pleasure following the C’s through you guys. Keep up the good work!

62-20 is a good team and they did a good portion of that without Garnett, I think if they had Powe healthy it would of been a big difference in this orlando series, But that wasnt the case So we all Ponder the Question what if? I do believe ray allen gets traded for who im not sure, they have to make room for Glen Davis contract, Rondo’s contract and Powe’s contract is up 2? and those are 3 young guys the celtics are willing to keep, I also hope they keep Eddie House around the guy brings so much energy from off the bench, i think we also need a back up 2 our SF and SG postions…none the less it will be a very interesting off season!!!! Cavs Vs. Nuggets….Cavs in 5

before they’re ready. And I’m not ready to write Walker especially, but even Giddens and Pruitt off. I think Doc got spoiled with the vets last year and rode them too far this year.

But if the C’s can develop wing players from their late-pick drafting, which they should be able to do and Walker and Giddens should be the guys, they can focus their big money and trading upgrades on extending Rondo and bringing in more front-court size that can play.

I think Danny needs to manage his roster like Belichick manages his cap: some positions can be drafted late and developed cheaply—while you just can’t do that with the big guys in the front.

So as long as the C’s hope to be drafting late, they’ve gotta think like draft-master Bill.

We normally have 4 thru 7 player changes in a year for the 15 spots. I think the core team will stay together for one more try and then changes will come.

Someone will take that contract or get ready for that big free agency class! The current team has to change….the bench? What bench?

we cant get rid of ray allen he is the best shooter.why should we get rid of him??

Is Raef available? Might be able to get him into a long term contract now for, say, 10 million a year?

Play the young guys early in the season..I know Walker and Giddens are rookies but why is doc so afraid of playing rookies when guys like Chalmers, Courtney lee, Aaron Brooks were able to crack the rotation and even started by the time the season rolled to its final 25 games.

We on the otherhand burned our rookies on the bench and would go back and forth to the Dleague….I know its difficult for them to get PT specially with the line up we have to start the season but Im pretty sure they were drafted by Danny coz they got talent….Time is NOW to harness what we got in these two.

PP is sloooooow now and watchin him in the playoffs get burned by even the slow footed Hedo Turkuglue is even more painful to watch….I love PP and he should retire as a Celtic, I have no Idea If Walker is the player he would pass the torch to but I am certainly not giving up on this 20 y/o kid whose athleticism alone merits atleast a10-15 min PT spellin PP off the bench this comin season.

Id also would not hesitate to trade RA if there is an offer very difficult to refuse…I love RAy but he is also gettin up there in milage and he is basically our main assassin in our startin line up, but his shot completely dissappeared in 6 games against the Magic. He is making waaay too much money to dissappear in important games specially playoff games.
DA should let Scal, TA Mikki go…develop the kids we have and reload the bench with players that have length and are atleast useful like Sheed/ Mcdyess/ heck even Gortat played ok backin up D Howard.

The realistic view of the team as it stands is that the starting 5, when healthy, are contenders. It the bench that will put them over the top. This year, between injuries (Powe, TA, Scal), poor play from expected contributors (TA, Moore, Marbury) and lack of development of young players (Pruitt, Giddens, Walker, POB), the bench was the weak spot.

Sure Scal and BBD did admirably filling in for KG when he was out but that’s still a significant dropoff in talent.

Barring a miraculous offseason by Danny, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for him to do the following:
- Move TA and Scal expiring deals for a legitimate swingman off the bench that can score and defend. If this requires picking up Pruitt’s option or tossing in House (after he picks up the option—>would be a bit underhanded since I’m sure House would only pick up his option if he thought he was staying) to get that player. If Pruitt’s not needed in the deal, don’t pick up the option. If House isn’t needed in the deal, all the better.
- Dump Mikki.
- If Marbury will take the vet minimum for next year, sign him. A full training camp should get him back on track offensively. His defense noticeably improved during the year.
- Focus on a back up 5 (preferably a player that can back up the 4 too) like Sheed for the MLE (or part of it for a lesser player).
- Resign BBD if the $ is right. Good player to have off the bench.
- Resign Powe for the min. He’d be the 5th big man off the bench end of next season. He’s affordable, knows the system and can finish around the rim—>would have finished many of the shots BBD missed around the rim in the playoffs.
- Keep Walker and Giddens for development. PT would still be tough because they’d still potentially be behind House, Marbury and a Vet Wing (TA/Scal trade)

Lineup: Perk, KG, PP, Ray, Rondo
Bench (projected): Sheed (fingers crossed), BBD, Powe, Marbury, Giddens, Walker, House, Vet Wing (for TA/Scal/Pruitt), 2nd round pick (or if Danny trades/buys a higher pick the 2nd rounder could be another Euro stashed overseas like Erden). This leaves 1 spot for any waiver wire filler.

That’s a much better balanced bench that would be fully capable of a title. Of course it depends on moving TA and Scall and getting someone better to replace them as well as getting a player of Sheed’s caliber to back up the 4/5 spots.

In a perfect world, keep House and BBD. find a way to add Marquis Daniels and Chris Anderson. Marquis will play D, score a little and sub for PP or Ray as needed. Chris Anderson is a MONSTER on D and exactly the kind of big man we need off the bench.

I agree to at least two points above in particular:

1) Steph just may do a lot better with a full training camp. Esp. if he keeps working on his D, but he should at least rediscover his offensive game. Don’t forget, he sat for about a year and that’s hard to underestimate. In fact, it would be highly unrealistic to expect he was in top form or that that’s all he’s got left without at least giving him a training camp to get it back. Besides, I doubt teams are lining up for him so we could probably get him cheap.

2) Ray should stay. He stretches the floor and IS the assassin on this team as far as shooting goes. His disapearing act for long stretches in the playoffs is worrisome, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. And you tell me how we replace what he brings to this team. And the same thing that makes him attractive to trade (expiring contract and at least a couple more good seasons), makes him attractive to keep. Why not us be the ones with that RayRay cap space?

I’m not projecting too much with the rest of the bench/young guys because Itheirs too many turning gears as far as contracts and trades to work out to get Daniels and Anderson, but that core 5, House and BBD and whatever else we figure out will give us a damn good starting 5 and the key guys we need off the bench to make a VERY serious run next year, AND it won’t kill us for the years to come as we’ll be in good position when Ray’s contract is up.

I don’t think there needs to be drastic changes to the team core if they won 62 games. They ran out of gas in the playoffs because of their lack of depth resulting from the injuries and the lack of bench use during the regular season. In the Playoffs, they were rotating just 3 bigs for 2 positions and all were pretty much undersized and limited. Everyone had to pick up their game and they did, but after the grueling Chicago series, they were exhausted and couldn’t close out the games (especially game 6) with Orlando.

I think they have enough for one more run at it. They just need to add a reliable big and a wing player to give Pierce a breather. I think they should keep Marbury to back up Rondo and all indications are that he wants to come back. With training camp and starting the season with the team, he should be more than fine. They also need to develop the players they drafted. Pruitt, Walker and Giddens should start to develop or be let go. A bench with BBD, Marbury, House, a reliable big man (Sheed, McDyess, Joe Smith…), A reliable wing (Hill, Barnes) ,Scal and either Pruitt/Walker/Giddens should give the starters plenty of rest during the regular season, unlike this year.

Like a few of you have mentioned, why trade Ray Allen unless it is a deal we can’t refuse. After next year, we’ll have his expiring contract so why give that away along with a great player? He was arguable the most consistent player during the regular season. He was great this year and a total professional. Orlando had to gear their team to shut him down and if we had KG, it would not have happened. If we had another reliable offensive threat, they could not have guarded Ray like that and got away with it. They could leave Rondo open at times and didn’t worry as much about Perk or BBD offensively. Rondo better practice shooting all summer.