Ainge Would Spend the Full MLE On "The Right Player"
Equipped only with the (approximately $5.5 million) mid-level exception, Ainge also wants to sign a free agent and possibly two, with a backup small forward . . . or an active backup big man . . . the preferences.
"We would spend the (full) mid-level on the right player," Ainge said. "But we’re just not going to spend it to spend it."
From the Globe: "We'd spend it on certain players," said . . . Ainge. "We are not going to spend it for sure, but we would spend it on the right person."
over 2 years ago
Roy_Hobbs
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I loved this part...
from the Herald article:
Equipped only with the $5.7 million mid-level exception, Ainge also wants to sign a free agent and possibly two, with a backup small forward along the lines of Grant Hill or an active backup big man (Zaza Pachulia, anyone?) the preferences.
Now I know it’s probably just Mark Murphy dropping names and probably doing his own speculation but considering he does have contact directly with the C’s front office, perhaps he’s heard something. I would love the LLE going to Hill short term and the MLE going to Zaza Pachulia long term as he is just 25 and worth the investment and is versatile enough to play both big positions an is a tough gritty defender.
Yeah, I think this is complete speculation...
… which is why I didn’t include it.
Also, Murphy is wrong on the amount of the MLE. It was $5.585 last season, and it’s predicted to go down, not up.
All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino
Danny's FA track record
has been pretty terrible. Last year we worked out Birdman and somehow Danny saw fit to give over HALF A MILLION dollars more to Pat O’Bryant, I mean wow! Danny likes to split the MLE up on 1 or 2 very low tier players. I’m hopeful that we can land a big name with the full MLE but history has shown that that is unlikely.
We signed POB to a minimum contract last season...
… despite what you read in some of the papers. Danny didn’t have to use the MLE on him.
Your great point is correct, though, that most of Danny’s free agent decisions have been poor. House was a good pickup, and Posey was a no brainer. Other than that, the track record is spotty, at best.
All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino
it's not that bad...
He was never going to get a decent FA to come to Boston when e sucked. He did fine with Eddie, Posey and PJ but fared worse last year when the pickings were much slimmer.
The problem with the O’Blount decision wasn’t money – it was a hideous personnel decision.
Danny and FAs keeps me awake at night. I still see Robert Swift in our future …
Absolutely agreed...
Danny massively miscalculated with that signing. This season, he needs to sign contributors, not bench fodder. POB was a waste of a roster spot.
All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino
about birdman
wasn’t he going to denver no matter what? i seem to recall something about him saying he owed the community, and was basically going to sign there over any other team. and honestly, birdman was a pretty huge risk. he obviously worked out, but the dude had some major substance issues. remember vin baker, anyone?
by guy incognito on Jun 14, 2009 7:45 PM EDT up reply actions
At the time, he said he wanted to play for Boston...
… during an interview during the playoffs, he said he’d always wanted to be in Denver. I think he had at least some motivation to be less than candid in the Denver interview; not many players would say “Yeah, actually, I’d rather be on another team, rather than the one I have a big role on and that is in the playoffs right now”.
Andersen may have been a risk, but so was POB. At least Andersen has (and had) shown the ability to contribute in NBA games.
All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino
I heard we offered him a deal but he chose Denver...
POB wasn’t a great choice, but calling a player who was meant to be our 5th or 6th big man a hideous decision or a massive miscalculation is quite an exaggeration. Who was the 3rd or 4th big off the bench for LA, Denver, Cleveland or Orlando? Did those GMs practically sabotage their season with those signings, or do they all get a pass because they didn’t have enough injuries to their front lines for their end of the bench players to see the light of day? Sure, POB didn’t work out, but he was signed to develop, not to contribute right away.
Where did you hear that?
To my knowledge, the Celtics never offered Andersen a contract.
Since Andersen didn’t sign until a full two weeks after the Celtics signed POB, and since Andersen expressed an interest in signing here at the time, it seems odd that he would have turned down a contract from the Celtics.
I think you may be misremembering.
Also, accepting your view of events, Danny miscalculated by not signing any legitimate players with size to the roster. BBD, Powe, and Scal are not, and never will be, good backup centers. They can fill in as a stop-gap, but none of those players is suited to the position full time.
All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino
in the celticsblog forums
I know I saw it once or twice by reasonable sounding posters. Was there evidence that we didn’t offer him a contract like there was with Lue (I think) and Motumbo? The Celts often wait a number of weeks to announce or even finalize signings so I don’t know that the timeline means much.
I don’t think Davis is a great backup center but I don’t think any great backup centers were available. I also remember reading that Baby played at that big man camp that POB and Birdman were at and was easily the best player there. Plus you can get by without a great backup center when your pf is about 7’2".
Eh...
I’ll trust media reports, rather than “reasonable sounding posters”.
All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino
that was my question
were there media reports that we didn’t offer Andersen a deal? I’m not saying there weren’t, just that I didn’t know of any.
Yep
The Celtics had interest in other free agent centers, such as New Orleans’s Chris Andersen, Indiana’s David Harrison, and New York’s Randolph Morris, but O’Bryant impressed them during a workout July 4. Celtics general manager Danny Ainge doesn’t expect to sign any other big men. It seems doubtful that injured center Scot Pollard will be re-signed by the Celtics, and P.J. Brown is expected to retire.
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/07/12/celtics_get_their_big/
All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino
not trying to bust your chops
But that article doesn’t say we didn’t offer him a deal. It says we were interested in him but we signed POB. What if I said “we were interested in Posey and Maggette but TA came in and had a good workout so we signed him to a contract. We don’t expect to sign any other small forwards”?
Again, I’m not trying to give you a hard time. If you’ve seen articles that say we never made him an offer I’ll believe you. But that article doesn’t really say one way or the other.
not good news
This is to prepare us for the fact that we will be buying cheap again this summer to fill out our bench. We will have the best starting 5 in the league but no bench. Goodbye #18.
I agree, it didn't sound good on the expenditure front
but if that’s what Danny’s been told I’m glad that he’s letting us know. That is, bringing us down easy.
Why?
How does Shaq make the Cav’s starting 5 better than the C’s? I just don’t see it. C’s have 2 perennial all-stars in the front court, and 1 in the back court, and another (Rondo) that is on his way to that same status (whether he gets picked or not). Stack them up 1-by-1 and, aside from LeBron James, the C’s get the nod each time IMO. Shaq is a shadow of himself 5 years ago.
- JoeB
Shaq is a shadow of himself 5 years ago...
and so is Ray Allen. I’m also a little worried about the Paul Pierce I saw in the playoffs. But for now, I’ll blame that on tired legs.
Ray Allen had a great season. Along with Pierce and others, he was limited by injuries in the playoffsand very much missed KG’s presence. It was a lot easier to leave Perkins, BBD, and Rondo alone and load up on Pierce and Allen without KG. I’m not worried about Pierce or Allen. They’re both in great shape and have a lot fo basketball left in them. I also expect KG to come back with a major chip on his shoulder, with a lot to prove since they did not repeat this year. And yes, they need bench help to do it.
- JoeB
Great???
Maybe our definition of the word is different. I agree he is a great clutch shooter but his defense gives up as much as his offense gives these days.
Yeah, great
Ray is not a defensive liability and his offense was top notch. You can’t go by what we saw in the playoffs. You gotta take the whole year into account. Everyone’s defense (except for Perkins) was slowed due to the loss of Garnett. Not sure what you expect out of Ray in order to say he had a great year. When healthy, they still have the best starting 5 in the league.
- JoeB
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