Offseason Reboot: Building A Roster (Yes, For This Year)

I’m skeptical it can win a championship, though.

Simmons: My best case-scenario: The Celtics use their amnesty on O’Neal, then sign Memo Okur after Utah uses its amnesty on him. So if you’re scoring at home, I’m excited about a quintuple hypothetical: the lockout hypothetically ending, the amnesty clause hypothetically being part of the agreement, Okur and O’Neal hypothetically being dumped, then the Celtics hypothetically grabbing Memo.

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will depend on what route the C’s take and if they will seek to rebuild or go with core for one more run.

If Ainge seeks to rebuild the club and to get younger for the future he may seek to trade some of the valuable assets he does have to do so for example like:

*The big valuable expiring contracts of KG,
*The big valuable expiring contract of Ray
*To a lesser extent the valuable expiring contract of J.O
*Big Baby who as runner up to 6th man award winner last season should have some trade value (if the C’s can arrange a sign and trade with him)
*Green who though Id like to see remain a Celtic (since he is exactly the type of young, athletic player the team needs to rebuild) is also another trade asset Ainge can utilize as trade chip if he wants to go acquire another team need.
*Rondo and Pierce are also other trade assets and chips Ainge has if he wanted to be bold and trade one of them away (as he said he would be open to doing if the right trade came across him) to fill another team need and to help the team rebuild.
 
But if the C’s plan next season is to stay pat and go for one more run with the core (as Doc hinted will be the goal next season when interviewed last week) I think a realistic roster next season and one I would like to see since assembled which I think would kill 2 birds with 1 stone being making the C’s competitive next season to have a shot at a title and also not tie them up with long term contracts to allow them to have cap flexibility to rebuild in 2012 would be a roster made up of the following players:

Starters:
Rondo, Ray,Oneal,KG, Pierce

Bench:
Guards: Delonte (1 yr min deal), Bradley, Moore
Small forward: Green , Simms (1 yr min deal)
Power forwards: Troy Murphy, Lasme (both signed to 1 yr min deals) and J.J.
Centers: Thomas, Battie or Przybilla
(some dual combination of the above or other low cost centers signed to 1 yr. min deals)

I think the above roster would be a deep, athletic and team with nice front court size which would be if healthy very competitive next season, would be affordable and most importantly as mentioned above would not tie the C’s hands in 2012 (when the real rebuilding probably will begin) since most of the contracts would come off the books at the end of 2011 season.

Just my 2 cents though.

I think most fans will hate to accept it but Ainge isn’t in love with this core as a title contending core any longer (I don’t think he thought their chances were great last season either, otherwise he probably doesn’t make a big shakeup to a team he really thinks is primed to win a championship). I agree with that sentiment if it is indeed in Ainge’s mind. As much as I’d love to count on Rondo being a top 10 player in the NBA (which is what it takes to win a championship, having a top 10 and likely top 5 type player) I just can’t count on that. (Dirk Nowitski was ABSOLUTELY a top 10 player last season IMO, for the record)

So with that being said, why would Ainge invest any more than he has to into a team that is destined for a playoff exit regardless of what type of salary/years commitments he makes this offseason?

That means strictly one year deals unless we are talking about contracts costing less than $2million per season. Believe it or not, I think that means that Kwame Brown willy likely get priced out of the Celtics willingness to pay range. He’ll get at LEAST $3million per and likely for at LEAST 2 seasons. He’s still relatively young and productive. So that means that Ainge is likely going to be looking at old centers (such as Kurt Thomas and Jeff Foster) and young unproven guys like Erden, Fesenko and any others like that. You’re going to need to add at least two centers of that ilk, and depending on what happens with Davis you might need to go out and get a PF-C as well.

Speaking on Davis, I think it’s 50-50 on whether he returns. I don’t believe there will be a whole lot of interest in him around the league. He’s a productive player but he has flaws to his game and frankly he could balloon in weight at any time. However, I do think it’s possible someone will offer him a two year deal at more than $2 million per, which IMO would price him out of where the Celtics would like to keep him, which is likely on a one year deal around his current salary. If he leaves the Celtics could stick with Murphy (I think Powe won’t be brought back) or go for one of the many cheap PFs around the league on a minimum deal.

I agree with the reasoning others have put forward for Jeff Green being brought back on the qualifying offer, unless of course a team calls Ainge’s bluff on matching and REALLY, REALLY loves Green. For one I don’t see that as being that distinct of a possibility so I think Ainge’s gamble on Green’s value being > Perkins value in the short term, will pay off.

I think West will be resigned with a one year deal with raises and a team option second year, he still has a lot to prove.

I think that with that type of roster the goal of the season would be to get some seasoning on Bradley and Green particularly, and perhaps make a move mid-season for any available elite star player with the cap relief the Celtics are able to provide being the major incentive for any teams willing to deal. This could be the season we see a big, big move with Ray, J.O. Green, or even possibly KG involved. I wouldn’t rule out a deal where the Celtics take back a bad salary that lasts a couple seasons in order to get an “elite” cheap young prospect in return (but no young stars who are not elite on big money contracts like Monta Ellis for example).

Obviously, the fall back plan involves a crapload of cap space in order to get the biggest fish in the next season, so any achievements this season are gravvy. And any moves that can be made to add to the core beyond the “big three” will be done, especially if they don’t impact cap space. I wouldn’t expect ANY “win now” type of moves from Ainge but obviously no one would be disappointed if Rondo stepped his game up to a Stockton-esque level and carried this team to a championship. But outside of that there is nothing Ainge can really do to get this team to win now outside of maybe Paul/Okafor and even then that wouldn’t come close to guaranteeing anything.

Bradley is potentially a SG, he just doesn’t see the game like a PG. So I see PG as Rondo, Delonte and Arroyo.

In back of Ray at SG, you’d have Bradley and … Wafer? Ouch. That second-team backcourt is going nowhere.

The total hole at C prevents this Cs team from being any good. There IS no good solution. That is why this team would never beat Miami, Chicago or even Orlando. Even Philly might be better.

The lockout is like nirvana compared to what is going to follow for the Cs.

The expectations for the Celtic’s should, unfortunately, be extremely low. People just don’t realize how important Perk’s defense was. Add to that the fact that the East got a whole lot better last season and its not a stretch to see the C’s dropping to 4th or 5th in the east. I think it’ll look like this
1.Miami
2.Chicago
3. Atlanta (If that kid Teague keeps motoring like he did in the playoffs)
4.Orlando
5.Boston
6.New York (These three are all pretty interchangeable)
Philly, Indy, Milwaukee, and New Jersey will all fight it out to get swept by the top two.

Its entirely possible that we don’t make it outta the first round w/o a big upgrade. This is all assuming we actually have a season, of course.