FanPost

Quick rebuild

My brief Introduction: I’m from Nepal and there are hardly any people who follow NBA except for some US returns like myself. I am a very big Celtics fan. I religiously follow Celtics blog ie. I read all the articles and 80% of the comments too. I just like to read but I barely comment, I just read. This is my first fan post so please excuse my grammar and my lack of knowledge about different NBA rules.

I lived in MN and Boston from 1999-2007 (4 yrs each). I was a KG fan when I was in MN. I also started liking Pierce after I moved to Boston. I went to many Celtics game even during the 24 win season of 2006. I still have a picture of Marcus Banks shaking my hand when I had the opportunity to sit right behind the Celtics bench. When I was still living in Boston, I always believed KG and PP together could bring home Larry O’Brien Trophy. Danny and McHale had been involved in trades of players like Telfair, R.Davis, olawakandi, blount, wally; also they were teammates in good old Celtics days so I had a strong feeling they could make this happen.

After I came back to Nepal in May, 2007, the trade I had always dreamt of came true. I was thrilled to say the least. I missed seeing them play live together but we became champions. I couldn’t ask for more. I used to brag about Celtics to my boys from Kathmandu who hardly had any clue what I was talking about. With key injuries, old legs, and some misfortune, we couldn’t add banner 18.

Now we are completely in the rebuilding mode. After Rondo and J.Green’s departure, not even a single player and coach are here from that championship winning team. Therefore even the most optimistic of fans have given up on the idea of bringing the title next season. Some of the common statements seen in the blog are: • We are young team and young players need time to develop. • Rome wasn’t built in a day. • Assembling a mediocre team will not get us anywhere or will always put us in the middle. • Boston is not a preferable free agent destination. • No vets would want to join a rebuilding team. • FA superstar/star would stay put where they are. • Moving home is a nuisance.

I know these are all valid statements but I know Danny is an impatient magician. Soon he will pull some tricks off his sleeve to make us a contender in 2015. But we do need some luck, and I believe that luck is when opportunity meets preparation. We are well prepared right now with all the picks, TPEs, expiring contracts and some young assets. We just need to be patient and look for the right opportunity.

All the elite teams have loaded their roster for the title run. And it’s a fact that out of this bunch only one can win the title. Rests of them will come short. The team which comes short might choose to add few more pieces via draft or free agency if it can bring substantial improvement. Or else they become sellers. We can find opportunities when a team decides to sell its assets.

Future is uncertain, but lets assume few scenarios.

1. Trade 1: It is obvious that wade, bosh and deng can’t bring championship. They will most likely exist in the first round of play-offs. I doubt that anybody is going to offer Deng more than what is being offered by Miami next year when he has a player option, so he will stay. That leaves them no room to add any impact player. So it is time for Riley to push the rebuild button. Wade has a player option in 2015 so it is totally up to him for the following trade to occur.

Boston gets Dwane Wade

Miami gets: 2 first rd picks in 2016 from Boston and Dallas, 2 second rd picks in 2015 and 2016 from sixers, Wallace’s 10 mil worth expiring contract, 5 mil trade exeption from Brandron Wright trade.

2. Trade 2 If Hibbert and D.West come back they won’t have salary room to add significant player. Paul George will take time to become fully healthy. So they might agree to do sign and trade with Boston. Pacers gets huge trade exception and a cheap replacement (13 mil less) for a less productive Hibbert. Hibbert agrees to sign for low dollars to team up with Greg Monroe. Sign and trade Hibbert for------ mil/yr

Boston gets Roy Hibbert

Indiana gets TPE worth 12.9 mil from Rondo trade and promising young and cheap centre in Tyler Zeller

3. Trade 3 Offering max contract to Dragic when suns are already committed to Isiah Thomas and Bledsoe is not wise. So it is better for them to get something rather than let him go without any return. Bradley could help them defensively. Sign and trade Dragic for 13 mil/yr deal

Boston gets Goran Dragic

Suns

gets Avery Bradley, Evan Turner , 2016 1st rd pick from Cleveland, Non guaranteed contract of Phil Pressey, 3 second rd pick in 2016 from Heats, Dal/Mem, Wolves, 2015 2nd rd pick from Washington and 1.3 mil TPE from kris Humphies trade.

Draft Day 2015: We’re projected to pick 8, 21, 32 and 37 depending upon the current standing.

1st case scenario: Pick Centre Karl Anthony Town (projected to be 6th pick) if ping pong ball puts us in that position. Or try to move up the draft by giving up 32nd pick to get him. And pick Kelly Oubre (SF) with the 21st pick.

2nd case scenario: I like this scenario better than the 1st case because I think these two players will compliment other players in our teams. Swap 8th and 21st pick for 11th and 14th pick to get Mario Hezonja(SF) and Willie Cauley-St(C) with 11th and 14th pick respectively. Use 32nd rd pick if needed. Early 2nd rd picks are valuable picks. There have been some incidences in the past when teams have swapped late first rounders for high second rounders because of financial situations.

3rd case scenario: Trust Ainge.

Notable free Agents of 2015

PG

Unrestricted Free Agents: Rondo, A. Brooks, A. Miller Restricted Free Agents: R. Jackson, Beverly w/player option: Goran Dragic

SG

Unrestricted: Lou Williams, Ginobili,Barbosa, J-Rich, Wesley Mathews w/player option: Wade, Ellis, Afflalo

SF

UFA: W.Chandler, G.Green, M. Barnes, Kirilenko, D. Caroll, Wesley Johnson RFA: J. Butler, T. Harris, K. Leonard w/player option: Deng, Pierce, J.Green, Lebron, Crowder

PF

UFA: Duncan, Aldrige, Monroe, B. Wright, Milsap, Josh Smith, KG, Amare, Amir Johnson, Bargnani, Boozer, Scola, Bass, Thomas Robinson w/player option: Love, Ed Davis

C

UFA: M. Gasol, T. Chandler, D. Jordan, Koufos, R.Lopez, O. Asik w/player option: B. Lopez, Hibbert, Al Jefferson

Our FA targets:

Of all the listed players big name players like Gasol, Duncan, Aldrige, T.Chandler, D. Jordan, Rondo, Lebron, Milsap, Ellis, Ginobili are likely to resign with their current team because their teams are still good. They can also get more money from their current team than any other team can offer. Players like B. Lopez, Deng and even J. Green will likely not use their player options . R.Jackson, Afflalo, Koufos are interesting names but are not worth their potential big contract.

We need to grab Monroe if he is willing to take a significant salary cut to play with Hibbert. He could be the final piece to put us over the hump.

I would love to bring back Crowder and W.Chandler/M.Barnes for a reasonable contract. I would also like to sign Pierce,and KG.

Now lets look at our roster after all the acquisitions:

Players Salary

1 Dwane Wade 16,125,000

2 Goran Dragic 13,000,000

3 Greg Monroe

4 Roy Hibbert

5 Jared Sullinger 2,269,260

6 Marcus Smart 3,431,040

7 James Young 1,749,840

8 Mario Hezonja 1,898,300

9 Willie Cauley Stein 1,627,600

10 Kelly Olynyk 2,165,160 <p>Total 42,266,200

Projected Salary Cap for 2015 is 63,065,000 which leaves us with approximately 20 million (after waiving Nelson) to split between Monroe and Hibbert. This can be a very special team if they decide to gang up with a mix of good veterans and promising young player. Can Greg and Roy sacrifice such huge money? I highly doubt it but amazing things happen in NBA. Dirk, Wade, Lebron, Bosh have done that in past to win championship. So lets pray and hope that it happens. Now that we don’t have any cap space, we have to use some exceptions like birds right exception, bi-annual exception, and mid-level exception which allows us to go beyond the cap limit. We can use birds right to sign Jae Crowder to whatever he’s valued in the market which I am hoping won’t be too big. Use biannual exception to get either M. Barnes or Kirilenko. Last but not the least; we need Paul Pierce our captain, to lead us to championship. Convincing him won’t be that big of a deal. He could be had for mid-level exception. He will add leadership, chemistry, motivation, experience, unity and other necessary intangibles to this team.

We still have Nets 1st rd pick (lottery pick) and Cavs 2nd rd pick (projected@35) in 2016. And I haven’t touched any draft picks from ’17,’18, ’19. I wouldn’t mind adding some of these picks for above transactions to work.

Final Roster (13 players, T.Sal-approx. 72 mil )

Centre: Hibbert/ Monroe/ WCS

Power Forward: Monroe/ Sullinger/ Olynyk

Small Forward: Pierce/ Crowder/ M. Barnes/ Hezonja

Shooting Guard: Wade/ Smart/ Young

Point Guard: Dragic/ Smart

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