Paul Pierce is 31 years old. Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett are each 33 right now (Ray will be 34 at the end of the month). The Celtics main target this offseason, Rasheed Wallace, will be 35 when the season starts. Another free agent target is Grant Hill, who will be 37 in October.
To quote Master PO in the comments:
Hill, Sheed, Garnett, Pierce, Allen. If we get any more Veteran than this, we will need more than Billy Walker – we will actually need "walkers" and maybe some adult diapers.
The strategy makes sense really. When you have 3 superstars making the kind of scratch that our guys make, you have to fill in the gaps with low price talent and/or pay the luxury tax. Last year the team attempted to do the former with mostly younger players. But as Doc mentioned, when we lost key players, we got real young real fast. So the team appears to have adopted a different course.
Doc said he wanted veterans. The younger veterans (Hedo, Ariza, Gortat) were all out of our price range. So Danny has focused more on the older veterans looking for one last contract and a run at the championship. It is possible that Ainge might be able to land Rasheed and Grant Hill, though it will cost ownership some money. Zach Lowe breaks it down like this:
Remember, the C's already have about $73 million committed next season, with the luxury tax expected to be somewhere around $68 million. Toss in the mid-level ($5.6 million or so) for Wallace, say, $5 million for Davis, a $2 million bi-annual exception for a wing player (Doc is meeting with Grant Hill, FanHouse reports), and you're already up to nearly $86 million-which is equivalent to shelling out $104 million once the luxury tax is factored in. And it remains unclear who will back up Rajon Rondo next season.
First of all, I'm not sure Davis will actually command $5M on the open market. On the other hand, when you start to add it all up like that, I wonder if the Celtics would bring Davis back for any price (if they land Wallace). There are other things the Celtics could do to shed salary (maybe by trading Tony Allen to the Griz for a draft pick we'll never use?) but it seems that the ownership will be on the hook for some luxury cash this year. I'm also not sure what Grant Hill's price tag will be (but we do have Doc and a chance at a title on our side).
I'm sure that Danny is exploring all sorts of options, but one plan might just be to sign Wallace, Hill, and Tyronn Lue (32 years old) and call it a day (meaning let Big Baby walk for the best offer he can get). That would give us a solid 9-10 man rotation with the option of trading Scal's expiring contract for mid season help.
The added benefit of signing older vets to short term contracts is that they line up nicely with the rest of the Big 3 - both in contract expiration dates and career goals.
If everyone is healthy, that's a pretty solid, savvy, veteran group that could very well win the title. Of course with that many thirtysomethings, you almost have to bank on a few injuries. So what do you think? Is this plan reasonable? Would you sign up for it?