Save Shav - keep Shavlik Randolph (ditch Jordan Crawford)

Shavlik Randolph's fate should be decided in the next 24 hours or so. His contract will be fully guaranteed for the year if he's not cut by August 1st. This is important because the team is just over the Luxury Tax line and the team has zero motivation to pay the tax in a year where they won't be competing for a championship. They also don't want to incur repeater tax fines that could hinder the club going forward into the next few years.

Don't get me wrong. He's not exactly a star or even a starter on most teams. Randolph was out of the league last year (playing in China) when the Celtics brought him on board for a couple of 10 day contracts. But the guy hustles and he has a knack for grabbing loose balls. He's big and not without talent and those kind of guys are good to have around depending on the price.

Which means if Shav stays, then someone else has to go. My vote is for Jordan Crawford because his skillset is duplicated by the younger and more talented (in theory) MarShon Brooks. Besides, I'm just not a big fan of his game. Now, there are dozens of ways to make his salary go away, but all of them involved getting another team to help you out with a trade of some sort. Even if you are taking back nothing in a trade, the other team still has to agree to it.

Of course, the August 1st deadline is only a deadline for Shavlik's minimum salary contract. The Celtics don't have to get below the tax until the trade deadline. They don't even have to reduce the roster till the end of training camp. So there's a good chance that nothing whatsoever happens and Randolph's contract kicks in fully guaranteed. Then the team will just have to work on a cash cutting deal for later in the summer or even into the year.

There's no real rush to dump a guy like Crawford or anyone at all. In fact, his expiring contract might be necessary to make salaries match in a trade sometime in the next few months. I'm sure the preference is to make a larger deal that meets more of the team's objectives. But a fallback plan (again, not necessarily tomorrow) would be to make a smaller deal to cut costs.

The third option is to cut Randolph before August 1st, but then they'd still be another deal away from being under the tax and we'd be without a fan favorite (in a year where having guys that the fans like would probably be a good idea for ticket sales).

So make the easy call Danny. Save Shav!