Still a chance for Celtics trades or transactions

The days creep by and the possibility of a big trade to bring in help for Rondo seems pretty far fetched at this point.  Unless Ainge steps in to make an unexpected play for Eric Bledsoe or Greg Monroe, or goes in the other direction and deals Rondo himself it seems like we've mostly got the team we'll start the season with.

With that said, there's a couple of notes I'd like to make.  First, here we are more than a month later and we STILL haven't gotten official word of Evan Turner's signing.  Second, we've got too many players and too much salary at the moment.  Third, it may interest you to know that on September 10th Danny Ainge will have the ability to package Marcus Thornton in trades if he so chooses.

Dates of note: Trade restrictions, traded player exceptions, etc. - CelticsBlog

There's also a timeline restriction on Marcus Thornton and Tyler Zeller.  Either one can be sent out in a trade by themselves at any time.  However, if the Celtics wish to package them in a trade, they'll have to wait until Sept. 10th (two months after the trade from the Nets was made official) to do so.

Before we get fired up for fireworks it is worth noting that the Celtics were paid a first rounder just to take Thornton's salary.  That salary could be used for matching up numbers in a larger trade package or it might just be an expiring contract that the Celtics allow to expire after the season.

Still, even if the Celtics don't make a larger deal, there's a better than good chance that they'll pull of some kind of small, cleaning-up-the-books deal as camp approaches.

Why hasn't Evan Turner been officially signed yet? Here are some theories - CelticsBlog

Ainge frequently finds creative ways to waive players without actually having to waive them.  Last year around this time he traded Fab Melo (and cash) for Donte Greene and waived Greene him a few days later. In other deals Ainge has traded Luke Harangody, Semih Erden, Marquis Daniels, Sam Cassell, and Patrick O'Bryant in separate deals that netted us several heavily protected 2nd round picks that are still listed in our "picks owed" but will never be exercised.  Usually there's some kind of (minor) cap rationale for these deals but the bottom line is that if Ainge can save some room under the cap by making a trade instead of simply cutting someone, he'll do it.

So we've got that to look forward to.

Yay?