FanPost

On To Plan C


Being able to officially contact free agents started about six minutes ago. By now we already know that Plan A is wrecked by Paul George being traded to OKC. Plan B is in tatters because of Blake Griffin agreeing to stay in L.A.

Now one has to wonder, Is there a Plan C? And if so, what might it be. It has to be assumed that the Celtics will still have their meeting with Gordon Hayward, but will it matter. Utah secured a point guard, Ricky Rubio, earlier today. Hayward was reported to be hoping that they would bring back George Hill. Will Rubio suffice to make him stay? Is not getting PG13 serious enough to not make him want to come to Boston? Does it matter?

In my humble and contrarian opinion, I believe there is/ was a serious misreading of the landscape. Let me explain. Everyone is all concerned with what has to be done to beat the Warriors and Cleveland. But, they are two different issues. If you are old enough to remember the Celtics - Lakers rivalry in the 80's or you at least watched the recent special on ESPN, you will know that it was always billed as the contrast between the glamorous Showtime against the blue collar lunch pail guys. I see today as the same thing except that Showtime moved up the coast to Golden State, and the blue collar attitude migrated a few hundred miles west to the Cavaliers.

With this premise in mind, think about this. The Celtics as currently constructed have played Golden State probably better than any other team in the league. Because they are who the Celtics were built to compete with. The problem is, as we saw this past season, the Celts can't get past the bruising, in your face, physical play of the Cavs.

To prove my point, two seasons ago (before Durant) the Warriors came into town on a 23 game win streak (on their way to 73 total for the season). Boston took them to double OT and lost by only five. Later, Boston beat them at home (ending a long winning streak, although neither Crowder or Iquodala played). Last season, once again Golden State came in and won (neither Crowder or Horford played) and then true to form, Boston beat them in their house (but Durant missed that game).

On the other hand, two seasons ago the Celtics went 1W - 2L against Cleveland (and could easily have been 0 -3 if not for the last second bucket from Avery Bradley). Last season, 1W - 3L in the regular season and 1W - 4L in the ECF. (The first regular season game, Crowder, Horford, and Olynyk were out. The other 3? Love, Thompson, and J.R. Smith missed one each).

What this tells me is that Boston (along with most everyone else) has a LeBron problem. From what I have seen, only Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green, and Andre Iquodala are capable of making life tough on LeBron. Of those three, only Iggy is a Free Agent. Yes, he is 33 years old but, LBJ is 32.

So Plan C would be this: take the meeting with Hayward but, have a call in to try to get a meeting with Iggy as well. (It may already be too late as he was to talk with San Antonio at 12:01). The advantage is that he is coming off a team friendly $11M and change contract. Even if you were to basically double it to around $20M, it would fit into the Celtics cap space with room to spare for one or two veteran minimum players, or to maybe bring Olynyk back (at least until we find out what we really have in Zizic). It would also mean not having to trade Rozier or others just to clear additional cap.

Bottom line is that if the Celtics sign Hayward, even though I am not convinced he is the missing piece, I would be OK with it. If they can't get him, I believe they should give strong consideration to Iquodala. If they basically run it back and focus on developing Brown, Tatum, Yabusele, Zizic, and Nader, I am OK with that too. And all those guys would be possible by signing a cheaper Iggy.

What do you think?

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