some thoughts/options for the rest of the off-season.

My preference, like most Celtic fans is to stay the course one more year.

Just re-sign Baynes using his non-bird rights for about $5.1M .After next season we will have early bird rights on Baynes and can sign him for up 175% of his previous salary ( or about $8.9M).

Match or sign Smart to a longer term deal, this will cause us to go over the tax line nest season. Second option here is Smart gets no offers he likes and Danny wants to hold off going into Tax territory this year. In that case Smart ends up signing his Tender ( $6M) and become an UFA the next season. I see this as the likely outcome for Smart this season and perhaps the best case fro him getting a bigger contract the next season.

If the above happens, then the Celtics will have about $120M in salary on the books and be under the tax line by about $3M.

That's with 14 players under contract including the rookie.



some second options for players if Smart gets an offer Danny refuse to match:

1) Avery Bradley could be a possibility, IF Danny can stay below the tax line . We could sign him for the higher MLE of $8M in that case. Though it put the team right up against the tax line and they would have to stay their the entire year at that point.

2) Corey Brewer is a good defender and role player for the lesser MLE price around $5M or so also.

some players who could be options if shooting is a higher priority would be Marco Belinelli , Joe Harris and our old friend Gerald Green .


some other options if Baynes gets an offer we cannot match ( remember all a team really has to do is offer him $6M or more and we cannot met it).

other big men who could be available with the $5M MLE (this assumes Smart is back of course).

Nerlens Noel, Ed Davis and Alex Len

one could put Dwight Howard and JaValle McGee on this list as well.


IF Smart and Baynes both leave Danny would be limited to used the non taxpayer MLE of $8M, the $3.3M Bi-annual Exception and minimum vet deals to fill out the roster. In THIS case big men like D. Howard and Derrick Favors may be the best options, with the $3M exception or vet minimum used to replace Smart's roster spot (Green, Harris, etc).


so all that said, my favorite options

#1- Resign Smart and Baynes

#2- Resign Baynes and replace Smart with Bradley

#3- Resign Smart and replace Baynes with Noel

#4- Replace both with Howard ( $8M) and G. Green (Vet minimum)

KDP59

Interesting options

I do not see Baynes as anything more than a short term player on this team.  He turns 32 this year and clearly his ceiling has been established as an 18 MPG guy that will produce 6 points and 6 rebounds per contest.  As I have said many times he is that slab of beef that brings physicality to the game.  During the playoff run a new found 3 point shooting touch was revealed which expands what he can do offensively.  He may be able to stretch the floor.  He sets solid picks but is not a pick and roll guy because he is not a finisher at the rim.  On defense he is pretty much limited to playing in the painted area and does not have the quickness to step to go out and challenge on the Pick and roll when the guard keeps the ball.  Baynes is an ultimate team player and there have been a lot of games where he is on the fringe of the rotation.  He never complains.  He just waits for his opportunity.  I think Boston should retain him but I would not be too concerned about Bird rights.  He simply is not a candidate for a long term contract.  There are other big man option out there and now that Boston is a legit contender, some veteran big may be more than happy to jump on the band wagon for the vet minimum.

Boston's top priority is Smart.  Now that a few teams have been rumored to be interested his market value is probably at or above the full MLE.  So this just brings us full circle back to the big question.  How much should Boston pay Smart?  None of us can really answer that question although we freely throw numbers around.  Would Boston match a $12 million offer?  Everybody wants 3 and D guys.  That he is not.  Teams interested are interested for the same reason that Boston wants to keep him.  But his offense is really quite bad.

In terms of alternatives i would love to get AB back but I think that ship has already sailed.  The alternative to Smart may be Jabari Bird.  He did not get a lot of playing time but he does have skills at both ends of the court and could be a real bargain.  He will not expect a lot of minutes.

With Hayward returning the distribution of minutes becomes a problem.  If Boston lets Smart walk Hayward would eat up those minutes.  

I think the only way for Boston to keep Marcus and Baynes is if Boston is able to retain Marcus for MLE type dollars.

or that qualifying offer in the $6 M range for one year.

in the end Smart will be the one to decide if any offers this year are worth signing (including any offers Danny makes).

I still think in the end with much more money free the next season, in may be  in Smarts best interest to play it out and become a UFA in 2019.

dboss,

Great points made relating to Baynes. He is not a long term Celtic, but I would very much want to have him back for at least this next season.

His points and rebound numbers are not likely to change much as he ages, but somewhat like what Marcus Smart brings to this team so does Baynes bring many intangibles. Sometimes even limited skill level players are worth much more than the stats show at the end of a game or even at the end of a season.

I think that I see if Baynes comes back and a guy like Howard is added who fully understands his role that the Cs will be so much stronger as Harford will not have to play as many minutes at the center spot and even a bit fewer total minutes per game.

I understand that the possibility of signing Howard has people lining up on both sides, but as someone mentioned in another thread "if he can be signed for the vet minimum his scoring and rebounding will help us considerably". His rebound stats in 2018 would have led our team by a good bit so even if he falls off a little he will still likely lead the team in 2019. It would be great if Williams is fully ready to handle about 10 boards per game, but that may be a lot to ask of a 27th pick rookie in his first year.

My summer theme this year is that the Cs cannot ever have too many quality players filling roles well from the bench. Baynes and Howard would give us the best back up center combo in the league.

I think if the Celtics sign Howard, Baynes will not be back.

kdp59 wrote:I think if the Celtics sign Howard, Baynes will not be back.

I agree with that.

The Celtics realish playing Small ball with them even playing Theis at the 5.

So now we have Horford, Williams and Theis. Howard or Baynes completes the center rotation. I prefer Baynes but again only if we can sign Smart and stay under the apron for another year.

Whether it's Howard or Baynes we are still only looking at a very short term situation. Smart on the other hand could be a 4-5 year keeper going forward. Being able to retain Smart also sets up the possibility to trade him down the road.

The Celtics still need bulk in the middle.

https://sports.yahoo.com/lieu-marcus-smart-could-avery-174534931.html


haha...I did NOT write this piece.

kdp59 wrote:https://sports.yahoo.com/lieu-marcus-smart-could-avery-174534931.html


haha...I did NOT write this piece.

Are you sure? lol

AB is definitely an option and we know what he can do. The knock is his injury history but I guess you could say that Marcus also tends to get nicked up a lot.