PAUL TO DANNY......SO WHERE'S THE BENCH!

July 15, 2010

Pierce to Danny: Where's the bench?

Like Celtics fans, Paul Pierce is growing impatient with the team's lack of movement on free agents:

"I thought it was a great move picking up Jermaine [O'Neal], giving us an inside presence in case Rasheed [Wallace] retires, but sometimes I'm looking at all the players signing and wish we would get on the ball a little bit," Pierce said. "I trust in Danny [Ainge] to put a good team around us, but I'm sitting here watching all these good players fall to other teams."

Still, Pierce suggested there were still important pieces that needed to be added. He seemed particularly stung by the loss of reserve swingman Tony Allen, who chose to join the Memphis Grizzlies over staying in Boston.

"We got a lot [to add] right now," said Pierce. "We lost TA, we don't have Nate [Robinson], we might not have Rasheed. We gotta add a bench. We got our work cut out. We need perimeter defense and we need to add a backup point guard to help out [Rajon] Rondo, if Nate doesn't come back. And we need another big."

Those are strong words from the Truth. He must be wondering why he gave the Celtics a discount on his contract, if they were going to fill out the roster with also-rans and wannabes.
In other news, the team has reportedly signed ex-Nets coach Lawrence Frank to serve as an assistant on Doc's staff.

Paul Pierce should go work out and watch a lot of tape of Ron Artest PUNKING HIM in the finals....and let Danny Ainge do his job.

I agree with Paul.

I just read reports that the C's are no longer in the running for FA Matt Barnes. Not that he didn't have any interest in us (he did), but that we didn't have any interest in him!

Why not Danny?!

We just lost Tony Allen; our defensive stopper / athletic swingman scorer off the bench all because of a no-brainer 3rd year in a contract offer. I like Matt Barnes, hes a fiesty defense first minded player, and has no problems knocking down the 3 ball. I would love to have him a Celtic next season, but he may be going to an Eastern Conference rival (Miami, Orlando).

Paul semsd to forget that every year since the big three came together, DA has rounded out the team with enough bench players. Some have worked out and some have not.

DA has already used the MLE to sign JO and that was really the most important move considering the Perkins injury.

But I think DA made a mistake when he moved both Walker and Giddens for Nat. With TA gone one of those players would most likely get a chance to contribute.

The Celtics could resign S Williams and simply wait for perk to get back. Their second round pick will probably also make the team and they can probably pickup another Bu center to fill the gap until Perk returns.

Their # 1 pick is suppose to be a very good defensive player as well and could see some minutes this year.

Danny has very limited options at this point. We just need to luck out on one guy (maybe someone off the summer league roster could help)

dboss

The Josh Howard deal is still on the table...so is the Ronnie Brewer deal.

They are close to resigning Nate Robinson - will add Avery Bradley, Luke Harengody, and maybe a third big man - I say the Celtics will be just fine.

ARTEST HAS A HISTORY OF PUNKING PAUL MORE OFTEN THAN NOT. HOWEVER, PIERCE IS CORRECT IN THAT DANNY APPEARS TO BE SITTING IDLY BY WHILE THE PARADE (OF QUALITY FREE AGENTS) PASSES BOTH HIM AND THE C'S BY. SINCE PERK IS GONE FOR 6 MONTHS AND WILLIAMS LEFT FOR MILE HIGH COUNTRY, AND T. ALLEN LEFT DUE TO CONTRACT LENGTH ISSUES, THE C'S COULD HAVE USED UDONIS HASSLEM AND JOSH CHILDRESS. BOTH WOULD HAVE SOLVED MULTIPLE PROBLEMS FOR BOSTON WITH MUCH NEEDED ADDED DEPTH. EVEN JERMAINE'S SIGNING CANNOT BE TOO HELPFUL. THIS IS 2010, NOT 2000. HEY AINGE! I THINK DOMINIQUE WILKINS AND ARTIS GILMORE CAN BE HAD FOR A SONG! WYC WILL THANK YOU SINCE NO ONE WILL NEED TO HIT TOO MANY C NOTES ON PAY DAY-MD!

MD,

It looks like you have the same understanding of the NBA salary cap rules as Paul Pierce!!

Ummmm ... that would be like, well, none. But you and I both know that. That is nothing new.

If you think the JO signing is not helpful, that's okay because that is an opinion. You have the right to have one, I just believe yours is wrong. Time will tell on that.

The other parts of your post don't ring true since they have nothing to do with opinions. They fly in the face of the truth. (and not The Truth - LOL)
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Hasslem took less money to play for the Heat. He would NEVER have been available to us at what we could offer, which was VM.

F Udonis Haslem left about $14 million on the table to stay with the Heat. According to reports, Haslem got a five-year, $20 million deal from the Heat when he could have had $34 million from Dallas or Denver.
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Childress (who I also would like to see in Kelly Green) played in Europe for two years because he wanted the big long term security contract. He is not signing for the VM.

Phoenix must acquire Childress from Atlanta, which still has his rights after he left the Hawks and the NBA to take a three-year, $20 million deal with the Greek team Olympiakos in 2008. The Suns are using $6.5 million of the trade exception acquired in Friday's Stoudemire trade to make the deal work without sending Atlanta a player of similar value.
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One last question ... Why type your post with all caps? It is the online equivalent of shouting. It doesn't help with your case in one way. Rather, it causes many to just ignore your post.

Our current situation requires patience so that Danny can get the best bang for the buck with his last big means to add a quality player to the Celtics. That would be trading Sheed's contract prior to his retirement. Danny may have to go the route of getting a trade exception that he can use even later this summer. The importance of this transaction to the team's success in the next year or two demands that it is not rushed into.

gyso

I agree with Paul. Danny did not round out the team in 2008-2009 season after losing Posey and Brown. Again we will be a tease unless we get serious.

112288

When Pierce opted out and restructured with the 4 yr deal, didn't that free up some additional money for free agents? even though the C's are in the luxury tax bracket, it is imperative that Wyc be willing to stay there for the forseeable future to keep the Celtics competitive and revamp the team to more suit Rondo's uptempo style for the long haul with younger talent!-MD

Hi,
In defense of DA. He has to think and act long term as much as short term. In many cases those two go together like oil and water.
Also, don't forget that PP is known to say stupid things.
just my $.02

AK

112288,

Please provide the link to the article in your original post. Let us see what Paul really said in context. Then let us see the how the author sensationalized Paul's words to look like a condemnation of Danny's work to date. That sounds like media spin to me.

Buying into a media hacks twisting of the Truth (pun intended) does not help with your arguement any more than it helped with MD's. The media gets paid to invent controversy and I see this as a typical example or that.

You also need to somehow separate some things in your posts because frankly, they are very confusing. The things are:

The text of the article in question

and

Your words.

It is often hard to tell where the author stops and you start.

And like I said at the top, always include the link so we can tell if the source of the story has any credibility. Members of the media often have a certain "style" and when we know the author, we can better make our own judgements.

One last thing. Paul really didn't give the Celtics a very good discount, IMO. He is probably getting a higher salary than any of the South Beach Three. The numbers aren't out yet, but even with level payout, it is more than they are getting as they enter their prime. A front-loaded contrast for Paul makes it even worse, except towards the end of the contract.

Paul's "discount" had no affect on our ability to sign free agents. We still only had the MLE and VM to offer free agents. Paul could have taken a VM contract and that still would NOT have changed our sal-cap issues. That was the price we paid to get three max contracts under our control in the first place.

A true discount would have been closer to Ray's contract. That would have made a bigger offer to TA easier to swallow.

I am actually glad that TA is gone. His Halloween Game was getting old. I am willing to let someone else and/or some other combination replace whatever he brought to the Team. The two biggest issues facing the Celtics were rebounding and offensive dry spells. TA didn't help with either.

One of my lasting minds-eye images of TA is with him standing all alone in the corner on the offensive end while the other 4 Celtics played 4 on 5. At least with Rondo, the other team had a player somewhere in the vacinity. Not true with TA.

gyso

MDCelticsFan wrote:When Pierce opted out and restructured with the 4 yr deal, didn't that free up some additional money for free agents? even though the C's are in the luxury tax bracket, it is imperative that Wyc be willing to stay there for the forseeable future to keep the Celtics competitive and revamp the team to more suit Rondo's uptempo style for the long haul with younger talent!-MD

MD,

No money was freed up for free agents. The sal-cap is what it is. You say the C's are in the luxury tax bracket so you should understand that also means the C's are way over the sal-cap and have to use exceptions to sign anyone.

Danny is setting the team up for a major overhaul in a couple of seasons. Meanwhile, we are still in the mix for Banner 18. I guess it is hard to please everyone.

gyso

ESPNBOSTON.COM

Updated: July 16, 2010, 2:21 AM ET
Pierce wants Ainge to pull trigger
After taking pay cut to stay, C's captain hopes team spends on supporting cast
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By Chris Forsberg
ESPNBoston.com
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Paul Pierce did his part. Now he wants the Boston Celtics to do theirs.

On the same day he officially re-signed with Boston for four seasons, Pierce sounded off Thursday on the team's lack of impact roster moves this offseason, and suggested that he took a hometown discount in order to aid the Celtics in rebuilding a championship-caliber roster.

Pierce wants Boston to add more talent -- the salary cap and luxury tax be damned.

"I never thought once about leaving the Celtics," Pierce said from his Los Angeles home. "After the season, I wanted this team to get better, knowing we didn't win a championship. I opted out and took less money to improve the team. I also wanted to ensure I retired as a Celtic. It was a win-win situation."

“
I thought it was a great move picking up Jermaine [O'Neal], giving us an inside presence in case Rasheed [Wallace] retires, but sometimes I'm looking at all the players signing and wish we would get on the ball a little bit. I trust in Danny [Ainge] to put a good team around us, but I'm sitting here watching all these good players fall to other teams.
”
-- Celtics captain Paul Pierce
But, in the interest of more wins, Pierce squirms each time he notices another talented free agent signing with one of Boston's rivals. He openly wondered when Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge would start luring some of those players to Boston.

"I thought it was a great move picking up Jermaine [O'Neal], giving us an inside presence in case Rasheed [Wallace] retires, but sometimes I'm looking at all the players signing and wish we would get on the ball a little bit," said Pierce. "I trust in Danny to put a good team around us, but I'm sitting here watching all these good players fall to other teams."

Pierce knows the difficulties Boston faces given salary cap limitations. With 10 players signed for next season, the team is already over both the salary cap and luxury tax lines, limiting their ability to add players at anything over a minimum salary.

Pierce acknowledged as much by suggesting the free-agent market currently boasts "slim pickings," at least in terms of those willing to sign at the minimum, and noted Boston might ultimately need to resort to a trade in order to bolster its roster.

Trouble is, like Pierce, no one seems to know for sure what Wallace plans to do next season. While Pierce admitted he'd like to see Wallace return next year and has texted him as much this offseason, the Celtics don't boast any other chips in the trade market (short of offering the likes of Glen Davis or the surgically mending Kendrick Perkins).

It's not exactly clear how Pierce thinks the Celtics could have operated differently to this point. But one thing is clear: He wants impact additions before the well runs dry.

In a way, you can't blame Pierce. After all, the Celtics reassembled the Big Three (re-signing Pierce and Ray Allen) and lured back coach Doc Rivers for another season with the idea that this core would make at least one more charge at the world title that evaded them last month.

Pierce is happy to put the band back together, even if it means finding replacements for some of the backup singers. But if the band isn't being put back together with the goal of being even better than the original lineup, he knows how difficult it will be to get back to the top of the charts.


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Pierce also knows that last year's underachieving supporting cast might have been one of the reasons Boston fell short of its ultimate goal.

"We got a lot [to add] right now," said Pierce. "We lost [Tony Allen], we don't have Nate [Robinson], we might not have Rasheed. We gotta add a bench. We got our work cut out. We need perimeter defense and we need to add a backup point guard to help out [Rajon] Rondo, if Nate doesn't come back. And we need another big."

Pierce seemed particularly stung by the fact that the Celtics failed to retain Allen, who will sign a three-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies. The loss of Allen not only stripped the team of a key perimeter defender, but a player that often spelled Pierce off the bench.

The fact that Allen signed with Memphis for reasonable money made it all the more frustrating for Pierce.

"That definitely surprised me," he said. "I was a little bit upset. I thought Tony was a guy we definitely needed. That's a tough one to swallow, especially with the deal he got. I thought we offered the same deal."

It shouldn't take much to alleviate Pierce's concerns. The Celtics remain in talks with Robinson and, thanks to non-Bird Rights that allow Boston to re-sign Robinson at up to 120 percent of his value from last season, they can bring back the bench spark plug even if it might not have been Plan A.

And, regardless of Wallace's decision, the Celtics should strengthen their roster whether he returns or retires. If Wallace opts to come back, it fills that need for another big man (even if there are concerns about his potential to hold up -- or contribute consistently -- for an entire 82-game campaign). If Wallace walks away, Boston can attempt to trade his contract for either a big man or a backup swingman in the mold of Allen (or both if they find the right trade partner).

There's no doubt that Ainge is pursuing all of these options, while keeping an eye on the free-agent market for players who might take a discount to be part of a winner (see also: Udonis Haslem in Miami).

Pierce believes he did his part by signing a deal that should offer significant savings over the $21.5 million he was set to command in 2010-11 (Pierce's deal is reportedly in the neighborhood of $61 million, which averages out to $15.25 million annually, but is likely to escalate each season).

That savings doesn't open any room under the salary cap since Boston is already over the limit. Boston's starting five (Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Rondo, and Perkins) alone will command around $57 million this season, just shy of the $58 million salary cap. But it might save Boston a few bucks on the luxury tax, with the team forced to pay dollar for dollar for anything over $70.3 million.

So if it costs a few extra dollars toward the luxury tax to retain Robinson, Pierce would probably be open to bringing back a proven commodity.

But if Pierce is so adamant about adding talent, his best bet might be to stop chirping about it and get on the phone to some friends who might come to Boston cheap.

He said he plans to do as much, noting, "I'm sure I'll put my hand in there this summer."

Alas, he ought to operate with the same urgency he's demanding from Ainge and Co.

Chris Forsberg is the Celtics reporter for ESPNBoston.com. Follow him on Twitter.

112288,

Just as I suspected. Lots of words, zero substance.

The only "negative" thing Pierce said was about the loss of TA. The rest of the perceived attitude came from Chris Forsberg himself.

Chris Forsberg. Remember that name. From this example I can see that he is a headline-making pot-stirring media hack whose sole purpose is to create issues, not report what actually went down.

The first clue was right in front of us - ESPN. You know, the guys that brought us "The Decision". There is more truth to be found in the National Enquirer.

gyso

PS: still no link?

On my Black Berry. Hard to look up and send and drive at same time. It was on their website this morning.

112288