NBA Salary Cap for Next Year Will Be $58.5M

Celtics payroll currently at $73M.

$73M - $58.5M = $14.5M.

So, to get under the cap, and get the flexibility that means, we'd have to shed $14.5M.

Doing the "pay Pierce $5M to go away" scenario won't be enough.

Trading a player or two for draft picks would, but who do we have that people would want (and we'd be happy parting with)?

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/boston.htm



bob



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dboss wrote:If they use the amnesty provision his entire salary can be removed from the cap.

Still Danny has strapped this team with 3 bad contracts. CL, JT and BB. This is one of the reasons that Danny boy deserves to be criticized.

Dboss

dboss,

The general belief was that, after Ray left despite being offered a better deal by Danny, we needed a perimeter gunner to replace him. At the time, JT was the cream of the free agent crop. Three years might have been one too many given his age, but he was the best available. Considering Ray was offered a 2 year contract with Miami and he was 3 years older than JT the extra year didn't seem like a bridge too far at the time. If he didn't deliver, and he didn't, I'm not sure that's Danny's fault. There was nothing in JT's play from the previous season to indicate he had lost it. I was gone for the playoffs but didn't he play better after Rondo went down and in the playoffs? The problem with JT was fitting in. He's an on-the-ball player and players like that feel like fish out of water with Rondo.

Courtney Lee is young and has started on 2 teams he has played for. We gave up a couple of spare parts and some 2nd rounders for his $5M/yr contract. He had good games although, as I said, I didn't get to watch him in the playoffs.

Brandon Bass is going to get $6.7M this year and is under contract for next year too, but that's it. He's 28. He was a starter the last two years. Is a 3 year contract for never more than $6.5M-$7M/year a lot for a starter or, at the minimum, a very serviceable PF off the bench? Let's be fair, none of us thought Sully would make the impact in his rookie year that he did. Bass makes the same money as Big Baby but with less drama. Kris Humphries makes $12M/. Charlie Villaneuva is going to make $8.5M next year. Brandon Bass isn't worth more than Charlie freaking Villaneuva? Michael Beasley makes almost the same amount as Bass over the next 2 years. Is Bass's contract really that overinflated when you take into account his age, his credentials as a starter the previous year and his peers who are making the same money?

I think it is safe to say we all had higher expectations of these 3 players when the season started and they generally underwhelmed, but if they played at the levels we were expecting, would we be complaining about their contracts now? Lee's 3s didn't drop, JT had a horrible season and Bass played hard and played good defense all year but was in a vicious shooting slump for most of it.

bob


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Bob,

For a guy in a vicious shooting slump, Bass ranked third among the 11 core Celtics in FG percentage and basically tied for second in free throw percentage.

Also third in lack of turnovers per minute and third in rebounds per minute. (I'm avoiding the "per 36 minutes" designation lately in deference to those who simply don't "get" the intended implication of that stat; and the "per minute" stat yields exactly the same player rankings.)

As for some shooting inconsistency, I believe he was among the several victims of the Celtics' chemistry inconsistency for much (all?) of the season. As the season wore on, he worked diligently on taking the ball to the hoop more often as the season wore on.

And, if we were to vote for the most energetic player on the 2012-13 Boston Celtics, I could make an argument for voting for Brandon. Same goes for best Celtics finisher at the rim, which would probably be a battle between Bass and Jeff Green.

It's possible he'd fare better on a team that wasn't grooming a young
stud to dominate the PF position. But I disagree with the widespread
criticisms that Bass underperformed.

You pointed out that his defense was pretty good all season long. But I think he pushed it up at least a notch (whatever a notch is) toward the latter part of the season; and he was arguably one of the team's best defenders down the stretch.

I realize he's an under-sized PF, and sometimes all the effort in the world can't compensate for that. (Right, Mr. Faried?) Moreover, Bass may be peaking. Or, alternatively, he potentially might keep improving on a team where his role is more clearly defined and consistent.

So I could see reasons for keeping him or trading him. But I don't believe either direction would be an obvious choice.

Sam

sam wrote:Bob,

For a guy in a vicious shooting slump, Bass ranked third among the 11 core Celtics in FG percentage and basically tied for second in free throw percentage.

Also third in lack of turnovers per minute and third in rebounds per minute. (I'm avoiding the "per 36 minutes" designation lately in deference to those who simply don't "get" the intended implication of that stat; and the "per minute" stat yields exactly the same player rankings.)

As for some shooting inconsistency, I believe he was among the several victims of the Celtics' chemistry inconsistency for much (all?) of the season. As the season wore on, he worked diligently on taking the ball to the hoop more often as the season wore on.

And, if we were to vote for the most energetic player on the 2012-13 Boston Celtics, I could make an argument for voting for Brandon. Same goes for best Celtics finisher at the rim, which would probably be a battle between Bass and Jeff Green.

It's possible he'd fare better on a team that wasn't grooming a young
stud to dominate the PF position. But I disagree with the widespread
criticisms that Bass underperformed.

You pointed out that his defense was pretty good all season long. But I think he pushed it up at least a notch (whatever a notch is) toward the latter part of the season; and he was arguably one of the team's best defenders down the stretch.

I realize he's an under-sized PF, and sometimes all the effort in the world can't compensate for that. (Right, Mr. Faried?) Moreover, Bass may be peaking. Or, alternatively, he potentially might keep improving on a team where his role is more clearly defined and consistent.

So I could see reasons for keeping him or trading him. But I don't believe either direction would be an obvious choice.

Sam

sam,

You're avoiding the /36mpg stat because some people don't get it? First, I'd say we have a pretty savvy crew here and I don't know who you are talking about (and don't want to), but so what if they don't get it? Is using a less accurate metric really better?

As far as your points about Bass go, I concur. His 2nd half shooting was much better, his defense was consistently good all season and he was a steady free throw shooter.


bob


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Bob,

There was a thread that discussed the utility of the per-36-minute stat, and the discussion revealed that some people realize the stat is to be used in terms not of absolute numbers but in terms of player comparisons; and some do not. The details of the conversation aren't important.

I just choose not to use the per-36-minute nomenclature henceforth. I just divide all the per-36 minute stats by 36 to transform them in to per-minute stats, which are just as accurate, and everyone seems happy.

Sam

dboss wrote:I think 3 years for Terry was too long

Bass is not a true pf and that shows. Lee came with A rep as a knockdown shooter.

that 16mill could have been better spent.

Hindsight is always 20/20 - not sure what value questioning DA's limited choices are now. He put together a good team working with the cap, Ray leaving late etc. At times, the 2013 Celtics were as good as any team in the NBA.

I agree with you, Mrkleen. At the beginning of the season, people were hailing Danny as nearly a genius for his creativity in getting desirable players like Terry and Lee—in effect, two good SGs to replace the one SG the Celtics lost to free agency. It was being called one of the best post-season maneuvers, especially given the lack of Celtics cap space. I happen to think that, although it's always interesting to analyze what happened in hindsight, it's ludicrous—to say nothing of unfair—to criticize in hindsight something that one was not able to criticize in foresight.

Moreover, I'll never be convinced that Terry and Lee performed at anything like their optimal levels. They quite obviously were struggling during the first half of the season, at least partly due to the fact that Rondo handled the ball so much. Then, just when they might have been expected to fit in better, Rondo disappeared and they had to start again from scratch—plus, by the way, acting as pseudo PGs a lot of the time. Then Bradley entered the picture, and the player mix changed again.

There was a series of unfortunate events—starting with the staggered occurrences of three major injuries—that complicated the coming together of a team on which something like 3/4 of the players were either new or returning from horrific medical situations.

I've said many times that basketball players are not toy soldiers—wind them up and they should automatically play to their full potential. Roles, chemistry, disruptions, teammates, coaching, systems, adjustments, and scores of other factors go into a given player's performance. That's why I believe the performance of an individual player should never be evaluated other than within the context of the team.

Sam

After a slow start, Terry finished up pretty well....all the while having to create off the dribble, with no one feeding him in spot up positions.

You add Rondo dishing the rock and Barbosa spacing the court with his blazing fast drives to the hoop to JT getting it together in the playoffs - and the Celtics Knicks series might well have turned out differently.

mrkleen09 wrote:After a slow start, Terry finished up pretty well....all the while having to create off the dribble, with no one feeding him in spot up positions.

You add Rondo dishing the rock and Barbosa spacing the court with his blazing fast drives to the hoop to JT getting it together in the playoffs - and the Celtics Knicks series might well have turned out differently.

mrkleen,

I'm a fan of Barbosa's, and I'd love to have him back, but he had an ACL tear like Rondo, after Rondo had his, so I'm not expecting him to be back at anywhere near his normal speed. I'm not expecting Rondo to be back to that level the first half of next year either, to be completely frank. He'll play, but at a diminished level as he gets strong and his game back. Barbosa's rehab is probably going to be behind Rondo's, due to the timing of it.


bob


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Bob - was talking about "what if' Rondo and Leandro were healthy in this years playoffs....more than next year. But good point on his rehab.

mrkleen09 wrote:Bob - was talking about "what if' Rondo and Leandro were healthy in this years playoffs....more than next year. But good point on his rehab.

mrkleen,

Rondo and Barbosa didn't play much together last year. According to 82games.com, Barbosa was on two of the top 20 Top 5-man units, one with Lee and one with JET, so any minutes he played with Rondo were quite few. Part of this may have been our lack of a true backup point guard forced Barbosa to play that role more as well as that Doc doesn't like to play players he doesn't know. He wants them to prove themselves in practice first. I love Doc, but he can be a bit stubborn like that. Danny's the good parent, who spoils the kids and Doc's the tough one who wants to see the homework and review it before he pats the kid on the head. I would have liked to have seen more of Barbosa last year, but Doc was going with Courtney Lee (whom he personally recruited), JET (former 6th man of the year and #1 free agent target) and Bradley (a superior defender). I realize you weren't being so literal about them being together on the floor, but their speed does make the picture enticing.

I am in 100% agreement with you, though, that we'd have been a lot better if we had those two suited up. Hell, even one of them would have made a big impact. It really blows my mind when I think about how we started off the season with crazy depth in the backcourt (Rondo, Bradley, Lee, JET, Blur) and ended up the season thin. Ironically, as my memory recalls, we were all concerned with our lack of depth at 3, having only the aging Pierce, the vast unknown of Jeff Green coming off an underwhelming performance the year he came and then missing a year due to life-saving heart surgery and 2nd round pick and rookie Kris Joseph who ended up getting cut early on. That position held up quite well, especially Green, who not only popped a few eyes open, he made them explode out of those heads. Not you, of course, you were a charter member of the Jeff Green Fan Club from the moment he got here, always counseling us to not be so quick to judge him.

A Dennis Schroeder and Barbosa back court? What'd be the point of even starting the shot clock, they'd be down court so fast?

Barbosa might not be an option, at least not until we get closer to the trading deadline and he gets more months of rehab in, but Schroeder's name is being tagged to us a lot. So, maybe come playoffs?

Doesn't fix our FDA issue, though. We need some Grade A prime beef and not the stew meat Danny's been forced to fill us out with due to salary cap and hard cap constraints. Height and beef (which unfortunately means Sully doesn't quite fill THIS bill, much as I love his game, he's just beef and not height and beef). I know that you need something to get something (or you gotta suck so bad you get a very high draft choice) and Danny's still hamstrung, but that's what we need. Some prime beef and a backup point guard, NOT a combo guard. Been there, done that, got the scars to prove it.


bob


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