Nets, Celts work out blockbuster

Nets, Celts work out blockbuster
Updated: June 27, 2013, 11:12 PM ET
ESPN.com news services

Kevin Garnett has agreed to waive his no-trade clause, clinching an agreement on a trade that will land Paul Pierce, Garnett and Jason Terry with the Brooklyn Nets, sources close to the process told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard on Thursday night.

Garnett waiving the no-trade clause was the last step to sealing the deal, sources said.

How Pierce and Garnett Will Help

The Nets allowed 43.4 points per game and 55 percent shooting in the paint last season, with both ranked in the bottom 10 in the league. Here's a look at the Celtics' defense with Garnett on and off the court this past regular season:

................On..........Off
Def. eff.....96.2......104.6
Paint pts.* 38.5......45.2
* Per 48 minutes
-- ESPN Stats & Information

Gerald Wallace shot a league-worst 27.3 percent outside the paint this past season (min. 200 attempts), his worst percentage in the last 10 seasons. Paul Pierce still can be an outside shooting threat, making a team-high 145 3-pointers and averaging nearly 9.0 ppg outside the paint. Here's a look:

.................Pierce........Wallace
PPG..............8.9............2.3
FG pct..........39.3.........27.3*
3-pt FG PG ....1.9..........0.7
* Worst in NBA (min. 200 FGAs)
-- ESPN Stats & Information

No trade between the teams can officially be consummated until July 10 -- when a league-wide moratorium on signings and trades is lifted after free agency begins July 1 -- but the teams made fast progress on finalizing the trade parameters.

Brooklyn has agreed to send three first-round picks (2014, '16 and '18) along with Kris Humphries' expiring contract, Gerald Wallace, Tornike Shengelia, Reggie Evans and a sign-and-traded Keith Bogans to the Celtics for Pierce, Garnett and Jason Terry. By agreeing to add Terry to the trade, sources said, Brooklyn alleviated some of Boston's concerns about absorbing the remaining three years and $30 million on Wallace's contract.

Because Pierce is making nearly $17 million this season, Brooklyn needs the deal to wait until after the start of free agency and the lifting of the moratorium on July 10, since the $15.3 million team option the Celtics had on their longtime captain is used in the trade.

Yahoo! Sports reported the Nets' pursuit of Garnett and Pierce as a package. The New York Daily News reported earlier this week that the Nets were chasing Garnett. Sources told ESPN.com the Nets hatched the idea of trying to acquire both Boston stalwarts in the same deal because Pierce's inclusion was seen as the surest way to persuade Garnett to waive his no-trade clause.

The addition of Garnett and Pierce to the trio of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez would appear to give the Nets one of the most formidable rosters in the NBA under rookie coach Jason Kidd.

Earlier this offseason, Boston denied the Nets permission to contact then-head coach Doc Rivers, who eventually left to coach the Los Angeles Clippers.

But the Celtics, now that Rivers has departed, are a team in transition that is said to be looking to accelerate the rebuilding process by chasing draft picks and creating cap space.

Information from ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard and ESPNNewYork.com regular contributor Mike Mazzeo was used in this report.
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ADRIAN WOJNAROWSKI

YAHOO! EXPERT
Celtics trading Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce to Nets

The Brooklyn Nets have reached an agreement in principle with the Boston Celtics to acquire future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce after Garnett agreed to waive his no-trade clause, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Garnett waived his no-trade clause after the Nets agreed to fully guarantee the $12 million owed him for the 2014-15 season, the third year of his contract. Prior to the agreement, the Nets could have bought out Garnett for $6 million.

The Nets have discussed a possible deal to land Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. (USA Today Sports)
Garnett also was swayed by the chance to join his close friend, Pierce, in Brooklyn where they could play for longtime rival Jason Kidd.

The trade can't be made official by the NBA until July 10.
The trade comes with a heavy cost for the Nets: They face a luxury-tax bill of nearly $80 million. Their payroll will be close to $100 million.

The deal centers around a package that sends Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph, the expiring deal of Kris Humphries and three future first-round picks (2014, '16 and '18) to the Celtics, sources told Y! Sports. The Celtics also will have the right to trade first-round picks with the Nets in 2017 if the Nets have the higher pick.
Celtics guard Jason Terry joins Garnett and Pierce in the package going to the Nets, sources said. The Nets also will send back Reggie Evans and do a sign-and-trade involving Keith Bogans and one more minimum-level player as part of package, a source said.

The Celtics welcomed the chance to clear cap space and gain multiple future draft picks to start the franchise's rebuilding process. Earlier in the week, they received a 2015 first-round draft pick from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for releasing Doc Rivers from his coaching contract.

The Golden State Warriors made an inquiry with Boston on Garnett on Wednesday, but there was no traction, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. The Celtics discussed a possible Pierce-Garnett package with Dallas, but it gained no momentum, sources said. Very few teams, if any, would have the inclination to trade three draft picks for a short-term run with two aging stars.

112288

I think Ainge is doing a good job of positioning the team for rebuilding in the post-KG and Pierce era, but it will require patience to see it through. Those draft picks are solid building blocks, either for the picks themselves or as part of a trade. As we saw today, Ainge was able to move up in the draft a few spots to get the player he wanted, and by leveraging multiple picks, he may be able to move into the top 10.

It could be a difficult couple of years. Patience.

We picked up draft picks and moved aging players with expensive contracts.  That's a big positive step.

We have a few other players to clear now, whose abilities don't quite match their contracts, but I'm not sure how we deal those.

Overall it was an evening in which we came out with a net positive in setting ourselves up to aggressively remake the roster over the next several seasons.  I hope we're smart in the way we use the picks we're stockpiling, be it drafting or dealing and that we're patient and don't attempt to overpay for less-than-stellar free agents.  I do think we blew it in the draft again, this time by giving up too much for a limited player, but that's best taken up on another thread.  On the flip side there's still the possibility last year's draft will prove out to have been OK.

It might also be the ideal time to get off the league's carousel of picking coaching re-treads and find someone who can bring a fresh approach to a young and developing roster. I wonder if it's also nearing the end of the Ainge era.  Certainly an enjoyable run by Danny, but it might be good to find a GM with experience in building from a young core for the long-term.

It won't be pretty at times, but we're finally starting down the path we've been needing to take to pursue a future banner.  I'm looking forward to seeing what's around the corner.

The drafting is was really irritated me, not so much the trade.

KJ,

I would agree, which is why I mentioned in my post above that it was best taken up in another thread. I think it was an epic mistake, but didn't want to get too deep into it here.

I think the trade was a good decision, despite seeing popular players move on.

Regards

http://greenstreet.weei.com/sports/boston/basketball/celtics/2013/06/28/chris-mannix-on-dc-celtics-got-the-most-they-could-possibly-get-for-paul-pierce-kevin-garnett/#more-54752

NBA insider Chris Mannix checked in with Dennis & Callahan on Friday morning, and the Sports Illustrated senior writer commended Danny Ainge and the Celtics for pulling off a blockbuster trade Thursday, agreeing to send Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets in exchange for a package headlined by the expiring contract of Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace and three future first-round picks.

The trade stings a bit at first, sure, Mannix said, but the Celtics got great return for a pair of older players with big contracts.

“Boston got the most they could possibly get for both these players,” Mannix said. “I’m going to be honest guys, I’m not sure they could’ve gotten a better haul for them. I’m not sure there is another team out there that would have absorbed one or both of those players and given the Celtics more in return.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow because in the short term you don’t get a whole heck of a lot in the players they get back. … Regardless, they get immeasurably worse in the short term, but I don’t know if they could have gotten more for those players.”

Mannix said Thursday’s deal is a very, very risky one for Brooklyn. The organization has in effect given itself a one-year window to win, and it could very well “backfire in their faces.”

“The Nets are throwing all of their eggs into this one season and hoping they can find a way to get the chemistry to come together and challenge for a championship,” Mannix said. “Throw in the fact that I have no idea how Jason Kidd is going to be able to coach these guys. I say this half in jest, but I’m almost expecting Kidd to resign in midseason and activate himself and hand over coaching responsibilities to Lawrence Frank so he can get one more ring as a player as a backup. It’s just a bizarre situation out there.”

The Celtics, meanwhile, could flip Humphries to the Bobcats for guard Ben Gordon, a deal Mannix said Brooklyn and Charlotte may have explored earlier.

Mannix also expects the Celtics to center their rebuilding around Rajon Rondo. That fact that the team didn’t take a point guard in the first round of the Thursday’s draft when there were several available speaks volumes about the Celtics’ plans.

“It’s a big risk, because nobody has any idea what Rondo’s reaction is to all this, how he’s going to handle being the focal point of a team that’s probably going to be really bad next year,” Mannix said. “There’s no reason to believe they can’t try to build around Rondo these next couple of years and see what happens. If it turns out he’s not capable of doing it, if it turns out it’s not working out, you can always flip him at the trade deadline or at the start of the following season for something better in return.”


Now that Ainge has finished two big-time trades this week and completed the draft, the next step in the rebuilding phase will be finding a coach.

When the hosts raised the possibility of Stan Van Gundy, Mannix jumped at the opportunity to praise the former Magic coach.

Mannix said Van Gundy quickly shot down any suggestion of going for the Nets and Clippers jobs when they were open, but he has been mum on the idea of going to Boston.

“If you get Stan Van Gundy, that’s a home run. Stan is one of the best developers of young talent that I think is out there in the coaching ranks,” Mannix said. “He can come in and be a real teacher for some of these players because he tells them what they don’t want to hear. He’s always telling guys what they don’t want to hear but what they need to hear, and I think for a young team like that that could be an excellent choice for a head coach.”


bob
MY NOTE:  Flip Humphries for Gordon?  Well, that makes more sense to me than keeping  Humphries, but now that we have Crawford (like it or not), how many more conscienceless gunners do we need?  At least we won't have to worry about the ball sticking to their hands for long...As far as SVG for coach goes, I'm not a fan.  I'd hate to have to watch him stand there, his arms crossed.  I'll bet that's one of the reasons why D12 left is because SVG was telling him to do stuff he didn't want to hear and D12 doesn't like that.  That seems to be what's happening in LALA land.  Howard is being told by Kobe to do this and do that and D'Antoni's system isn't fitting Howard well and he's not interested in being told HE is the one who has to change. Howard is increasingly looking uncoachable.