Kevin Love Visits Boston

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/06/20/robb-celtics-likely-havent-made-their-best-offer-for-love/


Robb: Celtics Likely Haven’t Made Their Best Offer For Love
By Brian Robb, CBS Boston
June 20, 2014 4:32 PM




BOSTON — In the story of the Kevin Love sweepstakes, it seems like a new chapter is being written everyday. The Celtics’ chances of landing the big man have shifted seemingly by the minute as additional suitors have emerged in the race to acquire the All-Star power forward.

With less than a week to go before the 2014 NBA Draft, it’s important to keep a couple things in mind while digesting the ever-changing Love reports and considering Boston’s chances of bringing Love to town.

1) If the Celtics are going to acquire Love, it probably has to happen by the end of draft night.
Think about it this way: Two of Boston’s strongest trade chips are their two first round picks for this year at the no. 6 and no. 17 slots. A league source indicated to CBSBostonSports.com that rookies are rarely traded during the summer in which they are selected, unless it’s on draft night itself.

This is true for a couple of reasons. First, once a rookie signs his new contract, he cannot be traded for 30 days. Assuming a player signs his new deal a couple days after the June 26th draft, that would keep him from being traded during the month of July, the period in which the Wolves will likely move Love by if they do deal him this summer.

Additionally, teams don’t draft for other teams unless they know a deal is getting done. Danny Ainge can’t head into draft night with the idea that he is selecting players he may end up sending to Minnesota for Love a few days later. He needs to know whether the guys he’s picking are for his team or for the team he is doing business with, because Flip Saunders’ draft big board probably doesn’t match up with Ainge’s.

Right now, the Wolves are reportedly not enamored with Boston’s list of assets. If you take the sixth and 17th overall pick out of those assets, any Boston offer loses even more luster, since any other future first round picks can’t guarantee a pick as high as the team’s sixth overall selection this year.

Put all of this together and you come to a pretty rational conclusion: If Love isn’t in Boston by the end of draft night, he’s probably not coming at all this summer.

2) The Celtics probably haven’t put forth their best trade offer yet for a reason.

A report today from Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald indicates that the best offer the Celtics have put forward thus far for Love consists of both 2014 first round picks, a future first round pick, and Kelly Olynyk. It’s no wonder why Minnesota “isn’t impressed” with Boston’s offer if that’s the case.

Ainge is likely holding back his best offer in this instance as he tries to gauge what the market is offering for Love. He knows the kind of deal outlined above isn’t going to get the job done for Love, but showing up with his best offer the week before Minnesota is likely to make a decision does him no good in negotiations.

The Wolves are going to do their due diligence with a player like Love and try to push up his price as much as possible around the league before determining whether they want to trade him. There’s no need for Boston to help them out with that now with a rich offer that
Minnesota can shop around and try to get other suitors to match or top.

The wise play here for Ainge is to wait until the draft approaches before making his best offer. Right now, the Celtics are surely doing their best to try to match Minnesota’s demands (via a third team) or biding their team before anteing up an improved offer with another first round pick and/or player (Jared Sullinger).

Unlike other teams, Ainge has shown over the past decade that he’s not afraid to act. As other teams continue to posture in negotiations with big names, Celtics fans can rest assured that Ainge will not be afraid to pull the trigger on a major move if an opportunity presents itself.

We should find out whether he has enough assets to make that splash by Thursday night.



bob




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I assume Danny knows more about the trade needs of the Wolves than he's letting on.  Otherwise, how would he know what to look for through a third team?

Sam

Ric Bucher        ✔ @RicBucher
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Sources: KLove deal to Warriors is dead. Love "unlikely" now to be dealt before draft.
10:48 AM - 23 Jun 2014



bob
MY NOTE:  It's dead, at least until it's not.  Gonna be a whole lotta this for 2 more days.  Still, if it really is at stop for GSW then Danny back in the game.  I'm getting the impression is that Flip is just shopping aimlessly.  Nobody knows what he really wants.  The good news for GSW fans, Outside and me secondarily, this means we're going to keep Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes. For those of you who are not familiar with Bucher, he is an NBA basketball analyst for Comcast Sports Bay Area and has also worked for ESPN.


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not sure why Ainge wouldn;t offer Green, Sully #6 this year and maybe a future first.

would seem to be a better offer than the rports of other teams offers.

especially if Flip wants NBA players right now. Green and Sully are BOTH NBA starters even if niether is ever going to be a star.

thre #6 pick is another NBA starter (maybe not for a year).

we can offer both players for right now and draft picks for the future.

maybe Ainge feels Green and/or Sully are untouchables or something?

kdp59 wrote:not sure why Ainge wouldn;t offer Green, Sully #6 this year and maybe a future first.

would seem to be a better offer than the rports of other teams offers.

especially if Flip wants NBA players right now. Green and Sully are BOTH NBA starters even if niether is ever going to be a star.

thre #6 pick is another NBA starter (maybe not for a year).

we can offer both players for right now and draft picks for the future.

maybe Ainge feels Green and/or Sully are untouchables or something?

kdp,

I think Flip wants a player with an all-star upside and he doesn't see Green or Kelly or even Sully as being that (I'm not sure I agree, but that's something else).  

According to the NBA Trade Machine, Kelly or Sully plus Green for Love fails.  Kelly or Sully plus Green plus Bogans works but Flip has to be interested in clearing cap space.  According to Hoopshype, Minny has 12 players under contract for $66.4M.  The 2nd trade above, assuming he waives Bogans, will get him down to between $60-61M, not enough to sign anybody else without going over the cap and he'll have 13 players, so he'll need at least one more.

Besides, I'm not convinced that the Kelly scenario is necessarily Danny's final final and that it won't be Sully that goes in the end after all.  It's not time yet for that.  This is high stakes Boston Hold'em and Trader Danny's a gambler par excellence.  He's patiently letting the heat and pressure ratchet up on Flip.  When he sees which way Flip twitches, that's when he'll see what, if anything, he needs to do to save the deal or just accept the fact that someone else could put together a more attractive (to Flip!) package.



bob



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And here's the Bulls' latest offer to Minny, 6/24:



Chad Ford of ESPN:

The Bulls, who are offering Taj Gibson, Tony Snell plus Nos. 16 and 19, are the latest suitors.



bob
MY NOTE:  I don't see that as better than what we offered.  The draft picks are clearly inferior, Taj Gibson is a heckuva player but he has hit his ceiling I think, Tony Snell is a throw-in.  If Jeff Green is in our offer he is a clear upgrade over anybody they have at 3.  I don't know what Houston and Phoenix are offering.  Denver is supposedly offering Kenneth Faried, Wilson Chandler and Aaron Afflalo (who they trade for and then send to Denver).  If that's true AND IF FLIP IS LOOKING FOR PLAYERS THAT WILL WIN NOW, this might be a very attractive  offer. If the rumor about GSW being out of it is true, I think we're back in the hunt as long as it's not all about NOW. I have to admit, I would have trouble passing up an opportunity to get Faried.


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I really like Faried.  Who was the player in the draft who was compared favorably with Faried?  I think it was either Warren or Gordon.

Sam