Free-agent buzz: C's reach out to Thomas

By ESPNBoston.com

The Boston Celtics reached out to Sacramento point guard Isaiah Thomas at the start of free agency:

* Rapid reaction: Boston making a young point guard one of its initial calls will do little to quell speculation about Rajon Rondo's future here. In the aftermath of drafting Oklahoma State point guard Marcus Smart with the sixth pick in last week's draft, Boston's top decision-makers maintained that Rondo is part of the team's future plans and that there was room for multiple ball-handlers in the guard rotation. The 25-year-old Thomas is a restricted free agent after averaging 20.3 points over 34.7 minutes per game last season. Some have speculated that his salary could jump up towards (or above) the nontaxpayer's mid-level exception ($5.3 million), which means Boston might have to explore sign-and-trade options to make a potential courtship work. At the right price, Thomas would provide a much-needed scoring punch, while also giving the team another in-house option should Rondo's future take him elsewhere. If nothing else, this is the latest in a persistent bunch of rumors regarding the Celtics and Kings. -- Chris Forsberg 

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Elsewhere in early free-agency news, the Clippers (and old friend Doc Rivers) appear to have been among the early callers to old friend Paul Pierce.

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Ok, you can now officially color me 'confused'.


bob



.

I'm relieved that Danny is focused on addressing our most important need - PG - and not being distracted by calls for a center. Just imagine if we were to go into the season with anything less than four point guards. Where would we be?

Well Bob, it could be that those rumors of a Rondo to Sacramento trade have some legs to them.

If it does and we get McLemore with Thomas we would certainly have a group of young guards on the roster.

Smart
Thomas
McLemore
Young
Pressey?

and it would appear that team would have no problem with scorers either.

YOU KNOW THE OLD EXPRESSION..........FOOL ME ONCE.............I GUESS MINN. & LOVE DEAL ARE DEAD.  MINNY COULD NEVER FACE THEIR FANS GIVEN ANOTHER SWEET HEART DEAL TO THE CELTICS AGAIN.

THIS IS ALL LEADING TO ANOTHER 2008 IN A FEW YEARS. STOCKPILE YOUNG ASSETS...........HOPE SOME WILL BECOME STARS OR GOOD PLAYERS.........SETTING US UP FOR A MAJOR TRADE DOWN THE LINE.

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another web article about early FA calls Ainge may have made:
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It’s just hours into the start of free agency, yet already the Boston Celtics are dipping their ladle into the soup. While it can’t be chalked up as a retooling rather than a rebuilding just yet, this offseason, the Celtics are looking to address some of the deficiencies that likely kept them out of the playoffs last year and gave them the sixth-worst record in the NBA.

Exit: Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony; enter: Jordan Hill, Isaiah Thomas and Kent Bazemore.

Out of those three, Thomas is certainly the most skilled. Multiple sources are reporting that the Celtics were one of five teams to already act on their interest in the 5-foot-9, Sacramento Kings point guard.

If acquired, he would almost certainly come off the pine for the Cs, but Thomas has proven to be effective in that role as recently as last season, when he averaged 17.8 points and 4.9 assists in 18 games backing up Greivis Vasquez. It’s unclear as to how willing the 25-year-old is to take another bench-role, but regardless, the Celtics are certainly doing the right thing inquiring about someone who is as gifted a scorer as Thomas.

One thing that has to be kept in mind: Thomas is a restricted free agent, and he has just come off a season in which he put up All-Star-caliber numbers, posting 20.3 points and 6.3 dimes a contest, so it’s going to take quite a bit of coin to pull him away from Sac-Town.

Next on the list is Hill, who for the past three seasons has spent his time with the enemy: the Los Angeles Lakers.

Hill didn’t have the breakout season many expected him to when Dwight Howard bolted for the Houston Rockets, but 9.7 points and 7.4 boards in just 20.8 minutes a night is nothing to sneeze at. Perhaps the best facet of Hill’s game is his defense. He has a relentless motor and is a great athlete for a 6-f00t-10 big. He is a solid shot blocker, sending back just under one shot a game, but he alters many more than that. He can move well laterally, so he excels at defending the pick and roll, and his on ball defense is some of the best for his position. There aren’t too many back-to-basket centers in today’s NBA, but with the emergence of the Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards as playoff teams in the East that all feature such a player, Hill could be a valuable asset.

Bazemore isn’t nearly as established as Thomas or Hill, but his ceiling has the potential to be much higher than both.

After going undrafted back in 2012, Bazemore was signed by the Golden State Warriors at the start of the 2012-13 season and played a season and-a-half with them before he was traded to the Lakers as a part of the Steve Blake deal.

With some decent playing time, Bazemore looked like a heck of a basketball player. In 23 games wearing the purple and gold, he averaged 13.1 points while shooting 45.1 percent and 37.1 percent from the field and three-point line, respectively. Defensively, Bazemore was close to a stud, using his 6-foot-11.5 wingspan to rack up 1.3 steals per contest.

At the ripe age of 25, Bazemore presents enough upside for the Cs to take a gamble on him this offseason, and reportedly, Brad Stevens made a personal call to the young wing, a sign that Boston sees the potential in him as well.

Nothing is set in stone, but the Celtics already reaching out to undervalued players with the hopes of snatching them right up can’t be anything but a good sign.

Jon Shames is a Boston Celtics writer for Rant Sports. You can follow him on twitter @jonshamesNBA and add him on Google.

I like the sound of Jordan Hill. TJ, what's the scoop on him? Could he serve as the center we need? Does he have Joachim Noah qualities?

worcester wrote:I like the sound of Jordan Hill. TJ, what's the scoop on him? Could he serve as the center we need? Does he have Joachim Noah qualities?

It was obvious Mike D'Antoni's system wasn't good for Jordan Hill.
I think Hill could be an NBA starting center on a team like Golden State or Miami or OKC, who don't need tremendous offense from the center position.
With Green being so inconsistent and with Smart and Rondo being poor shooters, I don't think he will provide enough offense to start for Boston.
He is a great rebounder, very good defender and is definitely a rim protector even though he is only 6'10".
I hope LA can keep him. If they can't sign LeBron or Carmelo, I think they will look to re-sign him.

Thanks TJ. Now I really hope the Celts sign Hill, if they can't get Gortat. Why? Because I think the Celts will have some scoring power with Kelly, Sully, Young, Bradley, Green, and Rondo/Smart/Thomas.

worcester wrote:Thanks TJ. Now I really hope the Celts sign Hill, if they can't get Gortat.

I really do like Hill's game a lot.
His stats are great for playing part time.
He is all about energy and hustle.
He would be a good change of pace to throw at teams compared to Sully and Kelly.
Jordan can definitely guard stretch regular 4's, stretch 4's and 5's.
He will probably only cost a team maybe $4m or so per year.

The Celtics, as of 7/1, noon-ish EDT, has placed calls to about 30 players.

There is such a thing as 'overkill'.

The ones we know about, so far, are Isaiah Thomas, Kent Bazemore, Jordan Hill, Gordon Hayward, Chandler Parsons.

Jordan Hill is 6'10", 235#.  He's 26 years old and was the #8 pick in the 2009 draft.  I like him, I've always thought the Lakers did a great job of signing him for dirt-cheap.  In fact, there were more than one time he was the best player on the team (times when Kobe was out).  /36mpg he averaged 16.7ppg and 12.8rpg (14.7ppg and 11.6rpg career).  By comparison, Hump averaged 15.1ppg and 10.7rpg /36mpg last year  (13.4ppg and 11.0rpg career).  Hill is not a center, he does not fix that problem, but he might be a much cheaper and equally productive replacement for Hump (although why we want to have 4 PFs again next year I don't know).

It would be a wonderful payback if Danny drove up the price of retaining Parson for Morey for trading Asik to NOP instead of us.
 
I'd be willing to bet money that Gortat has been contacted too, but that name has not been made public, so don't read too much into this list (especially since they contacted 30 players).



bob

tjmakz wrote:

worcester wrote:Thanks TJ. Now I really hope the Celts sign Hill, if they can't get Gortat.

I really do like Hill's game a lot.
His stats are great for playing part time.
He is all about energy and hustle.
He would be a good change of pace to throw at teams compared to Sully and Kelly.
Jordan can definitely guard stretch regular 4's, stretch 4's and 5's.
He will probably only cost a team maybe $4m or so per year.

TJ,


You think Hill can play 5? I like him a lot at 4 but I never thought of him as a 5.


bob


.

worcester wrote:Thanks TJ. Now I really hope the Celts sign Hill, if they can't get Gortat. Why? Because I think the Celts will have some scoring power with Kelly, Sully, Young, Bradley, Green, and Rondo/Smart/Thomas.

I don't think we can get Thomas without a trade. With Scramento at $68M in salary before their rookie and Thomas re-signing, they have issues with the luxury line also.

so trading salary's back to Sacramento is hard to do.


one possible "fireworks" move that would work for both teams

Rondo and Green go to Sac. ($22M)
Gay and McLemore come here ($22m)

Thomas here ($8M)
trade exception to the Kings ($0) Salary.

kings stay under the Luxury line and get Rondo and Green.

we get Thomas and McLemore and Gay on his expiring contract.

we are at about $70M in salary counting this trade and the rookies.

then


Hill maybe at the $5M mid-level exception.

release Bogans non-guaranteed deal.

still at $70M.


Bass would be traded for future considerations to bring back Bradley

OR

Ainge can sign Bazemore as a cheaper option off the bench in the $2-3M range and we can wait until the season starts to trade Bass to a team that need a vet PF on an expiring deal.

bobheckler wrote:

tjmakz wrote:

worcester wrote:Thanks TJ. Now I really hope the Celts sign Hill, if they can't get Gortat.

I really do like Hill's game a lot.
His stats are great for playing part time.
He is all about energy and hustle.
He would be a good change of pace to throw at teams compared to Sully and Kelly.
Jordan can definitely guard stretch regular 4's, stretch 4's and 5's.
He will probably only cost a team maybe $4m or so per year.

TJ,


You think Hill can play 5?  I like him a lot at 4 but I never thought of him as a 5.


bob


.

Hill definitely can and does play 5.
Is he truly a center? Probably not.
Would he be better then Faverani and Iverson, etc? Definitely.

Kdp, how would a trade to Sacramento deal with our need for a center?

I really believe the Warriors would want to take on Rondo's $100,000,000 salary in exchange for Thomas.  I believe.  Really.  I believe it.

Yup, let's get Hill and play another season of "make believe" at the center position.  Pay a few more bucks and get Gortat, for Pete's sake.

Except possibly as backups, the Celtics don't need guys who can play some center or someone who might grow into the position in a few years.  They need a real, honest to goodness center.  And they need him (or even her—I'm ecumenical) for the coming season.

Sam

I'm so glad that Thomas can play center at his height. Our prayers have finally been answered.


KJ

KJ, my thoughts exactly.

worcester wrote:Kdp, how would a trade to Sacramento deal with our need for a center?

I don't see that high profile NBA center on our roster next year...hope I am wrong, but I don't see it happening.

if that's case a player like Hill for the RIGHT DEAL, is probably the best we can do.

he is an upgrade over Steamer, who I have felt was going to end up being one of our centers next year, so that a plus for me.

the rondo deal (as I wrote) doesn't effect us signing any center fro $5M or less under the Mid-level exception (to the best of my knowledge ).

but even now we cannot sign Gortat straight up for anything more than $5M. He is likely looking for at least $8M.

Washington can sign him and then trade him here (or anywhere) but they want to KEEP him, so why would they do that.

Sanders at $11M?

we might be able to get him if Milwaukee wants to dump him, but I doubt they will take back only the trade exception. Would they want Bass?

anything more for Sanders would be an iffy deal for Ainge to make and could be considered even a panic move by many.

of course he could give up the weed and stay out of bars and get an offensive game to go along  with his defense , but that might be like me not writing run on sentences or having typo's!

KDP,

Doesn't the trade exception have to be used, straight-up, for a player without giving up a player in exchange?  I think I recall something like that.

Calling Dr. Gyso.

Sam

I think so Sam.

I meant that the $10M trade exception OR Bass for Sanders.

We're obviously looking at short-term solutions at center.

Hill is probably the best fit known to be available and attainable for us.

He can defend and our scoring is going to come from others anyway.

Jordan Hill is a good player. I've seen him a few times and I think he'll continue to get better.



KJ