Danny Ainge addresses reality facing Celtics: ‘We have a lot of good players, but we need some great ones’

Danny Ainge addresses reality facing Celtics: ‘We have a lot of good players, but we need some great ones’

WEEI

By Ty Anderson

Danny Ainge says big changes could come to the Celtics this summer. (Mark L. Baer/USA Today Sports)

Statistically speaking, the Celtics, the top seed in their conference, were the best team in the East this season. Technically speaking, with one win in the third round (the West runner-up Spurs were swept), the C’s finished the year as the third-best team in all of the NBA.

But with all of that said, I think you’d hard-pressed to find a soul that actually believes that the Celtics are either the best team in the East or even the third-best team in the NBA, for that matter.

That’s because the NBA is a superstar league. But clearly, if the third straight NBA Finals meeting between the Cavaliers and Warriors tells us anything, it’s that one isn’t enough. You need multiple superstars.

Something that’s hit Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge following the club’s five-game whooping from the Cavaliers.

“I know that we’re good. I know that we’re not great,” Ainge, whose Celtics squad made a five-win improvement, from 48 wins in 2016 to 53 wins this year, told Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. “I know that we still have more to do, and, you know, that next step is by far the hardest.”

To most, the Celtics — with a strong core, headlined by Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford, in place — are just one piece away from potentially dethroning LeBron James and the Cavs as the East’s biggest threat. To others, they’re two pieces away. Be it one or two, though, those pieces are going to be difficult for Ainge to make happen in what’s expected to be one frantic summer push.

“We have a lot of good players,” Ainge noted, “but we need some great ones.”

By now, the names are well known. There’s pending unrestricted free agent Gordon Hayward. There’s some noteworthy trade targets, as unlikely as they may seem, in Chicago’s Jimmy Butler and Pacers star Paul George. Some pipedreamers have even pitched a player such as the Pelicans’ Anthony Davis as a potential fit in Boston. All would cost more than a pretty penny, be it in pennies alone or with some combination of trade chips, including the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s upcoming draft (the Celtics also have Brooklyn’s first-round pick in 2018) from Ainge’s ridiculous arsenal built up throughout this rapid rebuilding effort.

The C’s already have nine players under contract for next season (10 if they exercise a team option on Jordan Mickey), and there’s simply not enough room for the Celtics to make an impactful addition without freeing up some of the minutes logged by those nine players. The Celtics also have just one more year before guys like Thomas, Avery Bradley, and Marcus Smart get significant raises, be it in Boston or elsewhere. That’s something Ainge knows can make mapping out his club’s future a little difficult.

“We have a lot of players. We have a lot of depth, and we have guys that want to play, that deserve to play. And I don’t think our roster is as balanced as it needs to be,” said Ainge. “So, yes, we have a lot of very difficult decisions. And there will be difficult decisions in free agency and who to allocate the money to, difficult decisions in the draft, difficult decisions with opportunities to make trades — no different than trade deadline times.”

Still, and again, it’s far easier said than done.

“Just because you’re one piece away doesn’t mean you can get it,” Ainge admitted. “And if you force yourself to get it, and if you force a deal or force yourself to get the second-best available or the third- or fourth-best available player at that position that you need, then it might not make you that much better or make you still not good enough, and you’re stuck.

“We still know we need to get better. Everybody in our organization knows we need to get better. We need to add.”

112288

I think we all agree on this. Taking it a step further, the NBA  has, like the NFL, become a league where offense is paramount. Stock a team with the Lebrons , Kyries, Stephs and Durants and you can have all the defensive  stoppers in the world ( hello, AB, Jae, Marcus ) You ain`t gonna stop them. Shooters, scorers, and yes, a prolific rebounder, are what the Celtics need. We have one outstanding scorer , and yet, many Celtic fans want to dump him because he isn`t a defensive stopper. Add to IT; don`t send him packing. Fultz is a guy who  can score at this level. I say, draft him unless you are offered a deal you can`t refuse. Then, take it from there.

I have to say that I am in total agreement with you about IT. And, yes, I begged for a shooter at the trade deadline, to no avail. I know that it might have been more disruptive at that time, but the time is here. I love Bradley, he is a good little player, but other than the playoffs, he is so inconsistent. Marcus is Tony Allen. Jae Crowder seems to have reached the top of his game, and that is not enough..

There are going to be some empty seats where some of the young Celtics sat, Mickey, Young, Zeller, even Green (not that he is a young Celtic, and Amir). I would love to see Nader perform for them in the summer league the way he did last year and in his tenure on the Red Claws. I was really impressed with that kid. The big guy Zinic is just about a lock for the team. I am not sure about Yabu.

I still am unsure that Gordon Hayward will leave Utah, he is very comfortable there, but who knows. Maybe anything to get out of the West. I am not a big Butler fan, so that one I hope falls by the wayside, George, hell I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel last week and he was on his way to train with Kobe. What does that tell you? He is dying to become a Laker. Interesting to see if he ends up there.

There are more questions than answers here on the Celtics and Danny will have to pull the genie out of the bottle to pull a big trade off. Everyone is afraid of dealing with him, not wanting to be the next one fleeced by DA!!!!

He is not lying, not trying to sell us a story we all know is not true, but he has peaked the interest of Celtic fans all over with an article like this

The key here is patience.
Celts have lots of assets.
And right now the Celts already have young players like Jaylen Brown and the #1 pick to build around.

It's just a matter of time.

The luxury that Ainge has right now is he can try to win now.
If the Celts can't win now with Horford and the rest of the vets, the Celts can try to win it all after a few years with the #1 pick and Jaylen Brown.
In short, the Celts have a bright future regardless of what happens in the present.

fierce wrote:The key here is patience.
Celts have lots of assets.
And right now the Celts already have young players like Jaylen Brown and the #1 pick to build around.

It's just a matter of time.

The luxury that Ainge has right now is he can try to win now.
If the Celts can't win now with Horford and the rest of the vets, the Celts can try to win it all after a few years with the #1 pick and Jaylen Brown.
In short, the Celts have a bright future regardless of what happens in the present.

Agreed, add Fultz, Zizic and Yabu and we've got to be better and have another fun ride, then if we luck into Porter or one of those baby 7 footers....other teams wish they could be so lucky. I'm really high on Zizic, if we pair him with one of the baby 7 footers....plus Jaylen and Fultz, vets IT and Big Al....me likely likely.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

fierce wrote:The key here is patience.
Celts have lots of assets.
And right now the Celts already have young players like Jaylen Brown and the #1 pick to build around.

It's just a matter of time.

The luxury that Ainge has right now is he can try to win now.
If the Celts can't win now with Horford and the rest of the vets, the Celts can try to win it all after a few years with the #1 pick and Jaylen Brown.
In short, the Celts have a bright future regardless of what happens in the present.

Agreed, add Fultz, Zizic and Yabu and we've got to be better and have another fun ride, then if we luck into Porter or one of those baby 7 footers....other teams wish they could be so lucky. I'm really high on Zizic, if we pair him with one of the baby 7 footers....plus Jaylen and Fultz, vets IT and Big Al....me likely likely.

I also have high hopes for Zizic.

What a team the Celts will have 5 years from now.

I really believe the Celts can be contenders in 2-3 years.
But if that doesn't pan out, 5 years from now the Celts will have one hell of a team.

I have to say that I am in total agreement with you about IT.  And, yes, I begged for a shooter at the trade deadline, to no avail.  I know that it might have been more disruptive at that time, but the time is here.  I love Bradley, he is a good little player, but other than the playoffs, he is so inconsistent.  Marcus is Tony Allen. Jae Crowder seems to have reached the top of his game, and that is not enough..

There are going to be some empty seats where some of the young Celtics sat, Mickey, Young, Zeller, even Green (not that he is a young Celtic, and Amir).   I would love to see Nader perform for them in the summer league the way he did last year and in his tenure on the Red Claws. I was really impressed with that kid.  The big guy Zinic is just about a lock for the team. I am not sure about Yabu.  

I still am unsure that Gordon Hayward will leave Utah, he is very comfortable there, but who knows. Maybe anything to get out of the West. I am not a big Butler fan, so that one I hope falls by the wayside, George, hell I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel last week and he was on his way to train with Kobe. What does that tell you? He is dying to become a Laker.  Interesting to see if he ends up there.

There are more questions than answers here on the Celtics and Danny will have to pull the genie out of the bottle to pull a big trade off. Everyone is afraid of dealing with him, not wanting to be the next one fleeced by DA!!!!

He is not lying, not trying to sell us a story we all know is not true, but he has peaked the interest of Celtic fans all over with an article like this

Fultz could be the next Westbrook in the making. He has all the physical skills built in > height - 6'5", wingspan - 6'9", proven player in college in all categories.

I Thomas is the super scorer and that is it. He is down the list in assists per game at #18 @ 5.9 behind Wall - 10.7, Westbrook - 10.4, Paul - 9.2, Rubio - 9.1

Behind in rebounds per game @ 2.7 > Westbrook - 10.7, Rondo - 5.1, Wall 4.2, Rubio 4.1

He is a defensive liability due to his height as players can shoot over him without any type of resistance and he does not have a big body to lay on a player to block his movement for a rebound in the paint.

If Danny can package some players/draft picks around IT for a GREAT front court guy - DO IT!

I never attacked IT HEART which no one can..........just his physical deficiencies. To build a banner #18 team you need a diversified team on both sides of the ball and not concentrated in just a few players.


112288

jrleftfoot wrote:I think we all agree on this. Taking it a step further, the NBA  has, like the NFL, become a league where offense is paramount. Stock a team with the Lebrons , Kyries, Stephs and Durants and you can have all the defensive  stoppers in the world ( hello, AB, Jae, Marcus ) You ain`t gonna stop them. Shooters, scorers, and yes, a prolific rebounder, are what the Celtics need. We have one outstanding scorer , and yet, many Celtic fans want to dump him because he isn`t a defensive stopper. Add to IT; don`t send him packing. Fultz is a guy who  can score at this level. I say, draft him unless you are offered a deal you can`t refuse. Then, take it from there.

JR,

I agree.  Good offense, especially in today's NBA, trumps good defense.  As we saw many times this year if IT is having an off night, or if they are defending him well, our offense bogs down.  We really don't have another dead-eye shooter that can create their own shot other than him.

Give Jaylen another year or two (maybe 2-3) and he could become something like that.  He has to work on his crossover and his pull up jumper.  He has showed glimpses of that during the year and during the playoffs against Cleveland, he just needs to practice and burn that in.  Combine a killer crossover to get some daylight between him and his defender, to get his shoulders past his defender, and his ability to pull up for the shot or rocket to the rim with his athleticism could make him a very difficult cover.  He's only 20.  One year ago at this time he was sitting in an auditorium in a cap-and-gown at his High School graduation.

I've been watching highlight films of Fultz.  He has an extremely smooth stroke.  I don't know what kind of defense he plays.  Fultz was in the same position Ray Allen was in when he was in Milwaukee and then Seattle for all those years.  He was the scorer, he was the designated shooter, and if he didn't score 20-25 points in a game they had no chance of winning.  So that's where he put his energies and not so much into the defensive end.  From what I'm reading Fultz' teammates were spectacularly untalented, as opposed to Lonzo Ball who was surrounded by better players and certainly better than Jackson at Kansas and Tatum at Duke.  If you aren't a defensive specialist, practically a freak like Gobert, then you aren't going to see many defensive highlights, you have to watch the entire game and see them for yourself real-time and I haven't.

Last year there were people on this board who were calling for Danny to draft Buddy Hield.  What's Buddy's forte?  Shooting.  Not defense, not even creating off the shot, but catch-and-shooting and he's damn good at it.  For all the college basketball fans on this board, is Fultz = Buddy Hield + better passing + better shot creation (at the minimum)?  


bob


.

Most here know that I have said signing Al Horford was and is a mistake for the Celtics.

as we move forward into the off-season I figure this as good a place to explain my thoughts and then move forward.

If we go back to last off-season and free agency we all know that Danny went all in to get Durant here. That signing for a max deal would have made us a contender as long as Durant was healthy. He IS one of the top players in the NBA and as such is deserving of being one of the top 5 salaried players.

IF Durant would have been signed here, then signing Horford would have made sense. We would have been able to compete with every team in the NBA this year. But once Durant chose GS, Danny needed to change his approach, IMO. Signing Horford alone would NOT take us there and the paying him top 5 money in the NBA would constrict what Danny could do in the future.
Horford is a nice player, he might even be a top 25 NBA player, But he is NOT an elite player that will be the center piece of an NBA championship .Paying him as such is a problem. He IS a great piece as a third or maybe even a second best player on a champion.
We now see that even with Horford here at max money, how far away we still are from being a champion. Horford is 30 now and frankly not likely to be here when we win the next championship.
Would we have been a better team this past year passing on Horford and signing a lesser player or two for less money? Likely NOT., but I would note we were a 48 win team the year before. Losing Turner and Sullinger from the rotation, but adding Jaylen from the draft. What would our record have been with HOrford replaced by a short term lower salaried player? Hard to say, but I think saying 45-50 wins would have been very possible.
But Danny would have much more flexibility, starting this off-season, to add REAL elite players as Free agents or in trades. Without Horford’s contract we have only about $55M under contract for next season. So getting the space to sign a TRUE elite player (if any are FA’s this year) would be much easier.
Durant and Curry will both likely be FA’s again, GS may sign them both but it will cost them dearly in Luxury tax to do it. Players like Hayward and Blake Griffin could also be in play with no cap issues or having to gut the teams depth to sign them.

In the end most here say winning the next title is the over al goal. If that is true , then signing Horford to the max contract has been a step back to that goal, IMO.

kdp59 wrote:Most here know that I have said signing Al Horford was and is a mistake for the Celtics.

as we move forward into the off-season I figure this as good a place to explain my thoughts and then move forward.

If we go back to last off-season and free agency we all know that Danny went all in to get Durant here. That signing for a max deal would have made us a contender as long as Durant was healthy. He IS one of the top players in the NBA and as such is deserving of being one of the top 5 salaried players.

IF Durant would have been signed here, then signing Horford would have made sense. We would have been able to compete with every team in the NBA this year. But once Durant chose GS, Danny needed to change his approach, IMO. Signing Horford alone would NOT take us there and the paying him top 5 money in the NBA would constrict what Danny could do in the future.
Horford is a nice player, he might even be a top 25 NBA player, But he is NOT an elite player that will be the center piece of an NBA championship .Paying him as such is a problem. He IS a great piece as a third or maybe even a second best player on a champion.
We now see that even with Horford here at max money, how far away we still are from being a champion. Horford is 30 now and frankly not likely to be here when we win the next championship.
Would we have been a better team this past year passing on Horford and signing a lesser player or two for less money? Likely NOT., but I would note we were a 48 win team the year before. Losing Turner and Sullinger from the rotation, but adding Jaylen from the draft.  What would our record have been with HOrford replaced by a short term lower salaried player? Hard to say, but I think saying 45-50 wins would have been very possible.
But Danny would have much more flexibility, starting this off-season, to add REAL elite players as Free agents or in trades. Without Horford’s contract we have only about $55M under contract for next season. So getting the space to sign a TRUE elite player (if any are FA’s this year) would be much easier.
Durant and Curry will both likely be FA’s again, GS may sign them both but it will cost them dearly in Luxury tax to do it. Players like Hayward and Blake Griffin could also be in play with no cap issues or having to gut the teams depth to sign them.

In the end most here say winning the next title is the over al goal. If that is true , then signing Horford to the max contract has been a step back to that goal, IMO.

kdp,

If 45 wins was a feasible goal without Horford but with a significantly lesser player (both talent-wise as well as salary-wise), then we'd be in NBA limbo, neither good enough to compete nor bad enough to get a high draft pick.  Furthermore, if 45 wins is feasible w/o Horford but with some cut-out in his stead, then that means that Horford is worth 8 wins after you subtract whatever win shares your replacement player contributes (i.e. We won 53.  If Player X, that we signed instead of Horford, is worth 2 wins then that means that Horford is worth 10 wins - the 2 Player X would have given us for a net increase of 8 wins.  If Player X is worth 5 more wins, then Horford is worth 13 wins since, in the end, we still ended up with 53 wins, which is 8 more than what you are projecting for a Horford-less team).  8 wins is a lot of contribution from a single player.  You cannot count Jaylen because Jaylen's contribution is factored into both Horford's and Player X's win total already.  If the only difference between this team is Horford vs Player X then Horford is worth 8 wins over replacement player.  GSW lost Bogut, Barnes, Speights and replaced them with Durant and Zaza and McGee and David West and they lost 6 games this year over last.  Put Horford's contribution into that perspective...

Here's Al Horford's stats from the playoffs:
33.9mpg, 58.4% fg%, 51.9% 3pt fg%, 60.9% 2pt fg%, 75.9% ft%, 6.6 rpg, 5.4 apg, 1.8 TO/gm, .8 stls/gm, .8 blk/gm

I don't know how one can have a problem with those numbers.  He shot 52% from 3.  He had a 3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.  That is unheard of in a big.  Could he have rebounded more?  Sure, we all could have, that's our current weakness and we need to fix it (Zizic?  Yabby?), but other than that he was stellar.

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Insider's @kpelton ranked the top 10 MVPs of the postseason and there's one Celtics player on there.




bob


.

I don;t disagree with anything you posted about Horford.

but again he is earning top FIVE salary this year. His numbers to me are not an elite top five NBA player.

it's all a moot point and now Danny has to build AROUND Horford. which I guess at this point would have to be my point.

He could be traded!

112288

I think with Zizic and Yabu coming in and if we get lucky with one of those baby 7 footers in 18, Big Al can be a great mentor, teaching them all aspects of the game. By the time his contract runs out he will have played with them and been a great sage of advice and we can still resign our talented youth to the big money at the start of their prime.

I have to agree with KDP59

However I think DA made a gamble that if he signed AH Durant would be more likely to sign as well.

The missing piece is a legit physical big that can complement the diverse skills that AH brings to the table. That may already be with us next year. ZIZIC

I still feel it would be difficult not to arrive at our destination even though there are several roads to get there.

Dboss

He has an elite salary at 26.5 - but at 6'10" he's far from being an elite rebounder and he is not even close to being an elite scorer - over paid when compared to the elite players of the past that led their teams to championships.
 Champs of the past and their elite leader. ( I only selected one player all though several champs had more than one elite player )

* 2015-16,, Cavs,, James
* 2014-15,, warriors,, Curry
* 2013-14,, Spurs,, Duncan
* 2012-13,, Heat,, James
* 2011-12,, Heat,, James
* 2010-11,, Mavs,, Nowitzki
* 2009-10,, Lakers,, Kobe
* 2008-09,, Lakers,, Kobe
* 2007-08,, Celts,, Garnett
* 2006-07,, Spurs,, Duncan
* 2005-06,, Heat,, O'Neal
* 2004-05,, Spurs,, Duncan
* 2003-04,, Pistons,, Ben Wallace
* 2002-03,, Spurs,, Duncan
* 2001-02,, Lakers,, O'Neal
* 2000-01,, Lakers,, O'Neal
* 1999-00,, Lakers,, O'Neal
* 1998-99,, Spurs,, Robinson
* 1997-98,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1996-97,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1995-96,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1994-95,, Rockets,, Olajuwon
* 1993-94,, Rockets,, Olajuwon
* 1992-93,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1991-92,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1990-91,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1989-90,, Pistons,, Thomas
* 1988-89,, Pistons,, Thomas
* 1987-88,, Lakers,, Magic
* 1986-87,, Lakers,, Magic
* 1985-86,, Celts,, Bird
* 1984-85,, Lakers,, Jabbar
* 1983-84,, Celts,, Bird
* 1982-83,, 76ers,, Moses Malone
* 1981-82,, Lakers,, Jabbar
* 1980-81,, Celts,, Bird
* 1979-80,, Lakers,, Jabbar

  Notes
* 37 straight years that the Champ has been led by a very special elite player. This year will make 38 in a row.
*Special elite player =
 Including the championship year, the player was voted as either an all star, all nba, all nba defensive player or season mvp at least 5 times in the last 5 years. The lone exception was Larry Bird who was all nba his 1st 5 years in the nba as well as a super star on that teams championship team in his 1st year in the nba.
 * Every one of those championship teams won at least 50 games during the championship year or the previous year. That's .610 ball.

swish

DA savors his opportunity to spin the lottery wheel 3 times in a row using The Nets picks.

That may be accurate but who knows.

The notion that changes are coming is in the air again. DA is telling us not to be concerned about the money. He implied that he has to figure that out.

FIREWORKS! finally coming?

Dboss

swish wrote:He has an elite salary at 26.5 - but at 6'10" he's far from being an elite rebounder and he is not even close to being an elite scorer - over paid when compared to the elite players of the past that led their teams to championships.
 Champs of the past and their elite leader. ( I only selected one player all though several champs had more than one elite player )

* 2015-16,, Cavs,, James
* 2014-15,, warriors,, Curry
* 2013-14,, Spurs,, Duncan
* 2012-13,, Heat,, James
* 2011-12,, Heat,, James
* 2010-11,, Mavs,, Nowitzki
* 2009-10,, Lakers,, Kobe
* 2008-09,, Lakers,, Kobe
* 2007-08,, Celts,, Garnett
* 2006-07,, Spurs,, Duncan
* 2005-06,, Heat,, O'Neal
* 2004-05,, Spurs,, Duncan
* 2003-04,, Pistons,, Ben Wallace
* 2002-03,, Spurs,, Duncan
* 2001-02,, Lakers,, O'Neal
* 2000-01,, Lakers,, O'Neal
* 1999-00,, Lakers,, O'Neal
* 1998-99,, Spurs,, Robinson
* 1997-98,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1996-97,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1995-96,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1994-95,, Rockets,, Olajuwon
* 1993-94,, Rockets,, Olajuwon
* 1992-93,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1991-92,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1990-91,, Bulls,, Jordan
* 1989-90,, Pistons,, Thomas
* 1988-89,, Pistons,, Thomas
* 1987-88,, Lakers,, Magic
* 1986-87,, Lakers,, Magic
* 1985-86,, Celts,, Bird
* 1984-85,, Lakers,, Jabbar
* 1983-84,, Celts,, Bird
* 1982-83,, 76ers,, Moses Malone
* 1981-82,, Lakers,, Jabbar
* 1980-81,, Celts,, Bird
* 1979-80,, Lakers,, Jabbar

  Notes
* 37 straight years that the Champ has been led by a very special elite player. This year will make 38 in a row.
*Special elite player =
 Including the championship year, the player was voted as either an all star, all nba, all nba defensive player or season mvp at least 5 times in the last 5 years. The lone exception was Larry Bird who was all nba his 1st 5 years in the nba as well as a super star on that teams championship team in his 1st year in the nba.
 * Every one of those championship teams won at least 50 games during the championship year or the previous year. That's .610 ball.

swish

 Add the following fact to the above data.
* The average age for the 37 players when they won their championship was 29.8 - with only Larry Bird, who was 24 in 1980-81 under 26. All the others were at least 26 years old. Veteran savvy combined with elite talent is the way to go in the nba.

 swish

112288 wrote:He could be traded!

112288

Hard to trade Horford because he has a 15% trade kicker.

That means the team that gets him in a trade will have to pay an extra 15% per year on Horford's 28m per year.

I would be surprised if they traded him. He is a pretty solid player all round.

Dboss

dboss wrote:I would be surprised if they traded him.  He is a pretty solid player all round.  

Dboss

Agree.

He's a little overpaid but the Celts are better off with him than without him.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I have to say that I am in total agreement with you about IT.  And, yes, I begged for a shooter at the trade deadline, to no avail.  I know that it might have been more disruptive at that time, but the time is here.  I love Bradley, he is a good little player, but other than the playoffs, he is so inconsistent.  Marcus is Tony Allen. Jae Crowder seems to have reached the top of his game, and that is not enough..

There are going to be some empty seats where some of the young Celtics sat, Mickey, Young, Zeller, even Green (not that he is a young Celtic, and Amir).   I would love to see Nader perform for them in the summer league the way he did last year and in his tenure on the Red Claws. I was really impressed with that kid.  The big guy Zinic is just about a lock for the team. I am not sure about Yabu.  

I still am unsure that Gordon Hayward will leave Utah, he is very comfortable there, but who knows. Maybe anything to get out of the West. I am not a big Butler fan, so that one I hope falls by the wayside, George, hell I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel last week and he was on his way to train with Kobe. What does that tell you? He is dying to become a Laker.  Interesting to see if he ends up there.

There are more questions than answers here on the Celtics and Danny will have to pull the genie out of the bottle to pull a big trade off. Everyone is afraid of dealing with him, not wanting to be the next one fleeced by DA!!!!

He is not lying, not trying to sell us a story we all know is not true, but he has peaked the interest of Celtic fans all over with an article like this

Not that it`s worth much, but I agree with you on virtually every point. I wouldn`t be surprised to see Green back, because he is cheap, undemanding , and can generate points in a hurry. Mickey, Yong and Zeller are as good as gone. Jackson seems superfluous and Amir is a ghost of " the player formerly known as Amir Johnson."  a free agent shooter , Heyward maybe, Fultz and then an open competition between Zizic, Yabu , Nader , and whoever else is available could mean a dramatic improvement. If Zizic doesn`t cut it, another rebounder is a must. Even if he provides defensive boardsmanship, I would still love to acquire a guy that flies to the offensive glass.

We actually could use 2 upgrades at the 4/5 to go along with AH. And 2 consistent scorers that can create their own shot. Brown could be one of them if he greatly improves his handle.

dboss

And those wondering what it would take to acquire Nerlens Noel, he's going to get the max.

Here:

11 hours ago – via Scout.com
A source from another NBA team (not the Mavs) tells me that there will be “multiple” clubs willing to pay Noel his max once he hits the restricted-free-agent market on July 1. And just so there is no confusion as to what that “max” is: Assuming the cap at $101 million, as the NBA is expecting, Noel’s contract can start at 25 percent of the cap with eight-percent annual raises. That equals $25.25 mil as his starting salary and about $146.45 million over five years.
Salaries, Nerlens Noel, Dallas Mavericks

So what does that mean for Kelly?  How much is his worth? I have my opinions, but I am curious what others think. 

Another thing, it has been stated that if they ever did sign Hayward, Crowder would be gone.  Who would back up Hayward? Is putting Crowder on the bench anticipated as an issue? Or a waste of a body?

Interesting problems facing this team.