Celtics Related Trade Rumors

They must’ve really hated John Collins in Atlanta.

The signed him to an extension 2 years ago and began trying to get rid of him 2 years ago.

That team is so dumb.

I don’t care that much for Collins but they just gave him away.

His numbers were heading toward the sh*&%ter before they extended him and they continued to descend.

They waited until he damn near hit rock bottom and then sent him to Filenes basement.

They need to change their name To the Atlanta Dodo Birds.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/report-celtics-grant-williams-working-193219334.html



Report: Celtics and Grant Williams working together as free agency looms


Cameron Tabatabaie
Tue, June 27, 2023 at 12:32 PM PDT



Difficult decisions are on the horizon for the Boston Celtics with free agency set to begin at 6pm ET on Friday, June 30th. Between swinging a deal for former All-Star Kristaps Porzingis and a new set of restrictions thanks to an updated CBA, Boston’s front office will have its fair share of financial challenges in building out a roster ahead of the 2023-24 season. Pending restricted free agent Grant Williams could be a casualty.

The Celtics will likely tender a qualifying offer on Williams worth $8.5 million, setting up restricted free agency for the former Tennessee Vol. Williams is expected to receive more lucrative offers from other teams, presumably too rich for Boston’s blood. According to a new report, however, the Celtics and Williams are working together ahead of free agency, and the two sides could even strike a deal to keep the fan favorite in the Hub.

Heavy dot com’s Sean Deveney, Boston and Williams are in contact, and haven’t ruled out a deal to prolong Williams’ Celtics contract. And even if the two parties can’t agree on a deal, they will reportedly coordinate on possibly finding Williams a new home by way of a sign and trade.


As Hoops Hype’s Yossi Gozlan reported, Boston is already operating extremely close to the new CBA’s second tax apron. Going past this threshold triggers a host of penalties and restrictions, so the Celtics will do everything they can to avoid adding too much spending to the books.

As such, it’s hard to find way for Boston sign Williams to a new market-value contract. He turned down a four-year, $50 million extension in the fall, and even a deal worth roughly that much would be hard for the Celtics to manage.

A sign and trade is an interesting option as a result. This would facilitate Williams landing a fair contract in a new city while also bringing back Boston new assets. This could be a more affordable player, draft equity, or even a Traded Player Exception to be used in a future transaction. Deveney stated the Celtics and Williams “have a desire to work together” ahead of any such deal.


Boston could, in theory, free up enough salary to retain Williams outright. The Celtics could be angling to trade some of the more costly contracts on the books, either to the benefit of a new Williams deal or otherwise. In a hypothetical scenario where Boston shed’s Malcolm Brogdon’s salary, for example, there would be new financial flexibility for a Williams contract.

In May, it was reported Williams could even accept Boston’s qualifying offer for next season, setting up restricted free agency in the summer of 2024. Creating enough salary space to keep Williams in that case would be much easier, at least for the coming season.

Trading for Kristaps Porzingis was the headline move for Boston this offseason. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of questions left for the Celtics to answer.


Bob
MY NOTE:  Nice to see the Celtics and Grant are working together.  It might not matter if one of the 7 or so teams that can just sign him outright makes him a Godfather Offer, but other than that this is as good a news as we can expect.  It appears Grant wants to be here, so he might be willing to give some kind of a hometown discount like less/year for more years or such.  I wouldn't blame him if he gets offered $15M/4 years and he takes it, that'd be dumb and Grant Williams is not dumb, but it'd be great if Brad can pull a Tennessee rabbit out of his tam o'shanter.

Free Agency begins this Friday @ 6pm EDT.


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Naz got $14M x 3 years. Grant should be in a similar range or less. I do hope we keep him. With Marcus gone, we really need someone tough on the team. Can't we jettison some of the higher paid dead wood off the bench and sign some others to minimum contracts to create salary for GW?

worcester wrote:Naz got $14M x 3 years. Grant should be in a similar range or less. I do hope we keep him. With Marcus gone, we really need someone tough on the team. Can't we jettison some of the higher paid dead wood off the bench and sign some others to minimum contracts to create salary for GW?

I think it will be hard to replace Grant's defensive versatility, and though he sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him, I like his feistiness. I like him coming back over most of the proposed altenatives.Not enamored with centers mentioned. As somebody, I think it was bobheckler said, we have enough 5s.

Ktron wrote:

gyso wrote:

Ktron wrote:I didn’t hear or see who was calling Marcus overrated but they are more than wrong.

I think its more that they underrate him and overrate themselves and their knowledge of the game.

Over at Celticsblog it's running 50-50 (love - hate for Marcus), with some ridiculous takes.

Smart had to go because he doesn't shoot like Bird.
This trade is like the one with Vin Baker

They argued endlessly about the idea that we didn't get two first rounders for Smart, we just got one and a 10 pick upgrade.  Although both viewpoints are correct, it seemed important to lessen what we got in return because, you know, smart sucked and wasn't worth two picks.  

Fans opinions vary depending on who they like at the moment, but as for some of the pundits, Its amazing that some of these folks get paid to tell everyone how much they don’t know.

                           yep

https://fanrecap.com/celtics-favored-to-sign-nikola-vucevic-if-bulls-dont-resign-him/

Here's Vucevic's recent salary. It would be hard for him to accept the little MLE.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/chicago-bulls/nikola-vucevic-8067/

RosalieTCeltics wrote:https://fanrecap.com/celtics-favored-to-sign-nikola-vucevic-if-bulls-dont-resign-him/

Rosalie,

They don't tell us how we'd pull this off. We sign Vuc with what money? Hell, we might lose Grant because of the 2nd Apron.

Vuc will make $22M this year, and is a UFA next year. He's 32 years old. Even if we sign-and-trade Grant to Chicago for Vuc instead of signing him outright like they're saying we're still going to be adding salary UNLESS we throw Payton into the deal too.


Z, Vuc, RWill, Al and Luke (?). The Js, Sam and maybe Jordan. Derrick and a recovering Malcolm. Brad traded Marcus because he wanted to balance the roster with another big. This is overkill.


Bob


.

I wonder just how secure Rob is on this team? They may just be getting weary of injury after injury, multiple games missed and at times just not involved. There may be more going on here than we can imagine. Getting down there, today is Wednesday!!!!!!

bobheckler wrote:

RosalieTCeltics wrote:https://fanrecap.com/celtics-favored-to-sign-nikola-vucevic-if-bulls-dont-resign-him/

Rosalie,

They don't tell us how we'd pull this off.  We sign Vuc with what money?  Hell, we might lose Grant because of the 2nd Apron.

Vuc will make $22M this year, and is a UFA next year.  He's 32 years old.  Even if we sign-and-trade Grant to Chicago for Vuc instead of signing him outright like they're saying we're still going to be adding salary UNLESS we throw Payton into the deal too.


Z, Vuc, RWill, Al and Luke (?).  The Js, Sam and maybe Jordan.  Derrick and a recovering Malcolm.  Brad traded Marcus because he wanted to balance the roster with another big.  This is overkill.


Bob


.

Bob,

Vuc is a free agent next week.  We cannot trade for him because we cannot receive a player via S&T.  Our biggest exception to sign a free agent with is the taxpayer MLE, which is projected to be $5M.

He's not gonna take that pay cut.

I rate this rumor five slices (out of 5):

gyso wrote:

bobheckler wrote:

RosalieTCeltics wrote:https://fanrecap.com/celtics-favored-to-sign-nikola-vucevic-if-bulls-dont-resign-him/

Rosalie,

They don't tell us how we'd pull this off.  We sign Vuc with what money?  Hell, we might lose Grant because of the 2nd Apron.

Vuc will make $22M this year, and is a UFA next year.  He's 32 years old.  Even if we sign-and-trade Grant to Chicago for Vuc instead of signing him outright like they're saying we're still going to be adding salary UNLESS we throw Payton into the deal too.


Z, Vuc, RWill, Al and Luke (?).  The Js, Sam and maybe Jordan.  Derrick and a recovering Malcolm.  Brad traded Marcus because he wanted to balance the roster with another big.  This is overkill.


Bob


.

Bob,

Vuc is a free agent next week.  We cannot trade for him because we cannot receive a player via S&T.  Our biggest exception to sign a free agent with is the taxpayer MLE, which is projected to be $5M.

He's not gonna take that pay cut.

I rate this rumor five slices (out of 5):

GYSO,

Excellent analysis. Thanks for blowing away some of the smoke.


Bob


.

Another team that has been linked to Grant is Utah.  Danny knows him and loves him.  I don't know if that interest is still there now that Danny stole John Collins from Atlanta.

Looking at their roster, who would I be willing to take from them for Grant?

1.  Colin Sexton.  He's making $17.3M this year, so that would fall in line with Grant's wish list.  He's also under contract for two more years after this one.  Would he accept being the #3 guard?  What if Malcolm's gone too and he becomes the #2 guard?  Not an impressive defender, not in Cleveland nor in SLC but he shot 39% from 3 last year on 2.1 3pt fgas/game.  He played 24mpg and only started in 15 games out of 48 so maybe he would be ok with coming off the bench.  

2.  Jordan Clarkson.  He's 31.  Meh.  Has until tomorrow to exercise his Player Option for $14M (if he does he'd be a UFA the following year).  If Grant signs for $15M+ then that would work bigger picture.  I'm not a big fan of Clarkson, to me he's always been a high-volume chucker, but he is a bucket machine ala Gerald Green and at 31 he might understand his real worth now.

3.  Kelly Olynyk.  I want him just for the shock-and-awe of watching Cowens' head explode like an IED.  On the other hand, Danny said when he drafted Kelly that Kelly was a PF and not a C, but nobody seems to use him as such because he's 7' and they're trying to pigeon-hole him into playing bigger than he should be played.  He's really more of a 3/4 than a 4/5, a ridiculously oversized 3.  Maybe if Joe uses Kelly as a replacement for Grant and not as a replacement for Z or RWill...?  $12M/year.  The guarantee date seems fuzzy.  It's either today or "3 days before 2023-2024 league year", whatever that means.  October?  Does the "league year" begin with free agency and contracts click over?

4.  Talen Horton-Tucker.  $11.2M/year.  Another opportunity to shed some salary by signing Grant to more than that and taking less back.  Not a good 3pt shooter and not a great defender, but a rotation guard and we need bodies there. I remember my Laker fan friends oohing and ahhing over this kid. Not sure he ever lived up to his hype.

The biggest obstacle, of course, is that Danny doesn't like to do trades unless he's raking you over the coals.


Bob


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"League Year" is similar to "Fiscal Year".

I imagine it starts when free agents can be signed, after the moratorium is over, once the final 2022-2023 numbers are crunched and the new sal-cap numbers are published.

If we are gonna lose Grant anyway, I'd take Kelly at $12M.

Gyso....are you telling me that one of these genius "trade mongers" are full of baloney???? Gee, I wish I had used that analogy many times when I just complain about these stories. I did see Brad on Chris Fosberg's podcast admitting that the new CBA is having a real effect on the way tems are doing business. I said it during all of their negotiations, "be careful what you wish for" it could come back to bite you right in the rear. They were in such a hurry to grab that money from the NBA that they did not look into the future and see the effect it would have on the guys behind them. Oh the lure of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

gyso

The baloney reference has me in stitches!

Graphic and gustatorial.

Bologna= those out of left field rumors. Some folks live off of it because thats all they got!
Cue: Ron Isley:

5 slices it is.

Vucevic signed an extension with Chicago.

Love me some Isley Bros. Reggie Jackson's favorite group if I recall.

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2023/06/former-celtics-wing-open-to-boston-reunion-in-free-agency-report.html


Former Celtics wing open to Boston reunion in free agency (report)


Published: Jun. 29, 2023, 11:27 a.m.


By Brian Robb | brobb@masslive.com



The Celtics will need to do some bargain basement shopping in free agency this summer after the Kristaps Porzingis trade and one old friend could be a prime candidate for one of the team’s final roster spots.

According to Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports, former Celtics wing Javonte Green “would welcome” a return to Boston according to a source.

The 6-foot-4 Green began his NBA career in Boston in 2019 after an impressive Summer League and preseason performance. He played well in a utility role off the bench for the team but was a casualty of a luxury tax crunch in 2021 when Boston traded him and Daniel Theis to the Bulls in a salary dump.

Green played well with the Bulls over the last two years, improving his 3-point shooting to 36 percent which helped to earn him some spot starts at guard. However, he was sidelined by knee surgery in January for a lengthy stretch. He only appeared in four games over the remainder of the year for Chicago before they lost out on a playoff spot in the play-in tournament.

The 29-year-old Green is also a close friend of Jayson Tatum and probably would not cost more than the veteran’s minimum coming off of knee surgery. The Celtics certainly could use some help with their wing depth but it remains to be seen whether interest in a reunion is mutual.


The Celtics currently have five open spots on the 15-man roster heading into free agency but that does not include restricted free agent Grant Williams or non-guaranteed contracts. Boston could have access to its mid-level taxpayer exception ($5 million) depending on whether they re-sign Williams or move on from him to create more salary flexibility.

NBA Free Agency kicks off at 6 p.m. ET on Friday.


Bob
MY NOTE:  Javonte only played in 32 games last year.  His strength, when he was here, was his athleticism and energy on defense.  

He had an arthroscopic debridement to remedy a bone bruise in his right knee back on January 11.  He didn't fully return on schedule, claiming in March he had continuing discomfort when doing lateral movement.

According to Mercy Health arthroscopic debridement is a procedure that removes broken down pieces of cartilage to relieve pain and discomfort.  It is one of the most common knee procedures in the US with over 650K performed annually.  Resumption of regular activities, including sports, could be within 4-6 weeks.

https://www.mercy.com/health-care-services/orthopedics-sports-medicine-spine/specialties/knee-leg/treatments/knee-arthroscopic-debridement#:~:text=Arthroscopic%20debridement%20is%20a%20surgical,your%20knee%20while%20reducing%20pain.


Green's injury is reported as 1/1/23.  I guess he suffered a setback on 3/23/23 after playing 2 games.  He played 2 1/2 minutes on 3/29 but 13 1/2 minutes on 4/7, the next to last game of the year for Chicago.  Chicago made the play-in, so the opportunity to see if he made it all the way back ended when the Bulls' regular season ended on 4/9.  He played a total of 480 minutes all season and didn't play in the playin.  Basically, he was a marginal player on a marginal team.  Asking for more than that from him is, in my opinon, unreasonable.  The good news is he'll play for the vet minimum and Tatum will be happy.






.

worcester wrote:Love me some Isley Bros. Reggie Jackson's favorite group if I recall.

Reggie's favorite group was the O'Jays. One day in the spring of 1978 when we were talking about his time with Oakland for a piece I was writing about him, he told me that interesting nugget. He added, when he was with the A's, "For The Love of Money" was their theme song and they would play that in the clubhouse before every game and then go out on the field and kick ass. He also told me he knew every word to every song they ever did. I told him he should write a story about them. He said, "You know I can't write." I told him I'd come by his apartment the next day (he lived at 79th and Fifth Ave. during his Yankee years and I visited him often there), he could talk about the O'Jays into my tape recorder and I'd write the story. I sold it to Playboy that summer and it was titled, "Why I Love the O'Jays" by Reggie Jackson. I ghost-wrote it for him and my name is nowhere to be seen. After I transcribed the tape, I thought an 800 word stream of consciousness ode to the band - all in his words - worked better that way. He got the glory and I got Playboy's very generous check for an article that took me two hours to do.

worcester wrote:Love me some Isley Bros. Reggie Jackson's favorite group if I recall.

Ron’s the only one left.
The other 2 are on load management in the upper room.

bobheckler wrote:https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2023/06/former-celtics-wing-open-to-boston-reunion-in-free-agency-report.html


Former Celtics wing open to Boston reunion in free agency (report)


Published: Jun. 29, 2023, 11:27 a.m.


By Brian Robb | brobb@masslive.com



The Celtics will need to do some bargain basement shopping in free agency this summer after the Kristaps Porzingis trade and one old friend could be a prime candidate for one of the team’s final roster spots.

According to Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports, former Celtics wing Javonte Green “would welcome” a return to Boston according to a source.

The 6-foot-4 Green began his NBA career in Boston in 2019 after an impressive Summer League and preseason performance. He played well in a utility role off the bench for the team but was a casualty of a luxury tax crunch in 2021 when Boston traded him and Daniel Theis to the Bulls in a salary dump.

Green played well with the Bulls over the last two years, improving his 3-point shooting to 36 percent which helped to earn him some spot starts at guard. However, he was sidelined by knee surgery in January for a lengthy stretch. He only appeared in four games over the remainder of the year for Chicago before they lost out on a playoff spot in the play-in tournament.

The 29-year-old Green is also a close friend of Jayson Tatum and probably would not cost more than the veteran’s minimum coming off of knee surgery. The Celtics certainly could use some help with their wing depth but it remains to be seen whether interest in a reunion is mutual.


The Celtics currently have five open spots on the 15-man roster heading into free agency but that does not include restricted free agent Grant Williams or non-guaranteed contracts. Boston could have access to its mid-level taxpayer exception ($5 million) depending on whether they re-sign Williams or move on from him to create more salary flexibility.

NBA Free Agency kicks off at 6 p.m. ET on Friday.


Bob
MY NOTE:  Javonte only played in 32 games last year.  His strength, when he was here, was his athleticism and energy on defense.  

He had an arthroscopic debridement to remedy a bone bruise in his right knee back on January 11.  He didn't fully return on schedule, claiming in March he had continuing discomfort when doing lateral movement.

According to Mercy Health arthroscopic debridement is a procedure that removes broken down pieces of cartilage to relieve pain and discomfort.  It is one of the most common knee procedures in the US with over 650K performed annually.  Resumption of regular activities, including sports, could be within 4-6 weeks.

https://www.mercy.com/health-care-services/orthopedics-sports-medicine-spine/specialties/knee-leg/treatments/knee-arthroscopic-debridement#:~:text=Arthroscopic%20debridement%20is%20a%20surgical,your%20knee%20while%20reducing%20pain.


Green's injury is reported as 1/1/23.  I guess he suffered a setback on 3/23/23 after playing 2 games.  He played 2 1/2 minutes on 3/29 but 13 1/2 minutes on 4/7, the next to last game of the year for Chicago.  Chicago made the play-in, so the opportunity to see if he made it all the way back ended when the Bulls' regular season ended on 4/9.  He played a total of 480 minutes all season and didn't play in the playin.  Basically, he was a marginal player on a marginal team.  Asking for more than that from him is, in my opinon, unreasonable.  The good news is he'll play for the vet minimum and Tatum will be happy.






.

Is it just me or does it seem like damn near every player is close friends with Jayson Tatum?

steve3344 wrote:

worcester wrote:Love me some Isley Bros. Reggie Jackson's favorite group if I recall.

Reggie's favorite group was the O'Jays. One day in the spring of 1978 when we were talking about his time with Oakland for a piece I was writing about him, he told me that interesting nugget. He added, when he was with the A's, "For The Love of Money" was their theme song and they would play that in the clubhouse before every game and then go out on the field and kick ass. He also told me he knew every word to every song they ever did. I told him he should write a story about them. He said, "You know I can't write." I told him I'd come by his apartment the next day (he lived at 79th and Fifth Ave. during his Yankee years and I visited him often there), he could talk about the O'Jays into my tape recorder and I'd write the story. I sold it to Playboy that summer and it was titled, "Why I Love the O'Jays" by Reggie Jackson. I ghost-wrote it for him and my name is nowhere to be seen. After I transcribed the tape, I thought an 800 word stream of consciousness ode to the band - all in his words - worked better that way. He got the glory and I got Playboy's very generous check for an article that took me two hours to do.

Cool stuff there Steve.

“You can Bet your last money
Its gonna be a stone gas honey”

-Don Cornelius

O’jay’s, let’s go to work!

Ktron wrote:

steve3344 wrote:

worcester wrote:Love me some Isley Bros. Reggie Jackson's favorite group if I recall.

Reggie's favorite group was the O'Jays. One day in the spring of 1978 when we were talking about his time with Oakland for a piece I was writing about him, he told me that interesting nugget. He added, when he was with the A's, "For The Love of Money" was their theme song and they would play that in the clubhouse before every game and then go out on the field and kick ass. He also told me he knew every word to every song they ever did. I told him he should write a story about them. He said, "You know I can't write." I told him I'd come by his apartment the next day (he lived at 79th and Fifth Ave. during his Yankee years and I visited him often there), he could talk about the O'Jays into my tape recorder and I'd write the story. I sold it to Playboy that summer and it was titled, "Why I Love the O'Jays" by Reggie Jackson. I ghost-wrote it for him and my name is nowhere to be seen. After I transcribed the tape, I thought an 800 word stream of consciousness ode to the band - all in his words - worked better that way. He got the glory and I got Playboy's very generous check for an article that took me two hours to do.

Cool stuff there Steve.

“You can Bet your last money
Its gonna be a stone gas honey”

-Don Cornelius

O’jay’s, let’s go to work!

Thanks Ktron. I got to cover Reggie's first day at Yankee Spring Training (2/21/77) in Fort Lauderdale for Sports Illustrated and that's where we first met and spent several days together, interviewing him, playing backgammon in his hotel room, going to dinner, etc. I was also a photographer and Mickey Mantle showed up as a surprise without even giving the Yankees a head's up, wanting to be there to welcome Reggie to the team. Got to talk to Mickey about how excited he was about Reggie taking aim at Yankee Stadium's short right field porch and have some amazing photos of him from several feet away taken on the field. And some great pics of the two of them together. Mickey was my hero growing up so that was a huge deal to meet him. Was going to post one but the copy and paste method for photos doesn't work the way it did last time I posted some here which was about eight ot ten years ago. I posted some photos I took at Boston's 1986 Media Day of Red Auerbach, Bird, Walton, McHale, DJ and Danny with no problem back then but the site is now preventing me from doing that. Odd. Got tons of fascinating stories about that 1977 Yankee team (all behind the scenes stuff and a bunch off the record) but that's for another place and time since we're all about hoops here. I did get to interview Red in '82. That was pretty special.