Summer Quandaries - The Teaser: Using Cap Space Only Rush Order

Summer Quandaries - The Teaser: Using Cap Space Only Rush Order

By Lee Lauderdale







While I've already worn out one mouse thrashing with ESPN's trade machine, I have come to realize that now is probably not the time to clear roster space through trades. While I am sure Ainge has his ear to the rails for any “many-for-one-good/great” opportunities, during this rainbows-and-ponies optimism of summer, it seems unlikely any of those semi-forced availabilities will crop up (check back after Christmas as the ongoing circuses in Sacramento and a number of other NBA-big-boy-toys threaten to implode). So the immediate task list seems to be exploring other cap-for-goodies options.

The PJ3 acquisition was an obvious no-brainer—future second, PJ, and cash (read Jones' salary) for a “highly-protected” (read unlikely to ever be conveyed) second and a trade exception (that costs us nothing). Let me get this straight—you'll give me a second round pick; a tall, rangy, athletic, former first round pick to try-out free; and the money to pay that player so I can cut him for nothing, for a pick I won't have to give you unless we are in the Conference Finals—uh, o.k., stumbles rushing to the table to sign. And that is not to mention that I get to try out said player for a month of training camp and pre-season games, with no risk to roster space or money! Jeez, twist my arm, and yet the Ainge-bashers manage to find this distasteful?

I only hope that Danny can find three more such punative deals before closing down the cap-space window by formalizing the Lee/Wallace trade and signing Jae Crowder. This is also the reason Pressey (doomed by the point guard glut and his July 15 contract-guarantee date) is gone and Babb is still, for the time being, a Celtic. This is Danny Ainge at his opportunistic best. Sure he has occasionally pulled off a trade coup, or set in motion some domino-effect series of moves each setting up the next, but what he does, arguably, better than any front office out there, is leverage the slightest of chips into actual assets. He has excelled at the use of trade exceptions, non-guaranteed contracts, and now cap space, to “relieve” other franchises of burdensome (read too costly or impinging on other desired moves) contracts while pocketing the picks and/or undeveloped youth that were the “cost” of getting the cap/financial accommodations. This legerdemain falls just short of Rumpelstiltskin spinning gold thread from straw, it may not all be gold but Ainge is certainly creating assets from dern near nothing.



bob



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Another gem by Lee. (What does he do during the season? Hibernate?)

And more support to the notion that those who bash any general manager are usually viewing only the tip of the iceberg in terms of all of the underlying factors involved in personnel transactions.

Sam

sam wrote:Another gem by Lee.  (What does he do during the season?  Hibernate?)

And more support to the notion that those who bash any general manager are usually viewing only the tip of the iceberg in terms of all of the underlying factors involved in personnel transactions.

Sam

sam,

Sure, I'd love to have Lee posting year-round, but he has promised 60 new posts over the next 60 days, days where having something new and constructive to discuss is hard to find. Given the choice between his solid contributions filling up the dog days and just about anybody else's filling up the rest of the year (including my own), I'll take his summertime hobby.


bob



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