Editor's Note: Please welcome Jacob Noble to the Red's Army crew. Jacob has just joined the team. Please enjoy the first of many great posts Jacob will write for us.
Being a lifetime Celtic fan makes these Finals hard to watch because what we saw during the regular season out of the Boston Celtics was not how they played in the second round against the Eastern Conference Finals champs.
For my first post on Redsarmy, I wanted to give the readers an idea of how I would construct a team (the Celtics) and give you some of my thoughts and insight on this team. Next season the Celtics will have $66,267,129 expensed in player contracts for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Jermaine O’Neal, Avery Bradley and will owe Rasheed Wallace half a million.
The Boston Celtics do not have too many decisions to make this upcoming season. The players who are becoming free agents are Nenad Krstic, Glen Davis, Von Wafer, Delonte West, Troy Murphy, Sasha Pavlovic, Carlos Arroyo and Chris Johnson (not the football player).
Glen Davis is a starting point to show my analytical thinking. I believe the Celtics will be outbid for his services, however if the CBA becomes a hard cap like the owners are pushing for then ignore this outbid comment. Let us continue as though the current CBA will be in effect next year, I believe Glen can field anywhere from $6 to $10 million per season, if he didn’t play poorly in the playoffs I would lean more towards the $10. The Celtics need not to get into a bidding war and let the big guy play elsewhere.
Out of the other players who are free agents, I would offer modest deals to Von Wafer and Delonte West. I could see Delonte West earning a 2 years – $6 million or more. He might even lock down a Brian Scalabrine type deal of 5 years for $15 million. Von Wafer being younger might field a longer deal with similar money, but if I had to choose one, I would go after West.
The next decision that needs to be made will be two players with Player Options. One player already made his decision by retiring (Shaquille O'Neal), capping off an amazing career having played for two of the best franchises, Shaquille O’Neal will be leaving us. His timing couldn’t have been worse, the fans all over adore this man and he is leaving us when we need him most. These statements reflect his personality, not his physical ability, the league needs him around especially with what is brewing in South Beach.
Ray Allen will be the next player to make a decision. Last year he signed a 2 year deal worth $20 million with a Player Option in the second year. I am not going to try to figure out what the man is thinking but there are two thoughts I would have being him. One would be that the pain they went through and only did worse. Seeing that they peaked in the 2010 Finals. The other way I would think is I am healthy, I had one of my most efficient seasons and at this rate, I could play until 40. I don’t think he would play elsewhere do to Connecticut being his home and he doesn’t need to chase rings.
Now the entire roster has been dealt with, but wait, we have the hardest decision to make. What to do with Jeff Green, as John put it. Jeff Green is a restricted free agent, for those who aren’t sure what this means I will quickly break it down. Basically being a restricted free agent gives the Celtics a “right of first refusal”, the way this happens is the Celtics must make a qualifying offer by June 30th to Jeff Green, allowing them to be able to offer a contract themselves as well as having their right to refuse first. Jeff Green will then go around to the teams that are interested and they will offer deals in which Jeff Green will sign the Offer Sheet he likes best. See the JJ Reddick situation last year with Chicago and Orlando for a good idea. The Celtics will then have the option to match the offer sheet presented or refuse. There is no compensation for not matching the offer sheet, however if the Celtics match, they cannot trade Jeff Green in a sign-and-trade.
Well I can finally tell you my opinion on the player. I think the Celtics have to bring him back. If they don’t it will be their admittance that they traded Perkins for a half a season of Jeff Green. Teams know the Celtics want to resign Green and if they covet him enough, they might make the Celtics overspend. Determining his value is tough because of his potential and upside. He is young and has solid numbers. I honestly see teams offering $8-$10 per year for 3 to 4 years, in which the Celtics should match. I don’t think we saw the real Jeff Green, can’t blame a young player for being thrown into a veteran championship group.
This post went further than I ever expected, but I like it. This is how I would handle the current roster to position the team for the Draft and Free Agent , later I will gladly talk about the moves the Celtics can make or should make. Even if that means trading away one of the big three. Can't believe I went through this whole post without mentioning Danny Ainge or Doc Rivers.
*All salary numbers and clauses came from our friends over at ShamSports
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