Your Morning Dump… Where some see fireworks, others see duds

Love Celtics

Love Celtics

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

After Boston Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck’s promise of “fireworks” last summer resulted in Marcus Smart, James Young and Tyler Zeller, it’s difficult to project exactly what the Celtics can expect from the 2015 offseason.

One extremely smart basketball mind, however, says the Celtics have a shot at making some serious noise, if they decide making noise is worth the price. Grantland’s Zach Lowe — a writer who combines intelligent basketball analysis with excellent sourcing — said on his podcast “The Lowe Post” on Friday that the Celtics could make moves for several top players this summer.

“I think there are a couple of star players that are potentially gettable for them that they’ll have to make some interesting ‘How all in do we want to go?’ decisions,” Lowe said in a conversation with SB Nation’s Paul Flannery. “…They are going to swing for the fences again.”

It’s important to note that Lowe was speculating, but he’s also very plugged in. If he believes the Celtics have a shot at getting a star, it’s noteworthy.

Masslive.com – Boston Celtics free agency rumors 2015: Star players’ ‘potentially gettable’ for Celtics per Zach Lowe

A star player is ‘potentially gettable’ according to Zach Lowe. A Lamborghini is ‘potentially gettable’ on my teacher’s salary, but you don’t see me getting too excited. It’s nice to hear a reputable, NBA source (if you don’t read Zach Lowe on Grantland every week, you should. He’s excellent) place decent odds on the Celtics making some noise this off-season, but let me quickly jump to page two, where if Zach Lowe is Kendrick Lamar, Steve Bulpett is the woman in his life that is killing his vibe.

On page 2, Thanks Steve

Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has the opportunity to opt out of his contract with the Cavaliers this offseason and test the free-agent waters, which could open the door for the Boston Celtics to pursue the power forward.

But on Sports Sunday, the Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett poured cold water on the Love rumors before they kick into overdrive again this year.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen,” said Bulpett. “I think it’s most likely he stays in Cleveland. Kevin Love has got injury issues beyond the shoulder, he’s got knee issues. He’s looking to get a big contract and lock himself in and I’m not sure it’s going to be here.

“[The Celtics] wanted him last year badly because they had [Rajon] Rondo. They had an All-Star to go with him. Now you’ve got young guys that have to develop alongside him. Would he be the cornerstone guy? When you can put two All-Stars together in the Eastern Conference, then you can start looking at perhaps putting some people around them. I think the Celtics are in a different position than they were last year with Rondo.”

CSNNE – Steve Bulpett on Kevin Love: Boston Celtics in different position this year

Bulpett isn’t talking about the free agency class at large, but Love is one of the few impact free agents that keeps getting linked to the Cs in little more than speculative fashion. He may as well be talking about the entire class of free agents. When Zach Lowe speculates on the Celtics chances of landing a star, he’s doing so within the context of the entire league. There are 29 other teams that to varying degrees will be in on the same group of players the Celtics target.

Sometimes, we as fans get so caught up in the case for players coming to the Cs that we view free agency in a very myopic, Celtic-centered way. Why wouldn’t Kevin Love, or Tobias Harris, or LaMarcus Aldridge want to come play for us? Um, well, because they could play and make money in 29 other places. That’s why.

The case for the Celtics being a destination for a star player, however, is very legitimate. If you were to make free agent destination power rankings (Bleacher Report is salivating at that idea), the Celtics would have to be in the top ten, and I think I’m being objective with that assertion.

The arguments for:

Get out of the Western Conference! Good luck winning in the playoffs with consistency in that steel cage of a conference. Sure, IF your “title-contending” team even gets into the playoffs, the most you’re guaranteed is a juicy first-round playoff series that scores high ratings against another “title-contending” team. Then, if you lose? No one remembers you! That Spurs-Clippers series was great, huh? Guess what? No one is talking about it anymore because it happened in the FIRST-ROUND! Come to the east, bring your cache as a star player, and we can build a team around you that makes us instant conference champion contenders in the Conference of LeBron. At some point, megastars are going to stop signing in LA and Texas IF they care about winning. The East is the land of opportunity. Reverse Manifest Destiny, NBA stars!

The 2016 Draft: Come to Boston this year, contend in the East and then watch Danny Ainge make real fireworks go off when he potentially has four first round draft picks in next year’s draft. The odds of Brooklyn’s pick being a low-lottery pick, Dallas’s pick being a low-lottery/mid-teens pick, Minnesota maybe dropping out of the top 12 and then the Celtics pick being high-teens, are pretty good. If you, star player, come to Boston, Danny won’t use all of those picks. He’ll package them to acquire proven talent to put around you. You’ll go from a Top 4 team in the East, to co-favorites with Cleveland for the 2016-2017 season. If your goal is to play in the Finals on this next contract, the Celtics are in a position to make that happen.

Other Factors: The coach, the young overachieving roster, the rabid fan base that loves its stars… you’ve heard them all.

The arguments against summed up into one tidy little factor for the sake of keeping this short:

NBA stars don’t think this way: Money, warm weather, tax-free states, an established superstar already in place. The Celtics can offer only the first attraction on this list, and even they can’t offer the amount of money that a player’s current squad can dole out. The question becomes, can an NBA player see the forest through the trees? Can they make a smart, long-term business decision? Because any list of free agency destinations has Boston right up at the top if the metrics include long-term, championship prospects. If players aren’t willing to do that, if they aren’t willing to listen? All of this speculation won’t matter, and we as fans will have gotten fooled for a second straight year.

The Rest of the Links:

ESPNBoston- Draft Notebook: Stevens catches up, C’s consider a stash

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