The Weekend Greenie Bag - Time To Embrace The Stand Pat Movement?
Welcome back everybody to yet another edition of The Weekend Greenie Bag. With so much going on over the last few days, I couldn’t let the weekend come to a close without checking in to see what was on the minds of the stoolies. As you can expect there was a lot of talk about the draft, free agency, lineups, trades, all the good stuff that’s going to be dominating our brains from now until October. As always you can be a party of the fun of this blog by simply tweeting me whatever with #GreenieBag, or you can email greenieceltsbag@gmail.com. Given what’s in store for the NBA calendar over the next few weeks, don’t be shy.
And with that said, let’s turn to your questions…
We may as well start with what went down on Friday. Some might say it’s not the best look that Robert Williams missed his conference call the morning after getting drafted. That it could be a potential red flag for a guy who got knocked for not really being the most professional of guy. Well, let me make myself extremely clear on this subject.
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I could not give two fucks.
I don’t care that he was probably hung over, I don’t care that he was late to the call, I don’t care about any of it you know why? Because last time I checked even after missing a phone call he can still block shots. He can still set a good screen and rebound. If you had issues with this happening on Friday and think it could be a potential problem, I guarentee you forget all about your outrage the first time he swats a shot into the seats during Summer League.
The kid just had the best night of his life, if you ask me scheduling an early conference call is the dick move, not missing it.
Hey Greenie,
Just got caught up thinking about the amount of heat Danny took for “standing pat” the last few deadlines before last summer. Everyone was saying he’s got all these assets and won’t do anything with them. Since last summers shitshow of trades, those were the biggest moves he’s made since the KG / Pierce / Brooklyn trade and the team turned out pretty decent WITHOUT their 2 best players. Why does everyone think he’s just gonna repeat his last summer process again this year and just start shipping out there biggest names? Aside from maybe cashing in Rozier and small pieces for a lottery pick maybe, I think we’re set up ok to “stand pat” and re sign our key guys. Pretty sure no one really wants out of this Boston team lol. The media is shit. – Keaton
It’s an interesting point. Since he made that BKN trade, nothing we saw from Ainge was all that drastic. Even the big trades like getting Isaiah from PHX didn’t cost him a damn thing. In fact many Celtics players killed Ainge for never cashing in. That he was insane for not trading Rozier and a pick for Serge Ibaka. Looking back, we can now admit that maybe Ainge knew what the hell he was doing. If you had to sum up Ainge’s strategy as a GM, you’d probably call it safe and patient. He took a risk in 2012 trading Perk, and it felt like he had learned from his mistake. But then last year did happen and we saw a different side of Danny. The ruthless side. I think now that we got a taste of that it’s hard for Celtics fans to remember the days of standing pat and doing nothing. We’re all too shook now that we know anything and everything is possible, whether it’s a small tweak or a massive shakeup.
But now that this team has that perfect combo of elite young talent and established star player level veterans, if you ask me it’s time that Ainge sit back and enjoy his hard work, instead of turning into a name slut and ruining everything before it even gets started.
Hey Greenie,
I thought the Celtics would trade up to 6 when Bamba dropped then up to 14 for Porter Jr. I’m sure the asking price was huge, but I think another big reason why they didn’t trade up was they didn’t want to have the high first round pick salary. This way they can instead use it to resign Smart and/or Baynes. Just wanted to hear your thoughts on this or any other reasons you think they didn’t make a trade. Keep up the good work. – Zack
I think you make a whole lot of sense. Look I think Ainge is always going to call and find out the price for ever realistic situation. I simply think the main reason we didn’t see them move up to the top 10 was mostly due to then basketball collateral it would have required. It’s clear that these teams wanted someone like Jaylen so I’m fine we stayed at 27 and would have been no matter who they ended up taking.
But the financial aspect can’t be ignored either. It’s why I thought maybe if anything Ainge would try and trade down out of 27 for some high second round picks. It’s no secret the Celtics are on the brink of being VERY expensive. While there’s good value if your high lottery pick works out, this still isn’t exactly a roster than can absorb something like $5M a year on top of their FA needs. If Williams signs a 4 year deal, it’s looking like a 4/9.M type deal based on his salary slot. If that was #6 like you mentioned you’re looking at 4/24M. At #14 your contract is around 4/15M. Considering the Celts are a smart franchise, it would be silly to think this didn’t play into the overall decision to ultimately stay where they were.
Hi Greenie,
As fans we see all of the rumors about trades at the draft, for Kawhi, signing Lebron and what not. Do you think those rumors and alleged interest is really true or do you think Danny has a clear vision for the team and is satisfied with what he’s built? To me, unless if we undoubtedly get the good side of the deal I don’t see why you would break up this core for possibly say one year or Kawhi. Also what are your thoughts on a deal for Kemba and do Terry + picks for kemba considering both players have one year left on their deals. Thanks for all you do you’re the best Celtics writer out there. – Will
A couple things. I think the rumors have some level of truth to them in terms of I definitely think Ainge picked up the phone and inquired. Why wouldn’t he? Even if he had no real interest in paying whatever SA came back and told him, you and I both know there isn’t a big time player trade situation that Ainge can totally sit out of. Same thing with Lebron. Yes, when the best player on the planet mentions you, you answer. It doesn’t mean it’s real, and maybe it’s a leverage play for someone to maybe increase their sign and trade offer to prevent it from happening. There are a ton of possibilities out there.
The second thing I want to say is don’t even waste your time with that Kemba trade. First, the money isn’t even close, Kemba makes $12M a year. Not only that, but there’s no way Kemba is coming off the bench. I mean zero chance. And to be honest, I’d rather have Terry and his Bird rights than a 28 year old Kemba, even if he’s a much better offensive player. We saw how Terry got picked on defensively in the playoffs right? That happens 10x with Kemba out there, I mean we saw it with Isaiah. It would be very strange of Ainge to give up a piece like Terry for a player they don’t even really need in Kemba.
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Max in my humble opinion the only way this happens is if Marcus Morris is traded before the season. As long as he’s on the roster simply due to depth Robert Williams will probably be your 10th or 11th man.
If they are going to bring back Marcus, I think they’re out on all FAs. I mean they won’t have the roster space let alone cap space. If Smart doesn’t resign, it’ll open up a little more money, but don’t forget the Celtics also have two exceptions to use (Non Taxpayer Mid Level $8.5M and the Bi-Annual $3.3M)
I’m going to assume they give that $8.5M to Baynes just to keep this easy. If I had to choose someone for that $3.3M I’d probably look at shooters, and these are the types of names I could see playing for that price: Joe Harris, Jamal Crawford, Gerald Green, Marco Belinelli, Seth Curry etc. Not the best list but again I don’t think this team would need much. Knowing our luck they don’t keep Smart, give Jabari Bird more minutes and we’re fine.
Hey Greenie. Wondering what you thought it would have costed to move up to get Porter Jr. and also wondering what your thoughts are about possibly bringing in Dwight Howard (he could maybe mentor Robert Williams III?). Thanks, Nate
If I had to guess, Rozier/SAC/BOS or maybe Jaylen instead. Basically whatever we as fans were trying to talk ourselves into would be the cost for a high lottery pick. I’ve just accepted the fact that the Celtics are always going to have to overpay from here on out in any potential trade. That’s just their reality so it makes sense as to why they didn’t do it.
In regards to Dwight? I’d much rather have Baynes that’s for damn sure. If it does somehow happen, the only reason I would want it is so Brad can get his value to be an all time high by February and they flip him for a first round pick. Other than that, I want absolutely no part of Dwight the same way I wanted no part of him like 3 years ago. Let him go kill someone else’s locker room. I like Brad too much to expose him to that type of poison.
I was wondering if you could run through the teams and see how many active hall of famers there are. Like if the league ended tomorrow, how many current players would get in. – Varisht
OK let’s do this. Just so we’re clear we’re talking about how many players currently have HOF players. Not who has players that could one day end up in the HOF. It’s really not as many as you may think. My list may shock you but you need to understand how ridiculous you have to be to make the HOF, and remember we’re not talking about potential.
ATL (0), BOS (0), BKN (0), CHA (0), CHI (0), CLE (1 or 0), DAL (1), DEN (0), DET (0), GS (2), HOU (3), IND (0), LAC (0), LAL (0), MEM (0), MIA (1), MIL (0), MIN (0), NYK (0), NO (1), OKC (2), ORL (0), PHI (0), SAC (1), SA (3), TOR (0), UTA (0), WSH (0)
In total, I say there are 16 current players (Dwight not listed above since he doesn’t have one) who in my opinion would make the HOF if the league ended right this second. To justify that, I looked it up and said OK you need over 50% probability right now in order to qualify. If I wanted to be even tougher I’d say you need 90% or more, which trims the list down to just 13 guys.
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There are a bunch of guys in the next wave that could one day make it (Kyrie, Wall, Draymon, Klay, Blake, Kawhi etc), but they aren’t there as of right now.
Hey Greenie,
A lot of people assume that the starting lineup next season will be Kyrie, Juice, Hayward, Tatum and Big Al. I could be wrong but Tatum played most of his minutes at the 3 this year, right? I know that he’s tall enough, but I worry about him getting bullied down low in the post by an experienced big man. Personally I think Hayward would slot in better at the 4. He played 30% of his minutes at PF during his final year in Utah. Do you think Tatum is capable of stepping in as our starting 4 and performing at the same level he did this past year? Thanks, Mike
Mike all I can say is that I trust whatever 2K tells me, and the Kyrie/Jaylen/Hayward/Tatum/Horford lineup is where we want to be. What’s also important to remember is that with this lineup everything is going to be fluid. There are going to be possessions where Tatum guards the 4, then Hayward, the Horford, maybe Smart a couple times, I don’t really think the Celts are too concerned about Tatum getting bullied. That’s why they get such hard ons for versatile players. Remember that was the starting lineup on Opening Night this past season, which is why I think many people are expecting it again next year now that we actually know how good Tatum is.
Assuming both convey it’ll all depend on who’s on the board. If that SAC pick is #2 and that MEM pick and LAC pick both hit it wouldn’t shock me if Ainge picks up the phone and plays Jedi mind tricks on NO to try and pry Davis. If that can’t happen it wouldn’t stock me if they kept the SAC pick but moved the others for lesser parts. I mean the Celtics have the potential to be owners of 4 first round picks in next years Draft, and I’m not sure how they could possibly keep them all. If you were someone who was bummed we didn’t see any trades this year, I think next year is going to be the Draft for you.
And that’s it! thanks to everyone who wrote in, this blog would be nothing without you. As we approach FA don’t be shy since we only have about two weeks left to go. I’ll see you all next week, enjoy the rest of your Sunday!