Before the House & Allen signings

Before Eddie House and Tony Allen were brought back into the fold, I stepped back and took a look at the possible shift in philosophy Ainge had hinted at and looked at the resultant possibilities for the final 3 roster spots:

OK, this is admittedly still only a partially formed concept, but here’s a stab at what/who Danny might be targetting — especially in light of his comments about winning a different way.

I wonder if that “different way isn’t adding some offense (and/or offensive consistency) to the bench so that we don’t lose leads when the starters are out like we did last year.

I think that offense can/will come from Powe, Tony Allen (or his replacement on the wing) and Bill Walker (or JR Giddens) — especially if they’re playing with a PG who can/will get them the ball in positions to score. If they can average 30-35 ppg collectively, I think that will offset a lot of what we’re losing with Posey’s defense.

I think Ainge will add the following to the bench (high/medium/low $
options below)

1 - Point Guard
1/2 - wings
1 - big man

Point Guard
—————-
Tony Allen clearly has a much better chance of coming back to this team now, and i’d welcome him with open arms IF AND ONLY IF (a) he’s brought back as a SG NOT A PG and (b) he plays SG ALONGSIDE A “TRUE PG” so that he doesn’t have to handle the ball.

I’m fine with Pruitt getting some minutes at backup-backup PG, but if Tony Allen is coming back we need someone to set him up for scoring opps… i think he could reprise the role Ricky Davis played a few years back - instant offense off the bench. But he can’t create it himself.

HIGH - Janero Pargo or Keyon Dooling
MED - Darrell Armstrong or Jason Williams
LOW - Kevin Ollie or Dan Dickau

We don’t need this guy to be all-world, just do a solid job passing and protecting the ball when running the 2nd unit, and add in 4-6 ppg.

I can’t believe i’m saying this but I could even see Sam Cassell filling this role. Basically like Lindsey Hunter did for the Pistons… play every other game, but be ready for the playoffs.


Wings
———-
I still would love to trade for Trenton Hassell, who paired with Tony Allen would be 2 solid wing defenders to throw at Kobe, LeBron, et al. I think Ainge will look to add Energy guys, with 1 scorer + 1 stopper or 2 better than avg defenders

HIGH - Matt Barnes
MED - Tony Allen, Quinton Ross, Devin Brown (and his 2 championship rings)
LOW - Bobby Jones, Terrance Kinsey,

I think Bill Walker may be more ready mentally to step in and be a bench scorer, a la Stuckey or Nick Young last year, while JR Giddens may need some time, a la Pruitt.


Big Man
———-
I actually think O’Bryant has a chance to be a very solid bench contributor, especially as a help defender and rebounder. The problem is I don’t think he can play big minutes if Perk is hurt or gets in foul trouble. So i’d like Danny to add 1 more veteran big who would be a solid, if unspectacular fill-in for Perk should he get injured, but who is fine with reduced mins while we try and develop O’Bryant.

All these guys are LOW to MED:

Jake Voskuhl
Lorenzen Wright
Dikembe Mutombo

Offseason Plan v2.1 (post-draft)

Following last week’s CelticStuffLive, I was better able to articulate DAHAP Plan v2.1 and went so far as to start writing it up. At the time it looked like we were gonna be choosing between James Posey and Corey Maggette.

What a difference 72 hours make.

Maggette is signing with Golden St. and Posey continues to be linked to just about every playoff team. Rather than go back and edit my now out of date plan/thoughts I’ll condense them here.

The basic point I was gonna make is that I think Ainge wants to keep cap flexibility for 2011, and therefore won’t sign Posey to more than the MLE for 3 years (I think Posey wants 4, or even 5). I go back and forth… at this minute, I think i’d throw caution to the wind — you never know what will happen that far down the line — and give Posey a 4th year (a player as in-demand as Posey could be moved pretty easily if needed), but I think Ainge will hold firm and if he can’t sign Posey, go after 2-3 cheaper replacements (see list below).

Offseason Plan v2.1
As it stands going into the FA signing period, the Celtics have 9 players under contract plus 2 draft picks, J.R. Giddens and Bill Walker, both of whom I hope/think they will sign.

Rondo / Pruitt
R. Allen / Giddens
Pierce / Walker / Scalabrine
Garnett / Powe / Davis
Perkins


1. Resign Eddie House (2 yr/$3.7M, non-bird rights, 2nd year at player option)
At least one of Posey or House has to be brought back, IMO. House is a relatively cheap option and an underrated part of this team.

2. Resign James Posey (3 or 4 yr/$25.0M, MLE)
As i said above, I’d go one extra year to sign Posey. The more I think about it though the more I think Posey will not be resigned —- and i’d be OK with that too. There are just too many alternatives that offer most of what he does on the court for a lot less money.

Then again, he’s one of the keys to the bench and to Ubuntu, and could be moved if/when capspace was needed. The other downside to signing Posey with MLE means we have no other money to sign FA’s other than the vet. minimum. For that reason I’d almost rather offer Posey a 5 yr. non-Bird rights contract that would pay him $22.3M than give him a 4 yr MLE deal — if we’re gonna forgo cap flexibility might as well lessen the overall blow.

2a. Trade Brian Scalabrine, Big Baby Davis & $3M to New Jersey Nets for Trenton Hassell
This would be my first Plan B if we couldn’t resign Posey. Hassell was a throw-in in the Jason Kidd deal and it sounds like NJ has no plans for him in their rotation. He’d be another wing defender to throw at the likes of LeBron, Kobe, Wade, AI2, Caron Butler, Danny Granger, etc. to keep Ray Allen and Pierce fresh. Scal was/is a fan favorite in NJ and they’d get a year to look at Big Baby. I think BBD is gonna be very hard to resign next summer for reasonable money. And while i love the kid’s personality and girth (I have a soft spot for short, fat guys like me) I think he’s never gonna be more than a 15 mpg guy b/c of his lack of height which leads to many of his shots getting blocked.

2c. Trade Scalabrine + 2010 #1 pick to the Oklahoma City Robber Barrons for $3.2M Trade Exception and a 2010 2nd round pick
If we sign Posey to a 4 yr MLE, this becomes a lot more necessary IMO. I almost would hate to do this to Scalabrine, who went on record as being bummed by Seattle’s relocation. But OKC would get another 1st round pick, we’d free up Scalabrine’s and the 2010 #1 pick salary obligations and we’d get a sizeable Trade Exception for use later should we need it. The Trade Exception will probably come in handy as teams look to clear capspace for next summer and 2010. Losing the 2010 #1 pick doesn’t bother me as (a) it’ll be relatively low and (b) #1 picks sound easy enough to buy if we really like someone.

3. Sign Kelenna Azubuike or Quinton Ross (3 yr/$8.1M, partial MLE)
With Maggette signing with the Warriors they may be less likely to match a large offer to Azubuike, a college teammate of Rondo’s at Kentucky. He’d be my slight preference over Ross but either would be relatively inexpensive options to replace Posey’s defense.

3a. Resign Tony Allen (1yr/$1.5M, Bird rights)
If we can’t add Azubuike or Ross, I’d welcome Tony Allen back with open arms and with a 1-year, “show us what you got” contract. Matt Barnes would be another option but he’d probably want about 2x the money & years — but he’d be a nice fit.

4. Sign Adonal Foyle (1 yr/$1.75M, partial MLE)
After Kurt Thomas who reportedly want’s a 3-year deal, Foyle is probably the surest bet among the FA bigs. He won’t do much other than block shots, get some rebounds and be a good teamate. He’s a one year bridge to bringing in Rasheed Wallace next year (yup, that’s what I’d do if I were Danny).

5. Sign Chris Andersen (2 yr/$1.6M, vet min., 2nd year team option)
Andersen would make a great backup big in our system with his weakside defense. Low risk, high reward signing.

6. Sign either Randolph Morris or Jackie Butler (1 yr/$800K, vet. minimum)
With Clifford Ray on the bench we should always have a young big man project on the roster. Worst case scenario we cut him if someone better comes along, best case Ray works his magic and we have a young, cheap big backing up Perk.

These moves would give us a roster of:

Rondo / House / Pruitt
R. Allen / [Azubuike or Ross] / Giddens
Pierce / [Posey or Hassell] / Walker
Garnett / Powe / Andersen
Perkins / Foyle / [Morris or Butler]

The only potential problem is the lack of a “true” backup PG, but i’d be willing to get around that with R. Allen or Pierce handling the ball when House is on the floor in exchange for getting more defensive help on the wings.

FA Rankings:
Some guys are a spot or 2 lower b/c of what they’re reported to be looking for in terms of a contract.

Point Guards
——————-
1. House (signed with Boston!)
2. Keyon Dooling (signed with NJ (via S&T))
3. Janero Pargo
4. Shaun Livingston
5. Carlos Arroyo
6. Tyron Lue (signed with MIL)
7. Anthony Johnson (signed with ORL)
8. Jason Williams
9. Sebastian Telfair (resigned with MIN)
10. Damon Stoudamire

Dont’ want at all: Sam Cassell

Swingmen
————-
1. Posey (signed with NOH)
2. Azubuike (restricted) (resigned with GSW)
3. Ross
4. Tony Allen (resigned with Boston!)
5. Matt Barnes (signed with PHO)
6. Eduardo Najera (signed with NJ)
7. Justin Reed
8. James Jones (signed with MIA)
9. Fred Jones
10. Eddie Basden
11. Kirk Snyder

Don’t want at all: Brent Barry (Yay! Signed with HOU)

Bigs
——-
1. Kurt Thomas (signed with SA)
2. Adonal Foyle
3. Chris Andersen (signed with DEN)
4. Malik Allen (signed with MIL)
5. Jake Voskuhl
6. Theo Ratliff
7. Alexander Johnson
8. Lorenzen Wright
9. Jackie Butler
10. Randolph Morris
11. Francisco Elson

Don’t want at all: Alonzo Mourning or Kwame Brown