# Paul Pierce reportedly expects that the Boston Celtics will either deal or release him



## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

> "I don't think they will (bring Pierce back)," Dickerson said Sunday on CSNNE. "And I know that the company that Paul Pierce hangs around in, they do not believe – and I don't think Paul Pierce believes – that he is going to be brought back next year at $15 million.
> 
> "I know for a fact that people around Paul Pierce have pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that he's played his final game in a Boston Celtics uniform. Again, Paul wants to stay – obviously for $15 million, but he wants to finish his career in a Celtics uniform."
> 
> "If Paul's gone, I think without a doubt Kevin Garnett is gone – either by retirement or he finally decides to waive his no-trade clause, and the Celtics maybe work something out with a (Los Angeles Clippers) team," said Dickerson. "But the list is real short; the teams that Kevin Garnett would go to, there might be two of them on it, and they both might be the Clippers and (Los Angeles) Lakers."


http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-b...cts-boston-celtics-either-deal-151417058.html


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## letsgoceltics (Aug 19, 2012)

Let's not get to a point where Danny Ainge has to make an easy basketball decision. After all that's has happened. After all that adversity. It should not end like this for Paul Pierce. Retire with KG and remember the year that was. The year that revived Celtic basketball. The year that certified Kevin Garnett. The year that made Paul Pierce a Celtic legend.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

I'm not adverse to a Clippers deal that brings Bledsoe and picks back to Boston for Garnett. Nor a draft day deal for Pierce someplace like Dallas for picks. And then, lastly Rondo anywhere.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

E.H. Munro said:


> I'm not adverse to a Clippers deal that brings Bledsoe and picks back to Boston for Garnett. Nor a draft day deal for Pierce someplace like Dallas for picks. And then, lastly Rondo anywhere.


Serious question, even though it's something I'm almost positive I used to know. For draft-day deals, is the salary figure for the current (i.e. expiring in like four days) fiscal year used, or the upcoming year?


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

The current. So a Dallas deal for Matrix, Mayo, and a 2014#1 (and maybe Jae Crowder) wouldn't be bad.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

So if I understand correctly, you could swing a draft-day deal for an expiring contract (like Kevin Martin or Lamar Odom) that immediately falls off the books without any problem?


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

No. Those contracts have to be dealt by the previous trade deadline. Contracts like Pierce's are the gold standard because you can cut him for a token fee but move lots of salary when you trade for him.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

E.H. Munro said:


> No. Those contracts have to be dealt by the previous trade deadline. Contracts like Pierce's are the gold standard because you can cut him for a token fee but move lots of salary when you trade for him.


Okay, that's what I thought, but I couldn't remember _why_ you couldn't include an expiring in a draft-day deal. Tough to find a good trade partner for him outside of LAC, though, since I really don't love OJ Mayo and I don't think Dallas has a ton in the way of picks to trade. Unless there's an owner out there looking to outright cut $10 million in salary from their books, I could see Wyc just pocketing the savings.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

I don't love Mayo, either. But the odds of him _not_ declaring free agency after the deal are slim and none, so you really only have to worry about one year of Matrix.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

What could Dallas really offer, though? The draft rights to whoever they pick this year, plus a first two years after they convey a first to OKC? I suppose that's better than just cutting him loose, but you'd think there would be some better option.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

Well, Pierce is going to have to agree, and they're going to want to do it draft night. I suppose they could make a tentative deal with the Mavs where it's part of a deal for a re-signed Roddy Buckets.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

It's a shame OKC didn't wait to pull the trigger on the Harden trade. Ainge could have either put together a Pierce/Bradley package or built one hell of a three-teamer that sent out both Rondo and Pierce.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

It's worse still that Sam Presti _isn't_ the genius that people that think he is. Then he might have grabbed Noah in '07 and Boston _would_ have got the Beard in that deal.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

I don't know how I feel about Jeff Green. I know that he's not a #1 scorer, and he isn't a _real_ #2 option, either, but he just might be good enough to put up big numbers on a bad team and drag Boston out of the top of the draft. On one hand, there isn't really anyone in this draft I want to trade him for, and you need _someone_ to step in to the starting small forward role, but on the other hand I don't want him overachieving and inadvertently ruining the next five years for the Cs. I'm pretty worried they're going to win 35 games next year.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

Subtract Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo and let Green be the #1 scorer and I doubt Boston reaches 32 wins.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

E.H. Munro said:


> Subtract Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo and let Green be the #1 scorer and I doubt Boston reaches 32 wins.


Depends what Boston does or doesn't get for those guys. If Pierce is bought out, KG retires, Rondo is out until February or March of next year, and Terry is just given away to whichever veteran team coughs up an expiring then I can see the Celtics being awful next year. If Ainge can move all those guys and pick up some decent pieces (Bledsoe or Jordan, Mayo or Roddy, Gortat/Dragic in a Rondo trade) then we could be very, very mediocre next year with Jeff Green averaging 20 a night.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

Subtract Garnett and Boston loses its defensive identity. Only they won't have the talented offensive personnel to compensate.

If they have Pouty Rondo as their team centerpiece they might not win 24 games next year. However you never want those guys around as they do more long term damage, so it's best that they send him on now.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

Eh, I hope you're right. 

On a different note, who's going to give up serious value for Rondo if he's missing the first half of the season coming off a blown-out knee? I mean, if Utah wants to give up one of Kanter/Favors then sure, but I can't see an aspiring contender trading serious assets for him; which leaves Utah, Phoenix, and the Pelicans.

EDIT: On second thought, there _is_ Orlando, who's just a point guard away from essentially having completed their rebuild. I wouldn't say no to either McLemore or Nerlens Noel for Rondo.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

Well, I don't think that Rondo's as divaesque as Rose, so I don't think that he's going to miss half the season. The other points are that, unlike Rose, Rondo's injury was relatively mild (Rose blew out everything), and as he was injured four months earlier in the calendar year, he's being projected as being ready for training camp (which would be eight months out from the surgery). So all those things make it easier for the Boston to trade him. 

The two situations they need to look for are those teams that really need help at the spot (Utah, Detroit, Indiana, Orlando and possibly Toronto) plus those teams with assets to trade looking to make a free agent splash this summer (Charlotte, Phoenix, etc.).


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

I could definitely talk myself into a Bledsoe-Bradley-Green-Sullinger-Noel team next year, and then just hope we get one of the power forwards at the top of the 2014 class. If Ainge is gonna tear it down, go all the way and send KG and Terry on plus cash out on Rondo, although I doubt he'll do the latter. I could live with Rondo-Bradley-Green-Sullinger-Jordan, but I don't like it nearly as much.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

E.H. Munro said:


> Well, I don't think that Rondo's as divaesque as Rose, so I don't think that he's going to miss half the season. The other points are that, unlike Rose, Rondo's injury was relatively mild (Rose blew out everything), and as he was injured four months earlier in the calendar year, he's being projected as being ready for training camp (which would be eight months out from the surgery). So all those things make it easier for the Boston to trade him.
> 
> The two situations they need to look for are those teams that really need help at the spot (Utah, Detroit, Indiana, Orlando and possibly Toronto) plus those teams with assets to trade looking to make a free agent splash this summer (Charlotte, Phoenix, etc.).


This weekend, while I was just BSing with one of my friends and watching Knicks-Pacers, he fleshed out an interesting idea. In the event that Dwight signs with Houston (I know how you feel about that, but Morey's gunning for it), who says no to a three-team swap built around Rondo to Indy, Granger to Houston as their small-ball 4, and Asik to Boston to fix our rebounding issues, with the requisite picks and prospects (Donatas or Robinson to Boston as well, Indys' first going somewhere, etc) filled in to balance things out? Probably Boston, but still.....it's interesting.


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## RollWithEm (Jul 16, 2002)

If Granger can possibly stay healthy, that resulting Rockets team would be incredible. 

Beverly/Harden/Parsons/Granger/Dwight would essentially be the near perfect version of Stan Van Gundy's vision in Orlando.


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## R-Star (Jun 13, 2002)

Bogg said:


> This weekend, while I was just BSing with one of my friends and watching Knicks-Pacers, he fleshed out an interesting idea. In the event that Dwight signs with Houston (I know how you feel about that, but Morey's gunning for it), who says no to a three-team swap built around Rondo to Indy, Granger to Houston as their small-ball 4, and Asik to Boston to fix our rebounding issues, with the requisite picks and prospects (Donatas or Robinson to Boston as well, Indys' first going somewhere, etc) filled in to balance things out? Probably Boston, but still.....it's interesting.


I'd have a hard time saying no to that as an Indiana fan. Although I'm not sure how Rondo would fit. I love pass first PG's if anyones noticed, but that's not Indiana's system. Not sure how it would work.


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## Diable (Apr 26, 2005)

I don't think you can get that much for Rondo, just because no one has wanted to give up anything for him before the knee went out on him. Ainge has tried over and over to trade him and no one wants to play along.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

Diable said:


> I don't think you can get that much for Rondo, just because no one has wanted to give up anything for him before the knee went out on him. Ainge has tried over and over to trade him and no one wants to play along.


Well.....that's just not true. Since Rondo emerged as an all-star a few years ago, Ainge only really tried to trade him for Chris Paul and there were rumors about Rondo and Westbrook that I don't think have publicly been clarified. Earlier in his career there was almost that Detroit fiasco, and Rondo and Ray were very nearly swapped for Amare(I think Ainge was the one who killed that). However, it's not like Boston has been looking to dump him on someone for years and there just haven't been any takers. Given how Paul George emerged this year, I don't think Granger and late first in a bad draft is exactly a kings' ransom.


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## R-Star (Jun 13, 2002)

Diable said:


> I don't think you can get that much for Rondo, just because no one has wanted to give up anything for him before the knee went out on him. Ainge has tried over and over to trade him and no one wants to play along.


By that trade they'd be getting Asik.

You're kidding right?


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## Pacers Fan (Aug 25, 2002)

R-Star said:


> I'd have a hard time saying no to that as an Indiana fan. Although I'm not sure how Rondo would fit. I love pass first PG's if anyones noticed, but that's not Indiana's system. Not sure how it would work.


Yeh, I know PG would love playing with Rondo, but Stephenson would hate it, and we'd only have two shooters in the starting lineup. That makes playing through the post with Hibbert/West very difficult. In addition, that would bump Hill either to the 2 guard again or to the bench, and he'd essentially be a $40 million 5th option or 6th man.

It's worth looking into, but Rondo's kind of the opposite direction of this team's identity.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

Bogg said:


> Well.....that's just not true. Since Rondo emerged as an all-star a few years ago, Ainge only really tried to trade him for Chris Paul and there were rumors about Rondo and Westbrook that I don't think have publicly been clarified. Earlier in his career there was almost that Detroit fiasco, and Rondo and Ray were very nearly swapped for Amare(I think Ainge was the one who killed that). However, it's not like Boston has been looking to dump him on someone for years and there just haven't been any takers. Given how Paul George emerged this year, I don't think Granger and late first in a bad draft is exactly a kings' ransom.


I think the Amar'e deal was killed by time running out at the 2010 deadline. And given Granger's injury history I agree with you that as a return this isn't exactly full value for Boston.


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## Floods (Oct 25, 2005)

I'm not choked up about a return of Asik and a couple of crappy picks. But since we failed to cash in Rondo while the iron was hot, that might be what we're stuck with.

I said this during the last round of Rondo trade ideas, but I think we should focus on teams in possession of someone else's first round pick, since Rondo's the kind of guy who can make a horrible team just good enough to slide their pick toward the end of the lottery. Charlotte with Detroit's pick looks like the best bet, it's top 8 protected in 2014 and only top 1 protected in 2015. Some lazy google searching/blog reading suggests that there's a few promising centers lined up for the 2015 draft (Karl Towns, Jahlil Okafor, something Diop), although anything can happen between now and then. Rondo's better than Kemba Walker, who could go to a third team or something, or maybe back to us. Charlotte's dumb too, I'm not worried about outsmarting them. I mean they do have incentive to get better in time for the big Hornets rebranding.

The Bulls and Cavs have CHA and SAC's 2014 first rounders, although they're pretty well protected. Maybe there's some kind of finagling we can do with one of the latter two teams to get the protection removed? No idea how that would work, or if that's even legal.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

If they're going young letting Pouty Rondo near the team is just asking for trouble.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

E.H. Munro said:


> I think the Amar'e deal was killed by time running out at the 2010 deadline. And given Granger's injury history I agree with you that as a return this isn't exactly full value for Boston.


I'm sure this will make me look dumb three years down the road, but I still think that Robinson, given a training camp with a real coach and consistent playing time, can still turn into a nice big man, and extra picks (maybe Indy's first and Phoenix's second via Houston) are always nice to have. I'm not necessarily advocating FOR the trade, just thought it was an interesting conversation piece. 



Floods said:


> I said this during the last round of Rondo trade ideas, but I think we should focus on teams in possession of someone else's first round pick, since Rondo's the kind of guy who can make a horrible team just good enough to slide their pick toward the end of the lottery. Charlotte with Detroit's pick looks like the best bet, it's top 8 protected in 2014 and only top 1 protected in 2015. Some lazy google searching/blog reading suggests that there's a few promising centers lined up for the 2015 draft (Karl Towns, Jahlil Okafor, something Diop), although anything can happen between now and then. Rondo's better than Kemba Walker, who could go to a third team or something, or maybe back to us. Charlotte's dumb too, I'm not worried about outsmarting them. I mean they do have incentive to get better in time for the big Hornets rebranding.
> 
> The Bulls and Cavs have CHA and SAC's 2014 first rounders, although they're pretty well protected. Maybe there's some kind of finagling we can do with one of the latter two teams to get the protection removed? No idea how that would work, or if that's even legal.


Any trade with Charlotte, Cleveland, or Chicago involving Rondo has to be a three-teamer, since all three have good young point guards already (Kemba's not in the Irving/Rose class, but he just had a good season and Jordan really likes him).


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## Floods (Oct 25, 2005)

Goes without saying. But the Bulls are definitely in the market for a robin to Rose, and I imagine the Cavs would like to improve quickly, so I don't think they'd be difficult trade partners.

I am curious though if pick protection can be altered after the fact by making a follow-up trade or something. Anyone?


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