# The 2014 Celtics Season



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

Well, we're nearing the start of the season and it's past time for this thread. In a nutshell, here are the questions facing the Boston Ditch Diggers


What the hell do they do about that PF/C rotation? Their best center, in terms of pure talent, is the 6'8" Sullinger. Vitor Faverani wins this by default by merely being the right size.
Whither Rondo? Do they reall intend to try and construct a team around a diva that needs to be surrounded by scorers? 
Whither Khris Kardashian? He can rebound. But that's about it. He is a big expiring contract, though.
Can ayone on this team sink a jumper from outside 18 feet?


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

*[*]What the hell do they do about that PF/C rotation? Their best center, in terms of pure talent, is the 6'8" Sullinger. Vitor Faverani wins this by default by merely being the right size.*

I think we're just going to see some combination Sullinger/Humphries/Faverani at center unless(until?) there's some major shake-up. The best thing you could say about those guys is that all of them would be good back-ups in the right situation, I suppose. I still think a deal centered around Green and Asik would make some sense, although you'd have to follow that up with a trade or two to balance out the rest of the roster. 

*[*]Whither Rondo? Do they reall intend to try and construct a team around a diva that needs to be surrounded by scorers?* 

They aren't going to just give him away. The hope has to be that he comes back sometime in December/January, looks 100% healthy, and allows Ainge to negotiate from the position of "We'll deal him for the right offer, but we don't _have_ to deal him". 

*[*]Whither Khris Kardashian? He can rebound. But that's about it. He is a big expiring contract, though.*

Like you said, he's a big expiring contract. The good news is that Boston won't have meaningful cap room until 2015 anyway, so you can try to leverage him into one of those "bad contract with one additional year plus a first" deals that Charlotte pulled with Corey Maggette a year or two ago. If not, you just let him fall off the cap next summer. No pressure there.

EDIT: While we're at it, Humphries and/or Bass could both be interesting trade chips in a deal with Washington. They need more and less-injury-prone bigs, Boston wants to save money. If Otto Porter and Martell Webster look like they can competently fill the small forward minutes, and Okafor doesn't heal as expected, I wouldn't be surprised to see Okafor/Ariza/pick-or-prospect sent Boston's way for both of them. 

*[*]Can ayone on this team sink a jumper from outside 18 feet?*

Olynyk, _maybe_ Brandon Bass, Courtney Lee if he gets his mojo back, and Jeff Green from a few very specific spots. I don't like that 3/4ths of that list are frontcourt players.


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## Floods (Oct 25, 2005)

They can play Marshon Brooks at center for all I care, as long as we're bringing up the rear in the east if not the league.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

Floods said:


> They can play Marshon Brooks at center for all I care, as long as we're bringing up the rear in the east if not the league.


You still want to have the personnel to run NBA-level offenses and defenses so that it's not a completely lost year in terms of player development. If you squint really hard, you can see the beginnings of an okay supporting cast down the road in Bradley, Olynyk, Sullinger, and Faverani(maybe). You still want to finish with a high draft pick, but you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't spend the year teaching those four proper defensive rotations and where their reads are on offense. Jeff Green also has the chance to mature as a locker room presence/team leader, even though he's much closer to a finished product on the court than the other four.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

Celtics released Bell-Holter and Taylor from the roster. No big surprise, but worth noting.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

Chris Forsberg is reporting that Ainge has picked up Sullinger's third year (no surprises there) and declined the fourth-year option on Brooks, making him an expiring contract. Can't say I'll be sad to see Brooks and Crawford go (I've mentally lumped them together into one malcontent player for this year). There still appears to be a slight chance that Avery Bradley gets a contract extension, but I'd be very surprised if it happens. It's much easier to trade him on his current deal than it is to deal with a poison pill provision all season.


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

MarJordan Brookford can't leave town fast enough for me.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

Interesting tidbit in the Daily News today...

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/shumpert-secret-knee-surgery-summer-article-1.1520045



> Of course, the Knicks primary target is Rondo, Boston's All Star point guard who is currently recovering from knee surgery. The Knicks have been trying to trade Shumpert, Raymond Felton and Amar'e Stoudemire in a complicated deal for Rondo but the rebuilding Celtics has yet to show much interest.


I assume the rest of the deal calls for New York to take on Boston's long-term salary commitments in Wallace and (if the numbers work)Lee, while probably looking to send Shumpert to a third team for a first-rounder and maybe a throw-in player that'd be re-routed to Boston as well. The only pick the Knicks can throw in themselves is their 2018 with no protection.

A salary dump and one or two (probably) mediocre picks definitely isn't the haul I've been hoping for, but an extra $16 million in cap space in 2015 plus a pair of firsts isn't nothing. I'm pretty sure I'd wind up passing, but if New York could get a good return for Shumpert I'd at least look at it.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

Vitor had an MRI on his knee today after doing something to it in a Red Claws game. No results made public yet, but he said it feels bad enough that there's cause for alarm.


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## Bogg (May 4, 2009)

Vitor recently had knee surgery and looks like he'll be done for the year. Also, Chris Babb got a second 10-day deal, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Ainge give him one of those three- or four-year minimum contracts that are non-guaranteed every year like Pressey's and Johnson's for trade purposes this summer.


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