Let’s Talk About Sheed, Baby
Posted by Brendan Jackson on Jun 29, 2010
When the news first came out regarding Rasheed Wallace’s likely retirement I really felt the Celtics had just gone up Sheed’s creek without a paddle. A few days before his unofficial announcement, Kendrick Perkins had torn up his knee bad enough to be unavailable for the start of the season. This injury coupled with Wallace’s retirement decimated the Celtics once stalwart front line. Also, I highly doubted Wallace would leave 13 million dollars on the table giving the Celtics an awful cap hit for the next two seasons for a guy who’s not even on the court. All signs pointed to things being really over for the C’s.
This was all before the idea of trading Wallace’s contract and having his new team buy him out. This led me to dig. Whenever I hear about potential happenings with personnel, I like to poke around the interwebs and see if, with enough finagling, I can pull off some imaginary trade and be able to justify it. I believe I have succeeded to some extent with the following list of people the Celtics could land primarily using Wallace’s contract and subsequent buy-out as the draw. Whether or not the Celtics want any of these players is up for discussion:
Andris Biedrins
According to Yahoo! Sports (via ProSportsDailey.com), the Warriors are shopping Biedrins around in order to get his remaining 4 years and 36 million dollars off the books. Not a bad idea considering the Warriors have a plethora of young, inexpensive Bigs and the Warriors have already dealt Corey Maggette to the Bucks in a salary dump. Biedrins makes 9 million next year so the Celtics would have to be willing to part with Rasheed Wallace and Glen “Big Baby” Davis. It would be tough to see Davis leave but with Danny Ainge’s propensity for drafting or acquiring guys with Davis’ skill set (Luke Harangody, Marcus Landry, Leon Powe, Ryan Gomes), it seems that Davis’ production could be replaced though Free Agency and subsequent drafts (or possibly with Harangody).
With Biedrins, the Celtics would be getting a guy who is one year removed from averaging a double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds). Last year, Biedrins suffered through a lingering back injury as well as groin and abdomen issues. All of which definitely raise red flags when committing the next four years and 36 million dollars of the salary cap. The upside is that he is only 24 and began averaging a double-double when he was 22.
Francisco Garcia
With Michael Finley and Marquis Daniels relative ineffectiveness, the Celtics were painfully thin at the wing this post season. Garcia was a productive player for the Kings two years ago. On the flip side, with Andres Nocioni gone the Kings have virtually no incentive to trade their only wing on the roster (unless you count Donte Green as a small forward, which I am not ready to do yet).
Michael Beasley
Productive but with poor shot selection. This guy was a monster in college but if playing with Dwyane Wade and under Pat Riley was not enough to keep Beasley out of trouble I doubt Boston will be able to do anything to rein him in. Thanks, but no thanks.
Jason Maxiell and Chris Wilcox
The Celtics are desperate for size right now but I don’t think they are that desperate. Perhaps if you change “Chris Wilcox” to “Rodney Stuckey” you would have a deal. Still, that might not even be enough. The Celtics drafted a player a lot like Stuckey in Avery Bradley.
Yi Jianlian
Yi was a Danny Ainge favorite back during the 2007 Draft and the Nets would love to move him for more cap space. Yi’s days as a starter appear to be numbered anyway with the drafting of Derek Favors. This idea is downright frightening and is not something I would consider in a million years.
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At some point, the Celtics are going to have to go all-in or rip it up and start over. Some teams may be looking to blow it up after it’s clear that they are no longer in the running for one of the big name Free Agents. Does a team like the Cavaliers give up Anderson Varejao and/or JJ Hickson in a salary dump? Have I missed any other possibilities? If ya’ll had your druthers, who would you like to see come in for Wallace’s potential buyout?
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