Saturday Notebook: Doc’s Plan, League Notes, Bradley Signs
Posted by Zach Lowe on Jul 3, 2010
Doc Rivers opened up a bit about his decision to come back for one more year, according to the Herald. Doc apparently had a conversation with Tom Thibodeau in which the two touched on the possibility of the Bulls signing a couple of the top free agents, and Doc found himself pumped up at the notion of taking on such a stacked Chicago team:
“I love that challenge,” Rivers said from his home in Orlando. “I’ll tell you that much. I told one of those coaches, ‘Let’s bring it on.’ ”
There’s also this little nugget about how Boston enticed Rivers to come back:
The Celtics gave Rivers a small raise over his final $5 million for next season, and ownership plans to be as generous as ever in freeing up the coach when family business calls.
I remain skeptical that the C’s would allow Doc to take actual games off, but we’ll see.
Doc also spelled out his off-season blueprint:
“We’ll have the middle class of (free agents) to deal with, and maybe we can move (Rasheed Wallace’s) contract for someone and get under the cap next year,” Rivers said of a plan to move the retiring Wallace’s $6 million slot for interior help, in addition to using the team’s own mid-level exception. “But no one out there wants to do us any favors.”
It’s nice to think about Boston being under the cap going into 2012, but it’s unlikely.
The team has about $31.3 million in salary committed in 2012 to just two players (KG and Rondo), and if you add in $15 million for Pierce and, say, $8 million for Ray Allen (who likely wants a two-year deal), you’re already right at about $55 million—right where the cap is now. Barring a trade involving one of Boston’s stars, the C’s will not be under the cap until KG’s deal expires after the 2012 season.
• The Celtics have signed Avery Bradley, and the Globe reports the contract terms:
The two-year contract will pay the guard $1.8 million the first year and $1.2 million the next, with team options for the third and fourth seasons, standard with all first-rounders.
It’s just a house-keeping note, but I wonder if those amounts are reversed or if there’s a typo in there. Under the CBA, Bradley’s slotted salary as the 19th pick is $1.18 million, and the C’s have the option of paying Bradley up to 120 percent of that amount—which would be about $1.44 million. They can give him a raise the next season, but perhaps the league allows teams to front-load rookie deals as long as the total salary over the length of the deal works out the right way?
In any case, Bradley had surgery to clean up his ankle, so he’ll miss summer league. Quoth the GM:
“It hurts him,’’ Ainge said. “It would be better if he were here. But I think that Avery, he seems like a kid that will pick things up pretty quick. It’s not like it’s disastrous, but it’d be better if he were here.’’
• Ridiculous Upside has the C’s summer league roster. Some familiar names.
Some around the league notes:
• Everyone is talking to David Lee, the soon-to-be former Knick whom the C’s could only acquire as part of a sign-and-trade (and likely a double sign-and-trade) Via Yahoo!:
Free-agent forward David Lee is visiting with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday, and the Wolves won’t have much time to try to impress him.
Lee has already visited with the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls, and once Chris Bosh, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carlos Boozer commit, Lee figures to be the top available power forward on the market.
Hey, if the T’Wolves signed him, they’d basically have to trade someone out of the Jefferson-Love-Lee trio, right? KAAAHHHNNN!!!!
• The Lakers signing of Steve Blake (4 years, $16M) should scare the league. Blake is a 40 percent shooter from three, and he brings that skill to a team that has very little of it. He’s a good passer, his defense isn’t bad enough to kill you as long as he’s in a decent system—see his plus/minus numbers here and here—and the triangle will mitigate against Blake’s biggest offensive weakness (turnovers).
The Lakers were ready to ink Luke Ridnour to a 4-year, $12 million deal but chose Blake instead.
What’s interesting to me is this: Blake and Ridnuor have resumés that suggest they can be productive players on solid NBA teams. They have identifiable, proven skills.
And yet the market for them appears to be settling below the market for big guys (Amir Johnson, Darko, even Channing Frye) with little/no proven record of success in the league. That’s something to consider when the C’s decide how to use their mid-level, their Bird rights and their vet minimum exceptions.
• Yahoo! (same link) also reports that Phoenix big Lou Amundson, a free agent who can play defense and crash the offensive glass—is receiving interest from Denver, Utah and Miami. Denver would seem to make a lot of sense. Their front line is extremely thin, and has been since the Marcus Camby deal.
• The Hakim Warrick fans among you can stop dreaming that the C’s might sign Warrick despite his lack of any demonstrable NBA skills. The Suns have nabbed him with a 4-year, $18M deal. Hey, I’m sure Steve Nash will enjoy running the screen/roll with Warrick instead of Amare Stoudemire. In all seriousness, the Suns made what sounds like a very fair offer (though a shorter-term one with lots of incentives) for Amare only to have the big fella reject it quickly.
That’s it for now. Enjoy your Saturdays.
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