How Much Are TA and Nate Worth?

Posted by Brian Robb on Jul 10, 2010 912321 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2010%2F07%2F10%2Fhow-much-are-ta-and-nate-worth%2FHow+Much+Are+TA+and+Nate+Worth%3F2010-07-11+01%3A09%3A22Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D9123

A few house keeping items as we get you updated this Saturday on the C’s free agency situation and a flurry of moves around the league. We start with Danny Ainge commenting to Steve Bulpett of The Herald on the C’s plans regarding their remaining pivotal free agents, Tony Allen and Nate Robinson:

“We’ve talked to Tony,” Ainge said. “We’re just continuing to have conversations, but we’re not close to doing anything right now. I think both those guys are exploring their opportunities.”

Again, this should come as no surprise. With the bigger dominoes falling in the past few days, it has left plenty of cap room for the losers of the LeBron sweepstakes, as well as a majority of teams still having the mid-level exception to spend. With this in mind, it would be foolish for TA and Nate to settle for team friendly contracts instead of landing a bigger payday before the new CBA next year.

What exactly is TA and Nate’s market? That is to be determined, but a plethora of free agency signings in the past 24 hours is starting to give us a better idea of what Danny will have to fork over if he wants to retain both.

A look at the signings of a few wings today, courtesy of ESPN.com and Yahoo! Sports :

Wesley Matthews signed a 5 year/34 million dollar offer sheet with the Blazers. Matthews is a restricted free agent so Utah will have the ability to match in the next week, which they likely will do. Bringing in a wingman like Matthews though could foreshadow the Blazers desire to ship Rudy Fernandez out of town. The C’s will likely be waiting by their phone if that’s the case. Fernandez is cheap and would be a perfect fit as a sharpshooting wing man. Would you give up a 1st round pick for him? I would.

Raymond Felton finalized a 2 year/16 million dollar deal with the Knicks. Solid consolation prize…..I’m half kidding I think. Probably the best point guard left on the market.

The Heat are trying to challenge the C’s crown as oldest team in the league very quickly, meeting with Derek Fisher this afternoon with other rumors of strong interest in 37 year old Juwan Howard and Big Z.  The C’s lack of athleticism up front suddenly wouldn’t look as bad if the Heat were to bring in those guys. For the veteran’s minimum though, they could do a lot worse for those big men.

More swingman signings of the restricted free agent variety:

J.J. Redick with Chicago for 3 years/19 million. Expect the Magic, who wasted most of their MLE on Chris Duhon, to match.

The Nets signed minor deals with Johan Petro (3 years/10 million)  and Anthony Morrow (3 years/12 million)

So what do all these signings mean? Well, the market seems to be getting much more reasonable then the first two days of free agency festivities, and that’s good news for Danny Ainge as he waits these guys out.

TA is obviously priority number one, and should command 3-4 million dollars for his services. The question is how many years will Ainge want to commit to the injury prone Allen, who will undoubtedly be looking to retool the roster after two more years. If the market forces him to, except Danny to give in on the years, like he did on Paul, but he won’t do it unless his hand is forced.

As for Nate, he’s a bit more of a wildcard and could be worth more than Tony in the open market given his scoring ability. Still the flaws there are apparent, (size and defense)  so it may be foolish for a team to commit long term to Robinson. 3-4 million per year again seems to be a likely scenario for the little man, which the Green team can still pay Nate despite his lack of bird rights.

That’s it for now, more tomorrow on everyone’s favorite former Celtic, Al Jefferson being used as trade bait for both Dallas and Cleveland.