The first domino to fall this offseason is Paul Pierce’s contract. Until Danny Ainge figures out what he’s doing there, little else matters. As we wait for this decision, we also must face the rest of the offseason, which means it is also rumor season. With that time of year, comes plenty of information floating [...]
In his third year in the league, in which promising players often make brash leaps from benchwarmer to starter, from starter to star, Avery Bradley took a big step back. But his regression might be deceptive. When he returned to the Celtics’ lineup on January the 2nd after two in-season months recovering from offseason shoulder [...]
A long, challenging offseason awaits Danny Ainge this summer. Before he dives in head first, he joined Salk and Holley on WEEI-FM 93.7 to discuss the multitude of decisions facing him this offseason, as well as the progress of Rajon Rondo in his rehab from ACL surgery. A few of the notable highlights from the interview. Ainge [...]
In one way or another, there will be change this offseason in Boston. That process started in the past couple days, with the first piece moving out coming as a name most C’s fans might not be familiar with. Yet, it was Celtics’ assistant general manager Ryan McDonough, one of Danny Ainge’s top lieutenants, who [...]
It was a tough season for the Boston Celtics, and that includes for head coach Doc Rivers. The long-time coach battled to find the right fit for a lot of new pieces that were both underperforming and/or failed to pick up his schemes on both ends of the floor. Naturally, an unfortunate plethora of injuries [...]
It seems like every offseason since 2010 we’ve been through this: a myriad of questions and concerns about the Celtics’ roster that usually involve the possibility of the core of the team being dismantled. As we head into the summer of 2013, we’ve got a whole batch of questions, many of which will be familiar. [...]
Well, you can cross another team off the list as a trade partner with the C’s, as Sam Amick has followed up his earlier report of a possible deal with GSW as not happening, according to his twitter account.
Source says Nate Robinson will not be coming to the Warriors. Never discovered the other pieces, but that deal w/ Boston is not going down.
In the meantime, I wrote a quick piece about why I didn’t expect anything to happen here, and why the C’s are in such a tough spot, with dealing Robinson for anything of value being the biggest challenge. Check out the breakdown after the jump
In the meantime, get away from the trade rumors for a minute and be sure to check out Hayes’ terrific piece from his time at All-Star weekend by clicking here
To see how the heck this might have worked, let’s take a look at what Golden State has to offer. To start, Brandan Wright and Dan Gadzuric are out, since they are expected to be dealt to the Nets in the Troy Murphy deal, but C’s weren’t interested in either anyway so that’s a moot point. Here’s the names we need to look at, as well as what they make this year:
Vladmir Radmanovic ($6.9 million, expiring deal) Charlie Bell ($4.4 million in 10-11, 4 million player option for 11-12 which he will pickup)
Dorell Wright ($3.5 million in 10-11, 3.8 million in 11-12, 4.1 million 12-13)
Reggie Williams ($760k in 10-11, restricted free agent in 11-12)
This whole scenario seems a bit fishy to me. Robinson would obviously be a decent fit in Oakland, and his contract is not an albatross (4.2 mil this year, 4.5 mil in 11-12). However, I don’t see the Warriors or C’s coming to terms on anything unless more names get involved from the C’s end.
Let’s run through the names here and try to figure this out. First, I can’t see why the Warriors would be willing to deal either Wright, whose playing well while firmly entrenched in their starting lineup, or Williams, who is also playing great off the bench at cheap money too. Unless we see names like Avery Bradley and Semih Erden get involved, those guys are out.
That means we’re left with two overpaid swingman of varying sizes. We covered Bell on Sunday as one of the guys the C’s definitely would not deal for. He’s 6-5, was arrested for a DUI a couple weeks ago and has a terrible contract. Would the C’s take him as a “tax” in a bigger deal with the Warriors? Potentially, but that’s what it will have to be. Trading him straight up for Robinson is out of the question, in my opinion.
With Radmanovic, things get a little more interesting. He’s a small forward with size (6-10), can shoot the rock (40.7 percent from deep this year, 38 percent career), but does little else. He’s definitely not a physical or tough player as we will know from the C’s showdowns with the Lakers in 2008, but he certainly does fill a need at minimal cost.
In order to make the numbers work, the C’s would have to deal Robinson and Marquis Daniels for Vlad. With that, the C’s shed some money for next year (Nate’s 4.5 million) and Golden State gets a backup guard that fits their system for this and next year at semi-reasonable money. That seems like a bit of a stretch though and the Warriors may not want to take on Nate’s money for next year without getting more in return. Plus Daniels would have to okay any deal out of town, something you can’t count on either.
Final Verdict: I don’t see this deal happening.
What can we learn from all of this? Well, to start, the C’s are knocking on just about every team’s door to get rid of Robinson with obviously very few takers unless they take a bad contract back of their own, or give up an extra asset (Erden, Bradley, draft pick). Ainge has rightly been stingy and wouldn’t do either.
So the C’s came up short with Corey Brewer, (reportedly offering 1st round pick for), the Suns small forwards (Grant Hill, Jared Dudley, Michael Pietrus), since well the C’s aren’t offering anything of use to the Suns and couldn’t make the money match with Brewer.
It’s a tough hand for Ainge and finding someone willing to take Robinson and his slightly overpriced contract will be the biggest obstacle going forward in clearing roster space and money from next year’s payroll.
To try to break down the craziness of the trade deadline and explore potential options, Rich Keefe and myself got together for a little podcast action to break down more possibilities for the C’s and the rest of the NBA. Give it a listen below by clicking the play button or you can download the mp3 by hitting the arrow on the right:
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