30 Jun 2017 06:04:21
The Celtics are in a truly unique situation in terms of possibilities for their offseason starting this Saturday. They have, by far, the best mix of veteran talent, young talent, draft assets, and cap space to finesse into a super team if they so desire. Countless rumors have already floated around the Celtics, and big names such as Gordon Hayward, Paul George, and Blake Griffin have been linked to the Celtics. Here is a breakdown on how the Celtics can acquire all three of these names while also bringing over Guerschon Yabusele and Ante Zizic from overseas, all while hanging on to a good chuck of those aforementioned assets.

Transaction #1: Renounce the right to Jonas Jerebko, Amir Johnson, James Young, and Gerald Green as free agents, don't tender Kelly Olynyk a qualifying offer, and release Tyler Zeller, Jordan Mickey, and Demetrius Jackson before their contracts become guaranteed.

These moves would allow the Celtics to free up a decent amount of cap space since, all of them possess cap holds that would otherwise hinder the Celtics ability to sign Hayward. Here is a look at the Celtics' salary cap situation without any of those players as a part of their roster:

Al Horford: $27,734,405
Avery Bradley: $8,808,989
Jae Crowder: $6,796,117
Isaiah Thomas: $6,261,395
Jayson Tatum: $5,645,400
Jaylen Brown: $4,956,480
Marcus Smart: $4,538,020
Guerschon Yabusele: $2,247,480
Terry Rozier: $1,988,520
Ante Zizic: $1,645,200
Empty Roster Slot: $815,615
Empty Roster Slot: $815,615
Total Salary: $72,253,236

With an estimated salary cap of $99 million and Gordon Hayward expected to take nothing less than the maximum $29.7 million available to him, the Celtics will have to find a way to shed slightly less than $3 million off their current salary cap to be able to sign him. One man in this group who has trade value and an expiring contract (retaining him after this season would be a difficult choice for the Celtics to make since he will undoubtedly receive inflated offers from various teams due to his defensive skill set and young age) is Marcus Smart, and he should be the odd man out in my opinion should the Celtics get a verbal agreement from Hayward to sign with them. If this is the case, the Celtics should look around throughout the league for a defensive-minded big man who is on a cheap contract. Therefore:

Transaction #2: Celtics trade Marcus Smart to the Sacramento Kings for Skal Labissiere

Labissiere would provide the Celtics with a young center (something they are lacking) who could potentially start for this team immediately and not have to worry about the burden of providing anything on the offensive end, instead focusing strictly on the defensive end and rebounding. Although the Kings just drafted De'Aaron Fox, already have Buddy Hield, and just signed Bogdan Bogdanovic, they can use Smart off the bench to back up both starters and provide the team with a lot of energy and very strong defense off the bench. Shall he perform well for them, they will have more than enough money to retain him once he becomes a restricted free agent next year. Here is how the salary cap situation would look like for the Celtics following this trade:

Al Horford: $27,734,405
Avery Bradley: $8,808,989
Jae Crowder: $6,796,117
Isaiah Thomas: $6,261,395
Jayson Tatum: $5,645,400
Jaylen Brown: $4,956,480
Guerschon Yabusele: $2,247,480
Terry Rozier: $1,988,520
Ante Zizic: $1,645,200
Skal Labissiere: $1,242,240
Empty Roster Slot: $815,615
Empty Roster Slot: $815,615
Total Salary: $68,957,456

Transaction #3: Sign Gordon Hayward

The previous mentioned trade would leave the Celtics with enough money to sign Gordon Hayward, making their salary cap situation look like this:

Gordon Hayward: $29,700,000
Al Horford: $27,734,405
Avery Bradley: $8,808,989
Jae Crowder: $6,796,117
Isaiah Thomas: $6,261,395
Jayson Tatum: $5,645,400
Jaylen Brown: $4,956,480
Guerschon Yabusele: $2,247,480
Terry Rozier: $1,988,520
Ante Zizic: $1,645,200
Skal Labissiere: $1,242,240
Empty Roster Slot: $815,615
Total Salary: $97,841,841

Now that the Celtics have Hayward, let's move on to George, who the Celtics would have to acquire via trade by meeting salary cap rules since they'd be dangerously close to being over the salary cap after signing Hayward. Provided below is a trade that would work salary wise and the Pacers would have a very tough time turning down:

Transaction #4: Celtics trade Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley, 2018 Celtics first round pick, 2019 Boston Celtics, and 2019 Los Angeles Clippers first round pick to the Indiana Pacers for Paul George

With the packages teams have received for superstar players in the last few months (DeMarcus Cousins and Chris Paul), there is no way the Pacers would receive a better offer for George than this one. It's a hefty price to give up if you're the Celtics, but necessary since Crowder's and Bradley's salaries are the only two salaries that can be put together to legally, under salary cap rules, work out a trade for George, unless they'd be willing to give up Isaiah Thomas, Jaylen Brown, or Jayson Tatum, which is highly doubtful. The Celtics' pick next year and in 2019 will not be high picks at all (they would be allowed to trade both in consecutive years since they have another first round pick next year in the Brooklyn Nets' pick) and the Clippers' pick has no potential to be a lottery pick, taking the various protections into consideration. All those picks would be well worth giving up for a player of George's caliber. Here is a breakdown of how the Celtics salary cap situation would like following this trade:

Gordon Hayward: $29,700,000
Al Horford: $27,734,405
Paul George: $19,508,958
Isaiah Thomas: $6,261,395
Jayson Tatum: $5,645,400
Jaylen Brown: $4,956,480
Guerschon Yabusele: $2,247,480
Terry Rozier: $1,988,520
Ante Zizic: $1,645,200
Skal Labissiere: $1,242,240
Empty Roster Slot: $815,615
Empty Roster Slot: $815,615
Total Salary: $102,561,308

Now here is where things get interesting. The Celtics' interest in Griffin has also been well documented, as it should be. Despite suffering through some injuries this past season, Griffin is one of the most offensively gifted big men in the league. He is also only 28-years-old. The problem is that the Celtics wouldn't have anything close to enough money to sign him outright as a free agent. However, what if he were to inform the Clippers that he plans on leaving them in free agency regardless of who he signs with? Wouldn't the Clippers want to get some type of value in return for him? Wouldn't someone like Al Horford be more than they can ask for in a situation in which they lose Griffin?

Transaction #5: Celtics trade Al Horford to the Los Angeles Clippers for a sign-and-traded Blake Griffin

Although Horford may be a better defensive player than Griffin, there is no denying who the better overall player is out of the two. Taking into account the fact that Griffin is a few years younger than Horford, this trade would work out to be a good trade for the Celtics in both the short term and the long term. Here is a final breakdown of what the Celtics' salary cap situation and depth chart would look like following all of these transactions:

Gordon Hayward: $29,700,000
Blakr Griffin: $29,700,000
Paul George: $19,508,958
Isaiah Thomas: $6,261,395
Jayson Tatum: $5,645,400
Jaylen Brown: $4,956,480
Guerschon Yabusele: $2,247,480
Terry Rozier: $1,988,520
Ante Zizic: $1,645,200
Skal Labissiere: $1,242,240
Empty Roster Slot: $815,615
Empty Roster Slot: $815,615
Total Salary: $104,526,903

PG: Thomas/Rozier
SG: Hayward/Tatum
SF: George/Brown
PF: Griffin/Yabusele
C: Labissiere/Zizic

Through these various transactions, the Celtics would acquire three bona-fide superstars to add to another superstar in Thomas, all while keeping their salary cap payroll below the luxury tax limit (at least for one more year), bringing over their two young rookies from overseas that they selected last year (both who could play a crucial part on the team since it would be lacking experienced big men), keeping all of their important future first round draft picks that could all turn out to be high draft picks, and keep youngsters such as Brown, Tatum, and Rozier while acquiring another one in Labissiere (albeit at Smart's expense).

Finally, the team would then be free to go out and pursue free agents such as Ersan Ilyasova, Nene, Tony Allen, Vince Carter, Zaza Pachulia, Andrew Bogut, David Lee, or David West for the league minimum or sign some of their second round picks (Kadeem Allen, Jabari Bird, Abdel Nader, or Semi Ojeleye) for the league minimum.

1.) 30 Jun 2017
30 Jun 2017 06:23:43
If I'm Celtics I'd probably prefer WCS (Kings may too since Labissiere can play some pf) . Probably should try and bring a 3rd team into the Clippers trade but I guess if they got Horford they could sign a point guard and still try and be half decent (although their best route would likely be a big rebuild where they get a draft pick or young asset instead of Horford) .

2.) 30 Jun 2017
30 Jun 2017 13:14:33
I can't see the clippers wanting to take on the horford contract, a contract I consider to be a bad one.

3.) 30 Jun 2017
30 Jun 2017 14:31:03
Can you expand on your proposal a bit more? LOL kidding.

4.) 30 Jun 2017
30 Jun 2017 15:20:47
Lol was that an essay or a trade idea? Lol.

5.) 30 Jun 2017
30 Jun 2017 18:04:09
Did you get enough words in to get a decent a grade on this novellete?

6.) 30 Jun 2017
30 Jun 2017 19:01:41
Seriously, I simply can't read all this. How do you possibly have the time to put in such an effort to write all this? Seriously. its insane.