A big summer in Boston
This summer is huge for the Boston Celtics, it’s the summer were they begin the rebuilding process, the era of the big 3 is coming to an end… unfortunately.
For me I want the big 3 to stay in tacked and add a couple of draft picks and a few good role players. But many sources say it could be this summer where 2 of the big 3 leave, and if this happens, here’s what I’d do:
Before we start here’s a definition of a Restricted Free Agent and Unrestricted Free Agent: Restricted: This means that the player is a free agent, but the team he is currently on can choose to match any offer made by another team in order to keep the player on his original team. Unrestricted: This means that once the players contract expires he is free to go where he chooses.
The two players who it’s suggested are leaving are Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, who are both unrestricted. These two are part of a group of 10 players who are unrestricted free agents this summer from Boston, these are; Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Jeff Green, Brandon Bass, Marquis Daniels, Keyon Dooling, Ryan Hollins, Jermaine O’Neal, Sasha Pavlovic and Mickael Pietrus, Greg Stiesma is a Restricted Free Agent. Based on Garnett and Allen leaving, I would only bring back Brandon Bass, Marquis Daniels and Pietrus from this bunch of players. I like Daniels’ determination, work rate, aggressiveness and I think he’s a good fit for Boston. This would leave Boston with only eight roster players, and with a minimum of 12 needed they’d need to bring in four more players to field a team.
For starters this free agent class has been touted as one of the best, there are so many great/good players going in its unreal. Dwight Howard, Deron Williams and Tim Duncan are all out of contract to name just a few. However I wouldn’t go after any huge superstar this season, I would first look at securing a couple of big men and I have two players who I would love to see in green.
Roy Hibbert from the Pacers, as a starting Centre, 7ft 2”, 25 years old and averages about 12 and 9 in 30 minutes. He’d be a great fit, he rebounds well, defends terrifically and can score, I would then add in a veteran, and that would be Marcus Camby from the Rockets. He averages a very impressive, 4 points and 9 rebounds and 1.5 assists and blocks in 22 minutes, and with that sort of rebounding and presence off the bench he would be a great acquisition. These two players are both free agents so they shouldn’t be to hard to acquire, and combined they would have a salary of $15m, $8m for Camby and $7m for Hibbert.
Now I would look to the SG spot, as at the minute they have Marquis Daniels and E’Twaun Moore. There’s one player who in January said he woudnt rule out going to Boston, he used to start for Memphis averaging 20ppg in his rookie year but now he’s a role player averaging 12, 3 and 3, and that’s OJ Mayo. Give him a starting spot and he’ll excel, especially with Doc, Pierce and Rondo telling him what’s what, and I think he could average at least 20, 4 and 4. I would then do one trade and this would be E’Twaun Moore (they could even chuck in JJ Johnson to secure it) and 2013 2nd round draft pick for OKC’s Thabo Sefolosha and I think OKC would accept this, especially with the emergence of James Harden. Sefolosha is one of the best defenders in this league and coming off the bench he would be an irreplaceable asset, especially with Avery Bradley who’s also becoming one of the best defenders; they would be unstoppable.
Now for the draft. This year Boston has two first round picks and one second round pick, their first pick is being projected at around 16 to 18, and their second pick is supposed to be around 20 – 22. If they do get a generous lottery and get the 15th and 19th pick in this draft they could get two good players because this draft is so deep and so open that anyone (apart from Anthony Davis) could end up anywhere. There are two clear players I would draft in. At 16 I would select Terrence Jones out of Kentucky; big, strong, athletic, great all round player at the SF spot. At 19 I would take John Henson, he’s a terrific player and his size and length are unreal. He’s a great defender and offensively he’s not to shabby amd would slot in at the PF spot just behind Bass.
With the second round pick, it could land anywhere from an early to middle spot, and there are a few good players who could land in the second round like; Fab Melo, Darius Miller and Kris Joseph, but at whatever pick they have I would take Scott Machado, he averaged 10 assists a game in college and he’s just like not as good Rondo, and if Rondo does get injured, he be a great replacement to have.
This is how that team would look going into the new season:
PG – Rajon Rondo / Avery Bradley / Scott Machado
SG – OJ Mayo / Thabo Sefolosha / Marquis Daniels
SF – Paul Pierce / Terrence Jones / Mickael Pietrus
PF – Brandon Bass / John Henson / JJ Johnson
C – Roy Hibbert / Marcus Camby
Now not only is this team loaded with bigs, but its loaded with great offense and unbelievably good defence also, the 2nd team would get 35 – 47 which is near a play off spot. I could see this team going to the conference finals for sure and maybe after 1-2 seasons together the NBA Finals would be within their clutches. It’s going to be a fun summer for Boston fans, especially near draft time. If/When the big 3 are broken up it will be a sad day, and it’ll hit the fans for a couple of days but the future looks good for the Boston Celtics
