Houston Rockets & Al Horford have mutual interest??

Morey wouldn’t insult Ainge’s intelligence with such a lopsided proposal.

 

Seems plausible that he wants to be here considering his ties and statement about it being hard to leave last time. However, he ain’t signing here for the MLE and while he’s better than Capela in many ways, he’d make our rebounding even worse. This doesn’t feel like adding a star to me personally

 

Possible he’s trying to force a trade before his official opt out?

 

Knicks love old and injury players.
Required to Meet team minimum salary.

 

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/0...ave-celtics-as-free-agent-per-herald-sources/

Al Horford’s Celtic career has apparently come to an end after three years with the club. According to a source close to the All-Star center, his representation has ceased discussions with the Celts on a new contract.

Though no further information was given, other league sources from the West told the Herald it is expected that Horford will sign a four-year contract elsewhere. With free agents unable to sign until July 6, there remains a possibility that team changes – even with the Celtics – between now and then could impact this move, but it appears to be rather firmly set as of this point.

Horford had until Tuesday to opt in to the $30,123,015 final year of the four-year deal he signed in 2016. He chose not to exercise that option, but as written here last month, his side was interested in coming in at a more team-friendly number for the coming season if the Celtics would be willing to tack on two additional years for the big man who turned 33 on June 3rd.

The Celts seemed willing, with the two sides engaging in talks along those lines, but the process toward that goal came to a fairly abrupt end.

The NBA’s free agent negotiating period does not officially begin until 6 p.m. Eastern Time on June 30, but it is not uncommon for information to get through from teams to players prior to that. And while it’s not known yet how precisely how Horford felt about the Celtics’ prospects moving forward as he seeks to win a championship in this latter stage of his career, it seems almost certain that he is aware another club is willing to go to a fourth year with him.

Kyrie Irving’s expected free agent departure for Brooklyn, reported here last week, is not said to have had any effect on Horford’s decision. As well, Horford and multiple people around him have insisted he is happy with Boston and the Celtics’ organization. This therefore appears to simply be a move for a better chance at a championship with a club willing to pay him more on a longer term contract.

As a result of Horford moving on, there are scenarios in which the Celtics could have salary cap space in the high $20-millions. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the club will be a major player in the free agent market this offseason.

With Irving’s expected departure, as well, the Celts are back into a rebuilding situation, albeit this time one with young potential stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and NBA All-Defensive first teamer Marcus Smart already in the fold. The wild card in the mix is Gordon Hayward, who was an All-Star prior to his 2017 opening night injury and conceivably could be again.

But with three first-round draft picks Thursday night, one or more of which they’d like to trade away, and free agent decisions to be made on Terry Rozier and Marcus Morris, the Celtics now have a roster in even greater flux than what was expected with Irving’s exit.

 

I find the recent news about Horford in the news intriguing. I have a hard time believing that Horford would want out when he and his family has been vocal about their love of Boston effusively. It's hard to believe that the relationship has soured that quickly and it's not just negotiating ploys from Horfords end to get more money. Nevertheless, this is the same guy that spurned ATL when he supposedly loved it there too. I'll toss my hat in the ring to see if there are plausible ways to get Horford here.

Scenario 1: Horford SNT

I do not like this option as it hard caps us. It would also behoove Horford to take his player option of 33 million and re up the next year. But if he wants future security than I get it.

Trade 1: Horford SNT for 80 million 4 years with max 8% raises (possible picks coming to us) FOR Capela and Nene and NGT

If we go this route and Houston is hard capped than I think we need to use all resources under the sun to get as close to the hard cap as possible resulting in

Trade 2: Butler for Gordon and NGT and picks from Boston or us

The hard cap is set at 138 million. We cannot exceed that in the event that Horford is SNT to us

Apron (138,000,000)
Paul (38,506,482)
Harden (38,150,000)
Butler (19,841697)
Tucker (8,349,039)
Horford (17,146,776)

I would then use as much of the NT-MLE and BAE since we have already invoked the hard cap. The team would then look like

Apron (138,000,000)
Paul
Harden
Butler
Tucker
Horford
JAM (at close to 9 million of NTMLE would try to underchange him a bit and give him options for the underchange)
Rivers (at close to 3 million of BAE as possible). Would also take any combo guard that would accept BAE like Collison, Ellington, Bullock, Burk, Curry or any other combo forward)
Minimum
Minimum
Minimum
Minimum
Minimum

With the above 7 players you would get very close to the apron. However, the math after that can be done to fill out the roster with a combination of incomplete roster charge/veteran minimum (if signing a new contract would only count for 1.5 million)/minimum

Scenario 2: Horford Opt in and Trade

I like this option more since it doesn't force you into a hard cap situation. You could get Horford his extra 33 million and match salaries with NGT/Shump/Nene to maximize our assets and probably pry an extra asset or two out of the Celtics

However, we would not have the NT MLE or BAE in this scenario to fill out the roster.


Conclusion:
I like scenario 2 since it avoids the hard cap and utilizes availabe assets more. But who cares about having flexibility for the buy out market that is largely unfruitful. If working under the hard cap we would be able to use more of the MLE and only hard cap ourselves for 1 year

Morey could field a superteam if the stars align and get them all the contracts they want.

 

Clippers definitely make a lot of sense, they probably already know Kawhi is coming and got in touch with Horford, man they've a chance to be very good, it's not going to be easy to pull off, but if they can resign Pat or Green (if not both) to solid deals they coul end up with this roster:

Horford/Trez
Green/Gallo
Kawhi/room exception guy
Shai/Lou
Pat/Shamet

 

I could see him signing with BK/NYK

 

If we aren't doing a sign and trade, please stay out of the West.

 

Well done. Question I’ve been wondering about having seen it a couple times. What is NGT?

 

Man if we could get Butler and Horford, that would be unreal.

Paul
Harden
Butler
Tucker
Horford

Is a championship closing lineup.

 

Can Shumpert even be traded as a part of a trade after being resigned?

Regardless, i think that would hard cap the Celtics so, yeah, there's no chance Ainge does that.

 

The most I would pay for Horford is whatever Clint makes, basically doing a S&T. Any team paying him $20 per season must be nuts

 

Who cares.

We will never operate under the cap for the remainder of Harden / Paul’s contracts. It will only effect the tax. If Tilman is willing to pay it, why do you care?

 

There’s a salary cap, though...

 

Non guaranteed contracts. Essentially salary filler

 

From my understanding yes he can be aggregated. But I’ll need to fact check that statement. Regardless you are correct. Ainge wouldn’t hardcap himself so that’s likely not an option. SNT it is.

 

Probably because at $20 per he’s going to be a harder player to trade if/when the time comes. At $15 there’s more room to execute a trade if needed.

Why am I thinking that far ahead? Because Horford ain’t no spring chicken, has had injuries the past few seasons to name a couple of risks. Would I be opposed to Horford at 4/80 if we also obtained Butler? Nope. But bringing Horford in by himself......

 

33 year old and want a multi year contract.... heck no