This is from our all-time favorite reporter, Chad Faker Ford From Insider: Move One: Pierce and Blount for Dalembert and Iguodala Each of the Celtics you see here could be playing elsewhere this season. Sixers head coach Jim O'Brien would love to get his hands on Blount, whom he coached in Boston and whom Philly pursued in free agency. But Blount is a base-year compensation player, meaning the Celtics can take back only half of what he makes in a trade. To get around complicated trade rules that say the contracts swapped must be within 15 percent and $100,000 of each other, the trade would have to be much, much larger. How large? What if the Celtics offered Pierce and Blount and the expiring contract of Tom Gugliotta. Adding those players would give the Sixers immediate credibility and a leg up on every other team in the East. A backcourt of Allen Iverson and Pierce might be a tad combustible, but the Sixers always would have the option of moving Iverson for a more traditional point guard. The Celtics wouldn't just give Pierce and Blount away. To make a deal work for the team and fit under the salary cap, they would demand Samuel Dalembert and Andre Iguodala, along with cap relief in the form of the expiring contracts of Glenn Robinson and Kedrick Brown. The move would clear roughly $14 million in cap space for the Celtics and give them two players with very bright futures. The Celtics are among a dozen teams enamored with Dalembert. He's an athletic, young 7-footer who can block shots and rebound. Offensively he's raw, but he's coming around. He's a perfect fit in the Celtics' offense, however, because of how well he runs the floor. Paired in the frontcourt with Al Jefferson, the Celtics would have the makings of a young, dominant front line. Jefferson provides the toughness and low-post scoring. Dalembert provides the defense and athleticism. While Dalembert is not a proven commodity, scouts around the league insist he has a chance to become a special player. Move Two: Payton, Davis and LaFrentz for cap room If the Celtics could make the above deal happen, they'd be halfway there. The other half of our hypothetical makeover starts with Payton, who wants two things: to play for a contender and to play for a Western Conference team. He has played well enough this year to garner interest, and though the Celtics like Payton, they'd prefer to get something in return for him now as opposed to losing him in free agency this summer without compensation. The Timberwolves have shown interest in Payton. They have also have coveted Ricky Davis since signing him to an offer sheet two summers ago. So, again, the seeds of a deal already are in place. This time, the Celtics have to be less greedy. What they should want in this deal is to clear more cap room for the summer. If the Celtics offered Payton, Davis and Raef LaFrentz to the Wolves for the expiring contracts of Latrell Sprewell, Ervin Johnson and a young prospect like Ndudi Ebi, the Wolves would have to consider. Owner Glen Taylor spent a lot of money two summers ago trying to build a contender. Last year things went great, but this year things have fallen apart as Spree and Sam Cassell have complained about contract extensions. It's no secret the Wolves want to rid themselves of Spree, but they'd like to replace him with a younger player who can do many of the same things. Davis is that guy. Trading Davis would be tough for the Celtics. He has been on his best behavior in Boston – a minor flareup in practice recently notwithstanding– and is a good fit in the team's offense. However, there are enough internal questions about his character and attitude that the Celtics have reservations about building a young team around him. Giving up Payton wouldn't be a major concern. They're going to lose him next summer anyway. LaFrentz has been productive, but he has another four years and $45 million left on his contract. He's not worth that to the Celtics, but he might be to the Wolves. They need a big man who can block shots and spread the defense on the offensive end. In Minnesota, LaFrentz wouldn't have to be a star – just a complement to Kevin Garnett. Landing Payton, Davis and LaFrentz would catapult the Wolves immediately back into the upper stratosphere of the West. They would be right there with the Spurs and Suns for a shot at the Western Conference title. The downside is that they would be inheriting $70 million worth of contracts while shipping out just $22 million. If Taylor has the stomach for the luxury-tax bills, it's a good deal for Minnesota. For Boston, the trade is all about the $20 million in cap room they'd clear this summer. They lose three good players in Payton, LaFrentz and Davis, but it's unclear how well any of them fit in Boston's long-term plans. Ebi is the one prize, a highly-coveted prep-to-pros kid who has been buried at the end of the Wolves' bench. The other two Wolves, Spree and Johnson, would likely be waived before they caused a ruckus. Move Three: The reconstruction Radically pulling the plug on the season would provide the Celtics a number of benefits. First, with the veterans gone, Ainge and Rivers would get a much better look at young players like Jefferson, Dalembert, Iguodala, Allen, Welsch, Delonte West and Kendrick Perkins. Second, the team would take a nosedive in the standings, likely giving them a high lottery pick in the upcoming draft. This is one of the best point guard drafts in recent years, and if the Celtics could get their hands on a top prospect like Chris Paul of Wake Forest, they'd be in great shape. Third, the team would head into the summer roughly $25 million under the cap. Here's how their roster would look entering the summer: PG: Delonte West, Marcus Banks SG: Andre Iguodala, Tony Allen SF: Jiri Welsch, Ndubi Ebi PF: Al Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins C: Samuel Dalembert Some of the cap space would go to re-signing Dalembert. Ainge could use the rest of the space to fill holes with veterans or add a superstar via free agency or trade. With guys like Ray Allen, Michael Redd, Joe Johnson and Larry Hughes available via free agency and other top players on the trade market, the Celtics have the room to add a face to the franchise. The makeover molds the roster to Ainge's liking – young, athletic players who can play in an up-tempo system – while giving him maximum flexibility to add whatever pieces he thinks are missing. Up to this point, the changes Ainge has made in Boston have been largely cosmetic. His hands have been tied by a bloated payroll, low draft picks and a few unmovable contracts. That could all change if Ainge made these moves. They're radical and controversial, but they might be what's needed to put the Celtics in position again to be more than a .500 team.
Even if they did these moves and signed one of those "superstars" this summer, that lineup looks HORRIBLE! It is young and has promise for the future, but by no means does this ensure an above .500 team. Chad Ford is an idiot.
That looks like a great summer league team. That is what Chad Ford was talking about, right? Being an above .500 team during summer league? Please tell me that was his thoughts ... please ??!?!!?
Chad Ford manages to sink his standards a bit lower. Instead of cut and pasting from local writers and pretending its "insider" info, he's now taking a page from Sam "Trader" Smith and straight making up scenarios in his trade w/o anything to base it on. Kudos! Evan PS - Pierce and Blount for Dalembert and Iguodala? Really? Seriously?
Only a chance at being an above .500 team in the future. Right now they don't have much chance of that even with Pierce, but they can't add a stud player via the draft unless they buck the odds and win the lotto. They can't add a stud player through fagency with all the contract money they already have tied up. So if they clear out all their contracts in order to have cap room to land an impact player in the future, have some young players already around to develop, and still suck enough to get an impact player via the draft, they might have the ability to become more than a .500 team. So what's worse, being a mediocre team in the east, or blowing up your mediocre east team to have the resources to become something better than that? I know what answer Denver fans would give.
actually the pierce being moved may have some truth to it. ric bucher reported that pierce may be moved before the start of next season a few weeks ago so all chad ford is doing is steal his colleagues info and claiming it to be his own. btw bucher stated this on the nba nation program on espn a few weeks ago
what superstar would they sign? i mean, yeh, they'd have the cap room - but nobody would wanna play for that crap team.
Well, assuming that their division sucks even more next season, it's not impossible that a summer league team can go 0.500.
Chad Ford graduated from the same school as I did. How in the world does he get a job like this from ESPN to just unintelligent stuff and gets paid? Does he have ANYthing to back himself up? Or is he just throwing things out around and collect paychecks?
I think that this article, while very improbable, contains the types of moves the Celts should be pursuing. The Celtics are going nowhere and have already been pasted by the Sox and Pats. Making a big gamble now in the hopes of having something really special in 2-3 years is how rebuilding should be done. PG: Chris Paul, Delonte West, Marcus Banks SG: Andre Iguodala, Tony Allen SF: Jiri Welsch, Ndubi Ebi PF: Stromile Swift, Al Jefferson C: Samuel Dalembert, Kendrick Perkins
If you don't know anything about the actual game of basketball, like Chad, you have to go in a different direction to reel in the cheques.
Ainge would do the Philly deal in a second. I can actually see it happening; Jim O'Brien has no idea how to use a low-post scorer like Dalembert, and would prefer Blount - someone who thrived in his system last year. Getting Paul Pierce back, and having to play one less youngster, would also be a plus in his book. Just like nobody wants to play for crappy franchises in places like Denver or Utah The Celtics culture is changing. Ainge is taking steps to make Boston an attractive place for FAs. For one thing, he personally convinced Blount to stay in Boston despite an identical offer from Philly.
Have you seen Dalembert play offense? He is NOT, by any means, a low post threat. He can pretty much dunk, catch ally-oops, and add tip ins. Trust me. When I'm home, we have Comcast and I have the blessing of watching Sixers games. The guy is as much of a threat down low as my 6 year old nephew. On D, I think he is fantastic. But, according to the Philly Inquirer, he doesn't play the pick and roll like Obie wants him too. He wants Dalembert to come around and guard the gaurd who gets the screen and switch while having Dalembert's smaller teammate guard the opposing team's big man; Dalembert prefers to play closer to the basket to block shots and rebound, which makes sense, because he excells in both. But hey, what do I know, I'm just a fan, and Obie's the coach getting paid the big bucks, so he must be doing something right.
Chad Ford continues to amaze. I can't believe ESPN expects people to pay for the drivel he publishes. It's like he spends all day on realgm.com to come up with trade scenarios and then he writes an article based on it, without any facts or quotes to back up his theories. I think he just really wants to be an NBA GM.
