I know it doesn't matter now. Weird, in a way: for years Ainge has asserted that Auerbach/management made mistakes in not taking deals for their aging vets (i.e., Ainge would have done so in their place, and thus rebuilt the team). But seems Ainge in the same situation just wouldn't/couldn't pull the trigger himself. Maybe he ran out of time on trying to trade Pierce, maybe he just didn't have the, uh, heart (something I've never accused Ainge of having). http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--celtics--big-three-nearly-split-at-trade-deadline.html NEW YORK – As the NBA trade deadline lurched into its final hour a month ago, league sources say the call Ray Allen long feared had come: Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers was on the line, telling him he had been traded. Allen had been sent to the Memphis Grizzlies for a package including O.J. Mayo and a draft pick, and the Celtics' Big Three had come to a most brusque ending. For 20 minutes or so, Allen had to process the information. They traded me to Memphis? And yet, as the disappointment dissolved to anger, Rivers returned with a messenger’s nightmare: Never mind. The deal fell apart. Take a deep breath and let’s go back to work again. Ray Allen was nearly traded to the Grizzlies for O.J. Mayo. Before the Big Three could make it past the trade deadline, Allen-to-the-Grizzlies had to fall apart and discussions on a deal that would have sent Paul Pierce to the New Jersey Nets for an expiring Mehmet Okur contract and a lottery pick never reached completion, league sources said. Celtics general manager Danny Ainge loves the talent in the 2012 NBA draft, but he still gets one more run, one more chance with this group in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
an expiring and a lottery pick is all that it would take to get a 2-3 years of a legitimate end-of-game performer???
Memphis would've been deadly on offense with Ray Allen. It was most likely the top 3 protected pick they sent to Portland for Gerald Wallace. For Paul Pierce, I wonder if they would've sent the pick unprotected?
what this tells you (at least from the grizzlies standpoint) is that OJ Mayo is gone next season unless something drastic happens. Ray Allen would have been a 1 year fill in.
They overpaid for Gerald Wallace instead. Desperate moves to be "competitive" for Deron Williams, when he's bolting for Dallas anyway.
Fill in? You must mean upgrade. That would have been a great trade for Memphis, even if only for a year.
depends on his attitude. dissing the grizzlies, what has he ever done. win one championship. He should have been loving that trade, instead he disses us like we are the charlotte bobcats.
Pierce put up a nice 40 point performance last night. That team with Deron and Pierce might be solid enough to convince Deron to stay. If you're New Jersey...how can you not do it? Especially if they are moving to a new arena next season...Pierce Williams Lopez Humpries would def sell tickets.
Well the guy is a HOF player. Kendrick Perkins was salty about being traded to OKC, but he got over it. Odom was distraught about his trade to the defending freaking champions, so I wouldn't take Allen's disappointment personally. Most players don't like being traded from a team they love. It doesn't matter now. The trade fell through and the Grizz are set to make noise in the playoffs without Allen.
That shows Memphis is willing to part with mayo because he's due for a raise they can't afford. I wonder if we could do a lee for mayo sign and trade and then ship Martin Morris and someone for a big.
Ray Allen has done more in his career than you can say for basically the entirety of the Grizzlies history. If I could go back in time to the start of Ray's career and had to choose between watching the NBA only to follow Ray Allen or to follow the Grizzlies, it'd be a no brainer. I don't know why you take all things "anti-Memphis" as a direct insult. The Grizzlies are a nice, fun, young, exciting squad to watch. Certainly going forward things should be looking up, whereas Allen is at the end of a career. but what has Allen ever done? 10 all-star games, a couple of all-nba teams, most 3 pointers made in NBA history, 4th highest FT % in NBA history, top 100 in games played, minutes played, field goals and attempts, 3 point %, assists, steals, points (29th all time), PER rating, etc. Oh year, AND one NBA championship, amongst 8 trips to the playoffs, 5 times out of the first round, 3 times out of the second round. he's a HOF. Do the Grizzlies have any HOFers yet or potentially in the future? Not at this point.
the grizzlies might do a sign and trade (if this is allowed in the new cba) but I suspect if they do, it would be for a 1st round draft pick. But this would be compliant on OJ willing to accept a 3 year contract, which he probably wouldn't do. Why would the grizzlies help the rockets out anyway. Lee is in the same boat as OJ, with regard to contract extension.
I'm no expert, but I think sign-and-trades are allowed, but basically unnecessary. Meaning the team effectively signing the player they are acquiring has to have the caproom anyway, and the player doesn't get any more money in the sign and trade then if he just signed outright with the new squad. Whatever the case, I see no way the random Lee/Mayo swap makes any sense. I think Mayo just walks as a FA.
Welcome to life in the NBA as a middling team in the central portion of America. Now that you guys are a good, competitive team, it's going to sting even more when a player doesn't want to come play for you. If it was up to NBA players, there would only be about 6 teams in the league.....Miami, NY, Boston, the two LAs, and Chicago. It's terrible, but that's the NBA David Stern has created. Not only are Rockets fans members of this club, we're the Presidents.
Ainge understands that this Boston team is no longer a true championship contender as it is built now. Good for him. Some GMs in this league are rather delusional.
From Grizz beat writer: http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/t...shing-out-the-mayo-for-allen-trade-rumor.html
