[Boston Herald] Celtics "very interested" in Mutombo; Rafer not wanted?

A trade with Boston centered around them getting Alston made sense for both sides pre-KG trade whenever they still had a bunch of tradeable contracts. Now what's our best option with them? Trading Alston for Scalabrine? Give me a break.

Just throwing an idea out there: Rafer/JLIII to the Clippers for Cassell. It's a gutsy move that i'm not even sure would turn out to be smart but Cassell is an expiring contract and since we're basically carrying a "WIN OR DIE" mentality into next season is it really a bad idea to have perhaps the best clutch shooting guard league coming off your bench?

The only thing you have to consider is this move wouldn't save us any money right off the bat. Alston/JLIII ($5,320,610 combined) is already less than Cassell's base salary of $6,150,000 and that's before Cassell's trade kicker comes into play. With the trade kicker coming into play his salary reaches over $7 million a year.

Any thoughts?

 

Agreed. Who will want to sex him in Boston anyways? They won't appreciate him like we do. At this point in his career I don't think Deke wants to spend a year for another team and be away from his family even more.

While I'm sure Alston's contract has something to do w/ not being on the list (someone clarify?), if you look at that list as an outsider do you really feel like Alston is much better than all of them? Any of them? We've been forced to see him firsthand, and he's done admirably at that. But you can't really expect to get much for him when he blends in so well w/ that list of leftover pgs.

 

The question is who Boston can actually trade for Alston that (1) the Rockets would actually want (2) whose contracts would match Alstons and (3) Boston can afford to lose at this point?

Trading for any significant contract (and by that I mean anyone making even $3 million or so a year) is not really an realistic option right now.

 

Deke better stay put...i cant see hgim going to Boston...if he does then we'll just have to show him his mistake when we beat them in the finals = )

 

I think it's Deke in a Rockets uniform or nothing. If he's not signed by the Rockets, Deke will be back in Africa overseeing the start of his new hospital or sitting back at poolside sipping coconut drinks.

 

KEEP MUTOMBO. Even if he's out of the game, he's an important 6th man standing from the sideline, always leading that cheering section from the bench. I've always had pride in this team's unique familial support for each other, and, in my opinion, it wouldn't be the rockets without that enthusiasm. Deke is also a class act off the court. I would like to keep the Rockets as a respectable team.

 

Boston is not an option for Rafer. Besides their 3 max players, they literally have no one that makes close to what Rafer makes. They'd have to package 2 or 3 guys to get Rafer. They can't afford to give up players and we can't afford to take extra. Complete non-starter.

What might be possible would be to trade 2 or 3 or our scrubs for one of their scrubs. Reed, Lucas, and Novak for Perkins or something like that.

As for the luxury tax, I can't imagine Celtics ownership is hoping to stay under the luxury tax when they have 3 max players on their roster. They can barely field a starting line-up right now. They need to spend every exception they've got for the next couple of years to give those three a decent supporting cast.

By bang, I meant being a starter or rotation guy, not winning a championship, which he obviously would not be able to do in Boston.

 

Call me crazy, but I think rafer needs to stay here, JL3 eventually gets cut, and we keep Deke around as an 'assistant', keeping himself in good shape, for the day that either Butler or Yao goes down for any extended time with an injury. Deke can still be paid about what he would make as a vet min player anyway.

If we don't keep Rafer, then this team has no real point guard, and that scares me. It would be that Utah series in the late 90's all over again.

I think that before this season's over, one or the other of SF3 or MJ is gone (likely to be MJ) and we would be heading into the playoffs with SF or Brooks as our only pg players? Eek. Brooks will eventually make rafer look like a piker, but SF has never shown the ability to manage a team in crucial situations like that.

As long as Rafer is not placed in a situation where he NEEDS to be a scoring threat, then he is a very good pg. Morey knows this. Rafer is not going anywhere.

Caveat: if Brooks shows more than we have any right to expect him to show as a rookie, then Rafer could very well be gone by the trade deadline.

 

Well said brother...i dont know why we are the minority (people wanting to keep rafer) but i agree that we are going to need him down the stretch and he is our only true PG...as long as he knows his role Rafer will be good for this team..

 

Deke >> Butler

 

They just traded away 5 players, so they have spots.

 

Exactly, to expect Butler to backup Yao the way Deke did last year is ridiculous, not even close

 

We can dump players for cash and draft picks.

 

Lets give the Celtics Butler and Reed and keep Deke

 

Yeah, but outside their big 3 (and maybe Rondo? but we have enough PG's already), there's nobody left worth trading for. All that's left is random crap. I was thinking we could rip them off with a Alston for Gomes + Scalabrine deal, but they traded Gomes away for KG. I don't even know if they can trade us a first round pick because they traded a couple of those away for KG too.

 

I guess the question is, does Deke fit it with Adleman's system? His skill set is different than the majority of the big men that Adleman has coached. That could be good, or it could be bad.

He isn't an offensive threat except on the offensive glass and put backs. He isn't fast enough to keep up if they try to get out and run with the 2nd unit. He isn't a good passer from the high post, and he isn't real good with his back to the basket anymore, except for maybe the baby hook while in the paint.

However, he is still very good defensively, is in good shape, and can be the 'enforcer' in the paint both rebounding and shot-blocking. I don't recall Adleman ever having a post player with that skillset, so maybe we'll see some good things with Deke.

To me, it's a bit of a sign that we haven't heard anything about re-signing him yet. Maybe the front office is happy with Yao, Butler, and a combo of PF's at the 5 to go small when we need to.

 

yeah..I was just joking.
They can't afford to take the players we want to dump either since they are way over the cap already.

 

I am agree with you
That all of all

 

But they're resigned to the fact that they'll be over the salary cap - I mean they're over the cap now with 9 players, so there's no doubt they'll be over it. That being said, I guess we can't trade them Rafer without taking something back as that trade wouldn't be allowed, right? It's sad, because if we weren't worried about the salary cap I think its a pretty good situation. Trade some of our guys for cash and draft picks (do the Celtics still have a 1st round pick next year? or did it go to Minnesota?)

 

bring back Deke!!!!! .............. after watching game 7 last year, dude still has game, but "sir genius" aka JVG elected not playing him hardly at all during the entire series against Utah......... he still has a passion for the game also. Deke is still good for 10 minutes a night to rest Yao and he was also important when Yao was injured last season and when Yao gets into foul trouble.