As the chances of landing Kevin Love in a trade get smaller and smaller, the likelihood that Danny Ainge is forced to trade his All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo increases every day.
The fact is that the Celtics are in the midst of a major rebuilding process. Ainge has done a nice job of stockpiling assets. He has acquired multiple first round picks in the next few drafts and used his two first round picks in this draft to select point guard Marcus Smart and wing player James Young. Through the draft Ainge has also added forwards Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk and has traded for young center Tyler Zeller. The future picks can be used to either draft new players or be dealt to add established veteran players. The young players already on board can fulfill the same purpose.
Rondo, a four-time All-Star who has already won a championship, probably does not want to waste the remainder of his prime waiting for Ainge's rebuild to be complete. With his contract expiring after the 2014-15 season, it's unlikely that Rondo wants to commit to a rebuilding process this late in his career and it's also unlikely that the Celtics want to commit a maximum-level contract to Rondo at a time when they don't expect to contend for a championship.
Looking at rosters around the league, there are not many likely destinations for Rondo. Rondo will be looking for a new home where he can team up with at least one other elite player and contend for a championship. The Celtics will be looking to add valuable assets in return, in the form of draft picks, young talent, and/or expiring contracts.
One potential home for Rondo could be in New York. While it makes me sick to picture Rondo wearing the blue and orange of the Knicks, there is the possibility of a trade working out to benefit both sides.
The Celtics could send Rondo, Brandon Bass, Gerald Wallace, and Keith Bogans to the Knicks in exchange for Amar'e Stoudemire, Andrea Bargnani, Iman Shumpert, and a future first round pick.
The Knicks would add an All-Star to pair with Carmelo Anthony, as well as two veterans who can help their roster in Bass and Wallace. Bogans is added for salary cap purposes and with a non-guaranteed contract can be cut by the Knicks or used in a trade by a team looking for salary cap help in exchange for a future draft pick.
The Knicks would look like this if this trade went down:
PG - Rajon Rondo, Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin, Pablo Prigioni
SG - J.R. Smith, Wayne Ellington, Tim Hardaway Jr., Shannon Brown
SF - Carmelo Anthony, Gerald Wallace
PF - Brandon Bass, Cleanthony Early, Jeremy Tyler
C - Samuel Dalembert, Jason Smith
Obviously there is a logjam of guards that would have to be dealt with as well as a thin front court. The solution would be to package one or two of the more valuable guards (Larkin, Hardaway Jr.) in exchange for a big man. One potential move would be a deal with the Nuggets that would bring forward Darrell Arthur to New York in exchange for Prigioni, Hardaway Jr., and Tyler. That would clear out some of the guard logjam, add the Knicks a forward for depth, and they'd look like this:
PG - Rondo, Calderon, Larkin
SG - Smith, Ellington, Brown
SF - Anthony, Wallace
PF - Bass, Early, Arthur
C - Dalembert, J. Smith
In the East, that is a team that could do some damage. They'd still be kind of thin up front but Anthony, Wallace, and Early are all capable of playing power forward in a small ball lineup. They may even be wise to start Ellington (who shot 42.4% from 3-point last year and is a career 38.6% shooter from behind the arc) over Smith. Ellington's shooting, coupled with that of Bass, would better space the floor for Anthony and Rondo and Smith's ability to create his own shot would provide scoring for an otherwise thin bench.
As for the Celtics, they'd add two veteran forwards with expiring contracts in Stoudemire ($23.4-million) and Bargnani ($11.5-million). Ainge could simply allow them to expire to create a ton of salary cap space in the summer of 2015 or see if they have any value across the league (either for a contender in need of a big man or a team looking to build salary cap space) and deal them. Shumpert would give them a young guard with some promise (who also has an expiring deal at the end of this season) who could be developed, traded, or allowed to leave as a free agent next summer. The first round pick would add to Ainge's arsenal.
The Celtics would look like this:
PG - Marcus Smart, Phil Pressey
SG - Avery Bradley, Marcus Thornton, Iman Shumpert
SF - Jeff Green, James Young
PF - Jared Sullinger, Amar'e Stoudemire, Kelly Olynyk
C - Tyler Zeller, Andrea Bargnani, Vitor Faverani
That is a bad team, one bound for the lottery once again. It is also a team with over $45-million in cap space, young talent, and a boat load of draft picks to quickly rebuild themselves as a contender.
A drawback for the Celtics would be that by adding Stoudemire and Bargnani they would be cutting into the development of Sullinger, Olynyk, and Zeller. However, head coach Brad Stevens proved in his first year that he is willing to sit veterans (Gerald Wallace and Keith Bogans) and play the younger players for the sake of development. Stoudemire might even be open to the idea of an "off year" to get his knees healthy as he heads into free agency next summer.
The upside would be Stevens and Ainge would be able to play their two first round picks from this draft, Smart and Young, a lot of minutes and would also be positioning themselves to get another high draft pick in 2015, which would give them another building block/future trade asset.
Whether or not this deal goes through (and we all know my mock trades have no chance of succeeding), this is a deal that meets the needs of both teams.
No comments:
Post a Comment