Columnists :: The Boston Sports Beat
Bright Green future, if... by Brandon Simes
Managing EditorTuesday Jul 14, 2009 Picture this starting line-up: Kendrick Perkins, Michael Beasley, Kevin Durant, fill-in-the-blank at shooting guard, and Rajon Rondo at the point. Not bad, huh? Well, if-and I must emphasize this involves so many ifs that the specifics aren’t even worth getting too far into at this point-Danny Ainge wants to make it happen, it theoretically could.
With the end of the Big Three Era on its way, the Celtics have an opportunity to re-boot faster than David Beckham and Landon Donovan. At the end of this coming season, when the most incredible free agent season in the history of American sports occurs, the Celtics may lose Ray Allen. His contract is up, and unless he wants to re-sign for a substantially lower rate for a year or two, the gig may be up for the sweet-stroking Jesus (Shuttlesworth) impersonator. The Celtics would have to essentially trade Paul Pierce’s expiring contract and/or KG’s then two-years remaining to a team with cap space (unlikely) in order to get far enough under the cap to be able to make a max contract offer, so the Summer of 2010 will likely pass the C’s by without making much of a dent in the roster. The following year, however, is when things get interesting.
If Ainge chooses to let The Truth walk after doing the same with Jesus, the Celtics could have space to offer a max deal to a guy like Kevin Durant, who could be a free agent that summer if he so chooses. (Check out the Trade Machine to see the Boston cap situation.) At that point Durant would be signing on to play with an aging KG and a prime Rondo, as well as Kendrick Perkins (should he re-sign, which, for the sake of projection, we’ll say he does at a reasonable rate-maybe seven million a year?), Rasheed Wallace, and whoever else is left. That wouldn’t be a championship team, but it would be a contender. The following year, like Durant, Beasley could be a free agent. Once again, with KG and ’Sheed’s expiring contracts off the cap (if KG doesn’t sign another extension), the Celts could offer another max deal to whomever they choose. If the C’s can land a solid shooting guard in the draft over the next few years, they could insert him into the open (theoretical) line-up. Basically, you’d be looking at Rondo and Perk taking up $15 to $20 million in cap space, two max contracts taking up about $30 million more, and draft picks and free agents taking up the remainder of the cap space, which will likely stay around $60 million a year due to the Great Recession’s impact (although new collective bargaining could throw this whole plan for quite the loop).
Anyway, there’s plenty that could go wrong or change before any of this happens and max free agents would have to actually want to play in the frigid tundra/rainforest of Boston, but, despite an aging core, it’s nice to know the C’s at least have options, because I remember the ’90s and early 2000s, and I don’t want to go back to that scary, terrible place.
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