Boston Celtics: Danny Ainge Confident About Options To Add Talent

The Boston Celtics made the playoffs in the second season of their extreme franchise makeover in 2014-15, improving from 25-57 in their first year under coach Brad Stevens to 40-42 and a first-round sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Two summers after dispatching big names Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and coach Doc Rivers and ending a string of six straight playoff seasons that included an NBA championship, a second NBA Finals visit and a loss in the Eastern Conference Finals, general manager Danny Ainge says the Celtics are positioned to make a run at big-name talent were it to become available this offseason.

“We’ve tried to put ourselves in the game—to have those options and to have some opportunities to make big news,” Ainge told the Celtics’ official website, per ESPN Boston. “So I guess that if they’re big moves that we like, we do them. If they’re big moves that we’re not in love with, then we hold off and we wait.

“Those are the challenging ones. Some of them are very easy to determine; some are very challenging and take a lot of investigation, thought, debate and discussion on our side. But I think you can’t just determine that you’re gonna wait or you’re gonna do it—it all depends on those opportunities.”

Eight years ago, the Celtics had an opportunity and went big, trading with the Minnesota Timberwolves to get Garnett and bringing in Ray Allen from the Seattle SuperSonics in a separate trade.

But, Ainge said, the timing and the assets weren’t right when another franchise-changing talent became available in the fall of 2012.

“When James Harden became available, … (we) didn’t have the assets, we didn’t have the opportunity to get in that game,” Ainge said. “So just because we have young players, just because we have draft picks and we have cap space, it means that if there’s one of those situations that becomes available, it just means that we have an opportunity.

“It doesn’t mean that there’s any guarantee that something like that will happen. So we want to stay in the game until we can do something significant.”

From the standpoint of cap space, the Celtics are poised to have a ridiculous amount in 2015-16, with the cap projected to rise to $67.1 million.

Because the cap won’t be smoothed when the new TV deal takes effect in 2016, the salary cap is projected to skyrocket to $89 million in 2016-17 and $108 million in 2017-18, per Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com.

So not only will the Celtics have a ton of space—so will everyone else in the NBA.

According to HoopsHype.com, Boston has a little more than $40.4 million on the books for next season, which means $26.7 million or so will be available for Ainge to play Let’s Make A Deal.

The final year of Gerald Wallace’s deal is currently the largest monetary commitment for next season, a little more than $10.1 million. There is also Avery Bradley’s $7.7 million and Isaiah Thomas’ $6.9 million.

None of the other players under contract for next season—Marcus Smart, Evan Turner, Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller, James Young and Jared Sullinger—is more than $3.4 million.

There is a nearly $2.2 million placeholder for a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Gigi Datome and a $118,348 qualifying offer for Jae Crowder, plus a $947,278 option the team holds on Phil Pressey.

That’s a lot of wiggle room.

There are currently five teams projected over the cap and 13 teams—including the Celtics—projected to have $20 million or more available. A 14th team, the Toronto Raptors, will have around $19 million to throw around, based on current projections.

Some of those 13 teams will be looking to retain their own high-profile free agents, such as the Memphis Grizzlies with Marc Gasol, the Portland Trail Blazers with LaMarcus Aldridge and the San Antonio Spurs with restricted free agent Kawhi Leonard.

But there’s going to be no shortage of All-Star level talent out there.

Among the possible free agents this summer are Atlanta Hawks forward Paul Millsap, Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez (player option), Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler (restricted), Cleveland stars LeBron James and Kevin Love (both player options), Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler and guard Rajon Rondo (kidding, of course) and Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert and David West (both player options).

But the list doesn’t end there. There is also Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, Miami Heat guards Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade (player options for both), Phoenix Suns guard Brandon Knight (restricted) and Toronto Raptors Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams.

So there is talent out there and the Celtics—as Ainge said—have options … and that’s before getting into the gigantic inventory of draft picks Boston has at its disposal.

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In June’s draft, the Celtics have their own first and second round picks, along with the Clippers’ first-rounder and the Philadelphia 76ers’ second-round pick, according to realgm.com.

In 2016, the Celtics have four first-round picks—their own along with those of the Nets, Mavericks (top-seven protected) and Timberwolves (top-12 protected)—and four second-round picks, via Cleveland, Dallas, Miami and Philadelphia.

In 2017, the Celtics can swap first-rounders with Brooklyn if it is to their advantage to do so, in exchange for a second-round pick, and Boston also has first-round selections in 2018 from both Brooklyn and Memphis (top-12 protected, contingent upon the Grizzlies sending a 2016 first-rounder to the Denver Nuggets).

So the potential exists for the association’s most storied franchise building on a 15-win improvement and a return to the playoffs in a very big way, indeed.

That cheery outlook coupled with the fact Stevens has erased any lingering doubts about his ability to jump from Butler University to the NBA makes this an exciting time indeed to be a Celtics fan.

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