(Please pardon my delayed response to the news. I was on a history field trip of sorts and just got the chance to comment on the news of Marquis Daniels coming to the Celtics. )
First, it was Rasheed Wallace to shore up the hole at PF/C.
Now Danny will be adding ‘gap shooter’ Marquis Daniels to fill the hole on the line up behind Paul Pierce (and Ray Allen).
All they need now is a solid back up point guard, hopefully with a solid outside shot to back up Rondo. And they’re done.
Well…except for Glen Davis. More on him in a second.
Getting a back up point guard is pretty important to:
1) keep Eddie House exclusively at shooting guard, where he flourished last season without having the headache of trying to set up the offense.
2) have someone solid to put on the floor when Rondo:
a) takes a breather.
b) is being dropped off of and the Celtics need a PG with a decent outside shot to make the opponent play
honest defense.
Glen Davis?
Hmm…..
I definitely want Davis back, if it can be worked out. Right now, he has no other offers and the Cs aren’t offering him very much themselves. He is caught in a terrible year to be a free agent. A truck load of Red Bull wouldn’t help this economy.
The Rasheed Wallace signing has lessened the need for the Celtics to match any offer or to offer more than they think Glen is worth. Or is it that they want to get a good a bargain on Davis as they have gotten on the aforementioned players?
As you can tell, Danny loves a bargain. So does Wyc. Is it unfair to say that with the team in luxury tax territory…yet again?
No, it’s because of the Big Three’s Honking Big Contracts that thrift is absolutely required with the rest of the roster.
But you have all been paying attention for 2 years and you knew that, right?
After playing Who Wants to be a Multi-Millionaire? with Ray, Paul, and KG, Danny has to turn into Monte Hall and play Let’s Make a Deal with everyone else. It’s just the nature of the beast.
Under such circumstances, the ‘next best thing’ would usually be a marked down high quality player. Rasheed Wallace qualifies immensely under that definition.
The same environment that is causing Davis problems has given Danny other options at very good prices. He got his first off season priority that way. That and the fact that most teams are near or over the cap already. Other than a few cases (see Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Marcin Gortat, perhaps Trevor Ariza) it’s been a buyer’s market.
Now, Marquis Daniels falls under that category. The Indiana Pacers refused to pick up Daniels $7.3 million option for this season, casting out him to unrestricted free agency.
With salary cap number cautions for next season already coming out from the NBA, things are not good and will get worse. Basketball related income is supposed to be taking a serious hit this season, which helps determine the cap for next season.
None of that helps a player in this market.
So….while Marquis Daniels isn’t worth $7.3 million, he is most certainly worth more than the $1.99 million that he will take from the Celtics with their Bi-Annual Exception, IF they can’t work out a sign and trade with the Pacers for Daniels for more.
Rumored among the expiring contracts that the Celtics could send to the Pacers to give them something in return and to give Daniels a bit more money are Brian Scalabrine, Bill Walker, Gabe Pruit, and/or Tony Allen. It wouldn’t be all of those names, but might be more than one.
So Ainge gets another quality player for a bargain rate.
How things go with Big Baby Davis is hard to tell. It could get uglier before it gets better. It’s about money, value, and market rates.
But whatever happens with Glen, the Celtics still need to find a quality back point guard. There are a few options there, but I’ll look at that in another article.
And that leads me to Kevin Ollie.
The third and final part of my conversation with him will go up sometime on Sunday. It has some good stuff. Be sure to read it, if you can.
Thanks for your patience over the past few days!
