We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com.
ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz said this week that Kyrie Irving and the Celtics have a “mutual understanding” about a long-term contract. If Irving and Jimmy Butler want to play together, does that mean Butler might be coming to Boston? — Stephen W., via Twitter
In an appearance on “The Jump,” Arnovitz said, “My best intel is that the Celtics and Kyrie have a pretty good mutual understanding that he wasn’t going to get traded in the offseason and that there are long-term aspirations for both parties.” While things can change over the course of the season, that’s a pretty strong indication that Irving doesn’t plan to leave Boston. The Celtics potentially have enough cap room to sign a max-level free agent next summer, but only if Al Horford opts out and they renounce his rights, which isn’t likely. A better path toward Butler is a trade around the deadline, but salary matching will be tricky because Boston’s roster is filled with high-end contracts and rookie deals. Assuming Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are off the table, it’s hard to see what the Celtics might offer that the Timberwolves would accept.
If the Lakers are struggling at midseason, do you think LeBron James and the front office will be OK staying the course or will they push for an aggressive trade deadline deal? Wondering how important winning this next season really is. — VJ Cruz, via Twitter
The Lakers’ priority is finding a second star to play alongside LeBron. With all the one-year contracts the organization handed out this summer, it will be in position to offer another maximum deal in 2019. The Lakers won’t make any trades that interfere with that, even if a deal might seem like the difference in making the playoffs. However, if they can get their second star during the season — if things don’t work out for Kawhi Leonard in Toronto, for example — then the Lakers will be very willing to engage in trade talks.
Say an undrafted rookie gets signed to a two-way contract, plays only in the G League all year, then gets an upgrade the next year to the main team. His day limit is used up strictly by attending practices just in case someone on the main team gets hurt, but doesn’t actually play a game, not even suiting up and sitting on the bench. The next year though, after making the main team roster, he blows up. Is he eligible for Rookie of the Year? — Nicolas Galipeau
Under NBA rules, all players are considered rookies until they appear in their first game. That’s why Ben Simmons and Blake Griffin, who sat out their first seasons with injuries, were able to win Rookie of the Year honors. The two-way status in your hypothetical example doesn’t change that. As long as a player doesn’t appear in an actual game, his rookie status isn’t affected.
If the Celts end up with both the Sacramento and Memphis picks, they’d be better off keeping them. Kyrie knows from Cleveland, once you sign 2 max contracts, it’s difficult to put a team around them. Clint Capela learned the hard way. If the Celts were to hold on and possibly get 4 draft picks, they already have enough to win the east, would be in great shape. Getting a Cam Reddish or Nazr Little and not having to pay Butler would be to their advantage.
The only way Butler makes sense is for Smart, Morris, Yabusele (if they want), and picks. If it has to become Brown and Morris plus whatever, then it gets messy and Minnesota would have to send more back I think, and that would complicate things. Boston should’ve used their MLE this year just to get a mid sized contract for trading purposes if nothing else. I get it’s a money vacuum but they have Marcus Smart as the only guy making more than 6 and less than 20 I think.
We all agree life is been way too easy for Boston up until now, but I guess is starting to get complicated, as they run out of cap, rookies will start to want a big pay day, the vets also want their money, is a welcome to luxury tax cap hell. Only way to compete, all their amassing assets so far is the very easy part, now keeping them all, keep adding & keep all happy now that is the difficult thing, will see how smart the FO is. I hope they get it right, has been a way too long road.
Boston has the best front office in the NBA. Danny Ainge is the best GM in the NBA. For some reason, you believe you are smarter than Danny Ainge and Kevin Pritchard. Yes the Celtics will have to go into the luxury tax. All title contenders do. The Celts have Horford (opting in), Kyrie, Hayward, Tatum, Brown, Baynes, Theis, Morris (unrestricted), Smart, Williams, and Rozier. Danny Ainge has been intelligent enough to stockpile draft picks and keep them. They have 4 next summer. One probably in the top 5. You have the most talent in the east, and 4 1st round picks to boot. Not a bad situation to be in. As we all know, every GM in the NBA wishes they were in Boston’s shoes. There is a Laker site for LeBron fans.
We can all agree that when someone starts their post with ”We all agree” chances are that we all DO NOT agree and that said someone knows it but has to put it out there just to be a troll. We can all agree on that!! Ainge forgets more basketball than most people here know. He outsmarted both the Sixers & the Lakers last year in the draft, built a championship team & knew when to break it up for assets. Danny doesn’t tell you how to make a good pizza, so maybe do not tell him how to manage a team.
The Celtics roster is definitely going to get crowded and expensive pretty soon. However, even with that being the case, they are in excellent shape moving forward. They have a potential 3-4 picks in this upcoming draft, and if they only get 3, then they’ll have another 2 first rounders in the draft after that one!!
It is absolutely incredible what Boston has been able to do stockpiling talent and a lot of young talent at that..Next year’s draft is absolutely loaded with top tier talent, and just imagine the Celtics adding THREE TO FOUR MORE talented young rookies…
Or since ther roster is getting pretty full, along with playing time and minutes, they could manage to manipulate those 3-4 picks in order to acquire one top 3-4 player, or two top 8-10 players..It is insane the level of talent they’re building..
Also, Boston can get Butler if they want him in a trade. Boston would certainly make Kyrie, Tatum, Brown, and possibly Rozier untouchable, but they would still have plenty of assets to acquire Jimmy Buckets…
Heck, they could just renounce Horford’s rights, sign Klay Thompson or Jimmy Butler, and then just draft Horford’s replacement with a top 5 pick…In the meantime, they could just use their MLE next season to acquire Horford’s immediate replacement..
Either way, Ainge and Co. have set themselves up for foreseeable success..It is entirely impossible to predict what they’ll do, but I have 100% faith they’ll continue to make the right moves to stay atop the East..
Actually my guess is Boston will continue EXACTLY what they’ve been doing so far:
1) Keep draft picks.
2) Use them to draft players that fit their modern switching defense and might help them in other ways.
3) Keep those drafted players and see who emerges as a top8 player on their roster to keep the salaries/luxury tax at a reasonable level.
4) Let players leave who demand a contract they are unlikely to outplay, in particular when they have another player for that position, a promising young player or a free agent target who offers better value.
5) Only go after free agents they are really convinced of.
6) Let the prospects who need more time develop in Europe or the G-League.
7) Only make trades that are clear winners.
Moving forward that seems to me like Boston might try to trade for a better player if they are convinced of that player. Of course AD comes to mind as Boston most of all needs to either replace Horford with an equal player or upgrade or has to re-signs Horford for significantly less. That seems the biggest challenge. And while Butler is an amazing fit on any team, his salary might be a little too steep compared to Jaylen Brown. The red line for Boston is they are top-notch in terms of value for money and however good a season you play, everybody is replaceable for Danny Ainge when the price tag gets too high.
So I expect hard negotiations with Horford in the future, if they can’t keep him on a good deal (provided he’s still quick enough) a push for KP/AD in which they might give up a major asset and some picks wouldn’t surprise me as both would keep them excellent at the 5 with even more upside that it’s worth giving up some depth on the wings that is also much easier to replace or come close to it, possibly by one of their picks. Getting Butler would somehow work out as a trade but not for their team’s salary moving forward without shedding Hayward
Okay but due to a technicality, they can’t have both KIrving AND ADavis.
And, this might be the last cheap year for JBrown! And Irving will want maxxed.
Tough decisions ahead.