So rumors starting coming out Friday that Ray Allen was on his way to Washington and the Celtics would be getting back Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. Then after the trade fell apart and Dallas made the deal for Butler it came out that Jamison wasn’t really on the Celtics radar.
Where do the C’s go from here?
One rumor that persists is that the C’s would send Ray Allen to Sacramento for Kevin Martin and Andres Nocioni. Nocioni isn’t the player they’re targeting in the deal but to make the salaries work they’d have to take him back if they wanted Martin.
Martin just turned 27. So he would help make the team younger. Nocioni is 30 and owed a lot of money, but again, if you want Martin you’d have to take on that contract. That would possibly hurt your team for the next few years as some big free agents start to become available.
Other options the Celtics have include the expiring contracts of Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine. Those two total out to a shade under $6 million in salary so they could nab a bench guy in that price range from a team looking to get under the cap for next year. Add in JR Giddens and you’re around $7 million.
For some real fun, play around on the trade machine at ESPN.com. I just successfully traded Ray Allen to the Clippers for Marcus Camby and Baron Davis. That increases the Celtics win total by 8. Not a trade I would make based on need, but just an example.
Play around and let me know what you come up with. Hopefully Danny Ainge is doing the same thing but in real life and making it happen. Thursday’s the deadline…
