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headliner · 06-06-2006, 12:45 AM

Quote:

2006/07 Boston Celtics Payroll: $56 million
2006/07 Estimated NBA Salary Cap: $52 million
Roughly: $4 million over cap

The Good: The best thing you can say about the new-look Celtics is that they have some nice young talent to build with. And as we all know, young talent plays for very cheap.

Ryan Gomes has been a very nice addition, giving the Celtics strong minutes off the bench in his rookie season. As a first round talent who inexplicably slipped all the way to the 50th pick, he's been Ainge's best selection. Teams have tried to make a trade for him, but he's not going anywhere. Gomes plays very hard and looks like a possible future starter for the green and white.

Delonte West has played well this season, scoring 11.8 a game, dishing 4.6 assists, and shooting an excellent 48% from the field. Unless they opt for a PG in this year's draft (Foye or Marcus WIlliams), the Celtics seem intent on developing him to be their point guard for the future.

Other young players have also shown promise, like Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, and Tony Allen. Kendrick Perkins has also shown some nice flashes and averaged 7 and 7 and 2 blocks after the break. Boston is hoping these players develop quickly in order to take advantage of superstar Paul Pierce before he gets too frustrated and leaves.

In other good news, Michael Olowokandi's $5.9 million is off the books after this season. Kandi has hardly played for the Celtics and they won't miss him one bit.

The Bad: The contract of Raef LaFrentz is still the team's biggest sore spot. LaFrentz will average about $11.5 million dollars over the next three years, an exorbitant amount for 8 points and 5 rebounds a game. Those are the kind of numbers that make any Celtic fan sick to their stomach. Perhaps they can convince Raef to not exercise his option on the final two years of his contract if they ask really, really nice.

Newly acquired Wally Szczerbiak will average $12 million the next three seasons. The team will get a good scorer out of Wally who can compliment Pierce with his stellar outside shooting. However, he doesn't do much else on the court and for that price, Boston should expect more. The contracts of LaFrentz and Wally, along with Pierce, eat up most of the Celtic's cap space the next two years.

Brian Scalabrine's contract is very cheap compared to them, averaging just over $3 million per year until 2010. The fact that the money goes to Brian Scalabrine makes it a bad deal. Nearly any rookie in the league can average 2.6 points and 1.5 rebounds for a fraction of the cost.

The Future: The Celtics are rebuilding, but at least they kept their most important player. Paul Pierce elevated his game once again this season and is worth every penny of the 2 years and $31.4 million remaining on his contract. The catch is that Pierce can become a free agent next summer and if he doesn't like the direction the team is heading, he is as good as gone.

Unless they can convince a good veteran to take the mid-level exception, Boston won't be able to improve the team much. They have a lot of prospects to use as trade bait, but it would be best for the Celtics to hold on to them. If they can elevate their play next season, Boston could be a playoff team in the wide-open East. That might be just enough to convince Pierce to stick around and see what happens.

If the Celtics were somehow able to move up in the draft to grab Adam Morrison, it would please a lot of Celtics fans. But if they lose out in the lottery, it will likely take parting with one or more of their young talents (Gomes, Green, Jefferson).

Bonus Points? for unloading Mark Blount, his contract, and his sluggish play. Blount was a serious underachiever and was not a good example for young players to follow.

Grade: C[/b]

http://www.nbadraft.net/2006stateofthecapboston001.asp