Green Target: Caron Butler

The name of Caron Butler was brought up not so long ago into the minds of the Celtics fans. It was around the All Star break of last year when we heard the rumors of Butler being traded to Boston for Ray Allen. It wasn't just some fan created rumor but a real possibility that almost happened. We discussed in length about this chance and many fans believed it was a good opportunity for the Celtics to shake up things back then when the team seemed stuck. Ray Allen stayed here and extended his contract and Caron Butler ended up being traded to the Dallas Mavericks. The Celtics made it to the Finals that year and Butler currently has a championship ring with the Mavs so I think it is fair to say that there are no regrets there. Plus, we would have inherited Antawn Jamison's bad contract too.

More than a year later, Caron is a free agent and the Celtics need some talent from the bench behind Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. We are trying to secure Jeff Green for the next season in Boston and we still need another piece of the puzzle for the wing. While Butler is more suited to play small forward, he has already played the 2 spot in Dallas.

Let me get straight to the point here: Caron Butler is a two time All Star with a tremendous ability to score and drive to the basket. He is athletic, still relatively young (31) and would allow us to sit Ray and Paul for longer stretches. He is a proven player and a very talented basketball player.

In a sense, adding Caron Butler would replicate some of the qualities of Paul Pierce as both players have been compared in the past. We would be able to keep those abilities for the bench.

The same could be said for the man people compare you most to, Paul Pierce. How do you think you stack up and are your games that similar?

CB: When you have someone that you idolize growing up and through college basketball, I mean, hopefully I can stack up to him one day and surpass him. He’s a great player... a great talent and I modeled my game after him.

I will say it again: we didn't fail in the playoffs this year for our starting unit. We just couldn't beat the Heat because we overplayed our starters, and not only the Big 3. Adding players like Gortat via trade and some athleticism and scoring punch from the bench would allow us to be a top contender for the title without breaking up the Big 4. I believe this team can win it all again and I want to see the current core get their second ring next season. I also think it is the most realistic and logical scenario.

How the Celtics could get him:

The Celtics would probably have to spend their full MLE on free agent Caron Butler. He earned more than $10 million last season so he would have to settle for less to come here. The Mavs will not be able to resign all of his free agents and eventually some of them will leave. They already have many good players at the 2-3 spot, particularly after trading for Rudy Fernandez in draft day. How much money would they offer him?

Butler may finally decide to give it a try with the Celtics and back up and occasionally play alongside his NBA role model Paul Pierce for the last stretch of his career.

Cons:

Butler hasn't been very healthy lately. He has suffered some important injuries and this may start to raise some concern around the league. At the same time that circumstance may lower his stock and be a more realistic target for the MLE

If the MLE is still an option for teams to use in free agency, signing Caron would most likely require to use it completely. That would leave us with only the LLE to sign another bench player (Kwame?), the veteran minimum (Powe?) and the sign and trade option with Davis or Green to get a center (Gortat?).

So it depends on the approach by the Celtics management in their way of retooling the team. We know we need a center but if we see that Chandler, Nene and Dalembert are out of reach then they may decide to try and find a good center via trade. That would leave us the MLE to find scoring help from the bench. And quite honestly, Butler would be an ideal candidate for that task.

So what do you think? Should the Celtics sign Caron Butler?