Vote in our poll: Which Celtics player is most likely to be traded by mid-season?
With the pre-season officially upon us, we here at CelticsLife thought it would be fun to dish out some pre-season award predictions for the Celtics. We came up with eight awards (four positive, four not-so-positive), and will be giving out writer predictions on each of them over the next week or so.
These awards will be named after Celtics greats (and not-so-greats), and hopefully we can have some fun with this. We'll also be posting a poll for everyone to vote on, and be sure to add your two cents in the comment section.
Award #1: The Paul Pierce Award for Team MVP - Writer's pick: Rajon Rondo
Award #2: The P.J. Brown Award for the guy most likely to give the line-up an unexpected boost. - Writer's pick: Kris Humphries
Award #3: The Semih Erden Award for the guy that will be the most fun to sarcastically root for. Writer's pick: Vitor Faverani
Award #4: The Walter McCarty Award for the guy most likely to become Tommy Heinsohn's pet this year. Writer's pick: Kelly Olynyk
Award #5: On to the not-so-positive, The Mark Blount Award for the guy most likely to infuriate fans this year. Writer's pick: Jordan Crawford
Today's Award: The Chauncey Billups Award for the guy most likely to be traded mid-season.
Mike Dyer (Follow Mike - Mike_Dyer13)
Brandon Bass - Toss up here between Kris Humphries and Bass, but I'm going Bass. The first rule when it comes to being voted "most likely be traded" is that someone needs to want to trade for you. That removes Gerald Wallace (unless he has a renaissance), Courtney Lee and Jordan Crawford from the table. I'm a believer that Ainge won't trade Rondo, so that removes him as well. I also don't think that anyone else in the young core (Bradley, Sullinger, Olynyk, Green) is getting dealt..leaving Hump and Bass as most likely to go. The reason I'm saying Bass is that his salary number ($6.5M) is a lot more manageable when it comes to matching up with other teams. Even though Humphries deal is expiring, $12 million is a lot of money for a team to come up with salary-wise without bogging the Celtics down with long term commitments. Bass could be a solid bench big for a playoff team that also doubles as a wing defender..a role he has excelled at over the past few seasons.
Mark Vandeusen (Follow Mark - LucidSportsFan)
Jordan Crawford - I actually think it's Crawford. In terms of what you're getting for the money (he's making just over $2 million), Crawford may have one of the most movable contracts on the team, especially if he has some moderate success as a backup point guard while Rondo is out of the lineup.
Eric Blaisdell (Follow Eric - EricBlaisdell13)
Kris Humphries - Hump Dog Millionaire is the most likely to be traded because of the nice $12M expiring contract and he can still contribute as a bench rebounder for a team looking to contend while staying financially flexible at the end of the year. With that said, I don't expect much in the way of trades this year. Even their best piece to ship in Rajon Rondo is hurt and will need lots of time to show he's the same player. I'm also not sold on expiring contracts having as much value as others ascribe to them. Don't be surprised if the roster you see now may be the roster come April.
Danielle Hobeika (aka DH) (Follow DH - dhobeika)
Kris Humphries - Humphries. But it sounds like me might get traded earlier than mid-season from various rumors.
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| Hump becomes the 1st Celtic with 2 pre-season awards |
Burak Tekin (aka semioticus) (Follow semioticus - semioticusCL)
Keith Bogans - Some guard will go down with an injury and a contender will be like "hey, here's a defensive 3-point shooter who won't cost that much"
Matty Mackay (Follow Matty - MattyMackay)
Courtney Lee - This one’s pretty tough, I would like them to move Gerald Wallace’s monster contract but I don’t envision that happening. I bet it will be either Jordan Crawford or Lee, for arguments sake I’ll say Lee. With more playing time and a set role on this team he’ll show the ability Celtics fans anticipated from him last season, and a contender might take a flyer on him as a solid complimentary piece.
Karl Dillinger (Follow Karl - karl_dillinger)
Gerald Wallace
Padraic O'Connor (Follow Padraic - padraic_oconnor)
Gerald Wallace / Kris Humphries - Wallace and Humphries split the honor (Editor's note: Splitting votes?? What is this!)
Julian Edlow (Follow Julian - BleedGreenBlogs)
Anyone from the Nets not named MarShon Brooks - Check their contracts..simple (Editor's note: Splitting votes between three guys!! Do you have any idea what this is doing to the integrity of the system??!?)
Matt Richissin (aka MattDotRich) (Follow Matt - MattDotRich)
Avery Bradley - I said this in my article about his future here, but I think if he returns to form he's too expensive for this rebuilding team to keep and if he plays like last year the Celtics would prefer to cut ties with him.
Devin Archer (aka Devin A) (Follow Devin - TheCelticD)
Kris Humphries - There are already rumors about it, and the guy has just the type of contract that a contending team wouldn't mind having for half a season.
Writer votes: Kris Humphries, 3.83 votes (3 full votes + one half vote + one third vote); Gerald Wallace, 1.83 votes (1 full + 1 half + 1 third); Keith Bogans, 1.33 votes (1 full + 1 third); Brandon Bass, 1 vote; Avery Bradley, 1 vote; Jordan Crawford, 1 vote; Courtney Lee, 1 vote
Explain your pick in the comment section!
