Cup of Joe. Ainge thought about waiting til summer on Thomas trade


"The Celtics discussed holding off on the Thomas deal to deflate their win total, but decided after some debate that they could lose out — or pay a higher price — if they waited until the summer. “Ideally, he might have been someone you pick up in the summer,” Ainge says. “But someone else might trade for him. You might be in a bidding war. You have to move while the iron is hot.”"

Ainge's ideally you pick up IT in the Summer part 100% proves that Danny wanted no part of getting in the playoffs with a losing record in the Leastern Conference.
Source: Zack Lowe, Grantland (must read)

There's been growing talks amongst Celtics fans that while a playoff appearance would be nice, it'd ultimately best for this team to miss out on the playoffs. While the Celtics are in the hunt in the, to use Zack's words, 'the Leastern Conference,' their 33 wins currently sits tied as the 10th worst record in the league. The lottery is a strange beast, so that pick could move up or down a few spots in the event that they were to miss the playoffs. There's certainly a lot of appeal in that, and clearly it's something that Danny Ainge and company have kept in the backs of their mind.

The Thomas trade has been worth it. Outside of Ainge's point about striking while there's a good value, and Thomas' extremely friendly salary (which actually declines each year) there's a less obvious, but arguably more valuable reason I think the Celtics were right to make this move.

In order to be able to secure the talents of free agents you need to get them to agree to come (that sentence was brought to you by Perd Hapley). And in order for them to sign you need to be able to sell them on something, and Massachusetts weather and taxes sure as hell isn't doing it. What you can sell him on though, is the strength of the organization. You can show him the slew of draft picks that'll come your way in the next 3 years, and sell him on the coach. The coach that BS Report Guest, and professional basketball gambler Harlabos calls 'the best in game coach in the league.' The coach that took that turned the island of misfit toys into a competitive, slightly above average team.

This late season surge has started to shine a light on Brad Stevens. You can feel the buzz growing, can't you? A coach alone can turn around a franchise. But I do think there's more value in shining a light on Stevens and securing Thomas (and his contract) at a good value is more valuable than being able to slide down a few (albeit important) spots.

Start Your Morning Off With.. Wishing CP3 a healthy and quick recovery from double ankle surgery


Vintage WTHHT: What the Hell Happened to... Roy Rogers

This week in WTHHT, we remember the career of Roy Rogers. No not the famous Western Actor / Singer, but rather the man that played 9 games for the Celtics in the 1997-98 campaign, and wore #99.

Roy attended the University of Alabama where he was selected by the Grizzlies with the 22nd overall pick in the loaded 1996 draft (making him the 3rd WTHHT story after this guy and this guy). His rookie year he actually played in all 82 games, starting 50 of them and averaged 6.6 ppg and 4.7 rpg in 23 minutes a night. He also averaged 2 bpg in that time. In fact he finished ninth total in the whole league that season in blocked shots (this is where some GM will normally step in and offer the Jim McIlvaine or Micheal Stewart extreme-contract based on blocks per minute. Speaking of McIlvaine it's too bad he never played for the Celtics so I could write on him. Check out what he's been up to. Are you kidding me? He takes pictures of cars for Hot Rodding Magazine? Amazing how much fun we'd have had with that here).

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