sturt

Based on what little has been reported, he will be signed under an exception.... so he'll have no actual impact on our remaining space.

To be precise... they can't dictate outcomes... they can only tilt the playing floor and hope for the best.... and that the officiating in post season is so markedly different from the rest of the season is what has confirmed it to me that there is some orchestration. You wouldn't need to allow what amounts to roundball rugby if it didn't serve that very purpose of more opportunity to be selective in making calls.

www.nba.com/media/CBA101.pdf

How? I'm all ears/eyes.

If you are optimistic and think Scott's legal situation might survive the season, add $3,333,333 to that. Also, I leave Patterson off, but he's another $874,636.

My capitalist self chokes on this, but in the societal microcosm that is the NBA, I'd vote for improving the salary cap rules in the next CBA to establish some parameters that ensure that there is a middle class on every roster.... How you do that is it's own interesting discussion, but that much is clearly as only ethical as is the assertion that playoff officiating ought be no different than regular season officiating.

lol you are too much sometimes! I'm jealous of her innate ability to dig into her GIF repertoire and scrounge up just the right graphic to prompt a fitting response.

Love the combination of intelligent discussion mixed with raw-even-to-the-point-of-repugnant candor and sharp witted humor on this board. And that's even without AHF or the now dearly departed fanatic being regular contributors this holiday weekend.

This clip shows some of his 3 pt shot.... two things are for sure, (a) he has some decent handles, and (b) this guy isn't afraid of contact.

BI article above says he shot 38% beyond the arc in one recent season.

Doesn't matter. ANY conviction on the Molly charge, per the CBA, mandates a 2 year exile.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Mindaugas-Kuzminskas-5783/ http://www.basketballinsiders.com/mindaugas-kuzminskas-hopes-for-shot-at-nba/ Jan 7, 2015 As NBA teams continue to expand their international personnel on the bench and the hardwood, Lithuanian small forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas keeps falling between the cracks. However, he hasn’t fallen off the radar. Let’s rewind back to 2011. On his third outing at the Adidas EuroCamp showcase, Kuzminskas, according to a report from scouting guru Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, showed the ability to score in bunches. The slim-framed, 6-foot-9 wing erupted with 32 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the perimeter over a pair of showings, drawing immediate NBA attention. But while players like Milan Macvan, Chukwudiebere Maduabum, Tanguy Ngombo and Ater Majok heard their names called in the 2011 NBA Draft, Kuzminskas went undrafted. Now, those four drafted prospects seem like long shots to play in the NBA, while Kuzminskas remains hopeful. Fast forward to last summer, to September 11 of all dates, as Team USA bulldozed over the Lithuanian national team, 96-68, in the World Cup games in Espana. Despite the loss, Kuzminskas recorded his best game and his only double-digit scoring performance with 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor, along with a game-high nine rebounds. That game, in addition to a few solid seasons in the Euroleague with Zalgiris Kaunas and Unicaja Malaga, significantly raised Kuzminskas’ NBA stock, sources told Basketball Insiders. NBA scouts are asking about the length of Kuzminskas’ contract in Spain. The Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz, among others, have inquired, a source shared with Basketball Insiders. Kuzminskas, who is in his second season with Malaga (the No. 1 seed in the ACB League), averages 10.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in 21.6 minutes per game in the Euroleague – and 9.6 points along with 4.1 boards per contest while shooting north of 38 percent from deep in the Spanish competition. “Kuzminskas has been very productive this season and there is NBA interest for sure. Teams have spoken with Malaga, but nothing is imminent at the moment,” Lithuanian based agent Tadas Bulotas told Basketball Insiders. Kuzminskas becomes a restricted free agent next summer as Malaga owns his rights for next season, but according to Bulotas, the Spanish power-club might opt against exercising his extension. “Kuzminskas could leave Malaga, but there is a heavy NBA buyout and a even higher Euroleague buyout,” Bulotas said. “If Malaga [does] well in the ACB and the Euroleague, it might be worth it for the club to lower the buyout and sell Mindaugas. Otherwise, Kuzminskas could leave after next season for free.” Kuzminskas, I’m told, is open to test the NBA waters at the next Summer League showcase in Las Vegas. His agent confirmed this, saying: “We’re thinking about sending him, the Summer League came up in discussions.” Kuzminskas, though, is also comfortable in Malaga. “He’s in the best league in the world outside the NBA, he loves the city and plays for a coach that recruited him out of Lithuania. It could go either way,” Bulotas said. So what does Kuzminskas want? “I’d like to get a chance to move to the NBA,” Kuzminskas told Basketball Insiders. “I feel like I matched up against Team USA pretty well. USA have a lot of talent and great players, but they’re humans, not robots. I’m not thinking too much about the NBA because I have a contract with Malaga for next season. I’m trying to help the team win in the Euroleague Top 16, and to be consistent and improve in order to think about what is next.”

True.... I've seen that other teams have done that. Actually, as I understand it, the CBA allows them to intervene at their own discretion.... you're almost certainly right that they won't, but I believe they could if they wanted to.

That further cements my persuasion that he's our #2.... he almost certainly could have commanded another mil or two, but the sweetner almost had to be that we've told him he's going to go into training camp with that being his job to lose. Btw... purty sure we won't have to use cap space for that signing--that's either a minimum contract ($750K per) or it's one we can accommodate under whatever exception we end up with.

I believe we have to make that decision on or before 7/12.... or maybe that's the date of the arraignment, and if so, then I'm pretty sure we have to guarantee by 7/10.... those are the two dates in my head, excuse the laziness for not taking the time to look it up.

Honestly, can't see us guaranteeing Scott for the season unless there have been behind-closed-doors conversations that allow Budcox 100% confidence that his trial date will be this time next year, and that the league office isn't going to step in any earlier than that. Honestly, can't see us keeping Patterson. I love the player, and I'm suspicious that his 2015-16 arc shot % is a one-off. But Bembry is a younger, higher ceiling player with much the same skill set. Of course, both of those, then, represent trade bait to my mind. I see us churning up a back-up PF.... seems Humphries almost has to be in-play on that front. Conceivable that we'd stick with those 14, and hold open the possibility that some unsigned combo forward emerges as a star in Summer League, or that somehow someone gets overlooked in FA, and we can get a bargain. ===== Edit: Re: PG.... I am one of those who think Devaney goes into the season as our #2, and that Bembry is the #3. However, if not Bembry as the #3, it bears mention that we signed Bryce Cotton to our SL squad.

1. Last summer, I read the CBA section on this, and my understanding is.... anytime they damn well please. But conventional thinking says they'll wait until his arraignment next week--if he pleads guilty, then there's seemingly no reason to hold off any further, but if he pleads not guilty, maybe this plays out further. 2/3. If we have already guaranteed it for 2016-17, then it becomes dead money.... again, that's my understanding based on what I read. There is no mechanism that gives us any new allowances to replace him.

(Know you alluded to it, but never saw the other thread until just now, buried on page 2.... going to read now.)

Aside.... I just realized that Mr. Wonderful's lips do not seem to be actually saying what the GIF creator portends him to be saying. Oh well.

Many of you are probably ahead of me here... (either that or you're still working through your stages of grief toward acceptance....) You're not going to be able to get enough value out of $20m of cap space to mitigate the talent you have to give up in order to get that cap space. That is, where are you going to get an ace defender for 3.5m?.... where are you going to get a sharp shooter for $5m?.... where are you going to get a credible C in this market for 8.5m? Net negative to take this approach. We give up too much in view of how little can be acquired, and more over, that we create a new hole in our roster that has to be addressed. But at least I for one feel better having given it a closer look.

I appreciate Supes candor, but also think there's a history there of enjoying the limelight of taking contrarian views, so it's not taken as seriously as he probably wishes it were, at least on my part. Will he let NorthCyde's excellent post intervene in the conclusion he's drawn? I'd like to think so. It should, anyway. I actually largely share Supes' opinion of Dwight. Many of you were evidently having a Dwight discussion in one or a few threads once it became public that Dwight was meeting with Hawks HQ. Me? Naive as I may be, I thought "that'll never happen... just a ploy on the part of both to create some leverage with their other interests." I couldn't imagine Bud having any serious interest in the skill set unless there was some serious discount... and I mean serious. And like Supes (and I think a lot of others), figured we had to go into FA season laser-focused on keeping Al, yes b/c he's a lifelong productive borderline All-Star Hawk, but mainly b/c to fail to bring him back, you're essentially throwing away ~$10m of cap space and the value of talent that that constitutes to the roster... at a time in the timeline of this franchise when it teeters on the cusp of relevance or irrelevance. Moreover, like Supes, I perceived Deng to be a legit #1 target b/c he really did seem to be an ideal fit in how he can credibly produce at both SF and back-up PF. But I also appreciate that it's easier in summer 2016 to swallow that 5th year pill than it will be in summer 2020, when it could be a handicap. And looking at it all soberly, his to-date history says injury could be a prominent theme of Al's retirement bio when it gets written. Budcox can only do so much before the scale tips over to the "unreasonable" side of the ledger. I read some talk as-if oblivious to the point that Budcox weren't in control of everyting here... Horford has a mind of his own. As happens often, I find myself nodding in agreement with JBH.... Dwight has a LOT to prove here. And the first test is really a matter of personality more than skill--can he find the humility to blend into the mix of this team. I'd like to think so, but skepticism is warranted. As a fan, I want to see him excel, and will extend some leash in my opinion. He's a Hawk now, as weird as that feels as I write it. His signing has seriously inhibited us from doing everything in FA that I'd thought we might, and there's almost no question that if Budcox could do it all over again knowing what they know now, this all would have went down differently. But.... what is too easily set aside.... they couldn't actually know it. They are not not omniscient. So, now they (Budcox) really get to earn their money. This is a big-time set-back, but... particularly in view of the leaps in development of Schröder and Bazemore, and as someone has pointed out, in view of Dwight's success on those occasions when he's had a formidable PF playing beside him, not unconquerable. The out-of-nowhere signing of Delaney yesterday--not even 24 hours following the disappointing announcement from Horford--suggests to me that they took a punch, but they're still in the ring and fully engaged in the off-court battle. There's no giving up. God knows, there have been times in this franchise's history that a development like this would have been the haymaker that put the regime into a tailspin. I don't sense that here. We have leadership who are determined and steady in their approach. That's not discounting the enormity of the task before them, but it is voicing confidence that these are long-distance runners, and that it is, after all, a marathon, not a sprint, to get to where we all want to go.

Dang. Really? Woke up only to ten more of these threads. What the? All together now.... Say it. And mean it. And in the words of the great philosopher Robert Seger... turn the paaaaaaaage. Unless you can't, and then, you can always visit the Around the Association board where all the rest of the Celtics talk goes on.

It's not mine to dictate, of course.... hence the word "proposition." It's also, though, not as-if I'm suggesting no one can offer any further lament or insult... just suggesting that after 24 hours, it makes some sense to move those discussions to the forum where all of the other Celtics talk is welcome.

My attitude.... he's over us.... I'm over him. I'm not angry. Every other day of the year, we all acknowledge that this is a business. He's made his choice. He's walked out of our own Shark Tank of sorts. And in my best Mr. Wonderful voice, "he's dead to me." He now belongs to the NBA general board.