There were a lot of moving parts involved in Saturday's dominant storyline, a proposed trade that would send Celtics mainstays Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett to the Clippers. Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com, with an assist from Chris Broussard, as well as Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times rounded up the relevant details late last night. Based on their reports, here's what we know right now:
- The Celtics are seeking Eric Bledsoe, DeAndre Jordan and at least one future first-round pick in return for Garnett and Rivers. They're also insisting the Clippers take on the contract of either Jason Terry or Courtney Lee.
- The Clippers are reluctant to give up Bledsoe, in large measure because of his value for other potential swaps, perhaps a sign-and-trade for Dwight Howard. Still, a source tells Turner that a swap of Bledsoe and Blake Griffin for Howard won't happen.
- An executive told Turner that the Clippers appear to be holding up the deal, while the Celtics want to hurry it along, given Rivers' desire to coach the Clips.
- If the Clippers do the deal, they'd follow by pursuing Paul Pierce. The Celtics may waive Pierce by June 30th to prevent his $15.3MM contract, which is partially guaranteed for $5MM until that date, from becoming fully guaranteed.
- Clippers owner Donald Sterling is willing to give Rivers a three-year deal worth about $6MM per year, or about $1MM less annually than what Rivers would make with the Celtics.
- The Celtics are prepared to bring Rivers back as their coach if no deal is reached with the Clippers. Garnett, like Rivers, has yet to commit to playing next season, but the chance of him doing so would be significantly enhanced if Pierce is back with the Celtics as well.
- If the trade doesn't happen by Tuesday or Wednesday, the Clippers will choose between Lionel Hollins and Brian Shaw for their next coach. Of the two, Hollins is the front-runner, but both are also in the mix for the Nuggets job.
I don’t buy these reports that talks are dead. I think each team is waiting for the other to budge first, which I bet will be the Clippers. The Celtics are not winning next year with or without this trade, so they can holdout as long as they need to. It’s the Clippers that need this to happen, so they can re-sign Paul and surround him with good pieces (Doc, KG, Griffin, and perhaps Pierce).
I don’t think they need KG/Doc/maybe Pierce to bring Paul back. I think they have the best chance at that anyway. It’d definitely make it close to automatic though if they did complete the trade. They probably become favorites in the West too.
Ainge was just being greedy if he really did try to include Terry or Lee.
Garnett, Lee or Terry, Rivers to the Clippers for Bledsoe, Jordan, Butler, and 2013 1st, 2014 2nd, then the Celtics would waive Pierce. As a huge Pierce fan, I would be ok with this because I believe the Celtics will waive him either way to save the $10M.
If I’m the Celtics, and can get anything close to Jordan, and Bledsoe for Garnett and Rivers, while cutting Pierce, I would do that in less than a second! Thats a HUGE win for them and makes the Clippers look stupid. It would immediately give the Celtics a bunch of young assets and a much more athletic team. Rondo, Bradley, Bledsoe, Green, Sullinger, Jordan, Jordan Crawford, etc. would probably be a pretty fun team to watch.
As for the possible Blake Griffin and Bledsoe for Dwight scenario, I think that would be a decent move for both teams, though the Clippers obviously win it. The Lakers get an athletic PG that they have desperately needed for many years to help guard the position and an athletic forward to pair with Gasol. Gasol would have the ball go through him and he could easily make the pass in the post to Griffin for finishes at the basket. As I have said though, Blake is a B**** and unless he develops a consistent jumper or a couple of post moves, this type of situation is probably the only decent situation for him. The Clippers would obviously make out ending up with Paul and Howard in that scenario. They’ll be able to protect the rim really well with Jordan and Howard too. I still see an issue where they are too reliant on CP3 in the half court and now they lose their depth in Bledsoe, and become a slightly older team. Add the fact that they also will still have the same free throw issue…At the end of the day, neither of these teams is winning a championship anytime soon. Lebron and Durant have that stuff locked up. If I’m Dwight, I would probably have to say that Houston is the best spot for me right now….