Now it’s time to see what Danny Ainge has in mind for a Plan B.
Certainly, the Celtics’ backup small forward of choice on this summer’s free agent market was Grant Hill,
the seven-time All-Star whose veteran presence had been a valuable
asset for the Phoenix Suns the last two years. But with Hill opting to
return to the Suns for another go ’round, the Celtics are forced to
look elsewhere for a bench swingman.
Getting someone to take the job is an absolute imperative. Paul Pierce
will turn 32 before this season gets under way, and he led the Celtics
in minutes played last season with 3,035. Every minute he plays, the
odometer keeps moving — the man’s knees can only take so much. The C’s
need to do everything in their power to take a load off their captain.
And it should be easy to attract a suitable backup for Pierce,
right? Boston has the championship pedigree and the veteran presence to
entice potential free agent signings. It worked with Rasheed Wallace, and it can surely work again.
With Hill, the problem of course was money. The Celtics are over the
salary cap and have already spent their midlevel exception on Wallace;
that means that their ability to sign blue-chip stars has been
effectively hamstrung. Free agents aren’t free.
The Celtics’ last hope is the biannual exception, so named because
it’s available to NBA teams once every two years. The Celtics have the
option to make one more splash in the open market for up to $1.9
million a year, which they tried and failed to spend on Hill. But the
Celtics need to keep trying to turn that exception into a productive
bench player — the team’s bench is still far from fully stocked.
As backup plans go, let’s start with the obvious: If you can’t get
Grant Hill, maybe his backup is the next-best thing. The Celtics could
take a look at Matt Barnes, the 6-foot-7 swingman who
played a valuable sixth-man role behind Hill in the Suns’ rotation last
season. Barnes is 29 and has bounced around to six NBA teams since
being drafted in 2002; he obviously has his flaws, but he could make a
decent backup.
Barnes is a decent mid-range jump shooter and a solid rebounder for
his position. He’s not the most adept passer or defender, but if the
other Celtics forward on the floor is Kevin Garnett,
he’s got the right partner in crime to shore up his deficiencies. Given
the Celtics’ financial swagger (or lack thereof) at the moment, Barnes
is the right kind of player for the Celtics’ needs.
Another possibility is Jerry Stackhouse, the 34-year-old former All-Star who was cut loose
by Memphis one day after being shipped out of Dallas in a four-way
trade. Stackhouse isn’t quite the player he once was — both his scoring
and rebounding have tapered off with age — but he’s still a palatable
option as a bench scorer. Stackhouse can play either the two or the
three, making him a potential backup for either Pierce or Ray Allen.
Stack has made about $80 million in his career — he was just bought
out of a three-year, $21 million contract. So for the Celtics, the
trick will be to convince him to come to Boston for significantly less
money.
Stackhouse, like many of the available free agents in this market,
has never won a championship. Ainge’s goal should be to find the best
player he can that values winning rings over winning millions. If
Barnes or Stackhouse is that player, great. If not, there are plenty
more options.
The Boston Globe’s Marc Spears listed a multitude of free-agent possibilities for the Celtics on Sunday. Unfortunately, not all of them are attainable.
Jamario Moon, a rookie sensation in Toronto a year
ago, is a restricted free agent not likely to sign if the Celtics post
an offer sheet with a price tag under $2 million. Josh Childress
— who signed a three-year, $20 million deal last offseason to play in
Greece but is still technically a Hawks restricted free agent under NBA
rules — probably won’t return to the States.
But there are other possibilities out there — like Ime Udoka of the Spurs, Desmond Mason of the Thunder and Rodney Carney
of the Timberwolves. Any one of these guys can be enticed by the
possibility of winning a ring, and it only takes one to fortify the
Celtics’ bench for next season.
Danny Ainge is capable of making the Celtics the favorites to win
the Eastern Conference next season. You could argue that he’s already
done it. But one more piece would make everyone in Boston feel a whole
lot more comfortable about these Celtics. The right player is out there
— he just needs to be wooed a little.
