Boston Boxer

What does it all mean. Do you think he will resign at a club friendly price, or is he going for the last big contract?

I say he comes back at a good price for the team...it would give us some more money to bring in another player

JoeSixPat

"Club Friendly?"

Depends on how you look at it.

Will he cost less next year than the $21 million he'd have otherwise gotten if he re-signs a long term contract?

Probably. He'll also be 33 at the start of the season and locked in for 4 years (that's what they say they want.) which would limit the ability to make other moves over those years.

They will be committing all that money at the time when the CBA is running out and a lockout is looming too.

Will he maintain his 19 points and 4 rebounds per game over those years? Will it decline?

Although we have Pierce's "Bird Rights" making him less of a cap albatross compared to a different free agent, would bringing in someone like Dirk Nowitzki make any sense? A year younger than Pierce... 25 points per game and 8 rebounds per game...

It also seems to me that with Perkins out til December, Nowitzki's rebounding would be a big help...

Maybe there's a reason why Nowitzki isn't a fit here but I'm interested in the thought of others.

bigcountry75

I like your thinking Joe....I would wonder if Pierce and Allen walk, Sheed retires.....That is a TON of money off the books....Could we sign Dirk and Bosh? That would give us a BIG/Athletic team that can shoot around rondo.....Even if we went with Rondo/T. Allen/Dirk/KG/Bosh....We would have good/great defense along with having good/great offense.....This would be beast if something like this could happen.....Then if Perk gets healthy in another year or so when KG retire we could always slide Bosh to the PF and still be set for a couple more years.....I love Pierce just as much as the next guy but we do need to start thinking for the future also and with all these big names out there I would love to make a splash.....

JoeSixPat

FYI - the maximum value contract the Celts could offer Pierce is $96 million over 4 years... $24 million a year... the most other teams could offer him would be $93 million.

Is Pierce, given his stats and age worth anything close to maximum value contract to the Celts or any other team? I tend to think not but I guess we'll find out....

Both are higher than he'd be getting from the Celts next year, but I'd think Pierce would take less than the maximum for the security of an additional 4 years.

With Pierce, Wallace and Allen all off the books I'd think the Celts could be players for any player out there... it's just a question of what makes the most sense.

I know that Red liked Nowitzki a lot when he was coming out of college, and boy was he right about him.... maybe there's a reason why he wouldn't work for the Celts but I think I'd happily take Nowitzki over Pierce given our clear need for better inside presence.

JoeSixPat

Rumor has it that Pierce will re-sign... somewhere in the four year $48 million range...

That jibes with the rumor that Doc will come back... I'd have to think that Doc feels good about the chances of contending for one more season with Pierce, KG, Rondo and other role players