Smart feels trade winds
In limbo as deadline approaches
All was fairly quiet on the Celtics trade front yesterday, but it appears the club is making all necessary preparations for the chance there will be one or more moves by the NBA’s Thursday deadline.
CELTICS BEAT Steve Bulpett
Greg Monroe is sealed and delivered, but not signed. The 6-foot-11 power forward/center is in town and went through his physical today, but, as reported, he is holding off on signing his free agent contract in case the Celts need the roster spot to complete a deal (such as one that takes back more players than it sends out and creates a need to waive somebody).
If Monroe already was on board, bringing the roster to the 15-player maximum, they would have to let go of someone to make the trade. He still is scheduled to sign for $5 million, or maybe a greater slice of the $8.4 million disabled player exception, depending on whether the Celts need that gap money to facilitate a trade.
In the meantime, Monroe will work out at the team’s facility and study up on the Celts’ offensive and defensive schemes and how Brad Stevens plans to use him. With the team on the road, the coaching staff has prepared video for him to examine.
Word is Monroe will join the Celtics in Washington tomorrow (he went to school at Georgetown) and potentially sign and be activated after the 3 p.m. deadline the next day. It’s possible he could even be play in that night’s game against the Wizards.
It will be interesting to see if Marcus Smart is a teammate of Monroe that evening, albeit an inactive one.
Smart remained home when the Celts traveled for games in Toronto and Washington to rehab the lacerated right hand he suffered while losing fight with a picture frame in his Beverly Hills hotel room.
The Celtics still are open to discussing Smart in trades, but one general manager who’s been in on some of those talks isn’t optimistic something will get done.
“It’s not like they’re trying to give him away,” he said. “They want something back. Smart still has a lot of value for that team.”
According to another league source, the root of the Celtics’ willingness to make Smart available has virtually nothing to do with a temper that also led to him punching a hole in a dressing room wall in Washington last year. The issue is the uncertainty surrounding how things will play out when Smart becomes a free agent this summer.
The guard currently makes $4,538,020 in the final year of his rookie contract, and the Celts could retain the right to match any offer he gets by making him the $6,053,719 qualifying offer. As it stands now in the market, teams are pulling back financially as salary structures begin to get squeezed from the effects of the gold rush after the new television contracts kicked in and the cap went from around $70 million to more than $94 million.
Smart could end up being offered no more than the mid-level exception of some $8.5 million (for non tax-paying teams), and he might choose to play for the qualifying offer for one year to become an unrestricted free agent in 2019. But all it takes is one team willing to pay Smart beyond that.
One team that likely has interest now and will in the summer is the Clippers. In a discussion with the Herald about the Celtics two weeks ago, Doc Rivers was quoted as saying, “You know, Marcus Smart gets a lot of flak, but to me, he’s a lifeline. His defense and toughness lends out to the entire team. I love watching him play.”
That would seem to be a good common ground to foster talks on a deal for Lou Williams, an explosive scorer the Celtics have been after to solve their bench production issues.
Another target who fits that bill is Memphis wing Tyreke Evans. There was nothing happening on that front yesterday, but look for the discussion to be revisited.