As the dust settles on the extension of luke, queta, JT and d.white... I've accepted that we would be in the 2nd apron along with all the penalties and future draft pick freezing that it entails. Then, I read this great article by Sam Quinn:

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/jayson-tatums-extension-gives-boston-a-historically-expensive-roster-so-how-long-can-they-keep-it-together/

So, quick summary, is there's a way for the celtics to duck under the 2nd apron this year but not moving forward. if it's ducked this year, that extends the window for the core of the team before they have to break it up by 1 year. The cost? PP and Springer have to be salary dumped this year. With how high I am on Baylor, it made me consider. Especially with summer league a couple of weeks away where i can validate if i was wrong or right about Baylor. The celtics have 2 paths now:

1. Get the best vet min FA (this includes tillman) they can get on the market and put forth the best roster they can to increase their chances of repeating this year and winning banner 19.

or

2. decrease their chances of repeating while banking on internal development (anton, baylor or walsh) so they can increase future flexibility and keep the window open for an extra year.

Both are valid paths. This post is about the 2nd one. The controversial route.

So which teams can we dump springer and PP on?

1. utah

2. san antonio

3. charlotte

4. detroit

5. orlando

i'm going to choose charlotte here as i think it's hard to deal with Danny, I dont want to accelerate the timeline of the spurs or the magic and the pistons dont own any 1st round picks which arent their own (they wont trade their own as a tanking team). So here's the trade:

CHA gets:

PP

Springer

BOS gets:

2027 1st RD pick via MIA

2027 1st RD pick via DAL

2025 2nd RD pick via PHI

Why does charlotte do it? they get their backup PG of the future and get to take a flier on a high defensive upside young guy. They dont mind trading those picks as those are picks of possible contenders (or at the very least playoff teams) so they arent high picks. 2 low 1sts and 1 low 2nd IMO is a fair price to get PP and springer.

Why does boston do it? decent pick return and they get under the 2nd apron. Job's not done though. This gets them about 5.2M below the 2nd apron with 3 roster spots that need to be filled. what to do next?

Cs should be fine as long they can split 5.1M across 3 players. Sam Quinn recommends signing a couple of rookie scale contracts (1.1M is the lowest) similar to what Jordan Walsh got last year. This could be Anton and whoever impresses Brad out of summer league/training camp. Could be tristan. Then the 3rd player can be a vet min making 2.9M or less. That could be tillman or someone else.

Springer isnt a big loss since he wasn't playing anyway and while PP is a big loss, if Baylor is as good and as ready as i think he is, he can replace PPs mins. A 9-man rotation of JT, JB, d.white, Jrue, KP/Queta, Al, Sam, Luke and Baylor is still a solid 9. Whoever is signed with that vet min could also replace Baylor if he isnt ready.

Anyway i just wanted to lay out my thoughts on this. Would you consider it? Be nice in the comments. Lets go Cs!