Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
The Celtics sent the long-since-excused Bogans and his bloated $5.3 million nonguaranteed contract, along with a pair of second-round picks they were never going to see (top-55 protected picks from Sacramento in 2015 and 2017), to the Cavaliers in exchange for Dwight Powell, Erik Murphy, John Lucas III and Malcolm Thomas, along with Cleveland’s 2016 and 2017 second-round picks. What exactly did Boston get out of the deal?
1. A new $5.3 million trade exception for Bogans. The Celtics absorbed Powell, Murphy and Thomas via minimum salary exceptions and thus needed only to use a small traded-player exception to take on Lucas’ nonguaranteed $1.6 million deal. The guess here is they used a $2.1 million exception generated from sending Courtney Lee to Memphis in January.
2. Powell and Murphy (who played his high school ball at St. Mark’s in Southborough, Massachusetts) should both get looks at training camp. Powell is an intriguing young power forward despite having been traded twice already after being selected by Charlotte at No. 45 in June’s draft. Murphy has a small guarantee ($100,000) and faces long odds to make the regular-season roster unless another move creates additional space.
Oh Keith Bogans, we hardly knew ye.
Don’t feel sorry for the man. He’s going to make another $5 million this year for doing next to nothing. And you can bet he’ll be on that Cavs bench yukking it up with LeBron and the gang instead of pouting about playing time like he did in Boston.
As for the Celtics haul, Danny Ainge came out of this mess with a couple of late 2nd round picks and 6-11 power forward who might sit at the end of the bench all season.
According to the scouting report on Powell, his:
… bread and butter remains as a potential face-up power forward, where he combines his incredible athleticism with potential as a jump shooter, although he connected on perimeter attempts at an inconsistent a rate that yield 0.74 points per possession. His athleticism helped him draw fouls on 20.5% of his possessions, a solid number which helped him maintain a solid level of efficiency. In order to fully utilize his athleticism, his jump shot will have to become more consistent.
Yawn.
Upon completion of the trade, the Celtics roster reached a peak of 24 players. They quickly waived the Chris brothers; Johnson and Babb. Johnson showed flashes, but not enough to warrant playing time over Evan Turner.
The waiving of Lucas III and Thomas will get the C’s to the training camp maximum of 20.
We might be reminded of this deal mid-season when Cleveland pairs the Bogans contract with Brendan Haywood’s $10 million non-guaranteed contract in 2015 to net an over-priced veteran to assist in their playoff run.
Related links: CSNNE – Celtics trade Bogans to Cavs | Providence Journal: C’s acquire South Kingston’s Murphy
The rest of the links:
NBA.com – Media day schedule | NBA coaching in time of social media (good quotes from Kevin McHale)
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