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Your Morning Dump… Where the Celtics might go hard after LaMarcus Aldridge and Wes Matthews?

Chuck - Red's Army May 12, 2015 Celtics News, Colton Iverson, Rumors, The Morning Dump 30 Comments

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Sherrod Blakely: I think there’s a 35-40% chance (Aldridge) comes here. Here’s the thing about Aldridge, he’s going to look for a situation that gives him the best shot at going deep into the playoffs. My understanding is the Celtics are going to be open to putting together some type of package deal where they would not only bring in LaMarcus Aldridge, they’d bring in one of his good friends, Wes Matthews. Now, if you’re the Celtics and you can put a deal together to get those two guys in town, you gotta do it.

CSNNE

A 35-40% chance the Celtics land LaMarcus Aldridge? Someone check on Sherrod Blakely because I think the man’s in dire need of medical attention.

The speculation is growing that Aldridge will leave Portland. The Spurs, Mavericks and Cavaliers are teams with interest, according to multiple reports. However, there hasn’t been an ounce of speculation that Aldridge would consider Boston, until now.

We’ve mentioned Wes Matthews as a potential off-season target. He would be one of those 2nd tier free-agents the Celtics would have to overpay in order to land.

I initially scoffed at Sherrod’s scenario. But… the Celtics might be the only team that could afford to pay big bucks to both guys. We also know how much guys enjoy playing with their buddies.

Maybe, just maybe….

On Page 2, it’s time for our annual summertime Colton Iverson stories.

A Celtics contingent that included director of scouting Dave Lewin and international scout Benas Matkevicius flew to Spain last month to check on Iverson and formally invite him to join the team’s summer squad again. They watched him practice, then took him to dinner to discuss the state of the team and the role he’d be competing for moving forward.

Said Iverson: “We essentially agree on everything that I need to do to make it happen.”

In 56 games this season between Liga ACB and Euroleague play, Iverson has averaged 7.3 points and 6 rebounds over 20.5 minutes per game. His scoring is down a tick from his first season overseas in Turkey last year, but he’s been a more efficient scorer, shooting 60.2 percent from the floor.

ESPN

I’m not sure how much of a chance Iverson has of cracking the Celtics big man rotation of LaMarcus Aldridge, Tyler Zeller, Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger.

It’s pretty simple: if Iverson can defend the post and protect the rim, there’s a spot for him on this roster. It might be way down the end of the bench, but there’s a spot.

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  • Kevin

    I don’t have a lot of interest bringing in someone who’s recovering from a torn achilles.

  • Sean

    Id rather ainge not overspend on a 30 yr old big man and an injured player. What do I know though?

    • adam

      LMA is awesome. but I too am weary of a 30 year old big man. Then again how old was KG when he signed with the Celtics?

      • bill_nair

        LMA is no KG.

        • adam

          Definitely not. That was my point ;-)

          • bill_nair

            I agree with you, didn’t really mean to direct it towards you. I’ve had a lot of C’s fans tell me he’d be the KG in our big 3 which is why I made the comment.

            He’d be our Bosh or Ray Allen rather than KG. I think newer Boston fans forget how vital KG was to this teams success for 6 years.

          • Dave

            He changed the culture once he got there, restored the number 1 priority being defense and of course injecting a passion in Celtic pride that hasn’t been constant in the franchise in decades.

            He also did all the small things too that helped in the team’s success. That 07-08 season was such a magical journey, I still hope his number gets retired alongside PP’s one day.

          • bill_nair

            There will never be another like him.

      • Dave

        Just turned 31 at that time.

      • Curt Hays

        Idk about calling him awesome. He takes A LOT of shots. I’d rather have someone more significant like DeAndre.

        • MondoCane

          DeAndre is still irrelevant without Chris Paul. If you take away from him the lob-passes he receives, than it’s 70% of his offensive game gone. The rest is put-backs and, believe it or not, free throws. not sold on DeAndre. Lukewarm on LMA.

          • bill_nair

            You don’t sign DeAndre for offense though.

          • MondoCane

            true. we couldn’t score for long stretches during the cleveland series. DeAndre won’t solve any of those issues, plus he’s costly for a guy who can’t score on his own.

  • Brewblaz

    Obviously as a Blazer fan I don’t like any of these choices, the heavy rumours are the Spurs or Mark Cuban and his grubby paws.

  • RedsLoveChild

    Aldridge was diagnosed with having a heart ailment in 2007, which means he`s destined to become a Celtic…Jeff Green, Chris Wilcox, Reggie Lewis, Len Bias

    • Redunkulous

      Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Because I like Alridge’s post game but I hate to lose a player for the season.

      • RedsLoveChild

        I don`t think the Celts have enough pieces in place to entice LMA to come here.

        Besides, given the heartache other heart patients have given the Celtics—-the Green trade cost us the 2011 banner, the hearts of Bias & Lewis likely cost us a couple more rings—-I want the team to focus on guys who have cholesterol readings under 350.

    • Curt Hays

      Haha, my concern is how many shots LaMarcus has to take in order to get his points. He led the league in 2-point FGAs, IIRC.

      • bill_nair

        I’m glad more people are talking about this. I mentioned it a few weeks ago (and all last season) in an article mentioning him.

  • Adam Stark

    Wallace, Bradley, Sullinger, 2 1st round picks for Both? I’d do that in a heart beat!

    • adam

      As long as both draft picks aren’t net picks. I like to keep bradley and smart.

      • Adam Stark

        I’d rather have a Smart and Mathews back court. I do like Bradley but you need at least one guard that can shoot more than 35% from deep.

    • bill_nair

      Unfortunately, the Blazers wouldn’t.

      • Adam Stark

        I think they would if that was the best offer. They would be better to do that deal rather than letting them walk.

        • bill_nair

          Yeah and LMA would come to Boston if we were the only team in the league.

          NY, SAC and LAL could all offer their top picks which would instantly trump our package. Bremen, last year at this time “no one had a better package than Boston” when it came to Love.

          • Adam Stark

            NY, LAL and sac are all toxic and are not winning any time soon. Remember he has to pick a place to go. I think people think that all free agents want to go to NY and LAL, look at D12. He will probably go to the Spurs if he leaves at all.

  • zippittyay

    Who are the *first tier* free agents? HoopsHype ranks LMA as 3rd behind LeBron and Marc Gasol…….

  • Brad Sontag

    Hypothetical question. Could they go after both Love & Aldridge as FA & not have to give up any draft pics to get these guys? I mean if they could & could keep these picks. Wow, things would be looking real good over next decade.

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