Cs Say Goodbye to Sam Cassell

For now, anyway.

Cassell and cash to Sacramento for a second-round draft pick ... a conditional one ... in 2015. It appears that we've essentially paid the Kings to take Cassell off our hands.

That's not entirely accurate, but it's not entirely inaccurate, either. I set out to try and lay out the implications of the deal, but the only thing that makes my head spin more than NBA salary cap considerations is trying to explain NBA salary cap considerations to others. As is often the case, the CelticsBlog community has some great insights (though some of those, like theories of Oklahoma City trading Joe Smith to Sacramento, are now outdated -- more on this a little later).
This seems to have financial benefits to both teams, as Boston saves luxury tax money and Sacramento will likely cut Cassell, bolstering themselves with whatever money Boston sent them in the deal.

To me, this makes it unlikely that we do a trade before Thursday's trade deadline. Cassell would have been a good throw-in for salary purposes in such a deal. The speculation is that we're freeing up a roster spot to sign a veteran who gets bought out.

Who might that be? Estranged (and strange) Knicks guard Stephon Marbury has been discussed for months now, but he's not going anywhere without a buyout, and I haven't heard any movement on that front in some time.

Before he was traded to New Orleans today (along with Chris Wilcox, for Tyson Chandler), Joe Smith seemed a likely candidate to be bought out by Oklahoma City. He would have been a very nice addition, though the Celtics would likely have had to outbid many contenders -- including Smith's old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers -- for his services.

That window seems closed at this point. By trading Chandler, New Orleans has likely thrown its chances of a deep playoff run away in the name of saving money. However, they can at least spin it as a move made for basketball reasons, given Chandler's injury problems this year and the added depth of Smith and Wilcox up front). Were they to cut Smith and his $4.8 million salary, that'd be a difficult argument to make, and there'd be quite an uproar at the Hornets ignoring a playoff run despite currently hanging on to the sixth seed in the West through a myriad of injuries to important players. There's already something of an outcry from players and fans. I just can't see them cutting Smith.

That might leave us back with Cassell, which I'm not thrilled about. He hurt us more than he helped us last year, and Eddie House and Gabe Pruitt have shown they are more than capable of backing up Rajon Rondo at the point. Giving Doc Rivers a full bench to use can be a dangerous thing to do.