How the Celtics Won the DeAndre Jordan Fiasco

Between the 1st and 9th of July, front offices can begin courting free agents. On July 9th, the “moratorium” is lifted, allowing free agents to finally sign with their new (or former) team. These nine days are a cavalcade of speculation and chaos, which is usually entertaining for the fans. July 8th was not an entertaining day for Mavericks fans, though.

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On July 4th, it was a foregone conclusion that DeAndre Jordan would be joining the Dallas Mavericks after he had verbally committed to sign with them on a four year, $80 million deal. However, he reneged on his word, and re-joined the Los Angeles Clippers. The disaster that ensued throughout the course of July 8th exposed the issues with the current format.

There are necessary administrative reasons for this nine day time span. This includes providing the league with the requisite time necessary to determine the increased salary cap. In addition, this gives time for several teams to meet with players and pitch them their team. However, this period most effectively serves as an attention-getting, deployed for the purpose of sustaining interest throughout the doldrums of the NBA calendar.

The Emoji war between NBA players and coaches alike, resulting from the DeAndre Jordan-travesty, garnered the world’s attention. The entire episode was perfect for today’s digital world. The players were interacting with the fans on twitter regarding the progress of the events, while insiders dropped insight into the innerworkings of the business side of the NBA. On one hand it was hilarious to see Clippers fans pull a 360 on their opinions on DeAndre (love to hate and back to love again) while tragic to see Mavericks fans go from such highs to such lows so quickly. It was the perfect combination of hilarity and suspense. It felt like an above-average episode of Entourage, minus the misogyny and stale plot devices; the saga was a showbiz epic, saturated with sleazy agents, internet billionaires, heartbreak, and ultimately, bromance.

The Clippers came out the victor, while the Mavericks descended into hopelessness.

Lost in all of this madness though, was the potentially significant implications it poses for the Celtics.

When DeAndre Jordan first announced his intentions to sign with Dallas, I thought it was a good fit and started looking forward to this shake-up in the Western Conference. Having watched the same Clippers team year-in and year-out fail to really establish itself as a contender, I was ready for a change. I like Doc Rivers and really wanted to see Paul Pierce have a successful twilight of his career, but it’d have been fun to see this Mavericks team’s starting lineup of Jeremy Lin (whom was presumably ready to sign with Dallas before the events of July 8th), Wesley Matthews, Chandler Parsons, Dirk Nowitzki, and DeAndre Jordan.

I failed to see the bigger picture: we own Dallas’ first round pick for season and with DeAndre Jordan in that lineup, we’d have been lucky to get a top-20 pick. Now, with no Jordan, the pick becomes FAR more enticing. It’s important to remember though, that it’s Top-7 protected. With Dirk, Parsons, and Matthews on that team, they’ll likely fall in the middle of the pack.

What could impact the Celtics the most is if Deron Williams (who – according to ESPN’s Marc Stein – is seeking a release from the Nets) joined his hometown Mavericks, whom he’s reportedly interested in joining. While the Nets don’t have to oblige, he’s off the books after this year, so it wouldn’t negatively affect Brooklyn too much. It’s hard to say no to such requests, as players in these situations tend to drag their feet until their team finally relents (see Vince Carter-Toronto nightmare).

Although Williams would probably be an improvement over Devin Harris, and thus, hurt the stock of the Mavs’ pick, his departure would weaken the Nets. Don’t forget, we own that Nets pick and it’s unprotected, so if the Nets blow up, we could easily end up with a lottery pick.

Best Case Scenario:

The Nets trade Joe Johnson to the Cavaliers for Brendan Haywood’s contract and an assortment of picks. Deron Williams is released and heads home to Dallas to lead the Mavericks to a 31-51 record, finishing 11th in the West. The Nets would be without two of their stars (they just re-upped Brook Lopez) and finish last in the East, while the Mavericks have to forfeit their 8th pick to us.

The Celtics would then have their own pick, the Nets number one overall pick and the Mavericks 8th pick. If that’s not enough to flip for an All-Star, I don’t know what is.

*I’ve decided against doing a “Worst Case Scenario”, seeing as it’s Friday and we all deserve some optimism heading into the weekend.

*EDIT: Deron Williams WILL join the Dallas Mavericks, as per David Aldridge.

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