Tony, Eddie Returning

From RealGM.com:

The Celtics agreed to terms with guards Eddie House and Tony Allen to return, GM Danny Ainge announced today. Both will get two-year contracts (although House’s second year is a player option, according to an NBA source).

These re-signings definitely help solidify our paper thin bench. Eddie gives us that scoring point guard option off the bench that we came to really appreciate late in the playoffs last season. Tony Allen, now an entire year and a half removed from that gruesome knee injury, hopefully can become the defensive stopper he used to be. If he can get his offensive confidence back as well, that would be a huge boost to the 2nd unit. Now it’s time to see who else Danny will scoop up before the season starts.

Posey Crushes Our Hearts, Heads to Hornets

From ESPN:

James Posey, arguably the most coveted unrestricted free agent left on the market, agreed to a four-year deal with the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday worth an estimated $25 million, his agent, Mark Bartelstein, said.

This news hurts this team deeply. Not only did we lose probably the best glue guy in the league, but we also missed out on opportunities to sign a replacement such as Corey Maggette or Mickael Pietrus. Only positive about Posey not re-signing is we now have money to pay Eddie House to stay, but that decision is up to Danny.

Hornets’ fans, embrace James for every penny he is worth because he truly is a special player. I would have liked to see him make Boston his final team, but the cards just didn’t fall that way. I wish you the best, James, as you have earned every dollar any team would be willing to pay you.

Camby a Clipper

Link

The Los Angeles Clippers have agreed in principal on a trade with the Denver Nuggets to acquire center Marcus Camby as their replacement for Elton Brand, according to NBA front-office sources.

Sources told ESPN.com that the Clippers will only have to surrender a second-round pick to acquire Camby, who is being jettisoned by the Nuggets purely for payroll relief.

This is the epitome of a salary dump if I have ever seen it. This is obviously a great deal for the Clippers as they are getting a potential Defensive Player of the Year in Camby in return for a measley 2nd round draft pick. The Nuggets do rid themselves of Camby’s contract, but now have a gaping hole at center. It will be interesting to see what the Nuggets front office does to this roster in the near future.

As for the Clippers, Camby isn’t nearly the offensive replacement in the post that they would have liked for Elton Brand, but his defensive skills are nearly unmatched in the league. It’s going to be interesting to see how Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby play together on the floor. Kaman showed a greater offensive game with Brand out for most of last season with decent range on his jumpshot, but I can see a lot of problems with spacing when they are both on the floor at the same time.

Posey Decision Imminent?

James Posey, the best available free agent, may make his decision on where he will play next in the very near future.

Free agent forward James Posey could soon make a decision about where he’ll be playing next year, according to The Boston Globe.

Agent Mark Bartelstein said Sunday that something could happen “contract-wise” for Posey as early as Monday.

Boston, Detroit, Washington, Cleveland, and New Orleans are all rumored to be seriously interested in signing Posey.

Rumors were that the decision would come as early as Monday, but today is [just about] yesterday meaning we will have to wait yet another day to see if our “glue guy” will be returning for another championship run.

I ultimately believe that it will come down to Boston and New Orleans. I just hope that the Celtics’ brass makes the right decision regarding Posey’s contract offer, do enough to retain him yet don’t overpay.

Celtics Sign O’Bryant

So the Celtics surprise us all and sign Patrick O’Bryant, the two-year veteran center from Bradley. The Warriors selected him 9th overall in the 2006 NBA Draft. His stock rose not only because he was a mobile big man with some decent moves, but he carried Bradley to two wins in the NCAA tournament to boot. His career in the NBA has been almost non-existant, but his NBDL numbers aren’t too shabby. Obviously, a championship team would like a much more proven commodity as their backup center, but let’s not give up hope just yet.

If anyone can work with raw talent in the forms of power forwards or centers, it’s assistant coach Clifford Ray. He’s turned Al Jefferson into a budding all-star and Kendrick Perkins into a legit starting center in this league. O’Bryant has got all the physical tools to be a good player in this league, maybe he just needs a coach to really whip him into shape.

Now that we have signed Patrick O’Bryant, we can all exhale that our free agency frenzy has ended. We could possibly re-sign James Posey, but would that come close to topping the O’Bryant deal?!? [end sarcasm]

Basketball News Around the League (and Globe?)

There has been some serious free agents agreeing to deals, summer league games starting up and even a little college basketball news. Here’s the run down:

• Elton Brand going to accept a 5-year, $82 million deal from Philly.
• Corey Maggette will sign with the Golden State Warriors.
• Orlando Magic and Mickael Pietrus agree to terms.
• Philly makes very interesting deal to clear cap space.
• Michael Beasley dominates in first summer league game against Rose, Bulls. Not so hot second game.
• Brandon Jennings, University of Arizona ‘commit’, decides to opt out of scholarship and play in Europe.

A lot of this news will affect the Celtics in one way or another, so these moves are very significant to the defending champs.

Celtics Make Offers to Both Posey and Maggette

Link

The Celtics have made contract offers to two forwards in their own free agent James Posey and Clippers free agent Corey Maggette, sources told the Boston Globe. The most the Celtics could offer is the mid-level exception (about $5.8 million), and it’s doubtful that they could sign both players. The terms of the offers were not disclosed.

Posey averaged 7.4 points and 4.4 rebounds and was a NBA Sixth Man of the Year candidate in his first season with Boston. The two-time NBA champion was a strong leader for the Celtics and opted out of the second year of a two-year deal on Monday to become an unrestricted free agent. Maggette averaged 22.1 points and 5.6 rebounds last season for the Clippers and played for Celtics coach Doc Rivers in Orlando during the 1999-2000 season.

Well we all knew that Ainge would offer a contract to Posey, but who could have guessed we would also throw a deal Maggette’s way? Obviously both players would be looking for the full MLE, so there’s no way to sign both of them. I would love to have Posey back, but to bring a player like Corey Maggette off the bench would be very interesting. My #1 priority is to re-sign James Posey, but if he decides to go else where, then I am all for bringing in Corey Maggette to replace him.

Key Players Opting Out

With free agency upon us in about 45 minutes, three big name players have decided to opt out of the last year’s of their deals. One team that stands to lose two of those three players is the Los Angeles Clippers as both Corey Maggette and Elton Brand have decided to opt out. But before you panic about losing a premiere power forward in this league Clippers fans, just know that Brand has said he wants to re-sign with the Clippers. Maggette, on the other hand, will most likely be gone.

Keeping the subject in Cali, Baron Davis will leave the last year of his deal and pursue a long-term contract. According to Stephen A. Smith, BDiddy would love to play in New York for the Knicks. Yes, that’s right, someone actually wants to play for the Knicks. Problem is, New York is looking to save money for Lebron, Wade and Bosh in the 2010 offseason, so I don’t expect them to offer Baron a long-term deal worth any significant amount of money.

Another California-based team, the Sacramento Kings, got great news from Ron Artest. After waffling on the decision of whether or not to opt out of his deal, he has decided to stay one more year with the Kings. I find this a very interesting decision as teams with championship aspirations, namely the Lakers, Spurs and Celtics, would have pursued Artest’s services. Who knows, maybe Artest will get moved at the deadline assuming he won’t go back to Sacto.

Starting a New Trend, Hurting NCAA Game?

Brandon Jennings, the #1 recruit in this year’s high school crop, has decided that he will be attending the University of Arizona for quite some time. That’s if he decides to attend college. Wildcat fans have been awaiting the next great guard to attend their school in Tucson. With studs like Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, Gilbert Arenas and Andre Iguodala, Jennings was pegged as the next guard to carry this program. Now there are reports that his SAT scores could be holding him back from being eligible to attend college. This means instead of sitting around for a year schooling kids at the local park, Jennings could hone his skills overseas in Europe, assuming a squad would be willing to sign him to a one year deal.

This has been an option since David Stern introduced the rule forcing kids to be one year removed from their respective high school graduation, but no big name recruit has ever gone this route. If I’m not mistaken, OJ Mayo tossed around the idea of doing just this, but he ultimately led his USC team to the NCAA tournament, only to get ousted in the first round by Michael Beasley. Jennings would be the first top-tier talent to deny the NCAA of his incredible talents and take it to Europe.

In the words of Jennings, “it would take the perfect situation” for him to go to Europe and play. Assuming he would be eligible to attend school here in America, would it be beneficial to go to Europe instead? Of course the monetary gains would be greater than going to college (unless you take illegal benefits, then that could definitely be debated). The exposure a top player in the collegiate game would get here in the states far outweighs any exposure they would get overseas. Also, the hype around Jennings, or any prospect for that matter, would build much greater here at school rather than playing for a club team in Europe.

Ultimately, this kid is going to make his money in the NBA. He could hold off on his big pay day for one more year and go to school, but the threat of having a devastating injury that would derail his career is a very scary thought, so the lure of the loot is always calling these kids’ names. For the players that could have gone straight to the league from high school, college is just a formality that they have to go through. Europe at least gives them a taste of professional basketball while being paid for your talents. Apparently, Jennings feels he’s one of those kids that could have done without school as displayed by this quote: “Besides I was planning on one year at Arizona.”

What the Doc Orders

They day after the draft, Doc Rivers spoke about the free agents on the Celtics and wanting them all back.

“We would like to bring our whole team back. Pose we love. With P.J. we just don’t know. I talked to him right after the season, and he just didn’t know. But I told him that he had to go home and think about it. I would like to have P.J. back - our goal is to bring everyone back - but he’s going to need some time.”

I think Celtics Nation would agree with Doc on both of these guys. Posey is a player we must try our hardest to re-sign (although with Giddens and Walker around, maybe it isn’t as necessary to break the bank) as he brought so much to this team. PJ Brown was a perfect pick up by Danny. Allowing him to sit out the entire regualr season until there was 20 games left. This allowed PJ to be fresh and back into the flow of things when the playoffs started.

Doc Rivers also would like to see the dreaded Sam Cassell come back to this team.

“Sam just didn’t have long enough (to learn the system), but we want him back, too,”

Sam’s job was to come in and give us a reliable ball handler, veteran leadership at the point guard position and some clutch buckets down the stretch. Looking back at it, he may have been a liability at times when it came to his ball handling and he definitely wasn’t a point guard for this team by any stretch of the imagination. To say he didn’t have enough time to learn the system is a respectable thought, but when you decide every time you step on the court that you are running your own system, something is wrong there. Eddie House was our backup point guard the entire season until Cassell got here and we played great basketball. When House replaced Cassell as the backup point in the playoffs, he played great, so I see Sam I Am as one free agent we can do without.

Tony Allen has been a roller coaster since his knee injury. Before it, he was playing great basketball in place of Paul Pierce. After returning from that gruesome knee injury, he hasn’t been the same. He definitely doesn’t have the same explosion as he used to and has lost a lot of confidence in his game. By season’s end, I made the decision that I would love to have Tony back. After the draft, now I’m not so sure if TA has a spot on this roster.

Of course Doc would want everyone back from his championship team, but who wouldn’t? After winning a title, free agents always seem to leave to get their money. Posey has played for peanuts compared to what he’s worth, so you can’t blame him for trying to get his money. If Tony Allen can get a significant pay increase on the market, he has to go take it as he is one knee injury away from being out of the league.

Ultimately, I’m hoping we can bring back James Posey and Eddie House, let Tony  Allen, Sam Cassell and Scot Pollard walk and assume PJ Brown will retire. That would allow us to give Gabe Pruitt some minutes as the third point guard and our one concern would be to find a veteran, backup center to play the PJ Brown role later in the season.