Important week tips off for Celtics

GOING CONCERNS: The statuses of Paul Pierce (left) and Ray Allen (right) with the Celtics, as well as that of coach Doc Rivers, are in question as NBA free agency looms this week.




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The big event happens Thursday, when contracts expire and representatives from the Knicks, Nets, Heat, Bulls and Clippers congregate in northeastern Ohio in an attempt to seal the deal with LeBron James.

For the Celtics [team stats], whose hopes are much simpler, the first important date is Wednesday. If Paul Pierce [stats] doesn’t notify the team that he’s forgoing the last year of his contract by that day, then the first piece of one last run at an NBA title falls into place.

Doc Rivers, another cornerstone, also may roll into place, or roll away, by then.

The NBA draft was piecemeal compared to this.

What follows is a preview of one of the more important weeks for this franchise:

PAUL PIERCE - The Celtics captain and his representatives will meet with C’s management this week, and his questions aren’t all that difficult to anticipate.

He’ll want to know if Rivers is coming back and if Ray Allen will be re-signed. He wants to know about direction, and that so-called last hurrah.

General manager Danny Ainge has said he wants to keep the team together - most likely through the two years left on Kevin Garnett’s contract - so perhaps Pierce will walk away with a contract extension. Deep down he wants to retire as a Celtic. He also wants a second ring.

DOC RIVERS - The Celtics coach sounded enormously conflicted on draft night. Ainge said Rivers is attempting to erase the bad taste from the Game 7 loss to the Lakers, which won’t be simple.

Celtics fans should be prepared to bid adieu to perhaps the greatest motivational leader in the business.

RAY ALLEN - The guard becomes a free agent on Thursday, and there will be several contenders with extreme interest in adding a shooter. You never can get enough of those, let alone lose one who will go down as one of the greatest snipers in league history. Allen probably is facing his last contract, and the C’s are worried about the years he’s about to demand.

THE REST - The Celtics will be equipped on Thursday with their mid-level exception and all of the veteran minimum deals they can throw at people. Expect Mike Miller - the talented wing for the Washington Wizards who once played for Rivers - to be a target.

But big men are the priority here. The question could very well be whether Brad Miller - a likely free agent cut to the wind because of Chicago’s max-contract concerns - feels he deserves an entire mid-level exception to himself.

But the Celtics will have to wait and let the saturated market finally convince a few players they’re not worth as much as they first thought.