RIVERS: 'OBVIOUSLY WE'RE LOOKING' FOR A BIG

WEEI
By: Paul Flannery

LOS ANGELES -- While the Celtics await word on heart tests involving Chris Wilcox, their frontline depth has been diminished considerably. Center Jermaine O'Neal has been out since before the All-Star break with a wrist injury and Rivers has said they're prepared to play without him.

That leaves a huge hole in the middle with Greg Stiemsma and JaJuan Johnson are now the principle backups behind Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass. Celtics coach Doc Rivers said that while they need another big man, it doesn't change the team's approach with the March 15 trade deadline approaching.

"You don’t want to do anything silly," Rivers said. "We’re building for this year and the future so we’re not going to do anything that’s going to hurt either one of those. Obviously we’re looking to grab a big from somewhere, hopefully not by giving away a player, by doing it another route."

Even if Wilcox is able to come back, the team still need another big man. Rivers said the team will look "everywhere," including the D-League and veteran free agents.

"We don’t know if he’s going to come back or not and the deadline is coming up," Rivers said of Wilcox. "The quicker we find that out obviously does help us. We need another one regardless. We’ll be out there, but I don’t think there’s a lot of teams lining up to help the Celtics."
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Will Celtics Make A Minor-Big Move?
by Jeff Clark on Mar 11, 2012 4:04 PM EDT in Boston Celtics Rumors

With or without Wilcox, the Celtics need someone with some size to come in and help. They will undoubtedly look around the league for a trade using what assets they have (think Jermaine O'Neal's expiring contract) but that might not turn up much. So they might make a minor deal or look to make a roster move. Of course that means having to cut someone loose.

How Wilcox's absence impacts the C's - Boston Celtics Blog - ESPN Boston

You can't help but wonder if Boston will need to make a move at the back end of its roster this week to at least free a roster spot. If Marquis Daniels is struggling to get on the floor, you can't help but wonder if the team would be better served to free a spot that could be used to bring in a big man on a 10-day contract. As we've stressed in this space before, it's got less to do with Daniels -- a truly inspiring story in coming back after lats year's spine injury -- and more to do with the Celtics having a glaring need to add a big body at the moment, even if it's nothing more than emergency depth. The fact that Boston hasn't added a big man for the rest of the season seems to indicate that there's no one available out there that likely deserves more than a 10-day tryout (but maybe they can find another intriguing young bigman like Chris Johnson turned out to be last season).

That would be somewhat ironic considering that Marquis Daniels' injury last year around this time played a role in Danny Ainge making a move to secure depth at the small forward position (at the expense of the center spot). Now we might need to go in the other direction - hopefully with better results.

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