TRADE UPDATE 2/19 Now Rasual Butler In The Mix

Danny Ainge shoots down rumors

Jay King | February 19, 2011 at 11:16 am |

Danny Ainge shot down rumors that the Boston Celtics are interested in acquiring Richard Hamilton or Anthony Parker. (Boston Globe)

Riddled with injuries and particularly low on manpower after Marquis Daniels went down with a bruised spinal cord, the Celtics may be in the market for a backup small forward.

Celtics president Danny Ainge quickly shot down rumors of a deal for Detroit’s Richard Hamilton, or interest in Cavaliers swingman Anthony Parker.

“Nothing’s happening,’’ Ainge said in a text message. “Talk is all.’’

As they say, talk is cheap. And Ainge, even if he says nothing’s happening, is working the phones feverishly. If he’s not looking into acquiring Hamilton or Parker, he should be. He should be looking into acquiring any halfway-decent backup small forward with a pulse, because the Celtics (as long as Marquis Daniels isn’t returning any time soon) need someone to spell Paul Pierce and move Von Wafer to his natural shooting guard spot.

UPDATE: Immediately after I posted this, I read Marc Spears’ After the Buzzer column. He reports, as others have, that Boston would be interested in Hamilton if his contract is bought out. Which makes a whole lot of sense.

It’s no secret that Hamilton wants out and the Pistons want to grant his wish. The problem: He’s due $12.5 million next season and at least $9 million the season after.

If the Pistons somehow reached a buyout agreement with Hamilton and waived him, the Boston Celtics would have interest in signing him.

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According to Yahoo! Sports, the Celtics are one of three teams showing interest in Clippers forward Rasual Butler. Butler, who is making $2.4 million this season (the final year of his contract), is also reportedly being pursued by the Bulls and Nets. The 6-foot-7 sharp-shooter has played for Miami, New Orleans, and the Clippers, and appeared in all 82 regular season games in each of the last two seasons. He averaged 11 points per game in each the past two campaigns.

Butler's minutes has dropped with Los Angeles this season, playing in just 18.6 minutes per game, averaging 5.1 points per contest. He has played just a total of 18 minutes in Feb., appearing in three games.

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See, now you got me thinking that DA may be up to something...when he says nothing is going on. Well, we'll know soon enough. I've said it here before, I think that there is a bit of the riverboat gambler in DA, but I still think that the deal has to be a sweet one for the C's, in order for him to pull the trigger.

Danny is like the greatest gambler who ever lived "Titanic Thompson" who hustled Al Capone for $500,000 bet that he could throw a lemon on to a building roof...Al bet and Titanic won......what he did not tell Al was he loaded buck shot into the lemon to add weight to give him the ability to throw it farther.

Any way yes Danny has that poker face....who me?

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PS Get the book on Titanic ....just came out "Titanic Thompson the man who bet on everything". A good read!