CELTIC TALK

by **112288** Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:48 am

The Celtics are hoping that Brandon Bass exercises the player option on his contract at $4 million, which would be a bargain for his production. Or the Celtics could agree to an extension for Bass, who appears to have found a home in Boston. The contract that may affect matters is Glen Davis’s four-year, $26 million deal with the Magic. Davis has underperformed that contract, and Bass may hold out for something more.

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If the Lakers indeed are interested in signing Rasheed Wallace — a logical step-down from flirting with Gilbert Arenas—it lends credence to the Rajon Rondo/Jermaine O’Neal-Pau Gasol swap I keep hearing. Lord knows they’re desperate for a point guard and Rondo is exceedingly obtainable and Kobe Bryant loves his “any means possible” style.

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The desired scenario would be to bring in a major free agent to play with Rajon Rondo and Pierce. But if Rivers and Ainge are at their best and two high-priced free agents can be attracted, the Celts will have the option of using the Amnesty Provision and letting Pierce go to clear the necessary cap space. Those larger decisions are presently many smaller decisions away, and Rivers believes it is first important to furnish the Celts as well as possible to attract a new resident or more. And he knows that when choice is involved it won’t just be about the money. “You sell (to free agents) what you have on your team, and that’s tough to say now because we don’t know what we’ll have on our team yet,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s a hard sell — the tradition and what we’ve accomplished. “But you also have to have players to get other players. No matter where you’re at, it’s rare that a player is going to go somewhere where there’s no other players. So we want to make sure we have the assets and players that other players want to play with. And I think when that time comes, I think we’ll be ready for it.” Boston Herald

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