Evening Notebook: Catching Up On Today’s Happenings

Posted by Brendan Jackson on Jul 13, 2010 916841 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2010%2F07%2F13%2Fevening-notebook-catching-up-on-todays-happenings%2FEvening+Notebook%3A+Catching+Up+On+Today%27s+Happenings2010-07-13+23%3A09%3A16Brendan+Jacksonhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D9168

Today has been a crazy day for the NBA.  Unfortunately, everything has remained pretty quiet on the Celtics front.  Earlier this morning the hot Celtics news was that talks involving Nate Robinson re-signing were gaining steam.  This, while good news, is not exactly what fans have been waiting for after the Celtics created a gaping hole in the bench by not signing Tony Allen.

Zach Lowe has speculated that Danny Ainge has a plan in place. A plan good enough that he was willing to let Tony Allen go over a guarunteed third year.  While that plan has yet to materialize, other small forward/defensive specialist/swingman/wing players are forging their own way:

It looks like Ronnie Brewer is making his pitch to return to Utah, much to the chagrin of Celtics fans.  While this is all FanHouse speculation at this point, it’s not like you are hearing any mention of Brewer’s name in Celtics’ source circles.

You can probably count Raja Bell out of the running as the C’s 2010-2011 defensive specialist as the much anticipated (by whom, I am unsure) face-to-face meeting between Bell and Kobe Bryant will take place tomorrow.  As we’ve seen with Derek Fisher, when Kobe asks for something, he gets it.  Only this time, instead of trying to convince a five-time champion to take less money than he’s offered by another team, he’s trying to convince a guy off the injury report that the Lakers’ Veteran Minimum is better than any of the other teams in the league.  Easy sell.

Here’s an interesting idea.  All signs point to the Magic matching the offer the Chicago Bulls made to J.J. Redick.  Couple that with the recent signing of Quentin Richardson and Matt Barnes’ days in Orlando are pretty much over.  Does he spurn the Magic and join up with the team that bounced them in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals?  Probably not.  The two things Barnes has ever wanted since joining the league are economic stability and job security.  He has never had either.  With some teams still having loads of cap room, look for him to get a better offer somewhere else.

Our good friend Chris Forsberg has a nice, feel-good Ray Allen signing story for you on ESPNBoston.com. Here are a few tid-bits I found amusing:

Through it all, Allen remained in contact with the Boston front office, along with his former teammates. Before he could even begin to think about a final decision, Celtics coach Doc Rivers announced he’d be returning to the Boston bench and Paul Pierce agreed to re-sign with the team.

From there, the decision ultimately made itself.

Hmmmm…anyone else kind of wish he had told some of us? Oh and hadn’t waited a few days to let everyone know that his mind was made up? (Ray, I kid. I love you and am stoked that you’re back for this season and next).

Here’s another ditty about getting some free agents on the horn:

But he did, and he’s ready to now be the one making phone calls to recruit talent to Boston. He acknowledged that losing a player like reserve guard Tony Allen — a key bench player not only in terms of his defense, but in spelling Pierce and Allen — is no easy role to fill.

“It’s tough to lose Tony,” Ray Allen said as the other Allen prepares to ink a reportedly three-year deal in Memphis. “He’s one of the great defenders over the last two years. We’ll be looking for somebody to definitely defend, and possibly shoot. A guy who can spell Paul and myself with minutes. We’ll see if we can get the best person. It might require one of the guys placing a phone call.”

I love the enthusiasm, I just wish they would get on with it.  Lots of names dropping off the board.

In other news, Jeff Bower is out as the Hornets GM.  I am not sure if that makes it easier or harder for teams to get Chris Paul (or perhaps a wing and a big with Sheed’s contract?).

Alright, that’s it for now.  I swear I’ll have that Summer League wrap-up post soon (or at least before the start of the regular season).