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5 days ago

Terrence Williams Arrested on Gun Charges, Following Domestic Dispute

Terrence Williams was on the verge of coming back to the Boston Celtics next season after being one of the few bright spots of the Celtics’ postseason. Now, that journey is just an afterthought. According to a report from the Kent Reporter, a newspaper in Williams’ home state of Washington, the point guard was arrested yesterday [...]

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7 days ago

Kevin Garnett Will Avoid Foot Surgery

As we await Kevin Garnett’s decision about whether or not he will play a 7th season with the Boston Celtics, an important physical limitation has been avoided for the big man. After laboring through the last couple months of the season with a foot/ankle injury, which caused him to miss much of the regular season, [...]

9
8 days ago

Danny Ainge is Waiting on Talking Future with Kevin Garnett

Yesterday was a good day in Boston. We found out Doc Rivers would definitely be coming back as a head coach, the Bruins won in overtime, and the Sox had a big comeback as well. As the first big decision of the Celtics offseason came in though, a brighter light begins to shine down now [...]

15
9 days ago

Jeff Green’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Unless we’re discussing the eight or nine best players in the world, it’s impossible to separate a contract’s price from a player’s expectations, value, and overall performance. Jeff Green is the manifestation of this theory. In August he was guaranteed $36 million over four years, even though he didn’t play a single game during the [...]

20
10 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

19
11 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

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Ainge: Retaining Ray Allen Is Our Number One Priority

Free agency officially kicked off with a bang at midnight Sunday morning and as suspected there are already a countless number of rumors out there, many from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, linking the C’s to shooting guards such as Jamal Crawford, O.J. Mayo, and even Jason Terry.

However, it has been become clear that the thing that makes the most sense for the C’s (as I wrote about at length last week) is trying to bring back Ray by signing him with the team’s bird rights on him and use mid-level exception money elsewhere to help further upgrade the team’s bench.

With that in mind, according to Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald keeping Allen is on the top of Ainge’s to-do list for the start of free agency:

Regardless of who else the Celtics eventually sign, Ainge said this morning that signing Ray Allen is “our number one priority.”

“We want Ray back, and we’re approaching this as the first thing we have to get done,” said the Celtics president of basketball operations.

Thankfully, Ainge is appearing to back up those statement with a very solid contract offer of 2 years and $12 million dollars, according to ESPN’s Chris Broussard. Those numbers are twice what Miami can offer per year, and a million beyond what Memphis can offer with the mid-level exception each year.

Will it be enough though? It’s too early to tell. Ray has to be content with his role coming off the bench, as well as satisfied with the belief he won’t be shopped yet again this year at the trade deadline for the third straight season. Will he ask for a no-trade clause, something Ainge undoubtedly will be hesitant to give? What else can the C’s do to appease him? And the will the allure of the best shot at a championship (Miami) or a potential starting job (Memphis) keep Ray from keeping the Big Three intact for another year? We will find out soon.

For more on the battle the C’s have to face mending fences with Ray click HERE

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