This is a good period to be a Celtics fan. Don’t forget that.

Again: This is a great deal, and it’s a great deal because the C’s aren’t giving up any basketball assets to make it happen. And that, to me, is the story of this off-season.

With only the mid-level exception and some pseudo-Bird Rights, the Celtics have signed Jermaine O’Neal, Shaquille O’Neal, Wafer, West, Nate Robinson and Marquis Daniels, all without giving up a single basketball asset. The Celtics are the deepest team in the NBA, 1-15.

Perhaps they could have nabbed Rudy Fernandez in exchange for a first-round pick and Avery Bradley. I have no idea. But West is better than Fernandez, and they got him for nothing. First-round picks, even middling ones, are going to be crucial for this team as the core leaves the NBA, and upgrading the bench without sacrificing one of those picks is a strong outcome.

Back to West, in bullet point form:

• The competition for back-up guard minutes is going to be intense. A team can only dress 12 players for each game, so Wafer, Luke Harangody, Semih Erden and Avery Bradley (and, if things go badly, West), will be spending tons of time in street clothes or (for the young guys) the D League.

West is basically a two guard, though he’s capable of playing the point for a possession or two if Rajon is tired and Nate Robinson is being stupid. But Wafer and West are like insurance policies for each other. They are both unpredictable in very different ways, and we should not be shocked if one of them fails to make it through the season or withdraws into an unproductive shell.

Both could also be major post-season rotation players capable of creating points when the C’s offense sputters. It’s better to have two wild cards than one, right? It definitely is in UNO.

• The pressure is on Marquis Daniels. He is the only back-up small forward on the roster, unless you count Harangody, and I’m very, very, very skeptical that we’re ever going to see Harangody at the three in a meaningful game. Daniels has played more than 62 regular-season games just once in seven NBA seasons.

• West is a versatile offensive player, the sort of player who can make tough shots and create points during those dreaded offensive droughts that killed Boston last season. Check out his shot location stats on Hoopdata: He gets to the rim, he has a mid-range game and he’s an above-average shooter on threes and long twos. He can create off the dribble, and he’s an excellent passer.

He can be turnover prone, and with the exception of his career year in ’09, he has been mediocre at finishing shots at the rim. But after years of watching TA dribble the ball off his foot, it will be nice to see key back-up minutes go to a competent offensive player.

• West is a rugged defender. He’s a classic “under-sized” two at 6’4”, but every objective measure we have suggests he’s an asset on defense. The Cavs gave up significantly fewer points with West on the floor in each of the last three seasons, according to Basketball Value’s plus/minus numbers. Playing with LeBron and Anderson Varejao obviously helps in that regard. Basketball Prospectus shows us that West’s direct counterparts—the guys he guarded—produced at well below their average levels when they faced him.

He’s not Tony Allen, but West will do fine against shooting guards in the C’s defensive system. He’s about 30 pounds lighter than TA, so he won’t be able to defend LeBron (and other strong small forwards) should the C’s and Heat ever meet in the post-season. That would mean more work for Pierce and Daniels.

Look: I get how this could end badly. West will already miss the first 10 games of the season due to a suspension, and last season proved that his moods could impact his play and the way he interacts with his teammates. But he was a model teammate as recently as 2009, and he could just as easily thrive in a veteran-heavy locker room filled with players who know and like him.

And it’s a risk-free deal, as long as you’re not the one signing the luxury tax checks. And I’m not, at least not directly. So sign me up.

Shaq is immobile, and so in an ideal world, you’d pair him with mobile big man who can defend the screen/roll and otherwise cover a lot of ground. KG obviously works, and Perk just as obviously does not. That leaves Big Baby and Jermaine O’Neal, and I expressed doubts that Jermaine O’Neal could realistically play the power forward position on defense against most teams.

A lot of readers disagreed, and so did Chris Forsberg at ESPNBoston.com (to an extent). Here’s what Forsberg wrote in response to a question about the C’s front court rotation:

I actually see potential in an O’Neal-O’Neal frontcourt. Celtics GM Danny Ainge noted that he was eager to utilize Jermaine O’Neal at the 4 this season, and high-mileage legs aside, I don’t see why it can’t work against another team’s second unit. It’s not like they’re going to spend 20 minutes together on the court per game, so if you need to lean on that pairing for a sequence or two each game, I don’t see a problem.

In the end, I really like the flexibility O’Neal’s addition offers Boston. Although without ideal sets all the time, Boston can easily trot out a reserve-laden big lineup like O’Neal-O’Neal-Luke Harangody-Marquis Daniels-Rajon Rondo or go small with something like Jermaine O’Neal-Glen Davis-Daniels-Nate Robinson-Rondo. Go ahead and mix and match starters in those units. Again, it’s not something you trot out there every day, but it offers greater flexibility than was available last season.

Some thoughts:

• The regular season is one thing. I’m generally unconcerned with the 2011 regular season. The Celtics will win the Atlantic Division, probably secure the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference and dole out chunks of February and March playing time to Luke Harangody and Semih Erden. Forsberg is absolutely right that the regular season matters in that Boston must remain healthy and keep their vets well-rested, all while establishing a team-wide rhythm on both sides of the floor—the foundation for the playoffs.

In that sense, Rivers absolutely can experiment with all sorts of different front court combos—including O’Neal/O’Neal—for short stretches here and there.

But if the C’s end the regular season the way they want, the front line rotation will consist of those five guys listed above. And that’s when the concern about pairing up Shaq comes in.

Readers who suggested Jermaine O’Neal had played the power forward spot before were absolutely correct. In 2007, for instance, he played nearly as much at the four spot as at the five, according to 82games. During that season, J.O. logged 25 percent of Indiana’s total available power forward minutes. That’s a lot.

In the three seasons since then? He’s barely sniffed the power forward spot. In each of those three seasons, O’Neal logged less than 1 percent of his club’s minutes at the power forward spot, according to 82games. (See here, here, here and here). O’Neal played for three different teams and four different coaches during that span, so it’s not as if he got stuck with one stubborn coach who didn’t think he could play the four.

You can chalk some of this up to personnel. J.O. wasn’t going to log a lot of time at the four in Toronto with Chris Bosh around. Troy Murphy logged about 40 percent of the power forward minutes in Indiana in 2008. Michael Beasley and Udonis Haslem hogged the power forward minutes in Miami, where Joel Anthony was the only real alternative at center.

So perhaps personnel explains why O’Neal has played virtually no power forward since 2007. But the fact remains that he hasn’t, and I’m not sure it’s reasonable to expect a 32-year-old with creaky legs to suddenly start playing key minutes at the four when he hasn’t done so since 2007. Especially when you consider the power forwards on elite Eastern Conference teams, a group that includes Rashard Lewis, Chris Bosh and Josh Smith.

But this is the fun of basketball. We all get to watch and see what happens.

• The first 10 games are brutal. The C’s start with Miami, and after a three-game respite (@Cleveland, New York, @ Detroit), the next six games go like this: Milwaukee, Chicago, @Oklahoma City, @Dallas, @Miami, @Memphis. Those first 10 games include three back-to-backs, including the Thunder and Mavs games.

The C’s started 27-2 in ’09 and 23-5 last season. Don’t be shocked if they are 5-5 after their first 10 games in 2011.

• Even so, the schedule is mostly back-loaded. If the C’s want to fatten up their record, they should do so between games #10 and the halfway point of the season. After Boston’s first 10 games, the C’s will play 20 of 32 at home, and many of those games are against the mediocrity of the league.

After that? It gets much tougher.

In a totally imprecise way of analyzing the schedule, I like to find road games against teams that won at least two-thirds of their home games the previous season—or teams that didn’t but are likely to in the coming season (i.e. the Heat and Bulls). Beating an elite home team in their place is a tough thing to do.

Here are the the teams that pass this test for 2011, along with their 2010 home records:

Lakers (34-7)

Magic (34-7)

Hawks (34-7)

Bucks (28-13)

Bobcats (31-10, and this is not a typo)

Mavericks (28-13)

Suns (32-9)

Nuggets (34-7)

Jazz (32-9)

Spurs (29-12)

Thunder (27-14, which works out to a winning percentage of 65.8%, so we’re rounding up)

Bulls (24-17, giving them the benefit of the doubt in 2011)

Miami (24-17, and, yeah, they get the benefit of the doubt for 2011)

The Celtics play 17 road games against these teams. Of those 17 games, 10 come after the halfway point of the season and 7 come in the 27 games after the All-Star break. In other words: Back-loaded schedule.

• The C’s play 9 games combined against the Magic, Heat and Lakers, the three teams considered (along with Boston, if you like) the favorites for the 2011 title. Five of those 9 games come after the All-Star break.

• One break the C’s catch: Every season, to make the 82-game thing work, each team will play a couple of teams in its conference three times instead of four. The C’s get the reduced number of games against the Hawks, Magic, Bucks and Cavs. Three out of four ain’t bad.

• The C’s have four different blocks of four consecutive road games, up from three such blocks last season. Both of the team’s main West coast trips (four games each) come after the All-Star break.

Put it all together, and a firestorm of 2008 nostalgia ignited around the idea of the Pacers buying out Posey’s $13.5 million deal, freeing Boston to make a run at him. 

Forget it, says Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated:

As you were.

This week’s guest: Shaquille O’Neal. 

Some excerpts (with Solomon in bold):

Did you watch along with the rest of the world when [LeBron] monopolized ESPN for a night to announce where he was going? 
No, I didn’t. One, I was with the kids, and two, I didn’t know it was going to be on TV.

I didn’t watch it, either. 
That’s because you’re mature and you’re my age and we have a different mind-set.

And:

When was the last time you panicked? 
1981.

When you were 9?
We were living with relatives, and I just happened to steal a lighter from the kitchen counter. I had a teddy bear. My thing was to just light the tail and then blow it out and laugh. Ha, ha. But as soon as I lit the tail, the whole thing caught on fire. It almost caught the house on fire. I got the whooping of my life.

Finally, bad news for all of you competing to give Shaq his Boston-themed nickname:

You’ve been called the Big Aristotle, among other nicknames. 
I’m done with the nicknames. Actually, when I obtain my doctorate, I will not allow people to call me Shaq anymore, either.

What will they call you? 
Dr. O’Neal.

(Note: Shaq is actually working on his doctorate, at Barry University in Miami). 

Do yourselves a favor and go read the whole thing.

The first thing I look for when the schedule comes out is the number of back-to-backs Boston plays. The second end of a back-to-back is among the toughest games to win; several studies have shown that teams on the second night of a back-to-back have a winning percentage of about .430. That’s not good. 

Some good news: Boston has 19 back-to-backs next season, one more than last year and a number that places them in the bottom third of the league in back-to-backs. (The Bulls and Bucks have the most, with 23 each, and 14 teams have at least 21 back-to-backs, according to Basketball Prospectus. The Lakers have the fewest—just 15). 

Good news, right? An older team can use a few breaks from the schedule makers. 

But dig one level deeper, and the news isn’t quite as good.

Of Boston’s 19 back-to-backs, just four come against teams that will also be on the second end of their own back-to-back. It would stand to reason that some (or most) of the built-in disadvantage of playing for the second straight night disappears if you’re facing a team that also played the night before. 

In 2009, I was curious to see how often a team on the second end of a back-to-back ended up facing a team in the same situation. I found that for the ’09 season (and that season only) a team on the second end of a back-to-back had about a 50 percent chance of facing a team that had also played the night before. There was a huge level of variability, though, with some teams facing more well-rested teams than others. The 2009 Cavs and Heat had particularly bad luck, as just six of their 19 back-to-backs involved a second-night opponent that had also played the night before. 

The 2011 C’s will have even worse luck in this regard, as their opponent in 15 of their 19 second-night back-to-back games will have been idle the night before. 

I don’t know yet how far from average this split is, and whether the 50/50 split I found among Eastern Conference teams in 2009 has been typical since then. If anyone can find a site that breaks the schedule down like this—or if anyone knows how to do it in a quicker fashion than manually cross-checking each team’s schedule against those of their opponents—please let me know. 

This isn’t insignificant stuff. For instance: The C’s face the Hawks three times, and all three come on the second end of a back-to-back for the Celtics. And in all three instances, the Hawks won’t have played the night before. In other words: don’t be surprised if Atlanta sweeps Boston again.

Ainge said every possible trade avenue using Wallace’s contract was explored after it became clear he wasn’t returning. Wallace was owed $13 million for the final two years of the three-year deal. The Celtics likely bought out the remainder of the contract.

Whatever the C’s paid Wallace will count against the cap and the luxury tax bill. The exact figure remains unknown at this point. In any case, you can toss away those dreams of the C’s getting a quality piece in return for Wallace’s contract. With Sheed officially gone, Boston has one roster spot open and precious expendable resources with which to fill it via trade.

The Rasheed Wallace experiment is over, and it was a failure. Onto the next.