August free agents are guys looking for full MLE but must settle for LLE or Vet min and then pick team by ability to win NOT $$$$…eg-AI,Starbury,Joe Smith,Dyess maybe…..Marion wants $10+mil but settles for MLE come August…stuff like that

I’m a little surprised at how under the radar any deals that the C’s have are. Usually a lot of these deals get pre-announced (unofficially) and July 1 is just a formality.

I can see a few people being guys that Danny will try and get in touch with right away and both of those guys are Gortat and Artest. Im pretty sure Gortat can play C and pf correct? if so giving him the mle would be a good idea because that would help us out alot because he is still young and he did very well for Orlando. Artest on the other hand with Yao being out i think he will want to go for a title and we can help him with that, he can fill the 2/3 hole that we have and be very effective. I think that if we see Artest being chased alot it means that Ray is probably gone for young talent/draft pick. If we get artest to replace Ray and get a young 3/4 combination for him that gives us a good bench this year and some upcoming guys for future years. Seems like win win thats my ideal situation atleast but its a long shot that we get him. If he wants to win a championship next year he wont be getting more than the mle anyway so i dont see why we wouldnt be atleast a good option.

That’s where Ainge will be at midnight, trying for the 5th time to get the Mailman to come out of retirement.

It will be an interesting free agency period, and 3-4 guys who are looking for more will settle for the MLE or less. That’’s why Ainge should hold off on any immediate signings unless the player is a perfect fit.

I don’t see any prefect fits out there except Rasheed Wallace, and he is rumored to be going elsewhere.

There are also sign and trade possibilities, and I see that as a more viable route to obtaining good players.

I have a bad feeling. Hopefully it will not be another disaster off-season like last year…

Next season could be an ugly one.

Anyone who thinks this is a strong FA market {given Boston`s most serious needs}…is delusional!

I don’t view this as a bad FA market at all. You have Wallace, Artest, Kidd, Marion, Iverson, Hill and Turkoglu, all of whom are former all-stars or all-star caliber players.

Then you have good second tier guys like Pachulia, Gortat, Ben Gordon, McDyess, Nesterovic, Anthony Parker, Villanueva and Andre Miller.

Plus there are some interesting younger players, e.g Ronnie Brewer. All of the players listed above could help the Celtics, except Iverson, and even he would help them sell jerseys and other chatchkes.

It’s all made more insteresting by the fact that very few teams have any cap space, so there will be a scramble to eat up that space and to engineer multiple sign and trades.

Next year’s class is potentially stronger, with guys like LeBron and Bosh, but this year’s class is quite good— certainly better than last year’s.

Charlie V didn’t get a qualifying offer? Wow.

Charlie V being on the open market could hurt baby alot. Last i remember seeing him he reminded me a lot of big baby on that he seemed to rebound better.

Okur is the first of Danny’s list

Is Villanueva going to cost more than the MLE?

His height and scoring are attractive (16ppg, 7 rpg, 6’11"), and I’d be satisfied letting go of BBD or Leon if necessary. But if the price is too high the price is too high.

I think they should strongly pursue Artest, and hopefully he is their first choice. His defense would fit well with the celtics, and his ego if he has one anymore would be more than enough for ray, kg, doc to handle

July 1st is only the date at which point teams can negotiate with free agents. Free agents can not be signed, officially, until July 8th.

NOTE: This is done to give all teams equal opportunity to negotiate, and, make it pointless to illegally negotiate before July 1st.