Obviously, what the Celtics are lacking right now are big bodies in the paint. Well, that and scoring. The lack of a big man who can rebound consistently (I'm looking at you, JO and BBD) have had its significant toll on the team's defense. Plus, we need a center who can just bang around in the middle offensively (even tho not as skilled as JO, tho shouldn't have hands as slippery as Perk) I've recently checked which centers will be available this offseason (via free agency) and here they are. I've also included a bit of my thoughts on them after each name.

Jason Collins - Definitely fills the needs of a big body, but I doubt he can give you much else. He's had great contributions defensively, but you can't expect A+ rebounding numbers much less C+ offense from him. I would say pass, but he can be useful.

Nenad Krstic -  Oh Stitch. We've seen flashes of him during the first time he arrived, but after that, he just fell off the cliff completely. Aside from a showing in game 5 of Miami series, he has been invisible, most especially at the defensive end where the C's need his presence most. Expect a bit of offense from his jumpshots, but anywhere else, I doubt there'd be something consistent.

Kwame Brown - Am I right that he turned down the C's last year? Well, he has butter hands and the label of one of the biggest busts of all time, but he's a big body that can rebound. Well, that and not much else. He may be what we  might potentially need, but you can't really have expectations on this guy. He's also a bad free throw shooter.

Joel Pryzbilla - I won't hold back, he's the one guy I would really want on the C's next year, and it may be for a vet minimum, even. Rebounding? Check. Defense? Check. Slippery hands? Not so much. Toughness? Check. The only thing that's going to be a knock on him is that he's coming off an injury that has plagued him for the past two years (I think), and we all know how to be wary with injuries with big men now.

Kurt Thomas - Veteran that will make the C's even older. He may be good as a piece, but he's not going to cut it for a center that would need to get the job done.

Tyson Chandler - Young, athletic, okay free throw shooter, rebounding machine? What more could you ask for? Well, you could probably ask that the Dallas Mavericks be eliminated soon. There's a great chance that he'll probably sign again with the Mavericks, especially if they put together a good playoff run. I doubt they'll be letting him walk that easy, and you have all the other teams looking out for him.

Yao Ming - I won't even get into the details of his injury, it's very unlikely that he'll be coming to Boston, let alone leaving Houston.

Deandre Jordan - RFA - Big shot blocker who can rebound the ball consistenly? That's right. Bad free throw shooter and has only dunks as his offensive repertoire? Check again. The good side is that he's athletic and young, the bad side is that he's a restricted free agent. It would be terribly hard to pry him away from the Clips, though he would totally be a good acquisition.

Theo Ratliff - Too old. Just got back from injury. We can't really try that experiment again.

Marc Gasol - No chance. Memphis is on its deepest playoff run in years, and he's a big factor in that.

Eric Dampier - I don't know what you're gonna get from him except bad offense.

Dan Gadzuric - He's old, he's capable, but the rest is a big question mark. I don't really know what to think of him. He's also a bad free throw shooter. I guess we can say that he's ok. In every sense of that two-letter word.

DJ Mbenga - Good shot blocker, has a nice-looking fallaway that he can't hit consistently, and fouls like there's no tomorrow. But hey, at least he looks like that guy from the goonies. And yes, he's from the Congo. He has that working for him.

Nazr Mohammed - Finally, an offensively capable center! Too bad he's old and he can't rebound well. 

Greg Oden - RFA - This is the definition of low risk - high reward. He's young, and you never know when he might finally end that string of gruesome injuries that keep plaguing him. But then again, there's the possibility that he'd miss another season and disappoint more fans, but hey, he can be a potentially rewarding piece. We're looking at a double-double machine in limited minutes the last time he played. We're also looking at the guy everyone forgot about while the guy who followed him in the draft is leading OKC in the playoffs.

Samuel Dalembert - He can rebound, he can block shots, he can dunk, but I can't really tell you about the other things he will do. Everytime I see him, it's almost always because of a bonehead play. He once committed offensive goaltending on a potential game-winner by Iguodala, and his offense is almost non-existent. But he's a good guy, and he might be what we need.

Reggie Evans - Rebounding machine, but he also holds the reputation of being a really dirty player. He's also known for talking flak about the Celtics, but once he's on your team, you tend to kind of appreciate that. But then again, he has no clear offensive skillset, but he can pass the ball once in a while.

Kyrylo Fesenko - I just know that he's with the Utah Jazz. He's young, but apart from that, what else?

Spencer Hawes - RFA - He's key in the Sixers team (he starts for them, and he's the reason why they traded Dalembert) but he's also a center that would just prefer to shoot jump shots all day long. He occasionally blocks shots, but he's not really an ace rebounder or defender anyway.

Feel free to disagree. Who do you think the Celtics should pursue?

note: I may have missed a few big men here and there, but I tried to look at those who routinely play center and not the 4 position.