There's not a lot more that can be said with any certainty until the ball drops on Wednesday. I'm sure there's plenty of maneuvering going on behind the scenes, but there are no significant news stories to report. So we'll just take this moment to make wild assumptions and nutty predictions.
I predict that the Celtics will bring back exactly zero of their free agents. Posey will follow the money, House may look for more consistant playing time, Tony Allen just got drafted out of a job, PJ Brown is retiring, and Sam Cassell is just not in the team's plans.
I hate losing Posey and there's still a chance that he'll accept less money to say in Beantown (or that the Celtics will up the ante and give him market value) but I'm not banking on it.
So moving on, here's some additions that could find their way to Boston.
I'll go ahead and predict that the Birdman will be signed. Then we''ll bring in someone to battle Gabe Pruitt for the backup PG spot - lets pencil in Tyronn Lue, though I'm not crazy about that pick. (If House can be convinced to come back, I'd prefer him)
So that's 9 players on the current roster, plus the 2 stateside rookies, plus the 2 additions above. To finish out the roster we'll need 2 more live bodies.
I think Danny will target Mickael Pietrus to sort-of replace the defense we lose with Posey.
For the last spot, I'm thinking Danny will take a flyer on a high risk, high reward type of guy. I'm thinking either Shawn Livingston or maybe even Darius Miles (if only to mess with Portland's cap).
Now, I don't know how the money works out on any of these deals but I assume Danny can split the MLE between a couple of guys and use the vet minimums and other CBA mumbo-jumbo to get the job done.
The beauty of this is that we still will have our core group together. Our entire starting five will be there, as will some key subs off the bench (Powe, Big Baby). We lose a lot of experience (Posey, Brown, Cassell) but gain a lot of athleticism (Giddens, Walker, etc.).
Don't like my picks? Think I'm a looney toon? Think you can do better? Go for it. Tell me who you think we'll sign in the comments below. Closest one to the actual roster wins bragging rights till the next time you are proven wrong. Enjoy!