Red's Army has the quotes from the Danny Ainge press conference today. Of note are his comments on free agents:
"There's the July 1st type free agents that we'll make a run at. There's August 1, August 15th free agents that we're waiting to see how, maybe they slip through the cracks...maybe they don't get what they're actually looking for and rather come to Boston and play for a lower number. There's a whole long list of free agents we like and we have in mind, but they're different levels and I certainly can't share with you those names."
Does anyone know the difference between the July 1, Aug 1, and Aug 15 free agents? I think some of the latter free agents are ones that will get cut by teams before their contracts become guaranteed. I'm guessing these are guys on the Gabe Pruitt level.
The free agent market is starting to take shape with teams declining to give some restricted free agents a qualifying offer, thus making them unrestricted. This is happening to Charlie Villanueva and Marquis Daniels. Teams have until tomorrow to make qualifying offers. Ainge has already said he will extend one to Big Baby, so we retain the right to match any offer to him. We are also waiting on official word from Eddie House to see if he'll opt out of the final year of his deal, but Ainge seems optimistic about retaining Eddie.
Draft night turned out to be a quiet night. But I think it is safe to say that July 1st will be a busy one for the Celtics. I wonder if Danny will show up on the doorstep of someone's home at the stroke of midnight. I am really interested to see who their top target is.