It seems that Adrian Wojnarowski was misinformed. (I would link to the story, but it seems to be missing now) He said:
Sources say Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge and assistant director of basketball operations Leo Papile showed up on Rasheed Wallace’s(notes) doorstep just after midnight Wednesday to make their recruiting push.
That rumor was shot down by Ainge today. Via the Globe (and the Herald for that matter)
Danny Ainge was on the telephone at his HealthPoint office when the NBA free agent market opened at midnight yesterday. Among Ainge’s first calls was to Bill Strickland, agent for center-forward Rasheed Wallace.
Now it is easy to give these guys a hard time. I certainly took a few thinly veiled shots at Gary Tanguay for the way he handled the Sheed rumors before the quiet period ended. With that said, these guys deal in rumors and sources and cloak and dagger stuff for a living. It can be like a game of telephone where the original meaning gets distorted by the time it gets to us. Like a baseball hitter, if these guys are right 30% of the time that makes them one of the best in the business.
Complicating matters a bit is the fact that we can't be 100% sure that Danny is always telling the truth. Ok, maybe that's understating it. We can be reasonbly sure that Danny is lying or dodging the truth quite a bit, because that's his job.
The best we can do is take the rumors with a grain of salt and try to piece together the trends of what we're hearing rather than the exact details. For example, I trust that the Celtics are very interested in Rasheed Wallace, but I'm not sure anymore if I believe that the Big 3 are going to be paying him a recruiting visit. Maybe the will, maybe they won't.
But that's rumor season for ya. Like it or not, you have to admit it is interesting.