Glen Davis and Celtics Have Options

Will Glen Davis be back with the Celtics? That is one of the more intriguing questions that will get answered in short order once the lockout gets lifted and free agents find homes.

We can debate all day (or all Summer and Fall as the case may be) about the merits of bringing Baby back to the Celtics, but it should be remembered that he's an unrestricted free agent. He might just chose another team, even if the offer is about the same. He might just want a break from Doc's particular style of teaching.

Despite his boisterous detractors on this site and elsewhere, he does have a lot of good qualities. Ones that other teams covet. So he'll have options. Mark Murphy covers some of them here.

Glen Davis ready for free agent sprint - BostonHerald.com

Though Davis declined to specify where beyond the Celtics he might be looking, two league sources confirmed that his camp targeted New Jersey, Orlando, Denver, Atlanta, Detroit and possibly New Orleans.

Murphy goes on into detail about why those teams might be interested (and it is fun to read about the dizzying amount of moves that could happen in a couple weeks). In short, Davis might just want to take the route that Tony Allen did. He could be a bigger dog on a team with fewer alpha males and prove to people that he can do more than take charges.

But of course Davis isn't the only one with options. The Celtics actually do have the option to sign and trade Davis. (read more after the break)

The Celtics still have that option, with Davis quite possibly their best trade asset. Considering his opening demand is expected to be somewhere north of the $5 million mid-level exception - perhaps as much as $6 million in the first year - that may be a likely scenario.

In fact, one writer has word that the Celtics plan to sign and trade Davis.

Twitter / @SeanDeveney:

From what I'm told, the Celts are happy about the whole sign-and-trade issue for tax teams, because that's the plan with Big Baby Davis

With the cap situation this year getting more dicey and the team's ability to use the mid level a little more limited (see Paul Flannery's detailed look at the effect of CBA changes), I can't imagine them spending $5 to $6M on Davis without shipping him out for someone. Perhaps it would be someone on a short term contract that could help the team now. Or perhaps ideally it would be a younger player that could grow with the team and help it transition into the next era. Of course some would argue that describes Davis himself.

So will he stay or will he go? That's a good question and one that we'll finally get an answer on soon.