Rumor: Celtics Want Both Ray Allen and Jason Terry

It was assumed (by me at least, and probably by most) that the Celtics were looking into Jason Terry as a replacement for Ray Allen. Well, the Celtics are increasingly confident that they can retain the services of Mr. Allen and are still interested in adding The Jet as well.

Doc Rivers: Celtics want to keep core together; hope to re-sign Ray Allen - Yahoo! Sports

The Celtics have tried to solidify the shooting guard position by pursuing Dallas Mavericks free agent Jason Terry in addition to Allen, and Rivers said he can envision the team signing both. Celtics president Danny Ainge spoke to Terry on Sunday. Terry also is receiving interest from the Memphis Grizzlies, the Los Angeles Clippers, Suns and Mavericks. "We've given our pitch," Rivers said. "We're definitely in the picture and we have a lot of interest."

That would be something to behold. You have to like the idea of adding the perennial 6th man of the year to provide that much talked about scoring to our bench.

Potentially we could have Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen back in the starting lineup (which appears to be his preference) and Avery Bradley and Jason Terry coming off the bench in the second unit sharing the ball handling duties when Rondo is out.

Keep in mind, everything is fluid right now. There's no guarantee that either Ray or Terry is going to agree as both have suitors elsewhere.

Also, there's a limited amount of money the Celtics have to spend. If they bring back Ray Allen and sign Jeff Green, that will probably put them over the cap but still under the tax limit, allowing them to sign Terry with the mid level. That would leave Brandon Bass on the outside looking in unless he and/or Jeff Green agreed to a lower than expected deal.

In a quote that sounds more optimistic than realistic, Doc Rivers wants to have his cake and eat it too.

Bass has drawn interest from several teams, but Rivers is hopeful the Celtics can keep intact as much of last season's roster as possible. "If we can get them all, we will try to get them all," Rivers said.

It is more likely that the team feels like they could get by without Bass with a combination of Jeff Green, JaJuan Johnson, and Jared Sullinger all able to play the 4 spot.

So, the Celtics appear to be doing everything they can to "get the band back together again" and add to it.