Celtics free agents - underperforming thus far

SB Nation is taking a look across the league at how free agents signed this summer are doing.

Danny Ainge had a lot of cap room to work with this summer. There was nobody to throw max money at so the best solution was to bring back Kevin Garnett and run it back one more time. After Ray decided he preferred South Beach, Ainge filled the roster with faces both familiar and not. It was widely thought to be a successful summer on paper.

It hasn't exactly gone according to plan (the last 3 games have been a promising turn for the better but this is a review of the season to date). In fact the new guys have mostly under-performed to expectations which led to many of the team's early struggles.

Here's a quick look at the biggest free agents the Celtics signed and how they are doing now.

Most point to Jason Terry as being the Ray Allen replacement. Few remember that Terry was actually signed before Ray made up his mind. It was supposed to be both of them running through picks and killing defenses with spacing and 3's Instead Terry became the backup plan and when Courtney Lee couldn't thrive in a temporary starting role, it was up to Terry to start.

While Terry has been a positive influence and veteran leader, he hasn't filled up the box scores the way we had hoped he would. His production has slipped over the last few years but even in the last 2 years he was putting up around 15 ppg in 30 min a game and shooting in the mid 40's in percentage. Hopefully a more defined bench role will help him get back to at least those numbers for the remainder of the year but he's been hot and cold thus far.

Courtney Lee was technically acquired via trade (best of luck E'Tuwan) but he was a free agent and he essentially signed with the intent of being traded to the Celtics. Again, Lee was supposed to fill in for Avery Bradley while he was on the mend. The idea was he could defend and shoot three pointers and shift to the bench right about now.

Well, he hit the bench earlier than expected and has been putting up career low numbers across the board. Something just hasn't clicked with him. Some of it seems to do with his smaller role. He was taking 3.7 three pointers per game last year in Houston and is down to 1.5 this year. With Bradley back it isn't exactly clear how he'll get more looks than that - which is why he's mentioned often in trade ideas and rumors.

That said, I'm still holding hard to my hope that he'll eventually find a role that suits him and starts hitting his career numbers in shooting percentage.

Ahh Jeff Green. The poor guy has been a punch line ever since he signed that contract. He's also a sympathetic figure because of his recent heart surgery. So nobody is really exactly sure what to make of him.

On the court he's been similarly mystifying. On some days he looks like the guy that everyone wants him to be, driving the lane where good things happen (be it a foul, off-balance layup, or thundering dunk). Other days he seems (to me at least) dazed and confused and essentially invisible on the court.

He remains the best talent on the bench and the biggest X factor on the team. There's no such thing as an untradable player, but there aren't going to be a lot of teams looking to pry him and his contract away from the Celtics.

He's had time to learn the system by now and his role should be getting clearer by the day. I get the feeling that Doc will ride him when he's hot and when he has a good matchup but won't waste too much time with him on his bad days. Or said another way, he might not break double digits in points for a few games in a row, but he's just the kind of guy that might (out of the blue) go for 20+ points in some key playoff game that could swing a series in our favor. Here's hoping anyway.

Brandon Bass had his best year as a pro last year and was a great addition to the starting lineup. Bringing him back on a reasonable deal was (and is) a no brainer. Unfortunately he's taken a big step back in productivity. He's been in and out of the starting lineup - losing the job to guys like Jared Sullinger and Jason Collins (when Doc wanted to go big). He's back in the first five for now, but Sully is nipping at his heels with his recent performances.

Perhaps getting some extra looks with the starters will help get Bass going again. Hopefully that magical lineup from the end of last year can jump start his game.

Adding Avery Bradley into the mix and increasing Jared Sullinger's role will help the team as a whole - though it may be at the expense of several on this list. They've still got the talent and the opportunity to contribute closer to the offseason expectations but thus far it hasn't gone according to Danny's best laid plans.