NBA Free Agency: Celtics Make Finishing Touches As Roster Nears Completion

Throughout this entire off-season, Danny Ainge has done an amazing job retooling and avoiding rebuilding the roster for next season. Last week, the Celtics acquired Courtney Lee by trading four players who may not even be in the league in a few years. They got another great replacement for Ray Allen, and by making this trade, the depth in the backcourt gets even deeper. The Celtics weren’t done there, they signed a couple of other players to round out the roster.

Goodbye Stiemsma, Hello Jason Collins

Today it was made official, Greg Stiemsma is heading to Minnesota to play for the Timberwolves. The Celtics were unable to match with the qualifying offer due to their lack of cap space. To off-set losing the big man, the Celtics went out and signed Jason Collins who played for the Atlanta Hawks last season.

Collins is an 11 year veteran, and over his entire career has averaged 3.8 ppg and nearly 4 rebounds a game. His stats aren’t all that impressive, but he’s a 7 footer and you can’t teach size. Its way to early to speculate, but this signing was merely to fill the 3rd string center slot.

I’m not expecting a lot, but if he can come in and do what P.J. Brown did back in 2008, he would help the team immensely.

Celtics Invite Dionte Christmas To Training Camp

After a very impressive summer league, Dionte Christmas was finally invited to Celtics training camp and pre-season. Christmas scored in double-figures 9 out of 10 games in summer league play, and averaged 14.2 ppg in Las Vegas.

Even with the deep roster, Christmas can easily find a place on the team. He does everything. From rebounding, to scoring, to being a good passer, Christmas is a well rounded player. I’m looking forward to seeing how well he plays in the pre-season games. Watching him in summer league, I just got the feeling that he has the determination and will to do whatever is necessary for him to score or make his teammates better.

Christmas is a shooting guard, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Celtics try turning him into a point guard. They already have Jason Terry, Avery Bradley, and Courtney Lee at shooting guard, so the move over to a new position may benefit him, just in terms of getting minutes and the opportunity to shine while he’s on the court.

He’s definitely going to be a player to keep an eye on. I think there is something special about this guy, and I’m so glad he was given the chance to play for the Celtics.

Will The Celtics Make Any More Moves?

Seeing that the roster has almost been completed, the Celtics may not need to make another signing, but if they were, I’d expect to see Keyon Dooling to return. They don’t really need to add another player, but if Boston can get an experienced veteran for the veterans minimum then thats icing on the cake.

This is the deepest Celtics team I’ve seen, probably since 2008. If they can stay healthy, they will be a force to be reckoned with.