Read More: Chuck Hayes (C – HOU), Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets

The Boston Celtics, who currently have just one center signed, will target Houston Rockets free agent center Chuck Hayes to add depth, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reported Wednesday.

“Celtics are obviously looking for a low-cost, banger to put at center. Top target, I am told: Houston’s Chuck Hayes. Would be a good fit,” Deveney tweeted.

Hayes is the league’s only 6-foot-6 center, a rock-like pillar of defense who somehow manages to thrive in his role despite an utter lack of height, length or athleticism. Not the type to wow fans looking for dunks and highlight-reel scores, Hayes nonetheless excels as a rebounder and has made himself into one of the NBA’s better low-post defenders. Think Glen Davis, except likely cheaper and without the occasional tendencies to clash with Doc Rivers or shoot ill-advised jumpers from the perimeter.

Hayes started 63 of 74 games last season for the Houston Rockets, averaging 7.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He posted one of the more unlikely triple-doubles in recent NBA history in March, when Hayes — who contributed just 14 assists total during his entire rookie season — notched 13 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists against the Golden St. Warriors.

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Read More: Kendrick Perkins (C – OKC), Rajon Rondo (G – BOS), Chris Paul (G – NOH), Jeff Green (F – BOS), Russell Westbrook (G – OKC), New Orleans Hornets, Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder

Rajon Rondo is the talk of the town, as the Boston Celtics are reportedly trying to trade their young, talented point guard to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for superstar guard Chris Paul. Reports surfaced Tuesday night that Celtics GM Danny Ainge is pushing hard to swap Rondo for Paul, but the Hornets are looking for more in the deal.

However, this isn’t the first time that Ainge has tried to trade Rondo.

Ainge reportedly offered to trade Rondo, along with Jeff Green, to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Perkins following the playoffs last season, according to ESPN’s Chris Broussard.

 

Yes, you read that correctly. Ainge tried to trade Green back to the Thunder – the very team the C’s acquired him from at last year’s trade deadline – to reacquire Perkins, and he was willing to give up Rondo to do it.

If that isn’t an indictment on the play of Green, as well as Rondo, I don’t know what is.

For more Boston Celtics coverage, visit our team page and blog, CelticsBlog.

So it turns out that the far-fetched fantasies of Boston Celtics fans amount to more than wishful thinking after all. Cs fans in Beantown and beyond have long lamented the shooting ability of Rajon Rondo(notes), with some hoping he’d make for a big enough bargaining chip when it comes to a trade. Apparently, Chris Paul(notes), the New Orleans Hornets’ own star PG, would be the perfect replacement, or so the reasoning goes.

Grumbling fans have been teasing themselves for so long about the possibility that by the time the NBA lockout ended, it seemed like a non-starter. It now looks like Danny Ainge was thinking along the same lines all along.

No one doubts that Rondo is a promising PG, but his accuracy (or lack of it) might be holding back the Cs squad. Meanwhile, the championship window for Boston’s big three is closing faster than the door of a booby-trapped room in an Indiana Jones movie. Mouthful of an analogy, but hopefully it conveys the sense of urgency. The big three are fast approaching retirement, and it’s a pretty safe bet that a shortened 66-game season will be the last time we see them all together on the court in green and white.

Ainge is all too well aware of this fact. Maybe that’s why the cat has finally come out of the bag. It’s being reported that Ainge is “highly motivated” to trade Rondo for “an even better point guard,” namely, CP3.

To be fair to Rondo, although it’s easy to remember all those ugly jump shots he couldn’t sink, he actually had a better field goal percentage than Paul overall last year. Rondo was .475 from the field to Paul’s .463. He also has a better career average, .486 to CP3′s .471. The bigger difference, of course, is in 3-pointers, where Rondo fares predictably poorly. Rondo has a career average of .242 from behind the 3-point line, while Paul is at .359. Ouch.

Those two metrics obviously only tell one part of the story, but they offer some hint at things to come if Ainge is able to snag Paul. That might still be a tall order, no pun intended. The same day the news leaked that Ainge had his sights on Paul, CP3 himself was quoted as saying “My heart is in New Orleans.” Ouch again.

Taurus Londono has lived in Massachusetts for over ten years. He is a longtime fan of the Boston Celtics.

Sources:

Basketball Reference – Rajon Rondo

Basketball Reference – Chris Paul

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With the NBA Lockout ending this past weekend, the 2011 NBA Free Agent period is beginning at a fast and frantic pace, and the Boston Celtics are right in the mix to improve its squad, which last year was knocked out of the playoffs by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

According to David Aldrige, the Celtics are looking to fill its void at center by “looking very hard at Tyson Chandler”. Chandler, who last year played a critical role in the Dallas Mavericks winning its first NBA Title, is an unrestricted free agent, but the cost of the 7-foot-1, 216-pound center will be high and it maybe tough for him to fit into the Celtics’ payroll that already features Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

“I don’t see how the Celtics can do this, but perhaps I’m simply lacking in creativity,’ wrote Jeff Clark of SB Nation’s CelticsBlog Monday night.

For more on the NBA Free Agent period, be sure to check SB Nation’s NBA homepage. Check out, SB Nation’s CelticBlog for the latest news/reactions on the free-agent moves of the Boston Celtics.

A lot of people seem to be “upset” about the suggestion of trading Rondo to get Pierce some scoring help. While I certainly agree that building around Pierce at this point is a bad idea, I am curious as to what the plan is for when Pierce retires. If the team is Rondo, Glen Davis and Jeff Green, who is going to score? It’s not really about building around Paul Pierce; it’s about getting a player who can score, who will help carry the load for Pierce for his remaining years, then take the spot light when he is gone.

And who is to say that the player has to be some old re-tread? As has been mentioned, Russell Westbrook would be a solid swap for both teams. Westbrook would add scoring, but still distributes the ball incredibly well, and Rondo would flourish with the scoring power in OCK with Durant, Harden, and Ibaka. Monta Ellis might be worth looking at, though the Celtics should ask for more in return. If they could talk GS out of Curry instead, that would be a fantastic swap straight up.

There are plenty of young players that score that the Celtics could build around for the future. They should not do a Perkins-esqe trade with Rondo and just sell him off for nothing, but there are plenty of good options out there if the Celtics decided to move him.

Christmas came early for Knicks fans as word came out on Saturday, November 26, 2011 that the owners and players had reached a tentative agreement to begin the season on Christmas including a game between the Knicks and the Boston Celtics.

Unfortunately, it does not seem that the new collective bargaining agreement will mandate that Chris Paul(notes) immediately be allowed to join the Knicks so it will be another year until the Knicks have their own Big Three, but there is still a lot to look forward to this season.

Hopefully, the Knicks used the extra off season time to rest and get healthy. Carmelo Anthony(notes) had surgery on chronic knee and elbow injuries. Chauncey Billups(notes) has been rehabbing the knee injury he sustained against Boston in the playoffs last year. Toney Douglas(notes) had major surgery on his shoulder. There are still unknowns about the extent of Amare Stoudemire’s(notes) back injury that severely limited him during the playoff series against Boston. There were reports that as recently as two weeks ago he had to withdraw from a charity game because he is still being bothered by it. In this regard a shorter season could be a blessing to the Knicks.

The counter argument to that point of course is anybody that watched that immensely frustrating first round playoff series against the Celtics last season knows that the current group of Knicks never seemed to fully gel during the two months after Carmelo Anthony came to the team. A shortened camp and season could create a much lower ceiling for the level of cohesiveness this unit can attain this season. The Knicks still have a chaotic scene at center and I do not think anyone can claim with certainty they have a realistic formula for quickly solidifying that position. The Knicks brought in Mike Woodson to hopefully orchestrate some kind of miracle and get the Knicks to play something resembling defense. His job is going to be made exponentially harder by the shortened time he will have to work with the team.

There are a lot of uncertainties but this team if anything else has enough talent in order to be exciting this season. Another playoff berth is a strong possibility and when you have Carmelo and Stoudemire you always have the possibility of playing above expectations. The new CBA makes it highly likely that CP3 will be in a Knicks uniform next year. The 2012 NBA Draft looks to be loaded. There is a lot of reason to be optimistic about this year’s first round draft choice, Iman Shumpert(notes). I am personally just relieved the owners and players came to their senses and will allow us Knicks fans to continue to feel that optimism and excitement that finally returned to the Garden last season.

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BOSTON (CBS) –The Boston Celtics are happy the NBA lockout is almost over.

“The tentative agreement is great news for our fans, players and organization. We are very hopeful that the NBA will be back on the court on Christmas Day,” the team said in a release Sunday evening.

The Celtics are scheduled to play the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day, the hopeful starting date of a 66-game season.

Players and owners reached a hand-shake agreement early Saturday morning after a 149-day lockout.

Every NBA fan may receive an extra gift this Christmas, when games are expected to resume after nearly six months without professional basketball.

With a tentative agreement reached early Saturday morning, the focus immediately turned to the schedule. Among the big matchups scheduled for Christmas Day is the Celtics facing the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Other marquee matchups that day include an NBA Finals rematch between the Heat and Mavericks, and reigning MVP Derrick Rose and the Bulls playing Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

Majority votes by the owners and players are required to approve the deal and begin preparations for the new season.

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — A man accused of taking a swing at Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo inside a Massachusetts nightclub has been released on personal recognizance.

Eric Valarezo, of Haverhill (HAY’-vruhl), said he’s innocent but had no further comment after leaving a Lowell court on Monday following arraignment on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. The case was continued after a prosecutor asked for more time to investigate.

Authorities say the 31-year-old Valarezo was arrested just before 2 a.m. Saturday at Brian’s Ivy Hall in Lowell. No one was hurt.

Club manager Kevin Hayhurst says Rondo and several others, including bodyguards and fellow NBA players, were part of a crowd leaving just before closing time and didn’t seem to be acting improperly.

Valarezo says Rondo pushed him and that he reacted in self-defense.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.