From Monique Walker of the Boston Globe:

Free agent center Chris Andersen and his agent, Steve Heumann, arrived in Boston yesterday, had dinner with Ainge, and will meet with Ainge and his staff today. The Hornets are also interested in retaining Andersen. Free agents can begin signing contracts Tuesday.

The Celtics have had an interest in Andersen since he was reinstated by the NBA March 4 after serving a two-year ban for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. The athletic, 6-foot-11-inch, 228-pounder returned to the Hornets and played in five games. Andersen, who has also played for the Nuggets, has averaged 5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks over his six-year career.

“He’s a guy we’ve always wanted,” Ainge said. “We just want to sit down and talk to Chris and see where he is at with his desire to play in Boston and to see if we think he is a fit.”

Side note: On last night’s Sports Tonight Late Edition on CSN, Marc Spears was on talking Celtics with Greg Dickerson and Michael Felger. Spears said that there is a really strong chance that Chris Andersen gets a deal done with the Celtics and that Andersen “really wants to be here… bad.” Take that for what it’s worth.

Also, all is quiet in Posey land:

Agent Mark Bartelstein, who represents forward James Posey and guard Eddie House, said yesterday, “Nothing new right now. Just a lot of talk.”

“There is a lot of posturing going on,” said Ainge about free agency in general. “Who knows?”

The Celtics have offered contracts to both Posey and Clippers free agent guard Corey Maggette, who are both getting interest around the league.

Sources indicated Posey was not offered the full midlevel exception (about $5.8 million) by the Celtics, but it wasn’t far from it.

Among the teams expected to be interested in Posey are Washington, Cleveland, New Orleans, and the Los Angeles Lakers.

When asked when he expected to get word from Posey or Maggette, Ainge said, “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

“Our finished work might not be done until August or September,” Ainge continued. “It’s a long process. We are going to try to sift through a lot of free agents. We are in a good position where a lot of guys want to come and play for us. It makes it good. It doesn’t make us desperate.”

Leave a Reply