The Celtics will not be participating in Summer League this year, but will hold a mini camp for between 16 to 20 players at their Waltham training facility from Wednesday through Saturday of this week. Big Baby Davis, Gabe Pruitt, and their first-round draft pick J.R. Giddens are expected to participate. Ex-NBA players Jackie Butler, Lawrence Roberts, David Noel, Omar Cook, and Mustapha Shakur are also expected to play. Undrafted free agent Brian Butch, a center from Wisconsin, will also be attending. Celtics draft pick, Bill Walker, will not participate as he will likely undergo minor knee surgery this week.
According to Draft Express, reports are that the Celtics are shopping Walker overseas, trying to get him to play in Europe next season and then they will give him a chance to try and make team next year. They would also have Semih Erden who will be finished with his contract with Turkey to consider next season.
According to the Globe, the Celtics are giving Chris "The Birdman" Anderson a close look to fill the void that will be left if PJ Brown retires. The Celtics have their own free agents to consider with James Posey, Eddie House, Tony Allen, Sam Cassell, Scot Pollard and PJ Brown all being unrestricted free agents. Not much has been said about Scot Pollard so I think he is probably gone. Sam has said that he wants to come back, but there are also reports that he is interested in the Nuggets. Personally, I would rather not see Sam back and maybe go after one of the free agents available such as Chris Duhon, Shaun Livingston, Tyronn Lue or Jason Williams. Doc has said several times that they want Tony back and I can't see him wanting to go elsewhere if he is given an offer. They have until the end of today to give him a qualifying offer or he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Eddie has said that he wants to return, but there has been talk that maybe he will look elsewhere after the plummet in hit minutes during the playoffs. But, I can't see him wanting to leave a championship team if they make him an offer.
The key here is James Posey. He is important to the team on so many levels and he will be looking for a long term contract at decent money. Danny says he wants to keep him so we will see how much. He will officially opt out of his contract today and become a free agent. The Hornets and the Hated Lakers are among the suitors expected to make him an offer. Hopefully Danny can make a better offer as his shoes will be hard to fill. I am not sure if they can compete without a hug from Posey before the game. It just wouldn't look right to see him hugging Kobe before the game. Not sure if I could handle that.
Paul Pierce is quite the pool shark. After winning the NBA Finals MVP, Paul Pierce won the BET Awards Celebrity Pool Tournament on June 21 in his hometown of Los Angeles. Lots of hardware for the Captain this off season. No word on whether he has had an MRI on his knee after the playoffs and whether there was any serious damage to it, but given the fact that he is out celebrating still, I imagine that the knee is going to be fine. Not so with Lucky's shoulder, though. Celtics mascot Lucky, will soon be having right shoulder surgery. He didn't dunk during the Finals because of the injury. Lucky has overcome left elbow and right knee surgery already and said he will soon be dunking again and ready to dunk his way to #18 for the Celtics.
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