CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: The Rumor Mill and Random Thoughts 6/18

Today the news was released that Kevin McHale won't be back with Minnesota after 15 years as GM and coach. A couple of weeks ago, the new Wolves GM was saying that it would be McHale's choice as to whether he returned as the coach. Today we hear that McHale was very disappointed that he won't be back and that it wasn't his choice to leave. Big Al Jefferson said that he is disappointed, shocked and hurt that McHale won't be allowed to return as coach. McHale was a lousy GM, but he did a pretty good job coaching the team. They were on a roll before Big Al went down with the injury. He had a great relationship with the players. I think they should have given him a whole season to coach a healthy team.

Along with tossing out McHale, there are rumors swirling about a trade that would send Al Jefferson and the Wolves' #6 pick to Phoenix for Amare Stoudemire. Not sure that makes much sense for Minnesota because they are a young rebuilding team and adding a veteran like Amare doesn't make all that much sense. Phoenix has been putting Amare out there in trade talks with various teams, including the Celtics. The Wolves would be better off keeping the pick and Big Al.

On Sports Tonight they were discussing whether McHale would be given a position with the Celtics but they said that he still wants to coach and doesn't really want to leave Minnesota so he probably will look for a college coaching job near where he lives. Also they mentioned that KG and McHale didn't have the greatest relationship so he probably won't be showing up for a position with the Celtics in the near future. It's a shame because McHale was always a favorite of mine. It would have been nice to see him succeed as a coach with the Wolves.

June 30 is the deadline for offering qualifying offers to restricted free agents. I imagine that the Celtics will offer one to Big Baby. I can't see any scenario where they wouldn't. Then we wait and see what other teams are willing to offer him and whether Danny will match those offers.

The Raptors announced on Tuesday that they've extended a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Carlos Delfino. Delfino this past season in Russia playing for BC Khimky Moscow. It will be interesting to see whether he takes them up on their offer or elects to remain in Russia.

Reportedly, Ben Gordon’s agent has said that he has an $11 million promise from the Pistons to lure Gordon away from the Bulls. Does this mean that Rip Hamilton's days with the Pistons are limited? If the contract that the Pistions offer Gordon will average $11 million dollars over 4 or 5 seasons, then the contract would start out between $9 and $9.5 million dollars. The Pistons would still have enough cap space to sign another free agent along with trading Rip Hamilton for another player who could make an impact.

There is a rumor going around that has Samuel Dalembert going to Charlotte for Nazr Mohammed and Vladimir Radmanovic, and in return, the Sixers would either get a second-round pick in the NBA draft or swap first-round picks (17 for 12) with the Bobcats as well.

The word out of New York is that the Knicks are very interested in Tracy McGrady and there are talks with Houston to try to work out a trade for him. They are high on taking Jordan Hill in the draft and according to the New York Post, if they draft Hill, they will try to deal free agent forward David Lee in a sign-and-trade and Portland is interested. I really like David Lee. He is a hard worker and brings a lot of energy. I'd love to have him on the Celtics.

They were discussing the trade talks on Sports Tonight again, this time with Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated. Once again they were amazed that Danny is even talking about trading Rondo. They did propose that it would be a good trade if the Celtics could send Ray, Rondo, Scal and Tony to Phoenix for Amare Stoudamire, and Steve Nash. That way they can win next year and have both Nash and Stoudamire come off the books at the end of the season for the big free agent off season of 2010.
They discussed the rumor that Danny offered Perk in a trade for the #2 pick. They pointed out that in the 1st round Dwight Howard averaged 24.0 points on 68% shooting. In the Conference Semi-Finals he averaged 16.4 points on 55% shooting and in the Conference Finals he averaged 25.8 points on 65% shooting. Those numbers show Perk's value to this team. The consensus was that the Celtics must win now and keeping Perk and Rondo is the best way to do that. Trading experience for a draft pick doesn't make sense at this point.

It is amazing all the trade talk that is going on. Along with the trade talk, there are a lot of free agents who will be hitting the market on July 1. If there is any fire from the smoke that is flying around, teams are going to look a lot different next season. The Celtics need to get stronger, not younger because if even half of the trade talks end up happening, the other teams in the East are going to be stronger.

Paul Pierce is looking forward to next season. He sent this via Twitter today:

Lakers vs orlando. Looked like a german sherperd vs a poodle that's ok the rotwieler celtics will b back in 2o10

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