Can Danny?

The Celtics currently have 11 men on the roster so they need to add at least two players.  With the team almost over the luxury tax line, I'm not sure that the owners will be willing to pay for three spots (and send Brandon Wallace down to the NBDL) so the C's might have to make due with only only two new acquisitions to fill their three needs.

So which need goes overlooked? The Celtics simply can't go into the season without adding a third point guard so that leaves the backup swinman spot and backup big man roles as possible odd men out.  Right now, I'd put my money on the center/PF spot being passed over.  The thinking will probably be that Perkin/Veal/Powe can handle the center position with Veal/Powe/Big Baby and maybe even Brandon Wallace backing up KG. With the only backups swingmen being Gabe Pruitt, Tony Allen (coming off injury), and Wallace, the C's are in dire need of players who can step up and play some minutes so that Ray Allen and Paul Pierce aren't forced to be on the court 40 minutes a night.

So who's out there?  For the point guard slot, I'd look at Charlie Bell as my top choice since he's a combo guard who could backup both guard spots effectively.  Unfortunately, he's probably out of our price range so I'd take a look at Eddie House, Darrell Armstrong, Gary Payton, Chucky Atkins, Darrick Martin, Brevin Knight or Mike Wilks. A dark horse that I'd love to invite to camp but whom we probably couldn't risk signing is Dajuan Wagner.  If our options are bargain basement, I'd look at Aaron Miles, who played well overseas. The bottom of the barrell would be Royal Ivey, a poor man's Rondo who is solid on defense but has no jumper.

For the swingman spot, the first two names to pop in most people's heads would be Eddie Jones or Ruben Patterson.  Patterson is probably a no-go because of his checkered past and the Celtics Code of Conduct.  Eddie Jones, however, could be the type of players who goes to a team for the minimum for one last shot at a ring.  Also, it would bring some justice to the world, making up at long last for the C's taking Eric Montross over him in the draft. James Posey is another option. Ime Udoka and Matt Barnes are possibilities but the odds of them taking the short money looks slim.  Perhaps they agree to a Deshawn Stevenson type one year deal to help raise their stock but we'd probably have to wait until they had no other options to make that happen.  Udoka, especially, is unlikely to make that type of deal as he is about to turn 30 in a little over a week and his window for making anything more than the minimum probably closes after this offseason.  The cheaper, more likely options would be Devin Brown, DerMarr Johnson, or Derek Anderson.

If the Celtics do opt to sign a big man, the first call would likely be to Dikembe Mutombo.  He'd be a great addition to the team but might prefer to stay in Houston. After that, there's Brian Skinner or perhaps Keith Van Horn if he opts to come out of retirement. (Not that he should). Cliff Robinson could be an interesting addition and Bo Outlaw always seems good for six fouls. The bargain basement guy would probably be Jelani McCoy. If the C's opt to go younger, they could look at Alexander Johnson, Justin Williams, Erik Daniels, Noel Felix and old friend Dwayne Jones.

 In the end, I think the best case scenario would be Charlie Bell, Ruben Patterson, and Dikembe.  But since the odds of that seem to be slimt to none, I'll be happy with Eddie House and Devin Brown (and possibly Brian Skinner if we sign three guys).