1. Eduardo Najera-- Best Posey replacement out there.
2. Francisco Elson, DJ Mbenga, Earl Barron and Primoz Brezec. Four perfectly adequate, inexpensive backup centers. Barron playeed very well for the Heat when given the opportunity, and he would be my first choice. All of these guys are way better than Randolph Morris.
3. Damon Stoudamire, Jannero Pargo, Kevin Ollie and Sebastian Telfair. All would be adequate backup point guards.
4.Salim Stoudamire and Juan Dixon. House replacements if they can't resign Eddie.
I would also consider Bostjan Nachbar-- can flat out shoot.
Now it may be that Danny knows that none of these guys would be interested in the Celtics or are asking for too much money, but I have not seen anything reported that would take these guys off my list.
There's a couple of players there I don't want any piece of.
Najera heads the list. He adds absolutely nothing to this team. He's ridiculously overrated. I don't want him on the Celtics. He's not better than Powe or BBD and he's not better than half a dozen small forwards the Celtics can get in free agency. He has no position and his game has gone downhill hugely since his last batch of injuries. Also, paper talk said that his agent was looking for 4-5mil per annum which turns me off even more.
No to DJ Mbenga and Brezec. DJ is useless and has no basketball skills. He's just tall and willinging. Brezec is soft and doesn't add enough to the team. Earl Barron is an interesting 3rd stringer but I'm not sure I have enough faith in him to bring him as the primary backup center.
Francisco Elson is a very good name, I'd like Elson.
Damon Stoudamire is finished. He shouldn't get anywhere near a basketball team next season, nevermind a contender, nevermind a rotation spot. Time to start looking into a coaching career.
Jannero Pargo will require the MLE. He opted out of his contract for a pay rise and he'll get it. If the Posey/Maggette situation falls through I'd be happy to consider him for the MLE but not ahead of those guys. Solid player.
Bassy is one of the better free agent point guards on the market as crazy as that sounds. It's not really that large a compliment to Bassy, more that the free agent market for point guards is very weak. I think the Celtics will need to resign Eddie House or bring in a combo guard type. I also reckon Bassy should get 2-3mil from someone ... possibly Minnesota or Toronto.
Kevin Ollie is an interesting name. Not sure what he has left in the tank because he hasn't played a whole lot recently. I don't really want him as a primary backup, more of a 3rd string which he'd be very good for. That said I'd rather give 3rd string to Pruitt than sign a veteran so Ollie doesn't do it for me.
Salim Stoudamire isn't good enough to be here in Boston playing a role on a contender. Juan Dixon is someone I don't like because he's self-involved on the basketball court, decent fallback option I suppose but not high on my list.
Boki Nachbar is someone I'd pass on because I'm not convinced he's that good of a fit here in Boston and whether or not he's worth a near MLE deal. Like him overall but not sure the Celtics is a good fit for him (lack of defense, not enough reliable offense to make up for it).
I would add Walter Hermann to the Bostjan Nachbar line, both can shoot and both play hard on the floor. Both are bench scoring weapons that would be nice.
If the Posey/Maggette situations both fell through Walter Herrmann would move near to the top of my list. He won't command a large paycheck so Danny could spend the MLE elsewhere (probably the point, say Pargo) and then add a low contract replacement for Posey. Herrmann in that scenario is a great choice. He's tough, he plays defense, he plays well under pressure, he's got good size and athleticism, combo forward, great shooter, runs the floor. He's very good at power forward in those small lineups. Very solid player.
Herrmann could be one of the steals in this free agency. Hopefully he'll get himself a good home with a team that will actually play him minutes. He'd look very good in San Antonio, especially in a small ball lineup next to Duncan and if they got Maggette too ..... that would be a nice sight.