Who is the best free agent center for Boston, given these constraints?

[LooseCannon]

It should be obvious to all that the Celtics' biggest need is a center who can back-up Jermaine O'Neal and play extended minutes as an interim starter in the event of an O'Neal injury.  Salary cap rules require this be done with not a lot of money.  Everyone has wish lists, but many ideas strike me as unrealistic.  Here are a few of what I consider realistic scenarios.  In each scenario, consider both the possibility that the Celtics have the full MLE and that they have the mini MLE and cannot offer as much money as other teams.  In all scenarios, assume that Jeff Foster is unavailable because he refuses to leave Indy and can't play enough minutes to be a good fit.  Also, assume that no center will be made available through the amnesty clause unless he actually has been.

Consider each of these scenarios, separately or in combination.  Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to come up with the top three centers the Celtics might be able to sign under each of these constraints.

1) Danny Ainge refuses to give any free agent a contract longer than two years.  Ainge has consistently shown an unwillingness to offer bad full-length MLE contracts, preferring to go after veterans with shorter deals.

2) Samuel Dalembert and Kwame Brown, two names that get mentioned on wish lists, go to teams other than Boston.  Specifically, let's assume that Brown gets offered a contract that Ainge can't/won't match in terms of money and/or years.

3) Ainge is forced to gamble on a center who has had no more than one season starting 50 or more games for an NBA team.

[Liam W]

Kwame Brown will be signed 


 

[Who]

Full MLE + multi-year deal = Kwame Brown, Jeff Foster
Full MLE + one year deal = Joel Przybilla

Mini-MLE + multi-year deal = Joel Przybilla
Mini-Mle + one year deal = Chris Wilcox

Minimum Contract = Eric Dampier, Jason Collins or Kyrylo Fesenko

[snively]

Kwame Brown will be signed 


 

I don't think Kwame's leaving Charlotte.  They really need a center, he just had his best year, and he loves Paul Silas (IIRC). 

[indeedproceed]

Kwame Brown will be signed 


 

I don't think Kwame's leaving Charlotte.  They really need a center, he just had his best year, and he loves Paul Silas (IIRC). 

He also feels loyalty to MJ.

[indeedproceed]

Reg-gie (clap, clap) Will-iams (clap, clap)

[PosImpos]

Fesenko or Collins sound realistic.  Bleh.

[Eddie20]

One thing that was missing from our team last season, once Perk was traded and Shaq went down, was toughness and physical play.

So some names that comes to mind that could be available with the vet minimum are:

Kurt Thomas
Reggie Evans
Joel Przybilla

[Fafnir]

Full MLE + multi-year deal = Kwame Brown, Jeff Foster
Full MLE + one year deal = Joel Przybilla

Mini-MLE + multi-year deal = Joel Przybilla
Mini-Mle + one year deal = Chris Wilcox

Minimum Contract = Eric Dampier, Jason Collins or Kyrylo Fesenko

Fesenko, yuck....

But yeah those are the sort of names we're looking at.

[slamtheking]

One thing that was missing from our team last season, once Perk was traded and Shaq went down, was toughness and physical play.

So some names that comes to mind that could be available with the vet minimum are:

Kurt Thomas
Reggie Evans
Joel Przybilla

Thomas and Pryz on 1 year vet min deals are most likely what we'll get.  now that the MLE has been reduced for the C's this year, I don't see them getting Kwame

[barefacedmonk]

Will Haywood be amnestied? If he is, I would love to have him.

[ManUp]

Reg-gie (clap, clap) Will-iams (clap, clap)

Do you mean Reggie Evans? Only NBA Reggie Williams I saw was a SG with the Warriors.

[stylo617617]

i would love to see an rotation of c;s of j.o/pryzbilla/fesenko & grey alot of beef & length in the middle which is all we need

[PosImpos]

Will Haywood be amnestied? If he is, I would love to have him.

that's an interesting option, though whether or not he gets amnestied will depend largely on whether Dallas is able to re-sign Tyson Chandler (probably they will).  also, if Haywood is amnestied there's a good chance some other team picks him up on waivers before we get a crack at him.

i would love to see an rotation of c;s of j.o/pryzbilla/fesenko & grey alot of beef & length in the middle which is all we need

well, we also pretty badly need somebody who can finish and provide some sort of inside presence, and none of those guys really fits the bill at all.  none of the names mentioned in this thread are better offensively than Krstric or even Perk, and that's the biggest problem I see.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Other than Dalembert, it's an unexciting list of prospects, but Boston needs SOMEONE (maybe even a couple someones), so my preferences are Aaron Gray and Kurt Thomas. Gray is a big body, young but experienced, and had some big moments in the playoff series against the Lakers last season; he also averaged 8.5 points and 11 rebounds per 36 minutes last season. Thomas is old (39) but averaged 4.1 points and -- more importantly -- 5.8 rebounds in 52 games last season, which comes out to 6.5 points and 9 rebounds per 36 minutes. He's a physical player with attitude and good defensively, a la Perkins.