First, let me preface this by saying that this is only my suggestions and I'm not saying that all teams involved will agree to these ideas. Actually, this is more wishful thinking... Or a more conservative approach to trades and free agency. So I'm ignoring the Rajon Rondo trade rumors. Personally, I don't want to trade Rondo.
Trade exception - acquired from Sacramento in the Marquis Daniels trade. It's worth $2.3M.
Courtney Lee - $2.2M (one year remaining with a qualifying offer)
Boston could try to acquire Courtney Lee from Houston in exchange for their trade exception.
For Houston, the absence of Lee can free up minutes for Terrence Williams to develop behind Kevin Martin and Chase Budinger.
For Boston, the addition of Lee affords you the option to start him ahead of Ray Allen. In my opinion, Allen needs to come off the bench playing twenty plus minutes during the regular season and thirty minutes during the playoffs. He's an ideal sixth man. Moreover, Allen has finished second in average minutes played during the regular season for three straight seasons.
2010-2011 - 36.1 MPG (Rondo 37.2 MPG)
2009-2010 - 35.2 MPG (Rondo 36.6 MPG)
2008-2009 - 36.4 MPG (Pierce 37.5 MPG)
http://www.celticstats.com/season/0809.phpMoreover, I would make competitive offers to Thaddeus Young and Carl Landry and reasonable offers to TJ Ford and Aaron Gray.
I'm not sold on Bradley and/or Moore becoming your backup point guards to Rondo. Hence, my interest in Ford. I prefer having Landry to Glen Davis and Young to Jeff Green. However, if it isn't feasible to sign either Landry or Young, then I re-sign Green and let Davis sign elsewhere. Brandon Wright is another free agent option but to sign him and JaJuan Johnson would be redundant. Between Kwame Brown and Aaron Gray, Gray could come cheaper than Brown. See, the center question is going to be hard to address by Ainge. I really dislike doing it by a committee.
4 - Kevin Garnett
3 - Paul Pierce
5 - Jermaine O'Neal
1 - Rajon Rondo
2 - Courtney Lee - acquire
Ray Allen
Avery Bradley
JaJuan Johnson - sign
E'Twaun Moore - sign
Thaddeus Young - offer (RFA)
Carl Landry - offer (FA)
TJ Ford - offer (FA)
Aaron Gray - offer (FA)
Open roster spot
Open roster spot
Thaddeus Young, SF: Young is the kind of young, athletic forward the Celtics desperately need. At 6-feet-8-inches he’s long enough to cause problems on defense, and he’s come into his own as a scorer, averaging 12.5 points in his four-year career. The Sixers are stacked at his position with Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner, so they may let him walk, though it’s unlikely he’d come to Boston cheaply.
Carl Landry, PF: Landry is an undersized power forward in the Glen Davis mold. The players’ heights relative to their position are where the similarities end, though. The 6-foot-9-inch Landry is a natural scorer, averaging 15.8 points and five rebounds for the Hornets in last season’s playoff series vs. the Lakers. If Davis ends up elsewhere, Landry could slide into his role. The big question with Landry might be his affordability.
T.J. Ford, PG: This probably works only if Delonte West doesn’t return to Boston. With Avery Bradley still a bit green, Ford would be a suitable backup to Rajon Rondo until Bradley could work his way into the rotation.
http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2011/11/29/what-free-agents-might-celtics-target-for-new-season/U9T9FDkMRmiTjQfqNJOYVO/story.html