Say what you want about Glen Davis (and we've said a lot) but the fact is that he not only could be back next season, he probably SHOULD be back next season.
Sure, by the end of last season he was a sad puddle of humanity who looked sad, heavier and slower… which coincided with the Celtics early post-season demise. But when the Celtics were playing their best last season, Glen Davis was out there taking charges, rebounding and taking good shots. THAT Glen Davis is a good player for this team. He knows what's needed of him, he knows the system and he knows the players. It's a classic case of the devil you know being better than the devil you don't.
Not the most ringing endorsement of Big Baby, I know. But trust me, there's an endorsement in there somewhere. And there's a little sense of relief when I read that Glen Davis might have gone off to China to play ball… but decided against it.
According to the source, the team had entered negotiations with several NBA free-agent big men over the past two weeks, including Los Angeles Clippers center, DeAndre Jordan, and Boston Celtics forward, Glen Davis. Though there was enough interest on the player side to have back-and-forth talks, the two ultimately walked away from Guangsha due increased optimism back in the United States that there will be an NBA season this year.
The Celtics have a lot of holes to fill. And depending on the CBA, they'll probably have more limitations on how they fill those holes. That makes the availability of Glen Davis a little more important. If the mid-level is lowered, and if other exceptions are limited, the C's might have to use the Bird Rights it holds on Davis to sign him.
In fact, Danny can sign him to, say, a 3 year deal and use the "stretch" exception to get rid of him if he doesn't pan out. If my understanding of the rule is correct (and it often is not, but hell.. I'll keep trying) you can spread the cap hit of waiving a player over twice the length of the contract plus one year. And since Baby might be a $5-$7 mil. a year guy in the new NBA, spreading the $10-14 million remaining in his salary over a few years might seem like a worthwhile risk to Danny Ainge. Plus, that Sword of Damocles over Baby's head might be enough incentive for him to keep playing well throughout the entire season.
We'll see what comes of that. I'm just happy one of the Celtics few options for filling out the roster isn't going anywhere.
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