The Celtics are in Brooklyn tonight to take on the Nets and there is already word that Paul Pierce has made his way into the visiting locker room to greet his old teammates, thanks to Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston (via Twitter). Let’s take a look at some of the rumblings out of the Atlantic division, including a couple of new nuggets about the deal that sent Pierce and Kevin Garnett south to the rival Nets:
- Details about one of the summer’s biggest trades are still trickling out, as Tim Bontemps of the New York Post writes that no one took being traded to the Celtics harder than Gerald Wallace. Meanwhile, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News reports (via Twitter) that Reggie Evans was never a part of the Nets‘ outgoing package, and that MarShon Brooks had conveyed a desire to be moved prior to the deal.
- While most non-guaranteed contracts don’t become fully guaranteed until January, Chris Smith would be assured a full-season salary if he makes the Knicks‘ opening night roster, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN New York. We outlined when the non-guaranteed deals of Smith (October 29th) and other minimum-salary players will become guaranteed here.
- Grabbing Dwight Buycks was a steal for the Raptors according to head coach Dwane Casey, who said that the point guard is better than any of the guards taken in the late first or second rounds of June’s NBA Draft, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. Toronto added Byucks, a Marquette product, as a free agent in July and guaranteed him $700K after he spent the last two seasons playing in the France, Belgium and the D-League.
- Casey expects Buycks to compete with D.J. Augustin for the team’s back-up point guard position and also get time off the ball as well. The Raptors didn’t have a draft pick in June, but Wolstat says they tried aggressively to move into the late lottery to take Greek phenom Giannis Antetokounmpo. (via Twitter)