There’s a belief around the league that the Celtics will indeed part with Jeff Green before the trade deadline, as Ronald Tillery of The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal writes within a subscription-only piece. The discussions the Grizzlies are having regarding Green, as well as Luol Deng, are internal, a source tells Tillery, though the earlier report from Marc Stein of ESPN.com indicates that Memphis is active on both fronts. The talk had president of basketball operations Danny Ainge suggesting that Green has succeeded Rajon Rondo as the most frequent subject of Celtics trade rumors, as Ainge said this morning to Fred Toucher and Rich Shertenlieb on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, notes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. While we wait to see just what happens with Green, here’s more from Boston:
- Ainge would like to clear the team’s logjam of big men, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt tweets, though it’s unknown which of the frontcourt players are most likely to go.
- Jameer Nelson insists that he and coach Brad Stevens are on the same page, but the point guard sat out Wednesday’s game and is upset about the playing time he’s seen since arriving in the Rondo trade, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald observes. Nelson, who has a player option worth nearly $2.855MM for next season, is averaging 20.2 minutes per game, which would be a career low if extrapolated over an entire season.
- Jae Crowder was the only one of the three players the Celtics acquired in the Rondo trade who played Wednesday, and analytics show he’s been a boon for the team so far, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com examines.