Celtics Notes: Turner, Zeller, Johnson

Evan Turner is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but he hopes his time on the open market is short and ends with him returning to the Celtics, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE. “It [free agency] starts July 1st, hopefully it’s over July 1st,” Turner said. “I want to go somewhere and have an opportunity to win. Money’s cool, but I don’t want to sit there getting our brains beaten in and doing all that. I want to go somewhere ideally where the staff and front office [are] big on winning. Hopefully it’s back here. Other than that, winning and great fit are going to be the most important things.”

The swingman is likely to see his annual salary jump to the $10MM range, Blakely contends, and that would be a healthy raise over the $3,425,510 he earned this past campaign. “It’s going to be way better than it was two years ago,” Turner said of his free agency. “It should be cool. I haven’t really thought about it. I don’t know really what I think about during the day, but I know it’s not that. I’ll once again stay out of trouble until then and try to keep bettering myself and growing.”

Here’s more out of Boston:

• Tyler Zeller is eligible to become a restricted free agent this offseason and is open to re-signing with the Celtics, who’ll have the right to match any offer the big man were to receive provided they submit a qualifying offer, Blakely relays in a separate piece. “It’s a great organization, a great place to be,” Zeller said. “So we’ll see what happens.” When asked if Boston wanted him back next season, Zeller said, “I would hope so. You always hope a team wants you back. I would think they would. But at the same time, when July comes around, we’ll really see. When those negotiations start. Until then, you can say whatever you want. Until then, we’ll see what happens.”
• Amir Johnson‘s 2016/17 salary of $12MM is non-guaranteed, which makes him a candidate to be waived if the Celtics require more cap space for free agent pursuits this summer. But the power forward echoed the sentiments of Turner and Zeller, noting that he would definitely prefer to be playing in Boston next season, as Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe relays (via Twitter).