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Celtics Notes: Ainge, Johnson

March 15th, 2012 at 8:53pm CST by Sean Highkin

The latest news and notes on the Boston Celtics following the trade deadline:

Celtics president Danny Ainge tells ESPNBoston.com's Chris Forsberg that the team was close to several deals in the minutes leading up to the deadline.
Ainge also says he was thinking both about the present and the future, as he explored trades that would have helped the Celtics make a playoff run as well as accumulate assets for the future.
Ainge says that the Celtics need another big man, and they may explore the buyout market for a solution.
In a separate post, Forsberg wonders whether the Celtics would be interested in Chris Johnson, who was waived by the Blazers earlier today and played briefly for Boston last season.

Blazers To Waive Greg Oden, Chris Johnson

March 15th, 2012 at 4:39pm CST by Luke Adams

After completing a pair of two-for-one trades today, the Blazers found themselves over the maximum roster size by two players. To clear roster spots for the new additions, it appears the team will waive Greg Oden and Chris Johnson. Joe Freeman of The Oregonian tweets the Oden scoop, while Johnson's wife first broke the news on her husband on her Twitter account, tweeting "C just got released :(" (hat tip to Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge).

In addition to those moves, the Blazers are also working on a possible buyout for newly-acquired forward Shawne Williams, tweets Freeman.

Oden, the former first overall pick, was sidelined by health issues again this season, having undergone season-ending knee surgery. Johnson, meanwhile, has seen limited action in 20 games with the Blazers this year, averaging 1.6 points and 0.9 rebounds in less than five minutes per contest.