The Celtics roster is almost set. With 13 players (if you count Jeff Green) officially under contract, the Celtics are really only expected to add one more player so they can keep their options open during the season. And even if they decided to carry the full 15 into the season, that’s still only two more open spots to fill.
So the question now is, how will those be filled? The Celtics don’t have much to offer anyone. Whomever gets the last spot or two will get either the $1.9 bi-annual exception or the veteran’s minimum. And you can count Mickael Pietrus out of that.
“MP will not play for the veteran’s minimum. Period,” said McCandless. “It’s not happening. That’s the beginning, middle and end of that. … He is not a veteran’s minimum player. There’s no chance he’ll ever sign for that.”
His agent says Pietrus is open to a return, but he says MP has gotten much more lucrative offers (more details in that link). So the Celtics, or any other team, is going to have to come at him with a much better offer.
“I’ve had the veteran minimum thrown at me like hubcaps,” added McCandless. “In this collective bargaining agreement, a component of any player’s wishes and desires is the money teams are willing to pay. They’re pro athletes. My mother might cry in her beer when Johnny Damon runs away to the Yankees, but you and I understand it’s a business.”
That’s a great quote, and that’s also an agent doing his job. But if Pietrus is open for a return, he’s going to have to take less than what his agent says he’s being offered. And he’s going to have to take it to be third on the depth chart at either position he plays.
Sorry, I don’t see this coming together at all. As far as I’m concerned, the Peaches era in Boston is over.
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