Celtics eyeing Rip Hamilton and Troy Murphy

Yahoo Sports
Richard Hamilton will have to be willing to give back a significant portion of the two years, $25 million owed him to get a buyout on his contract. Sources said the Celtics still remain intrigued with Hamilton as a scorer off the bench.

The Hornets will likely be in pursuit of New Jersey Nets forward Troy Murphy(notes) once the Nets reach a buyout agreement with him after the trade deadline. Nets coach Avery Johnson made clear he didn’t want Murphy after the three-team trade that brought him from the Indiana Pacers. Trade talks have gone nowhere for Murphy, who has an expiring contract. Nets GM Billy King will ultimately work a buyout to free Murphy to sign elsewhere.

In addition to the Hornets, several other teams are expected to show interest in Murphy, including the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks, sources said.

                 Personally I'm eyeing her too

Murphy would be an amazing pickup for the Celtics, as he's a basically a much better 'Sheed. He rebounds and he can actually hit a high percentage of 3's.  As excited as I am about the thought of the Celtics picking him up, I'm frightened of the very real possibility he's starting at center for the Heat within a month. We've beaten the Heat now three times, but their centers and point guards have completely sucked. Add a Murphy and a buy out point guard (along with the return of Haslem) and they're a completely different team. So in my opinion we need to root for two things throughout the buyout season. 1) That the C's fill their holes and 2) That the Heat don't.