Ray Allen will visit Miami Heat and LA Clippers, C's focus on Terry

NBA.com
The 36-year-old free-agent guard will visit the Miami Heat on Thursday and the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, according to a source, and listen to their pitches.

Allen is also being pursued by the Memphis Grizzlies, who are seeking a replacement for free agent guard O.J. Mayo. The Grizzlies didn’t tender Mayo a qualifying offer last week, making him an unrestricted free agent. Memphis will offer Allen its $5 million exception.

Allen had conference calls on Monday with the Grizzlies, as well as the Heat, Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves, according to the source. But Allen is not currently scheduled to make visits to Memphis or Minnesota.

Would Ray Allen bail on his friends and teammates even when the Celtics can give him a better offer than the Heat? Would he turn his back on the fans that chanted "Lets go Celtics" for three minutes straight at the end of a Game 6 blowout and join their hated rival?

The answer looks like, maybe. He's visiting the Miami Heat Thursday. The Celtics have said that they would double any offer the Heat could make (which is only around $3 million).

Meanwhile, the Celtics appear to have their sights still set on signing 36 year old Jason Terry and are out of the running for O.J Mayo. More after the jump...


Boston Herald:
The Celtics continue to position themselves for a run at Jason Terry, though they will likely sign their own free agents first.

The former Mavericks shooter — the 2009 NBA Sixth Man of the Year — reportedly is open to signing for the full mid-level exception, or approximately $5 million in the first year. The Celtics, who expect to be over the salary cap, which will be set at about $56 million, would qualify.

Terry, who earned more than $11 million last year, has not ruled out playing for the full mid-level, according to a league source.

But for now, anyway, the Celtics are not in the hunt for free agent O.J. Mayo, who has informed teams he’s not interested in a mid-level deal, according to the source.

Jason Terry and the Celtics keep being linked to each other. I think this is really just a backup plan if the team can't sign Ray Allen, because without Allen the Celtics would be down a shooter and Terry can shoot.

Still, what is it with Danny Aigne wanting to collect older veterans at the tail ends of their careers to come off the bench for Boston? Has this ever worked since 2008?

We see time after time that Rondo is running up the floor and has no one to run with him. Sure, Jeff Green, Avery Bradley and the rookies might help in that department. Still, we've seen these veteran signings go wrong so many times (Jermaine O'Neal, Shaquille O'Neal, Rasheed Wallace, remember when Michael Finley was on the team???!), why would the Celtics consider doing it again?