C's shortlist of big men: DJ White, Jerome Jordan, Louis Amundson and more

Breaking news: The Celtics are shockingly looking for big men to fill the two roster spots they have! (Yes, I'm having fun with those who thought the Celtics made a mistake by not trading for a big yesterday as if the league abounds with them.)

Steve Bulpett has reported a shortlist of five names:

Who is the most likely player to sign with us? DJ White, apparently:

This post will include a brief review of these candidates, and because DJ White looks like the prior target, I'll start with him. Those who like size will be a bit disappointed to learn that he's only 6-9. The 29th pick of 2008 NBA Draft is known for his strong low-post play, an important feature we've always lacked in our team and is worse now that Jared Sullinger is injured. He's a good rebounder: his career average of 7.5/36 minutes looks good with an advanced DReb% of 18.2, yet his offensive and total rebounding stats do not come close to Sully's. His stats at his stint in Oklahoma are amazing (a record WS/48 of .276 in his sophomore year) yet they significantly got worse when he played for the Bobcats. In his defense, that's probably not his fault. He's also known to be a good passer (which was one thing Doc admired in Darko Milicic), so he would thus be a solid addition given the circumstances.

The second name I'd like to review is Jerome Jordan. I had already mentioned his name as a possible signing when Jared Sullinger's bulging discs have acted up, so I'm not surprised to see his name here. He's a 7-footer, which definitely puts him ahead in competition. He's not as experienced as White is since he's only seen 108 minutes of NBA action so far, but his defining characteristic is his rebounding and blocking skills given his height. However, he's started playing basketball late, was 23 years old when he entered the draft and now is 26 without prior experience. I take that he's somewhere in between Stiemsma and Melo (closer to the former, obviously). Since we're looking for instant contribution, we might be hesitant to sign him, but he might turn out to be quite useful in a Stiemsma-esque way. If we're signing two bigs, I'd go with him.

The third name is the most known of all: Louis Amundson. He's the most experienced name on this list as he's been around for 6 years, he's an awesome rebounder both offensively (14.8%) and defensively (17.6%) and an above-average blocker. Two concerns about him though: He's, like DJ White, is 6-9 so he might come up short for our expectations, and he turns the ball over often. His offensive skills have also declined in the past few years, but at this point our priority isn't probably that. Nevertheless, he's reported to be a very coachable player and a great pick-setter (two qualities that Doc admires), so we might as well end up giving him a shot.

I'm going to be honest with you: This is the first time I've heard Ohlbrecht and Randolph's names, so I'm not going to claim that I know much about them. Tim Ohlbrecht is a German power forward/center of 6-11 height. He has played in Germany for most of his career and is with Rio Grande VV this year. He was selected to the D-League All Star team, so that definitely means he has some potential. He put ut 13.3 pts, 7.3 rebs and 1.7 blocks per game and is a good FT shooter. Shavlik Randolph is 29 and 6-10, and to my surprise he has NBA experience: He's played for the 76ers, the Heat and the Trail Blazers. He's like Amundson: Great rebounder but a turnover machine. He's a decent passer, and has some post moves. Oh, and because Google suggests "Shavlik Randoplh girlfriend" quite insistently when I try to search info regarding this guy, I'll assume that he has a really hot girlfriend.

Even though I'm a bit sad that Ben Wallace isn't going to come out of retirement to play for us, I believe that these players will be able to contribute to a certain extent (at least as much as Collins did) and that the big men drought isn't as bad as it looks.