No Mid-Level Exception for Celtics this season


For those of you hoping Boston will snag a decent free agent using the mid-level exception, think again.


As Mike Dyer pointed out in an earlier post, the Celtics' hands are pretty tied financially, unless they can find a team willing to take on Kris Humphries' expiring $12 million deal or one of the lesser multi-year contracts like Brandon Bass or Courtney Lee. The Gerald Wallace contract of three years around $30 million would be nice to shed, but there can't be many teams willing to take on that albatross unless the deal includes picks and makes the whole trade with Brooklyn kind of pointless.

Have no fear though, the Celtics did essentially sign a player to a $5 million deal (around what the MLE pays out) with Keith Bogans. To make the money work on the Nets trade sending Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to New York, the Celtics are doing a sign and trade with Bogans for a three-year contract.

Bogans made the vet's minimum of $1.2 million last season and has career numbers of 6.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg and 1.3 apg in 10 seasons. Not a bad raise for a marginal player. Bogans does have some value as a defensive wing, just not $5 million worth.

Even though the Celtics are pretty tight financially, they can still sign as many veteran minimum guys as they want. Just don't expect anyone of quality to sign up to a rebuilding Boston squad unless Danny Ainge can work some magic to free up space and trade for quality players. Buckle up, it's going to be a long ride.

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