The Celtics took a flier on Erden with the last pick in the NBA Draft. Erden is a 6′11″, 240 pound center from Turkey. He has a lot of pro experience overseas but he wasn’t that productive. Erden has played in 132 games (93 starts) in pro ball overseas and he has averaged 5.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. He is a longshot to ever get on the court for the Celtics.

The Celtics acquried shooting guard Bill Walker from the Wizards for cold, hard cash. Walker is 6′6″, 220 pounds and he has a lot of the same skills as J.R. Giddens (the Celtics’ first round pick). Walker played in 37 games (33 starts) at Kansas State and he averaged 15.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Walker will likely have to fight for every minute he gets as a rookie for the Celtics.

The Celtics selected shooting guard J.R. Giddens in the first round of the NBA Draft. If this doesn’t light a fire under Tony Allen nothing will. Giddens is a very polished 23-year old who probably is ready to play right now. He will have a good shot to beat out Tony Allen for the right to back up Ray Allen next year. Giddens is 6′5″, 215 pounds so he is big enough to get to the basket. Giddens played in 122 games (111 starts) in his college career at New Mexico and Kansas. He averaged 13.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game in college. This was a good pick for a team that doesn’t have many weaknesses.

Scot Pollard will miss the remainder of the season with a torn tendon in his left ankle. He played in 22 games (0 starts) for the Celtics this year and he averaged 7.9 minutes, 1.8 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. The Celtics won’t miss Pollard as he wasn’t getting any playing time anyway.

The Celtics have signed 38-year old point guard Sam Cassell for the remainder of the season. Cassell will provide the Celtics with backup minutes at point guard behind Rajon Rondo. This move will help the Celtics big time as Cassell has always been “money” in the playoffs hitting big shot after big shot. He played in 38 games (33 starts) for the Clippers this season and he averaged 25.7 minutes, 12.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Cassell hit 45.5% of his shots from the floor so far this season and he also has nailed 89.1% of his free throws which shows he hasn’t lost his shooting touch. Cassell has now played in 976 games (689 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 30.2 minutes, 15.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He has shot 45.4% from the floor, 33% from three point range and 86.1% from the free throw line over his career. This is the kind of move you make when the NBA Championship is your only goal and the Celtics haven’t had those kind of aspirations since the days of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Dennis Johnson.