The Celtics only have 7 players under contract heading into free agency. The only two starters who will be ready for the start of the 2010-11 season on the roster right now are PG Rajon Rondo and PF Kevin Garnett. It will be interesting to see if the Celtics bring back Ray Allen or Paul Pierce who are both now unrestricted free agents. They also will need help up front with Kendrick Perkins out until December or January and Rasheed Wallace retiring. It will be interesting to see how aggressive the Celtics are in free agency. My thinking is that they will try to retain Pierce unless he gets an offer the Celtics don’t feel comfortable matching. But I have a feeling the Celtics will let Ray Allen walk and try to replace him with a younger player like John Salmons or Mike Miller. The reason to let Allen go is so that the Celtics can sign a center like Brad Miller, Brendan Haywood or Zydrunas Ilgauskas to fill in while Perkins is out of action. The winds of change are blowing in Boston.

25-year old starting center Kendrick Perkins will miss the next 5-6 months after having his ACL surgery yesterday. The Celtics don’t expect him back until December or January and that is a huge blow to them. Perkins really stepped up last season for the Celtics as he played in 78 games (all starts) in which he averaged 27.6 minutes, 10.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.7 blocked shots per game. He has now played in 442 games (328 starts) in his 7 years with the Celtics and he has averaged 22.2 minutes, 6.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.4 blocked shots per game.

32-year old small forward Paul Pierce has opted out of the final year of his contract with the Celtics making him a unrestricted free agent. Pierce leaves $21 million bucks on the table as he attempts to get a nice multi-year deal. Pierce played in 71 games (all starts) for the Celtics last season and he averaged 34.0 minutes, 18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He has played in 884 games (881 starts) in his career with the Celtics and he has averaged 37.3 minutes, 22.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Pierce is #8 all time in Celtics’ history in games played (884), #9 in rebounds (5,417), #7 in assists (3,401), #2 in steals (1,349), #5 in blocked shots (561) and he is #3 in points (19,899). The Celtics likely want to bring back Pierce but because of his age they have to be careful with how many years they would offer.

UPDATE: (7/3/2010) - The Celtics have reportedly re-signed Paul Pierce to a 4-year, $61 million dollar contract.

35-year old PF/C Rasheed Wallace has decided to call it a career. Wallace played in 79 games (13 starts) for the Celtics last season and he averaged 22.5 minutes, 9.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.0 steal per game. Even though Wallace was on the downside of his career he did give the Celtics toughness and rebounding off the bench. They will need to find another veteran to replace him off the bench in 2010-11.

The Celtics have selected 22-year old forward Luke Harangody with the 52nd overall pick of the NBA Draft. Harangody played in 30 games (25 starts) for Notre Dame last season and he averaged 21.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. He played in 129 games (108 starts) in his college career and he averaged 19.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. This was a solid pick for the Celtics as Harangody could help them off the bench next season.