Matt Barnes has delayed his free agency decision, according to his Twitter account. He said the delay is because a couple of teams got into the action at the last minute. Before whatever teams entered the discussion, Barnes was reportedly looking at the Celtics, Lakers, Heat and Mavericks.

More teams is probably bad news for the Celtics, because more teams mean more money. More money means less chance for the C’s, who can only offer the minimum. I’m getting less optimistic by the second about Barnes joining the C’s. If the Celtics strike out on Barnes after missing on Ronnie Brewer, Marquis Daniels is going to start looking mighty, mighty good.

Damn. I’m really starting to worry about the backup wings. Think Ray and Paul are up to playing 48 minutes a game next season?

A few games into the season, Rajon Rondo signed a contract extension worth five years, $55 million. Ya know, Brendan Haywood money. (Yahoo! Sports)

The Dallas Mavericks have reached agreement on a six-year, $55 million contract to re-sign center Brendan Haywood, a league source told Yahoo! Sports.

Haywood came to Dallas in the middle of last season in a trade that also delivered Caron Butler and DeShawn Stevenson to the Mavericks. Haywood averaged 8.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks during 28 games for the Mavericks.

With Erick Dampier’s contract not guaranteed for this season, Haywood figures to play an even more prominent role for the Mavericks.

If you had $55 million around to spend on a basketball player, how could you possibly pick whether you offer it to Rondo or Haywood? I mean, Rondo’s an All-Star and the best player on a team that went to the NBA Finals and everything, but Haywood averaged 8.1 points and 7.4 boards last season! And he’s huge! It’s just too close to call.

Back to reality, though, Rondo’s agent should get fired. There’s no doubt Rondo would have earned a max contract this offseason if he hadn’t signed the extension, but instead he signed for Brendan Haywood money. And Danny Ainge? Somebody get that man a raise. While all those other GMs are tossing absurd money at decent players, Ainge is playing chess. Jermaine O’Neal at two years and $12 million sure looks pretty while sitting next to Haywood at six years and $55 million.

"Why are the Celtics interested in me?"

Ten years ago, Shaquille O’Neal was a devastating force unlike any ever seen on a basketball court.

He was a human wrecking ball of strength, power and athleticism. He was a threat to break hoops, destroy opponents, and win a championship every season.Ten years ago.

Unfortunately for the Celtics, Hawks and Mavericks, they’re interested in acquiring Shaquille O’Nealten years later. It’s unclear what the C’s would be offering Shaq, but it would likely take the full mid-level exception. Sources say the discussions have been preliminary. (ESPN)

O’Neal would be interested in playing for each of the three teams, sources close to him said.

He has great respect for Boston’s coach, Doc Rivers, a good relationship with Kevin Garnett, and it was Shaq who gave Paul Pierce his nickname, “The Truth.” With starting center, Kendrick Perkins, sidelined for up to six months after undergoing knee surgery to repair a torn ACL, O’Neal would seem to be a solid replacement.

Shaq can still score and rebound, but he comes with plenty of problems. The two biggest are that he’d clog the lane for Rondo and his pick-and-roll defense, to say the least, leaves plenty to be desired. On top of that, his post play is no longer dominant enough to overcome those two major shortcomings.

I tweeted this yesterday when I thought only the Atlanta Hawks were after Shaq, but it bears repeating: At this point in their careers, I’d rather have Semih Erden for $473,000 than Shaq for the full mid-level. And I don’t think I’m even joking. And that was after Erden had 2 points and 4 rebounds in the C’s summer league opener, playing like a summer league version of Kwame Brown. Needless to say, I am not exactly on the Shaq bandwagon.

If Shaq DOES end up signing with the Celtics, I can only hope he finishes up next season by asking Kobe how his ass tastes.

Look at your man, now back to Caron Butler. Now back to your man, now back to Caron Butler. Sadly, your man isn’t Caron Butler.

But you can imagine what it could have been like if he were: Enjoy his parody of the odd but funny Old Spice commercial.

NBA.com’s John Schuhmann had a very interesting piece today about quarter-by-quarter differentials. In it, he called the Celtics the most inconsistent team in the NBA from quarter to quarter.

In fact, only two teams, the Nets and Sixers, have more losses than the Celtics do when leading at halftime. Boston has led 52 of their 71 games at the half, but 16 of their 25 losses have come in that situation.

Is it an age thing? Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rasheed Wallace all shoot worse in the second half than they do in the first. Wallace’s dropoff, from 47.8 percent in the first half to 33 percent in the second half, is by far the largest of any player in the league who has attempted at least 200 shots in each half this season. Yet, for some reason, he’s attempted more shots in the second half (294) than he has in the first (278). Pierce suffers the next worst dropoff of the four Celtics vets, from 49.9 percent to 44.2 percent.

He then gave the table below to illustrate the inconsistencies. Boston, as you can see below, is the best second quarter team in the league, but very average — or even below average — after halftime. (For the table, offensive rating is how many points scored per 100 possessions, while defensive rating is how many points allowed per 100 possessions.)

Boston Celtics by Quarter

Those stats are alarming, but I’m not too worried about them.  For most of the season, Boston hasn’t been itself.  The team these stats are mostly based on is a version of the Celtics that no longer exists.  The C’s rode a strong fourth-quarter against Dallas to victory, fended off a fierce Nuggets run with a fourth-quarter run of their own, and now seem to be making plays down the stretch of games to pull out W’s.

Barring a second-half disaster against Utah, the Celtics are starting to put together complete performances unlike they have all year long.  So, in my eyes, take those stats and throw them out the window.  If the Celtics continue to show second-half problems the rest of the way, they’ve got issues.  But I don’t think they will.  As Doc Rivers said, this is now a completely different team.

The Celtics have gotten rid of their morning walkthrough, but that doesn’t mean we have to. Here are a few Celtics links, and maybe even an NBA link or two, to help wake you up and get you focused for the day.

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “The Celtics are about to experience something completely different – a six-games-in-12-days homestand. ‘I don’t think any of us knows what that feels like,’ Ray Allen said of a stretch that begins tonight against Denver at the Garden. ‘We haven’t been home that long all year. Hopefully I can get my bags unpacked.’ Perhaps they can unpack some of what worked on their 2-1 road swing through Texas and Utah. The second half of Monday night’s frustrating loss to the Jazz aside, the Celtics showed some of the most promising signs yet that they are ready for a stretch run.”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “So there is much at stake in this six-game stretch, with four opponents heading to the playoffs (Denver, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and Cleveland) in addition to a difficult game against Houston and a tricky matchup with the young Kings. ‘It’s tough, but it’s at home,’ said coach Doc Rivers. ‘It would be a nice chance to reestablish us at home. We haven’t done that this year yet. We haven’t had a lot of rhythm at home, so we have a chance right now.’ The numbers at home are quite similar to the road numbers, hence the nearly identical records. The Celtics score almost 3 more points per game at TD Garden and allow opponents just 1.6 more points.”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “The Celtics’ play of late has squashed a number of the questions and concerns about them being too old to compete with the top teams. ‘Maybe for 82 games, people can say that … the Celtics are too old,’ Dallas guard Jason Kidd told CSNNE.com recently. ‘But when it comes down to it, they keep on winning. Come playoff time, you don’t look at age. You look at experience and understanding the situation.’ The Celtics’ situation is pretty clear – keep on winning. ‘We want to be greedy, especially this time of year,’ Pierce said. ‘Our goal is to win every game.’”

Peter May, ESPNBoston – “The Celtics looked tired against the Jazz. It was their third game in four days, and they had no response to the Jazz in the second half. The season-long bugaboos — turnovers, rebounding — surfaced again. The C’s lost to a very good team on the road. It happens. Only one Eastern Conference team — Atlanta — has won in Salt Lake City. So what does it all mean going forward? The mission statement continues to be ‘We just want to get better.’ Doc Rivers admits it sounds corny and that most people probably don’t believe him. Rivers still hopes that the team he had in November and December, the one before the injuries hit, can re-emerge.”

Greg Payne, CelticsBlog – “And now, as the C’s continue to gear up for the postseason, they are about to welcome in the Denver Nuggets, the Sacramento Kings, the San Antonio Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Houston Rockets, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hopefully the Celtics will welcome these clubs in with nothing short of a sincere sense of utter hostility. For, with the playoffs looming, it would be nice to see this club continue to fine tune its game, re-establish the roles of its essential players, and play with the same sense of bravado that they’ve displayed several times on the road this season. We applauded their efforts against the Rockets and Mavericks. That aggression, that intensity (particularly on the defensive end), and that sense of calm amidst their opponents’ respective runs – we all want to see more of it, for its what we expected to see all along.”

Jessica Camerato, WEEI – [Nate Robinson said,] “I remember one time I was like 15 or 16 and I was in Oakland, California. There was this park where I grew up called Bushrod, it’s in north Oakland, me and my family took a little trip up to another park called Mosswood. It’s like rival parks and my family went up there and we played against another family. I remember we put the money in a hat, everybody put in five dollars. … We played for hat, played for the money. I remember this one big dude, my cousin threw me an alley-oop and I caught it and I dunked on him. I was screaming and yelling. He was like, ‘If you do that again, I’m doing to kick your butt.’ I was like, ‘Oh man.’ So I’m going through the game, I was scoring, and it was game point. My cousin who was on fast break, she threw another lob and dude goes up and I was like, ‘A. Do I catch it and dunk on him? B. Do I let the ball go out of bounds and I lose and my family beats me up?’ (laughs) I didn’t know what to do. So I just went with my first instinct, caught it, and I dunked on him again. We got the money and we ran home. They were chasing us (laughs), they were mad.’”

Have a link I might want to look at? Send it my way by email (jayking@celticstown.com) or Twitter.