Details of the Boston Celtics sign-and-trade for Courtney Lee have emerged, and, according to Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald, the Celtics will part with E’Twaun Moore and Sean Williams, in addition to JaJuan Johnson.

Celtics will send E'Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson, Sean Williams and 2nd rd pick in Courtney Lee trade. Those 3 won't play today.

July 19, 2012 5:24 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@SteveBHoop

Steve Bulpett

According to ShamSports, Johnson’s contract (just over $1 million) combined with the non-guaranteed deals of Moore ($762,195) and Williams ($915,852) will free up roughly $2.75 million in cap space for the first year of Lee’s deal. The details of Lee’s contract have not been made public yet, but John Hollinger of ESPN has an estimate of what the deal may look like:

Lee's deal would pay a max of $4.25M in first year and $18.15M overall if its for four years.

July 19, 2012 5:44 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@johnhollinger

John Hollinger

The Boston Celtics cruised to a 94-73 victory over the Orlando Magic to conclude their stay in the Orlando Pro Summer League Friday morning. With Jared Sullinger given the day off to rest, Dionte Christmas exploded for 19 points in the first half, while E’Twaun Moore impressed once again, chipping in 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

According to A. Sherrod Blakely, however, Moore and rookie Kris Joseph suffered hip flexor injuries during the game. Joseph started, but did not play in the final three quarters of the game. He played only eight minutes, missing all three of his shots, including an airball and an ugly turnover, in his first pedestrian effort of the summer. Via Blakely:

#CelticsTalk: #Celtics E. Moore and K. Joseph have hip flexor injuries. Neither deemed serious enough for either to miss action in Vegas.

July 13, 2012 12:06 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@SherrodbCSN

A. Sherrod Blakely

The Celtics will now travel to Las Vegas for the NBA Summer League, where they open play Monday against the Atlanta Hawks. Here are some observations from Friday’s game:

• Fab Melo recorded 10 rebounds in just 23 minutes of play. In his final season at Syracuse, he reached double figures in rebounds ONCE. Melo has exceeded my meager expectations with his play thus far, though it’s clear he still has a long way to go to become a viable NBA player. In the first half, Melo attempted an 18-footer  which nearly killed a baby in the first row (or so it seemed). In the fourth quarter, Melo posted up along the baseline and, after a spin move, shot the ball off the side of the backboard. Melo did keep after the play and end up scoring on a nice move into the middle of the lane, but both plays showed how raw he is offensively.
• E’Twaun Moore continued his strong campaign for a spot on the Celtics Opening Day roster. Danny Ainge has until the end of summer league to decide whether or not to guarantee the second year of Moore’s rookie deal. What has been most impressive about Moore is his patience, his calm on the offensive end. Moore is still learning how to play the point guard position, yet he always plays at his own pace, never rushes to his spots on the floor. For instance, in the first half, Moore attacked the defense in transition on a 3-on-2 fast break, driving into the defense just deep enough so they collapsed on him as he passed out to Christmas for a wide open three-pointer. Moore’s pace of play– not his skill level, let me be clear– reminds me of Sam Cassell. He is confident in his outside shooting and works to get to his hot spots.
• Aside from a thunderous put-back dunk late in the contest, Sean Williams didn’t do much to convince Ainge to guarantee HIS roster spot. Williams played 21 minutes, but recorded just six points and four rebounds in an underwhelming performance. Williams’ athleticism is undeniable, but the more I watch him play, the more it seems it’s his only redeeming attribute.

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe:

“Up and down, he’s getting beat up,’’ Rivers said when asked about Johnson’s progress in practice. “He’s excited when he actually gets the [scrimmage] refs to come on the floor, I’ll tell you that. But he did a couple of good things today. He’s starting to learn who he is. He knows he’s a jump shooter and he’s starting to become comfortable enough to take that shot.’’

“Today was the first day when he picked-and-popped, he caught it and shot it,’’ Rivers said. “The other two days he tried to make another play and got bumped off the spot, so I think he’s starting to simplify his game.’’

When asked if he expected Johnson to generate an interior game, Rivers said, “Nah. I mean, he’ll dunk because he’s athletic as heck, so we’re going to run stuff to get him rolling to the basket and throw it up in the air and he’ll go get it. But as far as post presence? Not really, but that’s fine. We don’t need that. We’ll try to get that somewhere else.’’ Read more »

Second-round draft pick E’Twaun Moore will sign a guaranteed contract with the Boston Celtics tonight, according to his agent. (Purdue Exponent)

Mark Bartelstein, CEO of Priority Sports, said this morning that Moore will “be in training camp with them signing a contract and he’ll be good to go.”

“We’re really excited about it,” he said.

Moore, who was selected in the second round by Boston, said this morning that he is eager to start.

“This is definitely huge – getting a contract and knowing that you’re going to be on the team,” he said.

The roster is starting to take shape.

Rajon Rondo and JaJuan Johnson are reportedly among several players working out at the University of Kentucky, where the Oklahoma City Thunder are holding a a Nazr Mohammed-organized training camp of sorts.

The Celtics haven’t seen much of each other this summer. Paul Pierce has been in Southern California when he wasn’t in China. Kevin Garnett has been in California, too, but not with Paul Pierce. Ray Allen has spent most of his time in Connecticut, Rajon Rondo in Kentucky, JaJuan Johnson God-knows-where, E’Twaun Moore is in Italy with Brian Scalabrine (aka the White Mamba), and Avery Bradley and Jermaine O’Neal are now in Las Vegas to participate in the Impact Basketball Training Series.

But Garnett plans to organize a team gathering soon. (Boston Globe)

“I see that Paul was in China. I’ll probably bump into Ray and Rondo while I’m on the East Coast just to see what’s going on. I’ll probably talk to [Jermaine O’Neal].

I imagine Garnett would like to organize a team-wide workout (not just the starters), but, as we discussed earlier, the Celtics are all around the globe. So he’ll settle for four or five players, and who knows? Maybe the Celtics will even hold a real training camp at some point in the near future.

Derek Fisher reportedly sent a text message to advise players to remain in good shape, the latest in a number of optimistic signs that could (knock on wood) point to progress in the labor discussions. (Sports Illustrated)

On the heels of Roger Mason’s now-infamous tweet in which the NBPA vice president wrote, “Looking like a season. How u,” but later claimed his account was hacked, one league source claims that union president Derek Fisher text-messaged numerous players last week indicating that some progress had been made and imploring them to be physically prepared just in case the season started on time. There was another curious happening on Thursday, when — according to ESPN’s Chris Broussard — NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver attended the U.S. Open with Wasserman Media Group CEO, Casey Wasserman.

In case you were wondering, Wasserman Media Group is a global sport and entertainment agency that represents a number of NBA players, including Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose, and Kendrick Perkins. The Wasserman Media Group once famously pantsed, kidnapped and then bribed the entire Atlanta Hawks organization. I know that sounds crazy, but how else can you explain “Joe Johnson, $119 million”?

Finally, the Celtics are planning to meet. Finally, the NBA is (hopefully) making progress. If only Shaq didn’t mention Kendrick Perkins yesterday, my mood would be quite swell.