Philadelphia 76ers guard Thaddeus Young has landed himself on the Boston Celtics’ wish list, according to Yahoo! Sports, despite the fact that he’s miles out of Boston’s pay range.

Philadelphia 76ers free-agent forward Thaddeus Young is still hopeful of re-signing with the team if he receives a fair offer. Young has a strong relationship with Sixers coach Doug Collins. The Celtics and Denver Nuggets are also interested in Young.

Acquiring Young would certainly have to come via a trade, since he’s a restricted free agent destined to earn far more than the $3 million Boston will be able to offer. Perhaps a sign-and-trade centering around Glen Davis, who’s reportedly being dangled as bait, would work. But if Davis couldn’t get along with Doc Rivers, methinks he’d have some real difficulty playing for Doug Collins, who’s almost as demanding as a Nike sweatshop manager (just on a “slightly” different scale). Same goes for Boston’s other sign-and-trade candidate, Jeff Green, whose defensive habits and rebounding technique would be unlikely to earn Collins’ favor.

A deal for Young seems unlikely. But stranger things have happened, I suppose.

The Boston Celtics are reportedly “uber-aggressive” in their pursuit of Chris Paul, but the Hornets are thought to be “lukewarm” on Boston’s offer, said to include some combination of Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Jeff Green and/or two draft picks, plus-or-minus one of Boston’s two rookies. The Hornets, though, are reportedly interested in acquiring Glen Davis, and could be intrigued by a package highlighted by Davis and Rondo.

That opening paragraph is a maze. Just read on. (Boston Herald)

Glen Davis could end up playing a part in all this, no matter which way New Orleans goes. The C’s unrestricted free agent has received interest from the Hornets during the past couple of days as they try to put the right pieces around Paul that might make him want to stay (no doubt it will take more than the forward to sway Paul).

But if New Orleans decides there is no way it will be able to retain Paul, then Davis, a Louisiana native, could be a welcome component in a Celtics package that surely will be headlined by Rajon Rondo. And, according to a source, said package would have to contain more than those two players.

I don’t know what to think anymore. The Hornets want Stephen Curry more than Rajon Rondo. The Lakers are trying to acquire two of the NBA’s top six players without parting ways with Kobe Bryant. A trade package of Eric Gordon and DeAndre Jordan would reportedly be one of New Orleans’ top choices, and a package of Curry and Klay Thompson is another top choice, but a package including Rondo, Jeff Green and two first-round picks elicits a lukewarm response.

NBA rumor season: It’s nuttier than your craziest uncle, and twice as unpredictable.

The Detroit Pistons have coveted Glen Davis for years, according to an A. Sherrod Blakely report, and will likely be one of his most passionate free agent suitors. (CSNNE)

One of Boston’s biggest challengers for Davis will be Detroit, a team that has coveted Davis for a number of years.

And the Pistons may be willing to offer Davis the full mid-level exception which is worth $5 million in the yet-to-be-ratified new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Celtics have Davis’ Bird Rights which would allow them to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him.

Meanwhile, Danny Ainge called Davis almost as soon as NBA rules allowed him to. (Boston Herald)

“It’s my understanding that Danny called Glen early this morning and expressed his desire to have Glen back,” said John Hamilton, Davis’ representative.

Hamilton wouldn’t say much beyond that, but the sides have been talking for several days about what it will take to retain Big Baby.

I’m convinced the Celtics don’t want to sign Davis to a long-term extension (or maybe that’s just me hoping they maintain cap flexibility in the coming years). But if the market for Davis is $5 million per season, that might change things.

Davis — for all his flaws, and there are several — is a versatile big man who can play both power forward and center. In a league where Brendan Haywood makes $9 million a year and DeAndre Jordan could very well surpass that total this season, it’s a good deal to pay $5 million per year for a reasonably skilled offensive player who recently learned how to impact a game on both ends. I still (desperately) want the Celtics to prioritize the future ahead of the now (sorry Ray, Paul and Kevin), but $5 million per year — if indeed that’s Davis’ price tag — is undeniably enticing.

Glen Davis can put aside his hopes of winning the Shawn Kemp Award, given after each NBA lockout to the player who gains the most weight and ruins what could have been a promising career (an award description that, sadly, excludes Jerome James from the running, since James’ career lost its promise quite some time ago).

But Davis has a nice consolation prize: he’s reportedly in good shape and wanted in free agency by several teams. (Yahoo! Sports)

Boston Celtics free-agent forward Glen Davis appears to be in good shape after working out at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., the past two months. In addition to the Celtics, Davis has drawn interest from New Jersey, Portland, Atlanta, Orlando and Philadelphia, sources said.

Davis is good friends with Magic center Dwight Howard, dating back to their AAU days.

The Celtics have spoken to Davis’ representatives, Danny Ainge said on Thursday, but they’ll still need to make a decision on whether to keep their undersized (yet oversized) power forward/center. And the decision won’t be entirely their’s. As an unrestricted free agent, Davis could bolt even if the Celtics have every intention of keeping him. Despite recently commenting that he would like to remain in Boston, Davis has long been enamored by a starting position, which won’t be waiting for him in Boston as long as Kevin Garnett still wears the No. 5.

I still suspect the Celtics to try working a sign-and-trade deal to send Big Baby somewhere else. They need to solidify their roster for the coming season, but they also need to maintain cap flexibility for the future — and spending long-term dollars on an under-sized, occasionally shot-happy big man who spent the second half of last season in hiding may not be the most intelligent way to build for the future. Even if he is one of the better big men on the market.

It appears I wasn’t the only one frustrated when Glen Davis repeatedly missed outside jump shots, stopped crashing the offensive glass and generally appeared lost during the latter stages of last season. According to Jackie MacMullan, Davis drove the Celtics crazy. (WEEI)

On Glen Davis’s struggles last season and if the Celtics will re-sign him: “You have wonder what was going on inside his head. He had a weight clause in his contract and he had to keep a certain weight. You take a picture of Big Baby from November to April and it’s pretty startling. … So what that tells me is, he had this weight clause and he kept missing it and he kept paying them out, fine after fine after fine. He drove them crazy over there, there’s no question about it.

“Shaq had some insight to that, they considered him somewhat of a selfish player trying to get his numbers in his free agent year. Clearly he did not live up the conditioning rules and regulations that they set for him. I think there’s a high level of frustration over there about Big Baby about what he did, or more appropriately, what he didn’t do for them, especially in the postseason. Now having said all of that, if you get him for dirt cheap, do you take him back? I don’t know how perturbed Doc Rivers is about him because I haven’t really asked him about Big Baby for a while. My gut is that he won’t be back.”

Re-signing Davis is a risk. He eats too much. He fights with Doc Rivers. He admittedly mentally collapsed at the end of last year. Committing long-term money to Davis could end badly. But he might be Boston’s best chance to add a reasonably-priced, semi-reliable big man. Sigh.

Glen Davis, despite his flaws, remains one of the better free agent big men.

That makes deciding what to do with Davis a difficult dilemma for the Boston Celtics — they need a big man (or three) desperately, but they also want to maintain cap space for 2012 without overspending on an undersized power forward/center known to clash with Doc Rivers and occasionally endure strange, prolonged spells of poor play. To further complicate matters, the new CBA limits how much money the depth-starved Celtics can spend, and re-signing Davis — even if he’s not a perfect option for now or the future — could be their best chance to improve.

Sean Deveney reports the Celtics want to execute a sign-and-trade with Davis, which makes sense. Depending on how wisely the Celtics maneuver, trading Davis could possibly bring Danny Ainge the best of both worlds. The C’s could package Davis for a veteran who preferably A) can contribute off the bench, and B) has one year remaining on his contract, thereby allowing the Celtics to contend (or come reasonably close to contending) in 2011-12 while also maximizing their future flexibility.

Davis is also looking into his own options. (Boston Herald)

Though Davis declined to specify where beyond the Celtics he might be looking, two league sources confirmed that his camp targeted New Jersey, Orlando, Denver, Atlanta, Detroit and possibly New Orleans.

Despite his reported interest in all those teams, Davis still says he would like to return to Boston. But in the same breath, he mentions he would like to start, which wouldn’t happen in Boston at least for one more year.

“Any player with a sense of growth wants to start,” he said. “If the opportunity is there to start for a team, then definitely I would want to do that. But if I have to be a sixth man again, I don’t mind. I’m just excited to see what will happen. The only way I can find out is to wait until Dec. 9.

“I hope I can return to Boston. It will be cool to go back, but if not, then I have to move on.”

The Celtics will be quite busy as soon as Dec. 9 hits. Making decisions on Davis and Jeff Green is a priority, and (at risk of sounding melodramatic) could go a long way toward shaping the Celtics’ present and future.