Jeff Green underwent heart surgery on Monday that his agent called “100 percent successful.” On Tuesday, Green’s agent told the Boston Globe the Boston Celtics would be on his short list of teams once he’s available to play next season.

“The doctor said he would have an easier return than if he came back from an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament),” Falk said. “We’re not going to give any details other to say the surgery corrected the problem and the next step will be rehab.

“I think Jeff has an important future value to the Celtics. He has a very positive feeling about Boston. I think that it will be one of a short list of teams that he will talk to when the time comes.” …

“Now that he’s unrestricted and he has the legal right to talk to every team, Boston is obviously a team he is very interested in,” Falk said. “We’re going to continue our discussions with an appropriate time with Boston. I don’t think his status is going to change their need for him or his interest in talking with them.”

My thoughts on a Green return all depend on his contract and Boston’s situation. Do I want them to commit to Green as a franchise cornerstone, paying him somewhere between $7-9 million per season for multiple years? No. I don’t think Green’s the kind of player a team should build around, unless said team wants to be mired in mediocrity. But there are situations when signing Green would be a great addition. (Read: the deal the Celtics signed him to this season, which would have overpaid Green for one season to maintain future cap flexibility while adding a versatile backup small forward capable of making plays.)

Really, though, the important thing is that his surgery was a success. Jeff Green should be playing basketball next season, and that’s great news.

The Boston Celtics withdrew Jeff Green’s qualifying offer, making the young hybrid forward an unrestricted free agent who could theoretically be signed right now by any NBA team, but likely won’t considering he’s having heart surgery two days from now on Jan. 9.

That’s because the Boston Celtics, in a move that was not made public, withdrew Green’s qualifying offer in mid-December, right around the time he failed his physical and had his one-year, $9 million contract voided. The move means Green is now an unrestricted free agent. Had the offer not been withdrawn, and the Celtics were under no obligation whatsoever to do so, Green would have been a restricted free agent, with the Celtics able to match any offer he might get from another team. …

From the Celtics’ point of view, the withdrawal of the qualifying offer is a bit of a gamble in that it could lead to the departure of the most significant piece of February’s trade that sent Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City. That would leave the Celtics with nothing to show from the deal, save for a first-round draft pick that belongs to the Clippers and is protected over the next few years.

Then again, Green’s NBA future, at present, is murky. And the change in his free-agent status puts Green in the same contractual position he would have been in had he been able to play out this season. Both sides knew that not only would Green be an unrestricted free agent next summer by taking the one-year offer, they also knew he could not be traded without his permission.

Also, the Celtics will still be able to offer Green a longer, more lucrative deal than any other team, either to re-sign him or sign him as part of a sign-and-trade deal, which is what they did last month with Glen Davis.

ESPN’s Peter May noted that it may have been “nothing more than a goodwill gesture,” but I can’t imagine Danny Ainge giving even his own brother or sister a goodwill gesture if he thought it would hurt the Boston Celtics. The move was more likely done for the following reason:

Falk added that the new collective bargaining agreement rules also may have played a part in the Celtics’ thinking as well.

I’m not yet an expert on the new collective bargaining agreement, but I imagine that withdrawing the qualifying offer lessens the salary cap hold the Celtics will have as long as Green remains a free agent. That would give them more flexibility during the free agency period, while their abundance of cap space should assure that the team can still sign Green should it choose to do so. It’s a risk, yes, that Green could leave and not give Boston a chance to match an offer he receives elsewhere, but the Celtics are likely willing to take that risk in exchange for greater flexibility during the summer of 2012.

The Celtics will enter this summer with just $30.5 million on the books (it could be $34.5 million if Brandon Bass decides to exercise a player option for next season, which is unlikely) and Danny Ainge — that wily old badger — will have significant cap space to work with for the first time in years. He doesn’t necessarily have to use it all next year — after Dwight Howard and Deron Williams, the free agent pickings are slim — but he will have options aplenty.

P.S. — This is probably a cold business decision, but it is not a cold business decision that will harm Jeff Green. Green is better off as an unrestricted free agent.

P.P.S. — Green is having heart surgery in two days. Keep him in your thoughts and/or prayers.

And Jeff Green is expected to miss awhile. (Boston Herald)

The Celtics provided no official word on Jeff Green last night, but all indications are that the forward will miss significant time as he tends to an unspecified medical issue.

Green flew to Cleveland yesterday with president Danny Ainge for further testing at the Cleveland Clinic after abnormalities were revealed in a stress test during the player’s physical last week.

Ainge said last night he was awaiting results from the latest exams, but sources said the problem has been detected and that decisions were being made on the best course of action. It has been noted in the Herald that a surgical procedure on Green may be needed to complement medication.

Doc Rivers offered no further information after the C’s scrimmage last night at the Garden, but it wasn’t hard to read the coach’s mood.

“Danny called and just said he’ll announce it (today), so we’ll wait,” Rivers said. “But other than that, we’ll just leave it at that.”

When asked if he was expecting to be without Green, Rivers said, “I’ll let you guess.”

Posey has always been miscast on teams with no chance to contend, so his alarming statistics from the time he left the Celtics shouldn’t be taken entirely at face value. Still, check this out:

49 games, 17.1 minutes, 4.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 33.6% FG, 31.6% 3PT, 7.5 PER

I hope you turned your head away from your computer before you started to projectile vomit at Posey’s 2010-11 stat line.

If Posey does sign in Boston, do yourself a favor: Take the James Posey you remember from 2007-08 and put him in a box in your attic somewhere. Preferably somewhere safe where nobody can harm him. Because I know that Posey, I remember that Posey, and that Posey deserves all the accolades we still throw his way, all the respect we still give him, all the credit with which we still shower him for his solid play, timely shooting and winning effect. If you don’t lock that Posey away in your attic, and Posey signs with the Celtics again this season, there’s a chance you allow this Posey to contaminate how you think about that Posey. And nobody wants that. That Posey deserves mountains of praise. This Posey deserves to lose minutes to Sasha Pavlovic.

I love Posey. I’ll never forget how much he contributed to Boston’s only title run of my lifetime. But he hasn’t even been close to remotely decent in the past two seasons. He’s not the answer.

The Boston Celtics announced that the official announcement on Jeff Green’s mystery medical issue will come Saturday, but in the meantime, a source close to Green told A. Sherrod Blakely the small forward is expected to miss regular season time. (CSNNE)

A source close to Boston Celtics forward Jeff Green says the 6-foot-8 forward is expected to miss some games early on this season due to an undisclosed health condition that became apparent during his most recent physical. …

The same source did not know if it would require a medical procedure as well, but “that’s one of the options, for sure.”

Celtics forward Paul Pierce spoke with Green recently about his yet-to-be-determined status with the team.

“He’s down now,” Pierce told CSNNE.com. “I had a chance to sit down with him in his locker the other day, and I just told him to keep his head up regardless of what’s happening, and just try to stay positive. Whatever happens either way, whether he’s able to play or not play, just stay positive and use it for motivation if it’s the latter.”

This doesn’t sound good. Hope he’s alright.

Let’s hope he’s okay.

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 »