Matt Barnes must feel like a superstar.

And the constant Matt Barnes watch continues. Barnes has probably gotten more media coverage this week than he has his entire career. (Brian Windhorst Twitter)

Matt Barnes has tough choice. Come to CLE for a little more $ or play with contender. Right now, sources say, he’s leaning toward contender.

Cavs can offer more $ than Heat, Magic, Celtics & Lakers. But doesn’t sound like Cavs want to make quite same offer as TOR (2yrs/$9 mill).

Barnes has made “just” $7.5 mill in career so difference of $2-4 mill in a contract very significant to him. Still, he’s a role player.

If he’s leaning towards a contender, that means the Heat, Lakers or Celtics. I’d probably cross the Heat off first because it’d be tough for Barnes to see the court behind Wade, Lebron and Mike Miller. So that leaves the Celtics and the Lakers. The Lakers can offer a little more money (they still have a piece of the mid-level left), but the Celtics can probably offer more playing time.

If I had to put my life on it, I’d bet he goes to the Lakers. Damn them.

Tattoos!

Matt Barnes is back to considering five teams, a day after he accepted Toronto’s phantom two-year, $10 million offer that simply didn’t work under the CBA.

Five teams remain in the running to sign free-agent swingman Matt Barnes, according to sources with knowledge of Barnes’ thinking.

Toronto is still one of those teams, sources told ESPN.com, despite the collapse of a sign-and-trade deal with Orlando that Barnes thought would be completed by now.

One source close to process said early Wednesday that Barnes continues to weigh interest from the Raptors along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and three title contenders he has been negotiating with since last week: the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.

Of those teams, the Cavaliers can offer the most money with the Raptors second (although they can’t offer him nearly as much as they already tried to). The Lakers can offer more money than any other title contender, but the Celtics can probably give Barnes more playing time. The Heat, meanwhile, would be selling the prospect of playing alongside LeWade, but with Mike Miller already backing up the SuperFriends, Barnes probably wouldn’t get much opportunity to play.

If Cleveland doesn’t blow Barnes’ socks off with an offer, I’d be willing to bet he signs with one of the title contenders. And if he opts for playing time instead of money, the Celtics could be his choice. I am starting to think Barnes to the Celtics might happen after all, even though I might be completely, miserably wrong.

P.S. – The Matt Barnes watch is driving me insane. He’s not even close to being good enough to warrant this much attention. But when the other names being tossed around are Ime Udoka and Larry Hughes, Barnes is – by default – the cream of the crop.

White women.

Matt Barnes was all set to be a Toronto Raptor. Now, he might never get that chance.

Tweeting, “Nxt season I will b playing for the Toronto Raptors. I wanted to thank the fans in orl you guys were amazing the way u guys excepted,” Barnes was ready to get paid for the first time in his NBA career. Two years, $10 million for the expected deal, which would have been finalized after Toronto completed a sign-and-trade with Orlando.

Would have been finalized, ya know, except those talks hit a snag and – depending on who you ask – might have completely fallen through. Marc Stein (ESPN) believed talks would continue today, despite the problems the trade faced yesterday, but Adrian Wojnarowski (Yahoo!) reported that the talks are completely dead. Here’s what Stein had to say:

Veteran swingman Matt Barnes, one of the most coveted free agents left on the open market, announced Monday night that he is headed to the Toronto Raptors.

But the limited sign-and-trade options available to Orlando — Barnes’ last team — could scuttle the deal, according to sources close to the situation.

Under the impression that he would be receiving a two-year contract in the $10 million range, Barnes thanked Magic fans via his Twitter feed and said that he’ll be “playing for the Toronto Raptors” next season.

Sources told ESPN.com that the teams will resume discussions Tuesday, as planned all along, with the intent of landing Barnes with the Raptors via sign-and-trade.

Yet no such deal could be assured as of midnight, raising the possibility that Barnes would have to accept new terms to sign with the Raptors or that other teams that have been chasing Barnes will get another shot at him if the deal collapses.

A little while after ESPN reported that the teams would resume sign-and-trade discussions today, Wojnarowski tweeted, “For Matt Barnes-to-Toronto, a league source says, ‘The sign and trade (scenario) is dead.’ Blamed on a ‘miscalculation’ somewhere in talks.”

Even if the trade talks ARE dead, does this open Barnes back up to the market? I don’t know. Maybe he’ll still feel loyalty to Toronto and sign for a lesser deal. Or maybe Barnes will end up back as a free agent. If so Cleveland reportedly offered him the most money besides Toronto, while Miami, LA, Dallas and Boston can all offer a shot at contending.

Who knows? Maybe Barnes will even end up a Celtic. But I wouldn’t bet your life on it. Actually, I wouldn’t even bet a couple bucks.

Tattoos.

Matt Barnes, whose list of free agent teams was once said to be dwindled down to the Celtics, Mavericks, Lakers and Heat, is in progressing talks with the Cleveland Cavaliers. (Brian Windhorst, Twitter)

Cavs had further talks with F Matt Barnes. Interest is mutual. Cavs like his toughness, Barnes looking for PT. Talks likely to continue.

No deal appears imminent, but the Cavs can likely offer him more playing time than the Celtics. Not to mention more money. But, and this is only a guess, I just don’t think signing Matt Barnes is the way to ease Cleveland’s pain. 

In other Cavs news, Delonte West is rumored to be headed to Minnesota, where he would likely be bought out. Perhaps West would be interested in the minimum to return to Boston? Just do me a favor — keep him the hell away from my mother.

Barnesy looks good as hell in the offseason.

Everyone knows what beer goggles are. Get a few Coors Lights deep and all of a sudden ugly girls start to look decent, decent girls start to look like dimes and dimes all look like Jessica Biel. (Note: I’ve never seen Biel in beer goggle vision, but I imagine the sight would turn John Amaechi straight.)

But I’m not here to talk about how girls look like when they’re drunk. I’m here to discuss “offseason beer goggles,” which turn bums into solid pickups, solid pickups into studs, and Matt Barnes into Jesus Christ himself. The offseason is a time for hope. It’s a time when Avery Bradley could be an All-Star next year, a time when Luke Harangody could threaten to make an All-Rookie team, a time when the Big Three is ageless. And it’s a time when every available player starts to look a whole lot better.

Here are some potential pickups the Celtics might be interested in, with predictions of their impact using offseason beer goggles compared to sober predictions.

Matt Barnes (with offseason beer goggles) – An absolute menace defensively and a multi-talented offensive performer. He can score, he can shoot, he can slash, and he’s tenacious enough to jump in Kobe Bryant’s face. A pure winner in every sense of the word. Simply the type of guy you want on your team.

Matt Barnes (sober thoughts) – A pure winner who has never won anything. A journeyman who hops from team to team for a reason. A good defender? He got absolutely torched by Paul Pierce in the playoffs. A good shooter? That 31.9% shooting from deep is nothing to write home about. Decent and helpful off the bench, but nothing more.

Marquis Daniels (with offseason beer goggles) – He was hurt last year and it killed his rhythm. That’s the only reason he didn’t play well. Don’t forget, this is the same player who averaged almost 14 points a game and did all the little things for the Indiana Pacers in ’08-’09. If he stays healthy and regains some confidence, Daniels is a big-time difference-maker.

Marquis Daniels (sober thoughts) - If he stays healthy? He’s only played more than 62 games in a season twice! And didn’t the Marquis experiment fail in a big way last season? Don’t forget, this is the same player who averaged only five points a game last season and completely lost Doc Rivers’ confidence in the process. I’m on board with re-signing Daniels… but only if the Celtics strike out everywhere else.

Antoine Wright (with offseason beer goggles) – Cheap, young and somewhat effective. Solid defender, improving shooter, and did I mention he’d come cheap? One of the few perimeter players likely to be paid the minimum who is actually worth a damn.

Antoine Wright (sober thoughts) – Antoine Wright? Did I just hear the name Antoine Wright? Are you honestly trying to talk me into Antoine Wright right now? Did you know he averaged 6 points last year for the Raptors, shot less than 41% from the field and nailed only 33% from the arc? And it’s not like he’s Bruce Bowen to make up for that shit. He’s only a decent defender.

Shaq (with offseason beer goggles) – The Diesel may have backfired a little bit in Cleveland, but he could be the key to the Eastern Conference next season. Just ask this one unnamed GM! The Heat are woefully thin inside and Shaq could take advantage of them. As old as he gets, the man remains beastly.

Shaq (sober thoughts) - Three or four years ago? Hell yeah, give me Shaq any day of the week and twice on Monday. But this is a different time. Shaq doesn’t dominate anymore and his inside scoring is completely overshadowed by his miserable pick-and-roll defense and his tendency to clog the lane. For the minimum Shaq’s probably still worth a shot. But would you want to waste Sheed’s valuable retiring contract in a trade for the Big Aristotle? Consider me completely unsold.

T-Mac (with offseason beer goggles) - Could the Celtics really get T-Mac with the minimum?!?!? No way! He’d be instant offense off the bench! He can do it all! He’s got one hell of a shoulder vain! He’s T-Mac! He was almost an All-Star last year! Once he fully recovers from microfracture surgery, the sky’s the limit!

T-Mac (sober thoughts) - T-Mac sucked last year. Not only did he spend the year playing in quicksand, but the end of his tenure in Houston was bizarre. T-Mac went off on his own to schedule surgery, leaving the Rockets completely in the dark. The way he has behaved and played, it’s hard to imagine any team offering him much money. Then again, Allen Iverson was signed by not one but two teams last season, so there’s always hope for T-Mac. Who knows? Maybe he’ll even regain a step or two from the five he lost.

You can go down the list of every free agent and it’d be almost the same across the board. Fans do their best to talk themselves into every free agent possibility, and especially the players who actually end up signing with their favorite teams (except in Minnesota, where offseason signings just make them want to batter David Kahn). Hell, right now I’m trying to convince myself that Nate Robinson is 6’8″ tall — the offseason beer goggles at their finest.

But let me try to snap you back to sober-ness before you have to get your stomach pumped: If the season started today, Tony Gaffney would be the C’s first wing off the bench. If that’s not a sobering thought, I don’t know what is. The list of free agents is dwindling and the Celtics still have a lot of holes. Damn it, I knew this offseason seemed better when I was under the influence.

Take a pay cut, Barnesy. Please.

The Celtics are still in the hunt for Matt Barnes, according to Barnes’ agent, but would probably need a change of heart from Barnes to earn his services. (Boston Herald)

Goodwin, who also represents Barnes, said via text that the Celtics are still in the hunt, but “quite a few” other teams are also standing in line.

The problem, according to a league source, is that the Celtics, like Miami, only have a veteran’s minimum slot of approximately $1.6 million available. Though the Celtics and Heat – teams that are placing a premium on winning over dollars with these luxury minimum opportunities – were thought to be at the top of the former Magic swingman’s list. That seems to have changed.

Barnes now realizes there are still teams out there with surplus cash to offer.

“Wants $. He’s looking for more than minimum agent says,” the source said via text.

If the Celtics still have a chance, and Barnes would fill their need for a rugged perimeter defender who can hit an open jumper, it will be because Barnes changes his thinking.

Damn it. Antoine Wright, how are you doing buddy? You want to come to Boston?