After swinging and apparently whiffing in an attempt to acquire Jared Dudley, Grant Hill or Mickael Pietrus, the Boston Celtics are now looking elsewhere to satisfy their small forward needs. (Boston Herald)

Among the places the Celtics have looked is Phoenix. Three sources confirmed the clubs spoke about three Suns wings — former Boston College star Jared Dudley, Grant Hill and Mickael Pietrus.

Dudley’s defensive abilities would make him a strong fit with the Celtics, and all three could certainly help. But those talks fizzled out.

“That looks like it’s gone,” said one source, “but you never know.”

It may be more likely a new Celtic comes from a group of players who’ve been mentioned as potential buyout candidates — Morris Peterson, Jason Kapono, Rasual Butler and Sasha Pavlovic among them.

The moral of the story: If you’re a small forward who has a pulse (and, in Sasha Pavlovic’s case, even if you don’t have a pulse), Danny Ainge is inquiring about your availability. Unfortunately for Boston, none of these four players (with the possible exception of Butler) would make the Celtics any better.

Peterson hasn’t been relevant since the Bush administration, Kapono’s a step down from Von Wafer, and Pavlovic wouldn’t score 20 points a game in my high school league. Butler could work, but he’s no sure-thing home run. Just a lazy fly ball that has a chance if the wind really, really picks up.

Haywood? I'm lukewarm on the possibility.

Desperate to improve a bench that will likely need a complete overhaul, the Boston Celtics have made contact with Brendan Haywood, Antoine Wright and Rasual Butler. (CSNNE)

But league sources told CSNNE.com Thursday night that the Celtics have also inquired about Dallas center Brendan Haywood. [...]

The Celtics have a couple different ways they can go about trying to acquire Haywood.

Because he’s an unrestricted free agent, they can sign him straight-up. [...]

Along with Haywood, the Celtics also reached out to a couple of wing players, 6-7 guard/forward Antoine Wright of Toronto as well as 6-7 guard/forward Rasual Butler who averaged a career-high 11.9 points per game last season with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Expect to hear a whole  bunch of names tossed around until the Celtics have finished their signings. Danny Ainge wants to explore every option, leaving no rock unturned. I’m indifferent about Haywood — he’s a big body who has pretty solid skills, but can also be a lazy lug at times — but I love Butler. He can shoot, defend, and plays team basketball. It was a shame Butler was wasted on the Clippers last year, because he’s a player who can help a good team win.

In other news, the Lakers are chasing after Tony Allen. I once wanted Tony to be traded for a bag of Doritos. Now, I wouldn’t at all mind seeing him come back… but I realize a shooter off the bench would add a dynamic the Celtics didn’t have last year.

If J.J. Redick signed with the C's, it wouldn't exactly be a shocker. Get it?

The Celtics are looking into acquiring J.J. Redick with their mid-level exception, and will be dangling Rasheed Wallace’s contract in hopes of luring an impact big man. (Yahoo!)

Wallace has yet to file retirement papers, so the $6.32 million owed him next season and $6.79 million in 2011-12 would come off a team’s books after Wallace is traded to them. They could do a deal and not take on his money. Ainge is trying to use the Wallace contract to bring back a power forward or center to replace Wallace and the injured Kendrick Perkins.

The Celtics could then use their midlevel exception for a different player. Several sources believe that Ainge’s target is Orlando’s J.J. Redick, who is a restricted free agent.

Boston has strong interest in Brad Miller in free agency and could try to acquire Dallas center Erick Dampier.

The problem with going after Redick is that he’s a restricted free agent. Armed with only the mid-level exception, I don’t know if Boston will be able to draw him away from Orlando. The Magic will have the option to match any offer Redick receives.

If Dampier and Miller don’t work out, Rasheed’s contract and Glen Davis could be packaged together to bring Eddy Curry to the Celtics. Curry would add a proven big man scorer to start while Perkins is injured and then be a reliable reserve once Perk comes back.

By the way, just kidding on the Curry idea. Sorry if you just smashed your head through your computer screen in disgust. Did you really think the Celtics and I were that fucking stupid? Did you?

In a moment of all seriousness, the Celtics HAVE to be targeting Kyle Korver and Rasual Butler, right? Two veteran’s minimum possibilities who would both help. Sounds good to me, and should sound good to Danny. Of the two, Butler’s my pick — he’s not allergic to defense. But Korver’s shooting makes you overlook his inability to guard people, even if that inability is painfully obvious at all times he’s on the court. If it doesn’t exactly seem like I’m giving Korver a ringing endorsement, I’m not. But if you can pick up a deadeye shooter for the veteran’s minimum (and one who isn’t a walking cadaver — *coughcough* Michael Finley *coughcough*), then you’ve GOT to do it.

I wonder if the Celtics will also look to acquire Brendan Haywood with Sheed’s contract. The Mavs are reportedly open to a sign-and-trade including Haywood.

Bill Simmons was on WEEI this morning and said Paul Pierce has been playing like Rasual Butler:

In ’08, Paul Pierce was the best guy on the floor. In 2010, he looks like a guy that is just old. I was watching him before the game and he looked like he was locked in. He was in that mode where he was clenching his fists and looking around at the crowd and looking like he was eating it up. I thought he was going to have a huge game and he came out and just started missing shots. Then Luke Walton came in and you think, “Oh, he’s going to torch Luke Walton.” No, didn’t torch him. So if he’s going to play like Rasual Butler, the Celtics have no chance.

The Luke Walton thing is what has me most concerned about Pierce. I mean, Pierce murdered Matt Barnes and Vince Carter last series; just absolutely torched them. And now he can’t even score with Luke Walton guarding him? Carter may not be a great defender but he’s better than Walton, right?

Pierce is the wild card right now. Nothing he’ll do tonight will surprise me. He could come out tonight, score 30, have 10 rebounds and put the Celtics on his back, and I wouldn’t blink an eye. Or he could again play like Rasual Butler and disappear for most of the game, and I’d still be completely unsurprised.

But if Pierce somehow stops playing like Rasual Butler and again starts to resemble the Truth? The Celtics will be tough to beat.

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.

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “After making the first half look as rocky as imaginable with injuries, inconsistency, signs of dissension, and now, incessant trade rumors, the Celtics come out of the break with a West Coast trip that starts tonight in Sacramento and then takes them to Los Angeles to face the Lakers, then Portland, and Denver. ‘It’s a big trip . . . it’s one of the biggest trips of the year,’ Pierce said. ‘It’s a chance for us to start new. Put the first half behind us, go out there against some quality teams and try to make a statement. A lot of people are kind of writing us off and I would, too, with the way we played. We’ve just got to go out there and prove to ourselves and everybody else what type of team we are.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “All season, [Ray] Allen has maintained that he wants to be a Celtic for the remainder of this season and beyond. But he’s wise enough to know that his desire may not necessarily be enough to stay in Boston if the C’s believe they can improve their chances at a title by trading him. ‘Organizationally, we’re lucky to be part of an organization that wants to win,’ Allen said. ‘From that aspect, winning a championship is not guaranteed. That’s why we’re all fortunate to be here. If that changes with me, I have to move on and figure out the best way that I can help myself.’”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “‘We just have to do a better job of being on the same page,’ said C’s guard Eddie House. ‘Part of that has to do with not having everybody healthy. We’ve had guys out hurt, guys coming back and then guys who were playing not playing as much. The bottom line, we just have to get better, that’s all.’ And that starts with winning games, which in turns creates some much-needed momentum heading toward the end of the season and into the playoffs. ‘Right now, every team is coming out of the break, they know it’s not a lot of games left; playoff positioning is starting every night, and you want to get your rhythm going into the playoffs,’ said Celtics head coach Doc Rivers. ‘Whoever is going to be in the playoffs, you better start to get it going now.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “Teams were intimidated by the Celtics in the first six weeks, but a 92-90 loss to the Clippers Dec. 27 in Los Angeles changed the course of the season. The Celtics haven’t been the same since Baron Davis’s buzzer-beating jumper defeated them that night. They began showing the characteristics that have plagued them the past two months. They were unable to put away an inferior team. They had several defensive breakdowns, including leaving Rasual Butler, one of the league’s most scary 3-point shooters, for a late tying shot in that loss.”

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