Danny Ainge shot down rumors that the Boston Celtics are interested in acquiring Richard Hamilton or Anthony Parker. (Boston Globe)

Riddled with injuries and particularly low on manpower after Marquis Daniels went down with a bruised spinal cord, the Celtics may be in the market for a backup small forward.

Celtics president Danny Ainge quickly shot down rumors of a deal for Detroit’s Richard Hamilton, or interest in Cavaliers swingman Anthony Parker.

“Nothing’s happening,’’ Ainge said in a text message. “Talk is all.’’

As they say, talk is cheap. And Ainge, even if he says nothing’s happening, is working the phones feverishly. If he’s not looking into acquiring Hamilton or Parker, he should be. He should be looking into acquiring any halfway-decent backup small forward with a pulse, because the Celtics (as long as Marquis Daniels isn’t returning any time soon) need someone to spell Paul Pierce and move Von Wafer to his natural shooting guard spot.

UPDATE: Immediately after I posted this, I read Marc Spears’ After the Buzzer column. He reports, as others have, that Boston would be interested in Hamilton if his contract is bought out. Which makes a whole lot of sense.

It’s no secret that Hamilton wants out and the Pistons want to grant his wish. The problem: He’s due $12.5 million next season and at least $9 million the season after.

If the Pistons somehow reached a buyout agreement with Hamilton and waived him, the Boston Celtics would have interest in signing him.

During trade rumor season, I often feel like I just went eight rounds with a dizzy bat.

If Richard Hamilton and/or Troy Murphy get bought out this season, the Boston Celtics are expected to show interest. (Yahoo! Sports)

The Hornets will likely be in pursuit of New Jersey Nets forward Troy Murphy once the Nets reach a buyout agreement with him after the trade deadline. Nets coach Avery Johnson made clear he didn’t want Murphy after the three-team trade that brought him from the Indiana Pacers. Trade talks have gone nowhere for Murphy, who has an expiring contract. Nets GM Billy King will ultimately work a buyout to free Murphy to sign elsewhere.

In addition to the Hornets, several other teams are expected to show interest in Murphy, including the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks, sources said. …

Richard Hamilton will have to be willing to give back a significant portion of the two years, $25 million owed him to get a buyout on his contract. Sources said the Celtics still remain intrigued with Hamilton as a scorer off the bench.

Based on everything I’ve read, Hamilton has maintained that he won’t accept a small buyout. He wants to receive a large portion of the remaining two years and $25 million he is owed, which could complicate matters when it comes to a buyout. That said, if Hamilton wants to leave Detroit, a buyout could become his only option. There aren’t too many teams desperate to trade for a 33-year old (his birthday was actually on Valentine’s Day) shooting guard with many miles on his legs and many, many dollars remaining on his contract.

Moving on to Troy Murphy: umm, Troy Murphy? Even when he was posting double-doubles left and right, I always wondered whether Murphy was actually helping his team or hurting it. “Defense” isn’t exactly in his vocabulary, although “nearly 7-foot gunner with three-point range” is. Maybe signing Murphy would work out for the Celtics; beggars can’t be choosers, and if all the C’s big men stay injured the C’s will be beggars. But in Ireland, Troy Murphy actually means “Mikki Moore with shooting range.” Okay, so maybe the Mikki Moore comparison isn’t fair (or at all close). But if the C’s are looking for a quick fix to their currently thin frontcourt, Murphy’s not the answer.

(h/t CelticsBlog)

Romantic.

A few days ago, the Boston Globe reported that the prospect of adding beleaguered Detroit Piston Richard Hamilton would intrigue Danny Ainge. Today, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix discussed why Hamilton-to-Boston isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.

There’s a rumor going around that the Celtics are interested in Pistons shooting guard Richard Hamilton, but Mannix downplayed it.

“That’s just a rumor,” he said. “The only way they acquire him is by buyout. Right now, the ownership situation in Detroit is in such flux that that buyout, it ain’t coming anytime soon. And I’d be really surprised if it came before March 1st.”

Mannix acknowledged that “Hamilton would be a great asset in Boston” and “something has to happen” because Hamilton and coach John Kuester are at odds. However, Mannix said, “I just don’t see him getting bought out right now. He’s owed $25 million over the next two years. If he’s not willing to take a significant pay cut from that — and I’m talking in the $16 [million], 17 million range — he’s just not going anywhere. [Not] as long as the ownership situation is so up in the air out here.”

On the court, it’s easy to see how Rip would fit in with the Celtics. He could play Ray Allen’s role of “run defenders around screens until they can’t keep up anymore,” whenever Allen was on the bench. He’s a veteran with championship mettle and playoff experience galore. He’s hit big shots, knows how to share the ball, and never worried himself with such petty things as statistics.

But he’s also under contract for $12.65 million in 2012-’13, which is why this situation gets dicey. (CBS Sports)

Heading into what some executives are beginning to fear will be a hard-cap system, few — if any — teams will be willing to take on $21.5 million in guaranteed money over the next two seasons for a player who will turn 33 next month. The problem for Dumars is that a buyout will have to be an ownership decision, and the Pistons are in the midst of an ownership change. Going from saving $17 million in the deal that would’ve sent Hamilton to New Jersey to eating close to that amount in a buyout will be tough for any prospective owner to swallow.

Rip in Boston’s not happening, folks. Not unless a whole lot of things go right.

How do you treat All-Stars who aren’t All-Stars anymore? How do you allow players to age gracefully if they aren’t gracefully aging? What will happen when the Big Three get a little older?

At some point the Boston Celtics will have to decide how to treat their aging superstars. At some point Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett won’t still deserve 30-35 minutes per game. At some point there likely will be a clash between winning and treating the old stars with love.

Over in Detroit, home of Eminem and Casey Kasem, John Kuester and Joe Dumars are providing the blueprint for how NOT to treat a former star. Don’t give the star DNP-CD after DNP-CD. Don’t disrespect the star by refusing to tell him why he’s being benched. Don’t finally invite the star to come talk… by sending the security head to tell the star he’s free to come to your office. Don’t threaten to trade the star, then whiff on the trade, then continue treating the star like he’s cancer.

As most of you readers know, I coach a JV high school basketball team. None of my players helped my school win an NBA championship. None of my players made three All-Star games. Hell, most of my players can barely make passes that aren’t deflected and/or stolen by the other team. But when I take a JV player out of the starting lineup, I let him know. I tell him why we made the move, and I tell him what he needs to do to regain his spot. Why? Common courtesy. People deserve to know why they aren’t playing, and they deserve to hear it from their coach. Why else? Because telling my players what we need them to improve can only help matters. If a player knows what he’s doing wrong, he can change it.

It’s clear Richard Hamilton no longer fits into Detroit’s plans. For whatever reason — whether it be a bad attitude, Hamilton’s fading skills, Hamilton’s “he doesn’t deserve nearly that much money anymore” contract, Hamilton’s age or a combination of all the preceding factors — the Pistons have deaded Hamilton’s career. Barring a 180-degree turn, Hamilton has played his last game with Detroit. After eight-plus years of helping Detroit to a mini-Eastern Conference dynasty of sorts, Hamilton is now being treated with zero respect. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s teammates still have his back; they also say Hamilton did not cause headaches for Kuester.

The Pistons have started to win games, which provides evidence that Kuester could have made the right decision. But is losing the respect of an entire locker room worth going 5-3 in the last eight games? Do you think Rodney Stuckey sees the way Hamilton’s being treated and thinks, “Man, I definitely want to stay here in Detroit. It’s such a compassionate, classy organization.” No. He’s probably thinking, “Get me the fuck out of here. Fuck John Kuester and his never-ending string of bullshit. How they’ve treated Rip’s a crock of shit. Even if you’re going to bench him, be a man about it and let him know.”

Not that Rodney Stuckey staying or leaving will make or break the organization — he’s not that quality of player. But players won’t want to play for a coach who will fuck them over, who won’t show a single ounce of loyalty. Coaching basketball is definitely about X’s and O’s; but, and I’m not sure Kuester knows this yet, it’s also about managing personalities to foster a positive environment.

In high school, I had one coach who prepared for games better than any other high school coach around. He put together full scouting reports, watched more game film than Bill Belichick, and generally put together the best game plan he could. Our team was always prepared to play every game.

Unfortunately, the same coach had no idea how to deal with his players. One time, our star player TJ showed up to the bus right when the bus was supposed to leave. He pulled his car into the parking lot, and the bus was still there waiting to depart. TJ was a little late, sure, but it was only a minute or so. And he wasn’t a player who made a habit of being late, either. It was one of our final games, and he’d never been late before. Or even close to being late.

As TJ parked his car, my coach told the bus driver to leave.

“But coach,” my teammates and I all said. We pointed at TJ approaching the bus from his car, and we continued, ”TJ’s right there.”

“I know. Which means he’s late. He can get a ride to the game.”

“But the game’s 40 minutes away. And the bus is still here, and TJ’s right there. And TJ doesn’t have his own car, and his dad works and won’t be able to bring him all the way to the game. And you’re just being a fucking dickhead right now.”

Okay, so we didn’t call our coach a dickhead — he definitely was one. We left TJ, and TJ had to get a ride from my mom, and my mom had to leave for the game two hours before she planned to. My teammates and I all hated my coach, and we underachieved that year. He knew all about X’s and O’s, but had no idea how to treat his players the right way. He had no idea how to maximize our abilities, no idea how to bring out the best in us.

The next year, while I was playing college ball, the same coach repeatedly called one player a pussy. The team would do a charge drill, where players would take turns taking charges, and the dickhead coach would have the team’s strongest player continually run this “pussy” over. The “pussy” would stand there, and the strong kid — who would receive plenty of scholarship offers to play football in college — would run him over. The dickhead coach would sit there, laughing about it, and tell the football player to run the “pussy” over one more time.

This dickhead coach knew a lot about basketball. But his players sure hated him, and he had no clue how to inspire his team to want to play for him.

Another coach I had, an AAU coach, hardly ever raised his voice. He didn’t run any complicated sets, and we didn’t ever have any scouting reports. We didn’t have three hour practices, and he didn’t whip us into shape with suicide after suicide. But he treated us all with respect, and every player on that AAU team — one through twelve — would have taken a charge from Shaq if our coach told us to. We played harder than any team we played against, and it was mostly because we respected the hell out of my coach and couldn’t fathom letting him down.

Doc Rivers is a lot closer to the AAU coach than to the dickhead coach. He always treats his players with respect, and — one through twelve — the Celtics seem to respond to Rivers’ tactics. Put another way, Rivers is no Kuester. If you fall out of favor with Rivers, I imagine he’ll tell you.

At one Celtics game I covered, Von Wafer told Nate Robinson he had a meeting with Rivers after the game. Wafer, if I’m not mistaken, had received a DNP-CD, and I imagine Rivers scheduled the meeting to explain why. Maybe my imagination’s wrong. Maybe there was another reason Rivers scheduled the meeting. But either way, the point was this: In Boston, the communication lines stay open for players one through twelve.

Of course, it’s easier to tell Von Wafer why he received a DNP-CD than it is to tell an aging star he’s fallen out of favor. But I imagine Rivers would show his players the proper respect under any situation.

And if Rivers no longer coaches the Celtics when the Big Three start to show diminishing returns, and another coach is in charge when the Big Three’s playing time has to be reduced? Well, I only hope the coach handles the situation a lot better than Kuester. After all they’ve done for their franchises, aging stars deserve respect even in the twilights of their careers.

Psstt: John Kuester sucks.

Seven years ago, the Detroit Pistons epitomized what an NBA team — a real team — should play like. They played ‘D’, shared the rock, didn’t care who received the credit, and beat opponents with more talent and better go-to scorers. If you look now, the remnants of Detroit’s past are barely present. And for one player who still offers reminders of the past, Richard Hamilton, well, he can enjoy a nice long string of DNP-CDs.

It’s not like Hamilton’s washed up, either. He’s not as productive as he used to be, but he’s not as deteriorated as, say, Tracy McGrady. It’s funny I bring up McGrady, because his mummified remains actually started in Hamilton’s place last game. Will Bynum, DaJuan Summers and Austin Daye also saw time in the Piston’s last game. So no, Hamilton isn’t the same guy we remember from the 2004 title. But it’s not like a bunch of Michael Jordans are stealing his minutes.

What the Pistons have done to Hamilton is criminal. He helped Detroit win games for almost a decade, and even helped win a championship. He wore his face mask, and sprinted around screens, and made his teammates better by approaching the game the right way. He didn’t care whether he scored 20 points, so long as his team was winning. Hamilton, you see, was never the type of player who could win a championship all by himself. But neither were his teammates, and that was the ultimate beauty of it. And no matter how many times he failed to free himself from his opponent, Hamilton just kept journeying around screen… after screen… after screen… after screen.

Until John Kuester, or Joe Dumars, or some other Detroit exec, decided Hamilton’s time in Detroit was over. His playing time, at least. Now Hamilton collects a paycheck. He’s still on Detroit’s roster, and he still shows up to games. He sits there, I assume minding his own business, twiddling his thumbs, and dreaming of better days. All because somebody decided Hamilton wasn’t in the club’s future.

There are other factors in play here, of course.

There’s planning for the future, which is why Daye, Summers, Greg Monroe and Rodney Stuckey are assuming so many minutes. But if the future was really the only goal here, would T-Mac be in the starting lineup?

There are certain behavioral issues, and sources have told newspapers that Hamilton’s attitude became dour during this ugly season. But if Hamilton were the biggest and/or only problem, would his veteran teammates still back him rather than his coach?

“Man, I really don’t know what to make of it,” Ben Wallace told the Detroit News. “It’s tough because you’ve got a bona fide All-Star in this league. I don’t know. I guess coach has his reasons but I don’t see it. I just don’t see it.”

“I am mad. Anger as far as now,” Tayshaun Prince said. “When I look at it I see so many things he can help us with on the floor.”

The Pistons plan to trade Hamilton before the trading deadline, and now sit him every minute of every game. I understand why they would bench a player who will wear some other uniform in a few weeks. Of course I do.

But Richard Hamilton has given this Detroit Pistons organization so much during these past nine years. Doesn’t he deserve a better end?

Red’s Army had a nice find today: The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the Celtics have shown repeated interest in adding Richard Hamilton.

It’s beginning to look like Hamilton’s days are numbered. He really doesn’t fit the direction of the team. He’s more effective in the half-court game, but there will be a push to increase the tempo next season to take advantage of the talents of the younger players. With three seasons left on the extension he signed last season, it will be tough to move him, but not impossible. An Eastern Conference executive told me recently he still has value and the Celtics have been kicking the tires for the past year. The Pistons may have to take a bad contract in return.

The Pistons “may have to take a bad contract in return?” Really? Hamilton has $37 million and change left on his contract, which runs through 2013. Hell, it would be the Celtics taking on the bad contract, not the other way around. If the Celtics are paying Richard Hamilton $12.7 mil in 2013, somebody please take a bazooka and aim it right at the back of my head.