Boston Celtics Near Deal For David West; Chauncey Billups Threatens Retirement

Doesn’t it feel like David West sort of belongs on the Celtics? He has a little dog in him, and maybe it’s just us, but he seems like a great fit up there. Luckily for Boston fans, Danny Ainge agrees with us, and as of now, the Celtics are on the verge of adding the former All-Star Hornet through a sign-n-trade. Adrian Wojnarowski reports that while it isn’t done quite yet (New Orleans is in limbo right now because they’re focusing on CP), it will be for three years and somewhere between $27-29 million and will probably have Boston send Jermaine O’Neal and one other player to the Hornets. Still, there are question marks. He’s 31 and coming off a major ACL injury. He also technically plays the same spot as Kevin Garnett, although those two could easily play next to each other. For the Celtics (who also agreed to bring back Jeff Green yesterday), they’ve gone overboard with power forwards (also adding Brandon Bass) but may not have a true center on the roster. Will that matter? … We feel for Chauncey Billups, and it’s not just because of the situation with Tyson Chandler. Because of his contract, and the Knicks emphasis on being ready for next summer, Billups became a sacrificial lamb and was pretty much at the mercy of whatever the Knicks wanted to do (they decided to use the amnesty on him). That happens sometimes, but how often does this type of situation happen to the same player twice in less than one year? Billups was in the same position in Denver, a place that just so happened to be where he grew up. Not cool. And Billups is pissed off about it, not so much at the Knicks for doing what they had to but more the system. So now he’s warning teams: if you claim me off the amnesty waiver wire, I might not show up at all. I might just retire. He told Yahoo! Sports: “I’ m tired of being the good guy. I’m tired of being viewed as the guy. After a while, you just kind of get taken advantage of in these situations. I’ve been known as a leader, and I am a leader, but a leader can be as disruptive as he can be productive, especially when you carry a strong voice and people rally around you. This is about me now. This is about me, and teams should know that right now.” We don’t believe Billups actually wants to retire. In fact, we’re leaning towards this only being positioning from Billups to get himself on a contender. You can’t blame him. Who wants to spend the final years of their career stuck on a team going nowhere in a city they don’t want to be in? If he’s able to clear the amnesty waiver wire, he’ll have his pick and choice of contenders to go to … Who are the Knicks replacing him with? They’ve already agreed to sign Mike Bibby to a one-year deal for the minimum. But now there are rumors they’re going after J.J. Barea. Very interesting. New York has maintained they’re only offering one year deals to preserve their cap space for next season. Why would Barea take one year? He’s busted his ass to finally get in this position to land a multi-year deal. The Knicks don’t have the cap room as it is, but are exploring sign-n-trades with Dallas … Keep reading to hear how close Chris Paul is to becoming a Laker …

Doesn’t it seem like Samuel Dalembert is always getting himself into position to secure big-money deals? Right now, he’s on the tip of the tongues of Dallas and Houston. Marc Stein tweeted there are a few problems though. One, Dallas only wants him on a one-year deal, which goes along with Mark Cuban‘s new cash diet. And two, the Rockets only want him if they can’t get Nene, which will be impossible without the CP deal going through. Too many dominoes right now … As was reported yesterday afternoon, the Lakers, Rockets and Hornets resubmitted another trade proposal revolving around Chris Paul to the league for approval. No one is sure yet of the changes, but Sam Amico tweeted that one GM told him he heard any deal involving Chris Paul to L.A. must send Andrew Bynum to New Orleans. Marc Stein is tweeting it should still involve Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom as well because the Hornets desperately want LO even if he isn’t into them. Our guess? This trade eventually goes down, even if it stretches into something much larger (the league wants more youth going to the Hornets and for the Lakers to take on more salary…Emeka Okafor perhaps?). Too much at stake for these teams, especially New Orleans and the Lakers. They’re sitting on time bombs right now; The longer this drags on involving some of their best players, the worse it is. This is especially true during a shortened season when the games that count are literally two weeks away … We reported yesterday that Phoenix was sending Mickael Pietrus to Toronto in what was obviously a cap-clearing move. Instead, Pietrus, who had problems last year with his knee, came down with swelling after a workout and the trade has been postponed. Initially, it was reported that he failed his physical, but doctors instead determined he just needs more time to recover from minor offseason surgery … Denver signed Luc Mbah a Moute to an offer sheet worth $19 million over four years. It’s anyone’s guess at this point if Milwaukee will match … Meanwhile, Rip Hamilton is about to be a Bull. Chris Mannix of SI.com tweeted that a league executive told him “It’s a lock” and Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News tweeted the former Piston is closing in on a two-year deal … The Tyson Chandler-to-New York sign-n-trade officially went through. In it, New York gets Chandler and the draft rights to two players, Washington gets Ronny Turiaf, cash considerations and two second rounders, and Dallas gets Andy Rautins and a second rounder. Dallas also picked up a big trade exception out of this. Chandler brings everything the Knicks haven’t had. Hopefully Mike D’Antoni will know how to use him … It seems while Dwight Howard isn’t allowed to talk to anyone, his agent can discuss trades with only three teams: Dallas, New Jersey and the Lakers … And in college ball, Ohio State will be in for a drop from the No. 2 ranking after they got handled by Kansas and Thomas Robinson (21 points), 78-67. Of course, Jared Sullinger (a bad back) didn’t play, so Buckeye fans aren’t too worried. Indiana’s Christian Watford (20 points) banged a buzzer-beating three to take down the No. 1 team in the nation, Kentucky, 73-72. Plus, who saw the brawl in the Cincy/Xavier game? … We’re out like Chauncey.