What promises to be a busy and rumor-filled offseason for the Celtics has begun. According to Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski, Boston is targeting center Brad Miller in free agency.
Apparently, Ray Allen and Miller will be the team's top priorities this summer, with the latter serving as a replacement for Rasheed Wallace (expected retirement) and Kendrick Perkins (knee injury).
The Celtics have their midlevel exception available to sign the 34-year-old Miller, who has the versatility to play the power forward and center positions. Several contenders are expected to pursue Miller, but sources say the chance to play for the defending Eastern Conference champions has significant appeal to him.
While he could serve as a much-needed replacement on the front-line, and provide a clear indication that the Celtics will make one more run at Banner 18 in 2010-11, Miller hardly makes the team younger, writes CelticsBlog.
The Celtics certainly won't be getting any younger if they sign Miller, as he turned 34 last April. He did play in all 82 games for the Chicago Bulls last season, but his production was far below that of previous seasons. His scoring average of 8.8 points per game was his lowest since he averaged 9.0 points per game for the Sacramento Kings back in the 2006-2007 season. His 4.9 rebounds per game average was his lowest since his rookie season back in '98-'99 when he averaged just 3.1 boards per game. His assist average last season (1.9) was also his lowest since the 2001-2002 season (1.8). His field goal percentage last season (43 percent) was also the lowest of his career. However, all of these drops in statistical averages could be related to Miller averaging just 23.8 minutes per game last season, which was his lowest average since the 1999-2000 season.
But don't forget -- CelticsBlog didn't -- about Miller's "history" with the Celtics.