Attention KMart shoppers. The LA Clippers have officially picked him up. A great get for them. But no sooner do they get Kenyon Martin signed to add talent, depth and playoff experience to their young, thin frontcourt, then they lose their veteran leader Chauncey Billups for the season with an Achilles injury. Ouch. Lucky for them, they have guard depth with Mo Williams and Randy Foye at the 2 and Bledsoe and Chris Paul at point guard. Perhaps they’ll also get J.R. Smith when he returns to the states.

And if the Clippers, or Heat or Celtics or any team for that matter, want to upgrade their frontcourt, the New Orleans Hornets are making center Chris Kaman available. If the Celtics were interested, they’d have to give up quite a bit to match Kaman’s expiring $14 million salary. Something like Jermaine O’Neal, Chris Wilcox and Keyon Dooling would do it.

Compared to JO, Kaman is bigger and 4 years younger. While he’s not the defender that JO is, Kaman can block shots and is a better rebounder and scorer now than JO. And he has a better outlook after this year – IF the C’s could re-sign him.

Dooling has missed most of this season with injuries and the play of Avery Bradley and E’Twaun Moore during Rondo’s absence may make him more expendable. But Chris Wilcox has played very well since returning from injury and is providing good size, energy, athleticism and production off the bench.  Giving up JO and Wilcox for Kaman would leave the C’s dangerously thin at center. Especially since Kaman historically has been about as durable as JO and Kendrick Perkins.

Then there’s the chemistry question. The C’s are firing on all cylinders now. They’ve won 9 of their last 10 and their defense is at or near the top of the league in points allowed, field goal % allowed and three-point % allowed. Does GM Danny Ainge dare mess with that?

Alternatively, if the Celtics want or need to add another center now or later this season, they could get a veteran like Joel Przybilla. He’s not a scorer, but can rebound and block shots. He’s a free agent though, so the Celtics wouldn’t have to give up anything to get him, other than cutting someone from their maxed out 15-man roster. However, Przybilla is 2 years older than Kaman and is more injury prone than Kaman, JO and Perk.

Props to Pierce

Celtics captain Paul Pierce passed Larry Bird last night to become the second leading scorer in Boston Celtics history (see the tribute video below that was played at the Garden, via ESPN Boston). Only John Havlicek has scored more in green. And the Truth did it in style, racking up 15 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds in a 10-point Celtics win. Proving what an outstanding all-around player he is (just like Bird and Hondo), it was the 12^th straight game in which Pierce had 5 or more assists, the longest streak in his career. What a way to accent a scoring milestone – by helping your teammates score.

 If you have any questions or comments about this blog, feel free to contact me at RamblingDude@gmail.com.