A brief little shot here from me, as I just spent 90 excruciating minutes listening to Glenn Ordway tell me why Ray Allen has to remain a member of the Boston Celtics. Only it wasn't his reasoning for why Allen should stay that had me so annoyed. No, Glenn made the right statement in being fearful of trading away a key member of a championship winning team while the team battles through injuries and exhaustion, and you never sell low and buy high.

Nope it wasn't wanting to keep Ray Allen, it was that the former Celtics broadcaster and team employee had no idea how the NBA's collective bargaining agreement works. Ordway,  known for misusing and over using words like "leverage"and talking about how it is "ALLL ABOUT THE MONNNNNEEEYYYY," expressed today that the Celtics could simply move Allen this summer in a sign and trade deal.  Which would be fine if this was 2009. Unfortunately it is not, and the only thing the Celtics will have after July 1 are some great memories and a contract hold on what a potential Ray Allen signing could cost the team. Sparing you, the reader, a long treatise on what I know about the CBA, the Celtics have microscopic means of making a deal with Ray Allen in the Summer of 2010. Ordway's suggested sign and trade would only work if Ray was interested in signing elsewhere and his prospective new team was in such a position that a trade was the only way feasible of making a deal happen. This is a ridiculously unlikely scenario.

Yet, even Glenn Ordway doesn't get the Boob of the Day award in sports radio. Gary Tanguay took to the Sports Hub airwaves this morning claiming he had the plan as to how the Celtics will rebuild this summer. Again, Tanguay took the tact that the Celtics had to keep Allen through the rest of this year, but then, as with the Big O, things went off the rails. Tanger suggested the Celtics let Ray Allen go, convince Paul Pierce to opt out of his nearly $20 million annual contract a year early, use the new cap space to sign former Celtic Joe Johnson, and then re-sign Pierce. Alas, my fellow Mainer fell short of the mark as for the Celtics to do this, the team would have to renounce the Bird rights to Pierce and Allen, which means that Pierce could only re-sign for the MLE. Now this might be slightly more reasonably suggestion than Ordway, but I don't believe Paul Pierce is dumb enough to literally give away $15 million in the chance that Joe Johnson puts the Celtics over the top.

The bottom line is gang that I don't know how the Celtics can do anything this summer by keeping Ray Allen to improve their team. Re-signing Ray at a lesser salary and then using the MLE to bolster the bench behind him could help, as players as talented as Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza were wingmen available via the MLE this past summer. Yet, I can't help but feel that $19 million expiring contract in the form of a still productive future Hall of Fame shooting guard has value, but that value has a shelf life that expires in less than three weeks. Maybe Monta Ellis isn't the perfect fit. Maybe Kevin Martin isn't the perfect fit. Maybe Andre Iguodala isn't the perfect fit. But do any of us want Danny Ainge to sit idly by as this asset depreciates immeasurably?

I will continue to argue that there are great unknowns in adding a player to this roster, but the uptick in production will more than make up for these unknowns. Perhaps the Celtics will regain their form and return to legitimate championship contention with Ray Allen as their starting shooting guard, and I will state clearly I would rather lose out on that asset and win a championship but I cannot believe at this point that is a gamble I would take. So I open the floor here for all the commentors to tell me how exactly the Celtics can make their team better this summer with Ray Allen finishing this season on the roster.

The floor is yours...