One thing’s for sure, Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge isn’t worried about the Miami Heat.

“We’re the Eastern Conference champions. And we think we’re going to be better next year.” Those were the words uttered by Boston Celtics manager Danny Ainge heading to the 2010 NBA basketball season, a season already proclaiming the trio of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh in Miami the heavy favorites to win it all.

Ainge confirmed that the Boston Celtics have agreements in place with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen that would keep Boston’s Big Three intact for a run at a third NBA Finals stint in four years. Ainge also said he expects to sign free agent center Jermaine O’Neal to fill in while center Kendrick Perkins recovers from knee surgery.

A six-time All-Star, Jermaine O’Neal has averaged 14 points and 7.5 rebounds in a 14-year career for Portland, Indiana, Toronto and Miami. With the Heat last year, he averaged 13.6 points and 6.9 rebounds in 28 minutes. However, O’Neal struggled mightily in the playoffs against the Celtics, averaging just 4.2 points per game in the five-game series.

Remaining on Ainge’s list of potential free agents are re-signing longtime Celtics bench player Tony Allen and midseason acquisition Nate Robinson.

“We’re trying to fill our roster in. Once we get this taken care of the next couple of days, then we’ll start working on the next group of guys,” Ainge said. We like Nate and Tony. I’m sure they’re still looking at the market, too, because the market’s pretty crazy right now. So we’ll be patient and look at other options as well in case they go in another direction.”

“We intend to sign him,” Ainge said. “Our priorities to…”

After he got Zydrunas Ilgauskas to leave Cleveland too and join him in Miami, LeBron might really be fucking with Cleveland now.

And in case you didn’t know, yes, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is the latest former Cavalier to join and follow LeBron James to the Miami Heat. Add him to the list of players that shapes up to be a serious title contender in Miami, joining not only James but Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh as we head closer to the 2010 NBA basketball season.

The veteran center, who started playing for Cleveland in 1997 and has never suited up for another NBA team, signed a two-year contract with the Heat to join former Cavaliers teammate LeBron James. The two-year deal would come with a player option for the second season.

The decision Zydrunas Ilgauskas made became known less than a week after James sparked outrage and outcry in Cleveland by going on a made-for-television special and saying he was joining the Heat. His departure won’t generate the same reaction from Clevelanders, but it’ll hurt more the owner of the Cavs Dan Gilbert.

Ilgauskas was a fan favorite for more than a decade, and when he returned to the Cavs after getting traded to the Washington Wizards this past season, a sellout crowd welcomed him with huge signs bearing the letter “Z”—his moniker. Ilgauskas never played for the Wizards, quickly getting bought out and then returning to Cleveland after a 30-day waiting period.

Playing with James again was a major factor in Ilgauskas’ decision…

The New York Knicks have had the 2010 NBA free agency period in their sights for quite a while.

LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, among other superstars, were set to become free agents, and the New York Knicks are supposedly the ultimate free agent destination before the 2010 NBA basketball season starts.

The reality is, the New York Knicks failed to land LeBron James and couldn’t get Wade or Bosh either. The back up plan was to get Stoudemire and Johnson, but that failed, too. The Knicks ended up with only one big-name free agent, Amare Stoudemire. Stoudemire is a great player, but it is definitely not what the Knicks had anticipated.

The question now is, is Amare Stoudemire that much of an upgrade over David Lee? It’ll be interesting to see what he gets, but we’ll guess it’ll be somewhere in between $8-$12 million a year (especially if scrubs like Drew Gooden and Amir Johnson are getting $5-6 million a year).

Lee is only six months younger than Amare, and let the record show that while we like Lee, he posted 20-11 and 16-11 the last two years mostly because the Knicks had nobody in the frontcourt. Somebody has to collect those rebounds and score those garbage points. This is not to say Lee will be a bust at his next stop, but if he goes to a team with actual talent, we expect that scoring to be cut in half and then you basically have Troy Murphy without the range.

With the addition of Raymond Felton, the Knicks got a…

Yep, this is the perfect time to jump on the bandwagon.

After last week’s hour-long reality program in which LeBron James announced he would be joining fellow Class of ’03 draftees Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, many fans and analysts were quick to crown the Miami Heat as the favorites to not only come out of the Eastern Conference, but to also win an NBA Championship in the 2010 NBA basketball season.

The Miami Heat has undoubtedly one of the best core groups in the NBA, anything less than the championship in the coming season would be considered a failure. Winning a championship takes a lot of things, including luck with injuries and a few bounces to go your way. It’ll be awfully hard, even with a team with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

They are a long way from a title this year. Even with three of the best players walking the planet on one team. The Heat, having sent Beasley to Minnesota for draft picks, have four players under contract and two second-round draft picks on their roster. After spending the vast majority of their salary cap to sign two superstars to join Dwyane Wade, it will be very difficult to sign quality role players to fill out the remainder of the roster.

Taking a look around the rest of the league, the other top teams with multiple All-Star quality players still have other role players on their team who can make strong contributions to their respective teams.

Looking at just the East, one would easily pick Miami to…

For the sake of the sports fans in Boston, let’s hope not.

There seems to be a problem in the contract negotiations between the New England Patriots and superstar QB Tom Brady coming to the 2010 NFL football season.

Yep, rumors say that there is a growing sense of disconnection between the New England Patriots and Tom Brady’s representatives as the sides try to strike out a deal to keep the three-time Super Bowl winner in New England.

The deal Tom Brady has, like that of four-time MVP and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, is set to expire at the end of the 2010 season. He declined comment for the story, but the reports said that there has not been substantial talks between the sides on a new contract.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said last week that the team want Brady “to be our quarterback for a long time into the future.” He had said in March that Patriots would not allow Brady to leave via free agency.

But after watching LeBron James betray the city of Cleveland on national TV, nothing is really certain until the guy in question signs on that dotted line.

Brady’s current deal was worth $60 million when he signed it in 2005. A new deal would likely thrust him into the stratosphere of the highest-paid players in the NFL.

But the negotiations for Manning’s contract with the Colts and…

My oh my, everybody’s really moving in the NBA lately.

The Denver Nuggets reached an agreement on a five-year, $34 million contract with free-agent forward Al Harrington, making the 2010 NBA basketball season a little bit more interesting after LeBron James went to Miami.

The Denver Nuggets had to outbid the Dallas Mavericks to secure Harrington’s signature after Dallas followed up its trade acquisition of Tyson Chandler earlier Tuesday with a hard push for Harrington, which included an in-person recruiting pitch at the NBA’s annual summer league in Las Vegas from Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

But Denver would appear to have a greater need for Al Harrington than Dallas, given that the Nuggets expect to start the season with Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen unavailable after both recently underwent surgical procedures. That enabled Harrington’s agent, Dan Fegan, to land a deal starting at the full $5.8 million mid-level exception from the Nuggets which extends for the maximum allowed five years.

Buoyed by Dallas’ acquisition of Tyson Chandler after it appeared that Toronto would acquire the 7-footer from Charlotte, Dallas quickly pinpointed Harrington as its next top summer target.

The Dallas Mavericks know they need more offensive punch next to Dirk Nowitzki and were drawn to Harrington’s scoring ability. Dallas also had more than the usual familiarity with Harrington’s game after Mavs coach Rick Carlisle had Harrington in Indiana. Dallas, though, proved hesitant to extend a full five-year offer because…

The entire city of Cleveland certainly hope not.

The coming 2010 NBA basketball season just got a little more interesting after Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh announced that they will both sign with the Miami Heat.

And since LeBron James, along with Wade and Bosh, have talked about the idea of playing together, does that mean LeBron will announce, on national TV, that he will be playing for the Heat too?

And in case you haven’t heard, yes, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will play together for the Miami Heat, putting that franchise right in the middle of the title chase next year in June. Ending months of speculation, Wade and Bosh announced Wednesday that they’ll sign with Miami, two decisions that vault the Heat back into the NBA championship picture and put them two-thirds of the way to hitting one of the biggest trifectas in NBA history.

You see, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James all have talked about playing together. On Thursday night, James will say why that will or will not happen. “It’s over,” Wade said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s not all over-over, but for me, it’s over.”

LeBron James can’t say that yet.

Dwyane Wade told the Heat that for him to re-sign, the team had to add either LeBron James or Chris Bosh. For good measure, they might get both.

“It had to be one or the other,” Wade said in the AP interview. “Of course, there’s a lot of talented players in this league. But you want to look at players that complement my game, and Chris and LeBron are two of those guys. I had a decision to make. Chris had a decision to make. It wasn’t a lock that he would come to Miami. So I had a lot to think about.”

James averaged 29.7 points for Cleveland last season…

In case you didn’t know, yep, Amar’e Stoudemire is the latest big name free agent to switch teams.

The NBA is making some huge headlines already with still months before the new 2010 NBA basketball season begins. While the world awaits LeBron James and his decision on where he’d be playing come October, Amar’e Stoudemire already made up his mind after only a few hours when the free agency period officially opened.

The 6′11” power forward Amar’e Stoudemire and the New York Knicks have completed a five-year contract worth nearly $100 million, which means the Phoenix Suns are left with nothing but an aging Steve Nash and an overpaid forward in Hakim Warrick.

The New York Knicks and Stoudemire’s agent Happy Walters worked out the contractual language, a source said, and Stoudemire finalized the deal in an afternoon meeting with Knicks owner Jim Dolan.

“All done,” Walters said in a text message.

Stoudemire emerged from the meeting with Dolan and Garden officials, and met an assemblage of media with a Knicks cap and bold declaration: “The Knicks are back,” he said. Stoudemire became the Knicks’ primary power forward target on Friday, and the team is still trying to recruit LeBron James(notes) to join him.

Prior to committing to play for the Knicks, Stoudemire called Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony to tell him he was…

And this time, they’re saying he could pair up with Dwyane Wade in, (drum roll please…) New FUCKING Jersey.

In case you didn’t know, both superstars; LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, will become free agents this summer. And there have been many rumors on whether the two should sign with the same team and if such a pairing would thrive.

The reasons against are, by now, well known. Many say that LeBron James and Dwyane Wade want their own team, won’t share the ball, and won’t take less money and/or term on contracts, which is a must for a co-superstar arrangement to happen.

There is, of course, the economy. League revenues have fallen, so the salary cap for 2010-11 will also fall, which means teams will have less to spend on free agents without triggering the luxury tax. And most owners have less disposable income to spend on NBA teams.

Then again, a LeBron James – Dwyane Wade partnership is still a possibility. It could work on the basketball court and balance sheet.

Being ‘The Man is a necessity. Not a choice. Without great teammates, James and Wade must dominate on-court for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat respectively to have any chance at winning. If being ‘The Man’ was what each truly wanted, they’d have maintained the status quo long ago by inking extensions with their current teams.

Two summers ago, James and Wade accepted lesser roles when…

Add one more marquee name to the most anticipated free-agent class in NBA history.

All-Star forward Paul Pierce has notified the Boston Celtics that he will opt out of the final year of his contract, which will make Pierce an unrestricted free agent for the first time. Pierce’s agent has confirmed Pierce will exercise his early termination option in his contract, leaving over $21 million on the table next season while in pursuit of a long-term contract.

Paul Pierce joins Ray Allen as an unrestricted free agent and will attract his fair share of suitors. The most likely scenario results in Pierce returning to Boston, but either way, this decision will have ramifications for the Boston Celtics and the league.

Even if Pierce signs a max contract, the most he can earn in 2010-11 is $20.8 million — but he’s obviously willing to take a pay cut for one season in exchange for long-term security. And by signing this year, Pierce avoids the uncertainty surrounding the next collective bargaining agreement, which is still being negotiated and will take effect next summer. The new CBA will likely include a reduced salary cap, with a slight chance of a hard cap. By opting out, Pierce enables himself to take advantage of the higher salary structure.

Even as Pierce’s athleticism begins to wane with age, he’s still a top-notch player for a Finals-contending team. That, combined with the sheer number of teams with available cap space, will result in Pierce getting offers. The Celtics’ plan consistently has been to retain Pierce and Allen in order to make one more run with this core. But try to conceptualize a Celtics team with Pierce and Allen playing elsewhere. It’s a possibility, no matter how remote.

Pierce just played a pivotal role in helping Boston to…