Not that anyone besides me, a few Celtics beat writers, ball washers, Green teamers and team officials noticed but the past few weeks that Boston tried to sign D.J. White was one of the more bizarre things I can recall in recent Celtics history. Mercifully, that ended today as White was at practice and signed a 10-day contract with Boston after his clearance paperwork from China finally arrived after over a week of waiting.
White, the former Indiana star, was a first round pick (29th overall) of Detroit in 2008. He was traded to Oklahoma City and played parts of three seasons there before being traded to Charlotte. He spent 1.5 years in NBA purgatory (the Bobcats) then retreated to the Shanghai Sharks this season when he couldn't find an NBA deal. In other words, he followed a similar path to swingman Terrence Williams who was also playing in China before the Celts signed him before the trade deadline last week.
There is no reason to expect anything from White. He has averaged 6.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in his NBA career. His role will be as a big body (6-foot-9, 235 pounds) off the bench when Chris Wilcox or Brandon Bass get in foul trouble. Williams has actually looked decent in the few minutes he's played with the Celtics, we'll see if White can have even that amount of impact.
Getting White means that Boston has 12 healthy players, including Fab Melo, with Rajon Rondo and Jared Sullinger out for the rest of the season. Jordan Crawford, Williams and White were their only acquisitions right before and after the trade deadline this season as Danny Ainge chose to stick with his old cast for one more playoff run (fingers crossed).
Not that he'll probably play but White apparently will be available tomorrow night when the Celtics host the Warriors (7:30 p.m., CSN).
UPDATE 3/1: This morning, the Celtics signed forward/center Shavlik Randolph (the former Duke star was also playing in China) to a 10-day contract while they reassigned rookie center Fab Melo to the Maine Red Claws (D-League).
In addition, the Celts signed Terrence Williams for the rest of the season along with next year. A nice reward for a guy with serious promise in the right situation.
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