NBA Rumors: Jason Collins signs with Celtics

Former Hawks center Jason Collins has signed a one-year deal with rival Boston Celtics

Jason Collins has signed a one-year deal with the Boston Celtics, according to Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com.

Forsberg reported “the Celtics will pay [Collins] $854,389, while the league will pick up the rest of his $1.35 million salary as a veteran with 10-plus years of experience.

Boston recently lost 6’11′ backup center Greg Stiemsma after the restricted free-agent signed an offer sheet with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Celtics wanted to keep Stiemsma, but were unable to match Minnesota’s offer sheet due to “salary-cap constraints,” Frosberg stated.

The C’s quickly found a solution to replace Stiemsma in the 11-year veteran Collins, who played for the Atlanta Hawks last season. While Collins isn’t the shot-blocker or rebounder that Steimsma was, the 33-year old Collins has better size (7-feet, 255lbs) and will be a lot more stout defending the pick-and-roll and low-post.

A former Stanford University standout, Collins only appeared in 30 games last season for Atlanta, scoring a modest 39 points the entire year. Collins has career averages of 3.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.