The Boston Celtics announced today that they have exercised a contract option on guard Avery Bradley for the 2012-13 season. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Bradley, a 6’2” guard, averaged 1.7 points in 5.2 minutes per game this past season for the Celtics. The 19th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft appeared in 31 games for the Celtics and netted a season-high of 20 points on 10-of-16 shooting in the final game of the season against New York on April 13. Bradley also made nine appearances for the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League and averaged 17.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 3.0 steals in those contests.

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have extended a qualifying offer to forward Jeff Green, making him a restricted free agent. The qualifying offer allows the Celtics to match any off he receives from another team.

Green, a 6’9” forward, averaged 13.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 32.4 minutes per game split between Oklahoma City and Boston during the 2010-11 season. In his 26 games with the Celtics, Green shot 48.5 percent from the field. The fourth year pro also shot 43.4 percent from three-point territory in nine games during the playoffs. In his first Celtic start against the Wizards on April 11, Green recorded 20 points and a career-high tying 15 rebounds. Green, a member of the 2008 All-Rookie First Team, has posted career averages of 13.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 315 games.

Glen Davis is hoping for a return to the Celtics.

“Man, I do,” Davis said yesterday. “Do you know how much I’ve grown and learned with those guys? I want to keep playing with Ray (Allen) and Paul (Pierce) until they leave.

“I’m preparing like it’s any other summer, because you never know with the CBA,” Davis said. “As soon as that deal is done, free agents are going to be going like crazy to get signed. But there’s no way to gauge what (a contract) is worth.”

LeBron James found an unlikely defender last week in Doc Rivers, the head coach of the Boston Celtics, long James' biggest rival.

When asked about the level of criticism LeBron received, Rivers was surprisingly sympathetic: "Some of it was self-inflicted, some of it inflicted by everyone else. After Game 3, someone asked LeBron, 'When are you going to step up'?. The problem is that he answered, when he should have said 'Go screw yourself'."

Jermaine O’Neal, who went through the playoffs with the wrist injury, has decided to forgo surgery in favor of rehabilitation, according to Danny Ainge. The Celtics president said yesterday that O’Neal, attempting to take advantage of the team’s resources before players are locked out on July 1, has been a regular at the workout facility in Waltham.

“He has every intention of coming back,” Ainge said of the only true center on his team’s roster. “He has every desire to play, and didn’t like the way it finished this year, and doesn’t want to end his career on that type of note. He wants to be a much greater contributor.

“He chose not to have surgery.”

Celtics president Danny Ainge said that Rajon Rondo is "not 100 percent yet.

“He's probably about four weeks away from playing basketball at full speed, but he can do some training and conditioning right now," Ainge said.

While Ainge and coach Doc Rivers addressed the media on the eve of the NBA draft, Rondo was running on a treadmill above the practice floor.

The Boston Celtics have every intention of becoming a younger, more athletic team in the near future.

But that future does not include Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith.

A league source told CSNNE.com on Monday night that the Celtics have had "no discussions whatsoever" with the Atlanta Hawks about acquiring Smith. The same source added there were no plans to open up such dialogue any time in the near future.

"You can never say never," the source said, "but there's nothing going on there."

When asked on Monday by CSNNE.com whether Boston was his first choice, Glen Davis replied, "My choice is what's best for my family and career. That's what I concentrate on. I love being here in Boston. But if it's not going to benefit me and my family, I'll pick up [and play elsewhere].

"That's my concern. That's the only thing I'm focused on now; my family's well-being and my career as a player . . . what situation is going to help Glen Davis be Glen Davis."

If coming off the bench means playing behind Jeff Green, Ray Allen is fine with that.

"To me, however I can help the team, it'll figure itself out,” Allen said. “One thing in regards to Jeff [Green] is, whatever I can do to make him better and to push him and play the best that he can. It's weird that guys have always looked at it like coming off the bench is such a bad thing. I know we went through the situation with [Allen] Iverson, he didn't want to come off the bench. But, you've always worried more about who finished games, but more importantly, when you're on a winning team, winning the game is the ultimate objective, so that's my primary concern.

“I want to win. I looked at our record this year. It was sad that we didn't get to 60 wins, and we should have had 60 wins, based on the games we lost, and that would have gave us home-court advantage throughout the whole playoffs, East and West."

While talking with reporters during a community service event yesterday, Boston Celtics star Ray Allen expressed pessimism about the league's labor negotiations. 

"We’re now in a situation where, at this point once the season ends and the draft comes, there won’t be any immediate hurry to solve the situation right now," Allen said. "There does seem like there’s going to be some games lost. I hope not, but you prepare for the worst."