Dwain Price of the Dallas Star-Telegram reports that Adrian Griffin's signing is official.  He will make $1,203,285 over 2 years.

The Boston Herald's Mark Cofman writes about one of the Celtics' main training camp questions.  What direction do they take with Kenny Anderson?  While the oft-injured Anderson may be the most talented point guard on the team, the starting position may go to Milt Palacio.  Palacio took over the starter's position by default last season, but will be coming into training camp in the best condition of his career after working out with Paul Pierce this summer.

Kofman also looks at Derek Anderson's short stay with San Antonio, and in particular his tempestuous departure.  "My loyalty is with the people who are going to be loyal to me," said Anderson, not hiding his displeasure with San Antonio management. "I don't buy into the, 'Aw, it's a business, people lie to you.' "

The Boston Herald's Mark Coffman says you can pencil rookie Joe Johnson in as the Celtics' starting shooting guard.  Johnson will give the team a reasonable third scoring option, something they didn't have last season.  The Celtics are not bringing back any of the competion.  The last player to fall off their list is Bryant Stith.  The C's have offered him a one-year contract, but both sides know it won't be accepted.  The Celtics probably will keep their 15th roster spot open for the next while so they have greater roster flexibility.

The Celtics have backed off on their rush to join Khalid El-Amin at the alter.  The Boston Herald quotes Celtics general manager Chris Wallace as saying, "There are more free agents than jobs available out there, making it a buyer's market."  Therefore they'll wait a while to see who is still available.  RealGM suggests a lot of teams will play wait-and-see before completing their 15-player roster.

The Globe's Peter May runs through the residue of Rick Pitino's trades while running the Celtics.  Basically, three trades moved Ron Mercer, Popeye Jones, Danny Fortson, Dana Barros, Calbert Cheaney and Robert Pack for reserve Eric Williams plus this year's #11 (Kedrick Brown) and #21 (Joe Forte) draft picks.  May figures any good that comes out of those trades will be the result of work done by Pitino's successors in this year's draft.  He also reviews numerous situations around the league.

In the related piece, the Globe's Shira Springer looks at how Jerome Moiso is trying to rescue his career after a disastrous rookie season that saw him play a total of 135 minutes.

After signing Milt Palacio as the team's third point guard, the Boston Celtics appear poised to sign Khalid El-Amin as their fourth point.  "We will sit down with Rob Metcalf over the next 24 to 48 hours and talk business, talk about making Khalid a Boston Celtic," said Leo Papile, the Celtics' director of player personnel.  El-Amin's agent Rob Metcalf agreed that's what he expects to happen.  Four point guards might seem like a lot, but with the amount of time Kenny Anderson and Randy Brown spend on IR it's probably a wise move.

The Boston Herald reports that the Celtics have signed back-up point guard Milt Palacio.  The contract is for two years, with the second season being the team's option.  The Celtics are now turning their attention to signing Paul Pierce.  Only a few details remain on Pierce's extension, which would take effect in 2002/03.

The Celtics have filled 14 roster spots.  The expectation was that Bryant Stith would take the 15 spot.  However, Khalid El-Amin has been turning heads in the summer league, and Boston may sign him instead.  Such a move would give the Celtics four point guards.

Milt Palacio is expected to sign a two-year deal with the Celtics in the next few days.  The second year will be Boston's option.  The Boston Herald also says the eight teams for the NBA's new development league have been named.  All six teams will be in the southeast.  And in a completely unrelated matter, they say Gary Payton, Ray Allen and Shareef Abdur-Rahim are among a group of players scheduled to play an exhibition in China in September.  The Chinese team will include Wang Zhizhi and Yao Ming.

Paul Pierce appears ready to sign an extension with the Celtics.  The expectation is the contract would be for the maximum salary for five years.  Pierce would have an option for the sixth year, at which time he may be eligible for a further salary increase.

The Boston Herald also reports the Celtics are starting to talk with Bryant Stith's agent.  Indications are that they'll only offer a one-year contract to Stith, since they are concerned about the luxury tax in 2002/03.