Glen Taylor, owner of the Wolves, said that the Kevin Garnett trade might have never developed had Garnett not come to Kevin McHale last spring and asked for a three-year contract extension.

But Garnett, who was being paid $22 million a season, refused the suggestion of Taylor that KG take a cut in salary, so the decision was made to make the trade. Taylor said that the Chicago Bulls were interested in Garnett but not at the salary he demanded.

The Celtics have signed former Memphis Grizzlies guard-forward Dahntay Jones and Atlanta Hawks forward-center Estaban Batista to non-guarenteed contracts. Both will join the team in Europe for training camp, bringing the roster to 17.

Jones, who has played his entire career with the Grizzlies, played in a career-high 78 games last season. He averaged 7.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

Batista, 6-foot-10, 270-pound Uruguay native, played sparingly for Atlanta last season, but averaged a tournament-best 12.4 rebounds and 20.8 points during the recent FIBA Americas Championship in Las Vegas.

The buzz over the acquisition of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen has led the Celtics to cap their season tickets sales for the first time since they played in the venerable Boston Garden.

"Winning is the best marketing," Celtics president Rich Gotham said Wednesday. "The second-best marketing is the hope of winning."

Danny Ainge had not made contract offers to the free agents working out at the team practice facility in Waltham: ex-Celtic forward Eric Williams, forward Linton Johnson III, center Kelvin Cato, and forward-center Esteban Batista. Ainge said he also has interest in free agent swingman Dahntay Jones.

Ainge acknowledged some interest in adding more big-man depth prior to training camp. He did, however, express concern about the aforementioned free agents probably wanting guaranteed contracts.

He has traveled a long, oft-frustrating road since being traded from the Celtics to the Cleveland Cavaliers in December 2003, but forward Eric Williams was back yesterday, auditioning with three other players for an invitation to training camp.

Williams, Uruguayan power forward Esteban Batista, center Kelvin Cato and small forward Linton Johnson are all expected to continue workouts today.

Following Cleveland, Williams made stops in New Jersey, Toronto, San Antonio and Charlotte.

The image of Kevin Garnett, who was traded by the Timberwolves to the Boston Celtics, is plastered all over billboards in Boston.

The Boston Celtics had already traded for Ray Allen and were on the verge of acquiring Kevin Garnett, yet coach Doc Rivers had one more coup in mind. This summer he almost hired Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown to join the Celtics as his lead assistant, SI.com has learned.

"The way we left it, I told Doc I was 90 percent sure I was coming," says Brown. But Brown changed his mind after discussing the Boston offer with 76ers owner Ed Snider, who convinced Brown to remain as executive VP in charge of basketball.

A league source confirms that Boston had offered Brown the job as an assistant to Rivers, who has two fully-guaranteed years remaining on his contract with the Celtics. At the time Rivers was telling other prospective assistants that he was on the verge of hiring a mystery candidate whose name he couldn't divulge.

Boston Celtics great Bill Russell and former North Carolina coach Dean Smith were among 20 former players, coaches and technicians inducted into FIBA's Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

Russell, winner of 11 NBA championships and an Olympic gold medal, led a list of 12 players from 10 different countries, while Smith headlined the four coaches.

"I have to thank all of my teammates going back to high school for being here today," said Russell, who averaged 22.5 rebounds in his 13 NBA seasons. "The game of basketball helps teach you how to take care of your teammates. I learned some important life lessons. It's a beautiful game."

Smith led North Carolina to two titles and guided the United States to gold at the 1976 Montreal Games.

"I know the three of us from the United States feel very lucky to be in this situation," Smith said.

Contrary to what may have been intimated in a story about Glen Davis? signing with the Celtics, the rookie and his agent are more than pleased to have gotten just a straight two-year guaranteed contract with the club.

The Celts traditionally have added a team option year to the deals of their second-round picks, but Davis and his representative, John Hamilton, worked to avoid that. The point became moot when free agent James Posey took up the remainder of the mid-level exception, a portion of which is needed under NBA rules to give second-rounders a third year.

With his arthritic left knee feeling pain free for the first time in years, Allan Houston is now "90 to 95 percent" sure he will return to the NBA this season, his agent, Bill Strickland told 1050 ESPN Radio in New York.

Strickland said Houston will hold a private workout with "several" NBA clubs next Tuesday before finalizing his plans.

"He is going to make a pretty quick decision," Strickland said.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Dallas Mavericks are two teams that are reportedly interested. There has been speculation that Boston, Phoenix, Miami, New Jersey and San Antonio could be landing spots. Strickland declined to reveal which teams will be at the workout.