Shira Springer of the Boston Globe reports: The opening days of free agent negotiations have brought good and bad news to the Celtics. First, the good news. The market is setting up as tight as Boston expected, so the team will have as good a shot as any of landing the players at the top of its list. Now, the bad news. Representatives of Rodney Rogers and Erick Strickland initially said they would listen to offers from Celtics general manager Chris Wallace and, if those bids were strong enough, the players would not test the market. But now, Rogers and Strickland are listening to other offers.

Rogers's agent, James ''Butch'' Williams, said yesterday that negotiations with Boston were ongoing. Raymond Brothers, who represents Strickland, said his client would visit Indiana Monday and was scheduled to meet with four other teams. Brothers added that the shopping around was ''not by choice.'' The Celtics have a strong relationship with Brothers from the days when they arranged a sign-and-trade deal with his client, Danny Fortson. And Strickland is spending his summer working out at the Celtics' training facility in Waltham.

''Chris Wallace is a very, very good friend of mind,'' said Brothers. ''He likes Erick a lot and Erick wants to be a Celtic.

Rogers and Strickland may want to remain Celtics for all the right reasons, but making deals is about both dollars and sense.

''It's the beginning of the process,'' said Wallace. ''I think that's basically the way to term it at this point. You don't go into these type of things with a timetable. That timetable is really irrelevant because obviously the season's not opening tomorrow.