As a story first broken by Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports, the Boston Celtics have agreed to send seldom-used forward JaJuan Johnson to the Houston Rockets in exchange for guard Courtney Lee in a sign-and-trade.

Johnson only appeared in 36 games last season for Boston while averaging 3.2 points and 1.6 rebounds. He sat behind Kevin Garnett , Brandon Bass, Chris Wilcox, Jermaine O’Neal, Ryan Hollins and George Steimsma on the depth chart for 4’s and 5’s.

Courtney Lee averaged 11.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 58 games for Houston.

Grade for Celtics: B

This is one of those small, unheralded moves that will really help the Celtics keep pace with the Heats and Bulls of the Eastern Conference next season.

Having Ray Allen leave town to go join Boston’s conference rivals in Miami as well as losing young starter Avery Bradley to an injury that will keep him out until mid-December were tough pills to swallow, but the newly acquired Jason Terry as well as this sign-and-trade for Lee will shore up the teams depth on the wings and keep the Celtics afloat.

Lee is a tremendous three-point shooter (1 of 20 players to shoot better than 40% from three-point range in 2012) who can help stretch the defense and bring a nice offensive flow off the bench. He’s not a player that consistently looks for his own baskets, but when he does, he takes smart shots and hit’s them at a high success rate.

With Bradley out of action for the foreseeable future, Lee could find himself as the starting shooting guard once the regular season begins.

The Celtics will now be returning a majority of their core from last season back in 2012-13 to make another solid run at an NBA Championship. Replacing Ray Allen with Jason Terry/Courtney Lee will be a huge factor in Boston challenging the Heat one more time in the East (Remember, the Celtics were just 1 win away from the NBA Finals).

Grade for Rockets: D

I understand that Houston wanted to at least get something back for Lee knowing fully well that they weren’t going to re-sign him, but bringing in another forward to a roster chalk-full of them doesn’t make a lot of sense.

I seriously doubt Johnson will be seeing a lot of playing time for the Rockets. There isn’t enough minutes to go around for all of these young players.

UPDATE

According to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald, this deal between Houston and Boston has apparently hit a bit of a snag. As per his Twitter account, it appears that the Rockets may be holding out for more assets in exchange for Lee.

Celtics will send E’Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson,Sean Williams and 2nd rd pick in Courtney Lee trade. Those 3 won’t play today. — Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) July 19, 2012

Courtney Lee deal may be in trouble. Sides trying to keep it alive. — Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) July 19, 2012

If anything changes, we will let you know right here at Sir Charles in Charge….

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