NBA Rumors: Desperate Boston Celtics Have No Choice but to Sign Erick Dampier

The Boston Celtics continue to pay for curiously trading center Kendrick Perkins to the Oklahoma City Thunder last season.

Not only was it a bone-headed move to begin with, but the man they traded for, forward Jeff Green, has been lost for this season with an aortic aneurysm.

That leaves the Celtics with less offense and Jermaine O'Neal as their starting center.

Let's be real, O'Neal isn't the same All-Star he once was. He's averaging 2.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in 20 minutes per game for the Celtics, and it's becoming clear that teams are going to have no trouble rising above the 33-year-old in the lane.

How bad has it gotten?

The Celtics could add Erick Dampier, a center who wasn't signed in the offseason for a reason.

Tweeted Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated:

"

Boston expressed interest in Erick Dampier during free agency, sources say. May want to look into Damp again. Just no presence in the middle.

"

The sad part of it all is that Dampier very well could offer more than O'Neal at this point in O'Neal's career. Although Dampier is 36 years old, he's another big body the Celtics could use and he doesn't have the same injury concerns as O'Neal.

It's also sad from an outsider's point of view to see the former Beasts of the East wither while LeBron James and the evil Miami Heat appear poised to capture a title this season.

Celtics fans have a right to be furious. The Celtics have been severely mismanaged the past two seasons, and the grand master plan we expected has never come to fruition.

Or as Bill Simmons put it, "The Celtics are 0 and 2. We passed on DeAndre Jordan and Norris Cole for J.R. Giddens and JaJuan Johnson. I'm going to bed."

Make that 0-3 after the Celtics lost to the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday, 97-78.

Celtics management hasn't been awake for a while now.