Courtney Lee: FA Guard Would Be Wise to Forget About Playing with Boston Celtics

Courtney Lee has to be happy he waited around to see what kind of offers he'd get rather than focusing on the Celtics when the two met a couple of weeks ago.

Now that O.J. Mayo is off the market, Lee is the next-best option at shooting guard for a plethora of teams—most of whom will be able to offer him more than the Celtics could.

Lee, an unrestricted free agent who seems intent on leaving Houston, met with Celtics head coach Doc Rivers in Orlando shortly after Boston lost Ray Allen to Miami, according to WEEI.com's Paul Flannery.

Allen would've been the Celtics' primary source of offense off the bench as well as the outside shooting threat they needed in order to spread defenses and create opportunities for players like Kevin Garnett in the paint.

Without Allen, the Celtics sensibly turned to Lee, who shot 43.3 percent from the floor last season with the Rockets and 40.1 percent from three. The only problem is, after using their mid-level exception to sign Jason Terry, they don't have much to offer Lee besides their $1.975 million biannual exception, according to the Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett.

And when you're the best remaining free-agent guard option on the market, $2 million isn't going to cut it.

Lee did show interest in playing for Rivers in Boston, but not for such a small payday. It was a great move for him to wait a while to see what kind of offers he'd get once Mayo was no longer on the market, because now, according to the L.A. Times, he's garnering abundant interest—from the Celtics and the Lakers, but also from the Timberwolves and the Bulls, who could pay him more.

Obviously, when you're coming from Houston, it's not all about the money. Part of it has to be about joining a team that's going to give you a realistic chance of competing for a title, and by all indications, that's something the Celtics and the Lakers are both going to be able to do in 2012-13.

With Derrick Rose out of commission until at least January or February, the Bulls have become a bit more of a wild card. But they need help at shooting guard, and according to Yahoo! Sports, they like Lee.

Of course, if the Bulls decide that the upcoming season is going to be a wash without Rose, the move doesn't make sense for them, either.

That leaves the Timberwolves, who—according to the Pioneer Press' Ray Richardson—need help from a long-range shooter. Lee is the best remaining option and, according to the same report, has already played for Rick Adelman, now Minnesota's coach.

Lee might not have a win-win option on his hands. He might not be able to draw interest from a serious contender that can also pay him what he deserves.

But he certainly has better options than $2 million for the upcoming season, and exploring them is, at the moment, his best bet.