Boston Celtics and the 6 Busiest Teams in Free Agency

NBA free agency has pretty much come and gone, with the bare bones and leftovers of this year's crop of UFAs and RFAs being all that remains.

While a handful of teams have remained quiet on the free agent acquisition front, whether due to being in salary cap jail or feeling comfortable with what they already had, a good chunk of squads—mostly from the bigger, more high profile markets—have made plenty of noise starting right around 12:01 a.m. on July 1.

Eight teams have thus far made at least four moves of anywhere from minor to major significance, be it mostly through re-signing several of their own free agents (San Antonio), playing the market (New York) or both (Boston).

And a few more squads have been moving and shaking even if they haven't necessarily kept or brought many players in (Houston).

Here's a look at some of the busiest teams so far in this massive NBA free agency month.

7. Indiana Pacers

The Pacers entered free agency having to worry about one of their own most important players potentially leaving the roost in center Roy Hibbert.

The Portland Trail Blazers jumped right in by signing Hibbert, a restricted free agent, to a max deal offer sheet of four-years and $59 million. Indiana matched the Blazers offer for the 7'2" center, who really began to blossom this past season. Smart move, Indy.

Next, the the team engineered a sign-and-trade deal with Dallas, sending explosive but inconsistent point guard Darren Collison and wing defensive specialist Dahntay Jones to the Mavs for backup center Ian Mahinmi, who the Pacers then signed to a four-year, $16 million contract.

They also brought in a couple of rotation guys at relatively short dollars in Gerald Green (three-years, $10.5 million) and D.J. Augustin (one-year, $3.5 million).

The capper, though, was Indy re-upping with another one of its own by inking point guard George Hill, who usurped Collison in the starting lineup last year and shined very brightly, to a new five-year, $40 million deal.

The Pacers are a young, up-and-coming, ultra-talented team that took a big step last season. They earned the Eastern Conference's No. 4 seed and ran out to a 2-1 lead over the eventual champion Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals before being swarmed under by LeBron James.

One could argue the merits of giving Hill that big of a deal, letting Collison go for a backup big man and bringing in an underachiever like Augustin, or even for giving Hibbert (11.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game in his career) a max contract.

Regardless, the Pacers were aggressive. Just like their play on the floor.

6. Phoenix Suns

The Suns have been on downturn over the past couple seasons since making a surprise run to the Western Conference Finals back in 2010.

They're only a cumulative two games under .500 since then, but as Steve Nash got older and the team's top offensive options became journeymen—like Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley—it became clear that change was needed.

They let Nash walk to division rival L.A. in a sign-and-trade, then went to work.

Phoenix signed New Orleans restricted free agent Eric Gordon to a four-year, $58 million offer sheet, and even though the Hornets matched it and kept Gordon, the Suns' intentions were made clear right then.

They signed point guard Goran Dragic, a former Sun who blew up when he became a starter for Houston last season, to a four-year, $30 million deal. They brought in the wildly talented but challenged of mind Michael Beasley at what could turn out to be a bargain basement three-year, $18 million contract. And they re-signed last season's fourth leading scorer and three-point threat Shannon Brown at a tidy two-years and $7 million.

Still, the biggest move the Suns made was quite unexpected and pretty much fell into their laps. With the Rockets selling as much as they can in an effort to create cap room for a possible Dwight Howard trade, Houston used its amnesty rights on the more than solid Luis Scola, whose rights were then won by the Suns.

Scola solidifies the Suns front court and should make for an imposing partner to Gortat, who emerged as a borderline star last year. And all it cost Phoenix was the woefully underperforming Josh Childress, who was amnestied himself.

Losing Nash to a hated rival has to hurt, and Grant Hill is gone too. But Phoenix worked hard to reload. And their current mix looks pretty good.

5. L.A. Lakers

Getting Nash was a bombshell louder than a lot of the fireworks going off on July 4, the day the Suns agreed to the sign-and-trade to send their all-time point guard to the Lakers.

L.A. has made some other moves, but none as seismic as bringing in Nash and adorning him with a three-year, $27 million deal. 

Nash is 38 years old and isn't the player he was during his back-to-back MVP campaigns of 2005 and 2006. But the Lakers haven't had a point guard of his caliber in years, and the idea that they can make another run before Kobe Bryant reaches the other side of the hill had to be a motivating factor in their making this deal. 

Now, the offense can run through Nash as opposed to Kobe, who will be freer to simply score as opposed to having to facilitate as well. Furthermore, Nash is one of the best in history at running the pick and roll, and the Lakers have two big men (assuming they keep them both) in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum who will flourish playing with him

The Lakers did a couple of other things too, the most underrated of which was the signing of Antawn Jamison to a one-year deal. Jamison, free of the black hole that was Cleveland, can simply come off the bench, shoot some threes, post up a little bit, score 10-12 points per game and compete for a title.

Holdovers Jordan Hill and Devin Ebanks were re-signed for short money to fill out the rotation and provide youth and energy, elements the aging Lakers sorely need.

The Nash deal, though, was the one to talk about.

4. Dallas Mavericks

Give the Mavs credit. 

They lost out on their perceived biggest target in Deron Williams. But instead of sulking, they bucked up and got themselves a nice haul anyway. 

Dallas' moves won't get them back to the Finals. But they will help the Mavs return to the playoffs while keeping enough cap room to chase Dwight Howard next summer.

They made that sign-and-trade with Indiana to get Collison to run the point, signed center Chris Kaman to a low risk, one-year deal worth $8 million, won the amnesty auction for veteran power forward Elton Brand and took a flier on shooting guard O.J. Mayo by giving the former No. 3 overall pick a chance to start for the bargain basement price of $8.5 million over two years.

Dallas's window to win again with Dirk Nowitzki still playing at an elite level is closing. The Mavs won't do it in 2013, and it's likely to be another treading water season for them.

But they are still set up to be big players again during the next free agency period. And that's not too far away.

3. New York Knicks

Hey, the Knicks decided not to match Houston's offer sheet to Jeremy Lin and let him walk! Have you heard?

For a team notorious for making ludicrous personnel decisions, this was sort of an interesting example of restraint on the part of the Knicks (unless you believe one of the reasons being floated out there for the move).

So, despite allowing Linsanity to walk being the most high-profile move (or non-move) the Knicks made this off-season, they've still done quite a bit. They brought in two point guards to replace Lin, as well as the injured Baron Davis, in veteran Jason Kidd and former Knick Raymond Felton. Never mind that Kidd is 39 years old and was recently arrested for DUI or that Felton is coming off a hideous season in Portland and is, well, a bit round.

The Knicks also re-upped with a former star New Yorker in the aged Marcus Camby, brought in defensive specialist Ronnie Brewer and re-signed a couple of gunners in J.R. Smith and Steve Novak (Novak to a mind-boggling four-year, $15 million deal).

All of this may well offset the loss of Lin, particularly if he turns out to be a flash in the pan. But the Knicks basically made themselves older and slower with a majority of their free agency activity, and they are a team that already was a pretty plodding offensive outfit thanks to the ball stopping tendencies of Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire.

They were busy though. Very busy.

2. Brooklyn Nets

Between re-signing Deron Williams, trading for Joe Johnson's enormous contract and the constant Dwight Howard scuttlebutt, the Nets have probably been in the NBA summer news more than any other team.

Obviously, re-signing Williams to a max deal (five-years, $98.7 million) and making him the face of their move from the swamps of New Jersey to the streets of Brooklyn was the centerpiece, and it gave the Nets more credibility instantaneously.

After that, the Nets stayed busy. They also re-signed Gerald Wallace, a huge move given that they gave up a lottery pick to get him from Portland at the trade deadline. Four-years and $40 million was a bit steep but if Brooklyn had lost Wallace after renting him for two months in exchange for such a high pick, it would have looked pretty bad.

Elsewhere, the Nets gave incumbent center Brook Lopez a max deal (four-years, $60.8 million) when it became clear they would not be able to deal for Howard. Then they re-signed reality TV star Kris Humphries and picked up guard C.J. Watson and bruiser Reggie Evans to fill out their rotation. They also gave veteran Jerry Stackhouse $1.3 million to be a towel waver.

It looked for some time that it would be "Howard or bust" for this franchise after they finished their business with Williams. But when that didn't happen, they scurried into action in other areas and came out the other side looking like a legit playoff team.

1. Boston Celtics

The C's absorbed a giant body blow when Ray Allen not only left, but left for their new arch rival in South Florida.

So, GM Danny Ainge went to work, bringing back all of his other key free agents, led by the huge re-signing of Kevin Garnett (three-years, $34 million) along with Brandon Bass, Jeff Green and, earlier this week, backup point guard Keyon Dooling.

He also got Jason Terry to come in and replace Allen. This was of particular importance seeing as how: a) Terry doesn't mind coming off the bench (he's a former Sixth Man of the Year), b) can make big shots and three-pointers a la Ray Allen and c) can handle the point in a pinch.

But the real coup was the sign-and-trade with Houston for 2-guard Courtney Lee, who was acquired for flotsam and will likely step right into the starting lineup while Avery Bradley recovers from shoulder surgery. He will play tough perimeter defense and shoot threes.

That the C's will only have to pay Lee $21.5 million over four years makes the deal even sweeter, an absolute heist by Ainge.

To solidify the front court behind KG while taking pressure off of rookies Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo, the Celts also re-signed Chris Wilcox, a solid reserve last year until a heart ailment sidelined him, and brought in space filler Jason Collins on a one-year deal.

The Celtics reeled in seven free agents, more than any other team in the NBA. 

Now that's busy.