NBA: Celtics to land Courtney Lee in trade with Rockets

The Boston Celtics continued to move on in the wake of Ray Allen's departure, and are on the verge of finalizing a deal with the Houston Rockets for swingman Courtney Lee, sources told Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears.

Celtics to acquire G Courtney Lee from Rockets in a sign and trade sending back F JaJuan Johnson, sources tell Y! Details being finalized. — Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 19, 2012

Rockets get a 2nd round pick from Charlotte that Boston owned along with JaJuan Johnson,E'Twaun Moore and Sean Williams in Courtney Lee deal — Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 19, 2012

The deal as it currently stands will see the Rockets sign-and-trade Lee and receive in exchange JaJuan Johnson, Sean Williams and E'Twaun Moore, plus a second-round draft pick the Celtics acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder after the latter did not disclose full information about forward Jeff Green in a trade consummated during the 2010-11 season. Financial details of Lee's new contract were not released, but according to ESPN Boston's Chris Forsberg, the players being shipped out by Boston could see them "absorb as much as $4.25 million in the first year of a contract for Lee." Forsberg also added that "Any sign-and-trade maneuver requires a minimum [contract] length of three years." Lee played 58 games last season with Houston, and averaged 11.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 steals. More importantly perhaps, is his three-point shooting touch. Lee shot 43.3 percent from beyond the arc last season, and is a career 43.9 percent sniper from that range. JaJuan Johnson was the 27th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets, but he was quickly shipped to Boston for the rights to MarShon Brooks. E'Twaun Moore, Johnson's teammate at Purdue, and Sean Williams, are both on non-guaranteed contracts. - AMD, GMA News