Ryan

Hollins

“We were fortunate to get a player of his size and athleticism with the 50th pick,” Charlotte coach and general manager Bernie Bickerstaff said. “He will have an opportunity to earn playing time with our team as he continues to develop.” He suffered a sprained ankle in his first summer-league game and won’t have fantasy value this season.

Hollins’ deal is up at the end of the season but the Cavs decided not to wait any longer. Hollins hadn’t played in the last two games and was averaging just 3.7 points and 2.3 rebounds this season. The seven-footer could latch on with a team looking for size beneath the basket, and the Celtics make a lot of sense with how badly Boston needs a center.

Boston needs size in the worst way and Hollins is a legit seven-footer that the Celtics can plug in right away. We speculated yesterday that he could wind up with the Celtics, and it sounds like the team plans to investigate the possibility of adding him fairly thoroughly. The Celtics have also been linked to free agent Kyrylo Fesenko.

Hollins logged 31 minutes on Saturday, posting 15 points, seven rebounds and no blocks. He did more than enough to keep Semih Erden on the pine. Alonzo Gee will also stick as the starting small forward ahead of Omri Casspi, as expected.

Hollins cleared waivers at 2 p.m. ET. A deal could be done as soon as today. The Celtics are certainly thin up front after losing Jermaine O’Neal (wrist) and Chris Wilcox (heart) for the season, but Hollins’ talent level is an issue for fantasy owners.

Boston needs a big man horribly, and we have speculated that Hollins would wind up with the Celtics. A league source told the Boston Herald that Hollins is interested in the Celtics, and he’ll join Boston “barring an offer he can’t refuse from another club.” The Pacers also have interest in Hollins with Jeff Foster being forced into retirement, but it sounds like Hollins is leaning toward joining the C’s.

Wilcox is out for the season due to a heart-related issue, and the move makes room for the newly-signed Ryan Hollins.

Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it’s expected that his contract is for the remainder of the regular season. He will give Boston some much needed frontline depth behind Kevin Garnett and Greg Stiemsma.

Stiemsma has been dealing with sore feet and did not participate in shootaround. Backups Ryan Hollins and Sean Williams could each see minutes off the bench in his absence, but neither is likely to play a major role.

Erden saw just seven minutes of burn before catching a seat on the bench. Below-average talent combined with poor effort is a recipe to lose one’s starting job. Ryan Hollins came off the bench for 28 minutes while rookie Tristan Thompson had 10 points and 10 rebounds in just 15 minutes.