How the new CBA agreement affects the Celtics

BOSTON CELTICS

How it helps: The Celtics are nearing the luxury-tax threshold with just eight players currently under contract. However, the new CBA's harsher luxury-tax penalties won't kick in until the summer of 2013. By then the Celtics will be in full rebuilding mode and should avoid the stiffer tax. If the new free-agent rules allow teams to offer an extra year and bigger raises to restricted free agents, the Celtics could lock up Jeff Green if they want to.

How it hurts: Restricted free agency got a little less restrictive under the new rules. If Green gets an offer sheet from another team, the Celtics will only have three days to match it. The team also can't really take advantage of the new amnesty provision unless they really want to blow things up and start over. The problem is, this isn't the summer to start over.Even with the new "apron" exception the Celtics probably won't be able to use the full-midlevel exception. Re-signing Green and Glen Davis should take them far enough over the threshold that the only exception available to them will be the mini midlevel.

Immediate impact (this season): While a shortened season could favor a veteran team that has already established chemistry like the Celtics, depth could also be critical to combating a compressed schedule, and the C's don't have it. Either way, the rules did little to change the short-term outlook of the franchise much, with the lone exception being that it won't be able to use a full midlevel exception this season.

Long-term impact (future seasons): With only Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley under contract for the 2012-13 season, team president Danny Ainge could really shake things up next summer by using the amnesty clause on Paul Pierce to get roughly $40 million below the cap and go crazy in the free-agent market. The question is whether we'll ever see any team construct a Big Three again. The new rules make that pretty tough going forward