Aaron Josefczyk / Reuters

Guard Delonte West, who will serve a 10-game supsension at the start of the season, may be the best remaining free agent available, writes NBCSports.com contributor Ira Winderman.

Earl Watson: This is confounding.

Yes, the Pacers recognized that this is not a starting-quality talent. But look at some of the reserve point guards around the league. How is Watson not an upgrade?

Brian Skinner: We simply need to know something soon, so Skinner can dye the bottom of that beard thing with his new team's colors.

He will land somewhere, because he always does, as one of the league's better third-string big men.

Bobby Simmons: The league can be weird this way, as if it's a player's fault that he at one point received a bad contract.

No, Simmons will never be what the Bucks thought he would be. But we're talking minimum salary. Can every NBA team truly say at this stage that they have 15 players better than Bobby Simmons?

Heck, even Gene Simmons is still finding steady work.

Louis Amundson: He hustles, he's aggressive, he's active. But at the start of the free-agency period, Amundson was being marketed as some type of power forward of the future.

No, he's a ninth-man who now, by allowing himself to get lost in the shuffle, will get 12th-man money.

What we have here is a lesson of taking what you can when you can.

Trenton Hassell, Jarvis Hayes, Josh Boone: No, not the same player. But the same stigma.

There had to be a reason New Jersey was so bad last season, thus the guilt by association. It is the reason so many 2009-10 Nets remain unsigned, much to the consternation of Chris Quinn, as well.

Joe Smith: Shouldn't a world that still has a place for Juwan Howard have one for Joe Smith, as well?

Ime Udoka: By now it's not a surprise that he's pick up the minimum-scale rear.

It's funny, glue guys used to be the rage. Play defense. Hit a few shots. Make no waves.

Etan Thomas: The market for poetic big men apparently has fallen off the cliff.

Ira Winderman writes regularly for NBCSports.com and covers the Heat and the NBA for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

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Jim Rogash / Getty Images

Not in his house

Rajon Rondo had 18 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds and the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 85-75 in Game 7 on Saturday night to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

CSN: Rondo's big-game DNA shines  |  Highlights

CSN: You may not see it from start to finish, but when the game — or in this case, postseason life — is on the line, you see just how good Rajon Rondo can be.

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