Marquis Daniels, hoping for a fresh start with the Celtics after an injury-plagued 2009-10 season, just agreed to terms with his old team on his second straight one-year contract - this time $2.5 million.

The Celtics, under salary cap rules, are allowed to pay the swingman 20 percent more than last season.

The deal made great sense for both sides - the Celtics after searching in vain for a big swingman who can defend all three perimeter positions, and Daniels after spending most of the post-season on the bench.

After returning to the lineup in February after recovering from thumb surgery, Daniels never regained his form. This way, according to agent Mark Bartelstein, Daniels has a chance to remind the league of who he is.

“He’s a $5 million or $6 million player when he’s healthy,” said Bartelstein. “So we’ll do this now. He loves the team. He loves playing for Doc, and he loves the guys. And then we’ll see what happens next summer.”

The Celtics are about to extend their relationship with Nate Robinson, after all.

The team, according to a league source, just reached agreement with their backup point guard on a two-year deal that will pay him approximately $4 million per season.

Agent Aaron Goodwin, who had told the Herald early in the week that a deal could be reached by the end of the week, turned out to be quite the sage. Agreement came after a brief slowdown in talks on Thursday.

Robinson, according to Goodwin, had made an unspecified concession, and the guard was in the process of waiting for the Celtics to make a concession of their own.

By this morning, both sides were satisfied. The Celtics, with many other needs to fill with minimum contracts, no longer have to list point guard among those needs.

The void left behind by Tom Thibodeau didn’t last for long. Danny Ainge just confirmed that the team reached agreement with Lawrence Frank, the former New Jersey head coach who was fired last November after an 0-16 start.

Many in the league, including Nets president Rod Thorn, didn’t believe the one-time wunderkind was responsible for the start. Instead, the Nets limped to their horrid start due to attempts to cut salary in preparation for this summer’s free agent market.

Frank, who had met with Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge during the Orlando Summer League last week, spent the winter doing what unemployed NBA coaches do best - network analysis.

Two weeks ago, Rivers talked of the importance of bringing in another high-level assistant, and Frank certainly fits the bill. He was known as a highly-motivational, detail-oriented coach in New Jersey - qualities evident in Thibodeau, the new head coach in Chicago.

Frank, who replaced Byron Scott on the Nets bench during the 2003-04 season, had a 225-241 record as Nets coach.

Unlike the puritanical view of many towards LeBron James and his one-hour announcement special on ESPN, Paul Pierce was entertained.

The Celtics captain, who signed his new four-year, $61 million deal today, said Miami’s new threesome of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh - like Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen before them - signals a new way of constructing a team in the NBA.

“It’s a new day and time, man,” Pierce said when asked whether he thought James went over the top. “Everything has become a production. You see people living in their homes on reality TV, man. It’s a new day and time.

“The beginning of a new era,” he said. “I think you’ll see more of this. Superstars are going to get together now to form teams. You’re hearing now about Chris Paul and Melo (Carmelo Anthony) getting together to join Amar’e (Stoudemire) in New York next year. I think this is the way things are going to happen now.”

Pierce touched on many topics today:

ON TONY ALLEN’S DEPARTURE: “That definitely surprised me, man. I was a little upset. I thought we offered him the same deal that he took (with Memphis). But you never know. Maybe he wanted greener pastures, man. That’s too bad. I gave him a call and talked to him about this. Tony is a good friend of mine, but he’s one of the most unpredictable guys I’ve ever been around.”

ON WHAT THE CELTICS HAVE TO ADD: “We have to add a lot right now. We have to add a whole bench, when you think about it. We need a backup point guard if Nate (Robinson) doesn’t come back, maybe another big, wings. We really need a lot.”

ON BEING ABLE TO RETIRE AS A CELTIC: “I knew at the end of the season that this is what I wanted. Even when I opted out (of the last year of his contract) I had no doubt I was coming back. … I wanted to ensure that I had the chance to retire as a Celtic. It means everything, man, knowing I’ll have my place in this franchise. That’s big.”

ON RASHEED WALLACE’S IMPENDING RETIREMENT: “I’m not sure. I’ve texted him a couple of times. I think it’s still up in the air. I definitely think we could use him, but that’s on Rasheed. He’s had a great career. He’s definitely welcome to come back.”

The Celtics officially announced Paul Pierce’s re-signing today in a team statement.

The statement included this from Pierce:

“I am very excited to be back in Boston. I have always said that I would love to retire as a Celtic and re-signing here will allow me to do that. I would like to thank Danny, Doc, the ownership group and the rest of the organization. I’m thrilled that they kept the core intact and look forward to getting back on the parquet with my teammates so we can bring Banner 18 home to Boston.”

Ray Allen officially signed his two-year, $20 million contract with the Celtics today, and immediately posed a challenge to the new power on the block - Miami.

The Celtics guard just wanted to remind everyone that, lest anyone forget, the Celtics are the reigning conference champions.

“We look forward to playing (Miami),” he said. “We feel like we’re the better team – the team to beat in the East. We definitely look forward to that matchup.”

Allen, however, agreed with the parallels that have been drawn between the construction of Miami and how the Celtics came together in the summer oif 2007.

“That’s what happened here, and so much is being pointed to what we did here,” he said. “But the question is whether they’re ready to sacrifice – make the ultimate sacrifice. It’s not about numbers. It’s not about accolades. When we did this in `07 that’s what we all knew and what we all said. It didn’t matter. The question that was posed to us was who was going to take the last shot. We all said the guy who’s open. When you go through it you get so used to it. That first year I wouldn’t say was frustrating – it was an adjustment we all had to make.’’

Chris Wallace, the former Celtics general manager who had a hand in drafting Tony Allen wih the 25th pick of the 2004 NBA draft, re-connected in a big way with the former Celtics guard last night.

“We have come to terms with Tony Allen and will sign him to a contract,” said the Memphis general manager, who declined to comment on terms, though it is a multi-year deal believedto be worth $3 million per season.

The agreement marks a sudden turn for the Celtics, who thought they had made progress on a deal of their own with Allen late last week.

But the Grizzlies, looking for a defensive compliment to such huge offensive talents as O.J. Mayo and the just-re-signed Rudy Gay, came in over the weekend making a strong pitch behind the efforts of Wallace.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported earlier today that the Grizzlies had offered Allen a multi-year deal worth approximately $3 million per season. The contract length may have been more than the Celtics were willing to offer, considering that Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett’s contracts expire after two more seasons.

They apparently decided to forgo Tony Allen’s so-called Bird Rights, meaning they could have exceeded the salary cap to offer him more than Memphis.

But Allen undeniably earned some money during the playoffs, playing exceptional defense on Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, in particular, as an important part of the Celtics’ swarming defensive rotation.

There may finally be a hiccup in Danny Ainge’s plan to keep the Celtics core in tact as they prepare to make another Finals run next season.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal is reporting that unrestricted free agent Tony Allen is close to signing a multi-year deal with the Grizzlies. Allen, who has spent his entire six-year career with the Celtics, emerged as a valuable role player this season. The 6-foot-4 wing is a capable defender, who frequently guarded opposing teams’ top scorer.

The Commercial Appeal reported that the offer from the Grizzlies would start at roughly $3 million per season. Allen made $2.5 million last season and with money flowing freely this offseason, he was in line for a raise.

But the Celtics can far exceed any offer for Allen’s services because the team owns his Bird Rights, which allows a team to go over the salary cap to retain its own free agents. (Here is more information on Bird Rights. Warning: You may get a headache trying to make sense of all of the salary cap loopholes and exceptions). The issue will likely come down to the Celtics ownership’s willingness to spend more luxury tax dollars.

Ainge has expressed an interest in bringing Allen — as well as back-up point guard Nate Robinson — back, but said both would need to test the market. With superstars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade teaming up in Miami, Allen’s value to the Celtics as a defensive stopper is higher than ever.

MAITLAND, Fla. — The Celtics have agreed to terms with free agent center Jermaine O’Neal.

According to sources, O’Neal will sign a two-year contract with the club for the mid-level exception. He will be paid $5.765 million for the upcoming season.

By Mark Murphy

The Celtics and Ray Allen satisfied a mutual need and desire by reaching an agreement on a two-year, $20 million deal last night. The Celtics, in the process, also avoided having to watch their prized shooting guard spread the floor for LeBron James next season.

Allen and his agent, Lon Babby, had investigated possibilities with the same teams coveting the NBA’s mega-free agent — New York, Cleveland, Chicago and Miami. The Bulls, now led by former Celtics associate head coach Tom Thibodeau, had expressed interest in signing Allen with or without James in the fold. James will announce his decision tonight at 9.

A deal with Cleveland would have required a sign-and-trade with the Celtics — a measure C’s general manager Danny Ainge was clearly reluctant to pursue with a player he needed to re-sign for his own team.

But in the end Allen’s affinity for the Celtics, as well as the Boston community that has warmly embraced his family, won out.

“He could have made more money somewhere else,” Babby told the Herald this morning. “He might have got a third year somewhere else, too. It would have taken a significant premium to get him to sign somewhere else. But this is what Ray wanted and what the Celtics wanted. It just took a bit of process to get to the right place. 

“There was a good market out there for Ray. Today was the 8th (the first day free agents can sign contracts) and we had to do our due diligence. We had a good idea of where the interest was and we explored those teams with Ray.

“But you’re talking about a very intelligent, family-oriented person who is committed to the (Boston) community and who has settled his family in that community. For him to uproot that, it couldn’t have just been about money.”